Whiteley: What a journey!
From Durban to Joburg via PE, it's been one helluva ride for the Lions captain - with plenty of twists and turns, writes Jacques van der Westhuyzen.
|||Warren Whiteley
Date of birth: September 18, 1987
Place of birth: Durban
Height: 1.92m
Weight: 96kg
School: Glenwood High
CAREER AT THE BOKS
Test debut: September 6, 2014 v Australia in Perth
Test Caps: 6
Won Commonwealth gold in 2014 with Blitzboks
AT THE LIONS (from 2010)
SUPER RUGBY CAPS: 67
CURRIE CUP CAPS: 52
PREVIOUS TEAMS
2008-09: Sharks XV
2009: Mighty Elephants
2010-11: Young Lions
Johannesburg - Sitting opposite me with his training socks bunched up around his ankles and his hair as dishevelled as always, he smiles and says: “I’m going to be honest with you, really honest. The Lions are the last team I thought I’d ever play for, ever, ever.”
He continues: “I made the jump and joined the Lions, but I would never have thought growing up in Durban that I would play for the Lions. They were the last team; if not the Sharks, then maybe Western Province or the Bulls, or the Cheetahs ... the Lions were just never a team I felt a connection to.”
Now Warren Whiteley is two wins away from being a Super Rugby champion with the Lions.
“It’s funny isn’t it? This union has given me so much. I owe them not only for the career I have but because of the person I’ve become. I’ve developed so much, grown as an individual, going from the 22 year-old dreamer to now being married, having a daughter.”
Being part of a rugby union nowadays is so much more than just rugby, it’s in this time of your life, between 18 and 30 generally, when you develop, when you make massive decisions in your life and unions have a big role to play in this.
They don’t only develop rugby players, they develop people, and the Lions have played such a big role for me in so many aspects.
It has been quite a remarkable season for the 28-year-old and his charges; then again, it has been quite a remarkable few years for the union. And among those at the forefront of the turn-around is Whiteley, a man who dreamed of playing for the Sharks but has become captain of the Lions and a fan favourite.
SO FRUSTRATING
With four days to go until the Super Rugby semi-final against the Highlanders at Ellis Park, Whiteley is struggling to get over a calf injury that may rule him out of one of the biggest games of his career.He shakes his head, closes his eyes and says: “I felt so good all year … only in the last few weeks have the injuries hit. First the shoulder and now this, at this stage of the season. I don’t know why, it’s just so frustrating. I desperately want to play this weekend but maybe I’m meant to wait until next week.”
The Lions have enjoyed their best Super Rugby season since 2001 when they last played in the knockout rounds, finishing second on the overall points table and emerging as the best South African team.
They are now hoping to go a few steps further than Laurie Mains’s team of 2001 and play in the final and then, hopefully, win the competition.Several Lions players have become stars and household names in the last few years, with Whiteley emerging as the leader of the pack. He can’t quite believe the journey he’s taken to get to this point.
“I was a Shark through and through and my dream was to play for them. Can you believe it was (current Lions CEO) Rudolf Straeuli who let me go; he was CEO at the Sharks at the time, in 2009. He told me they had enough loose forwards and there was no place for me. They had Keegan Daniel, Ryan Kankowski, Willem Alberts, Jean Deysel and others - all quality players. I wasn’t getting a chance. I have nothing against Rudolf - if I was in his position I would have let me go as well. There just wasn’t space for me at the Sharks.”
Desperate for game-time, Whiteley went to Port Elizabeth and joined Eastern Province. “I played First Division rugby but, more importantly, I grew up as a player mainly because I had to get over the disappointment of not fulfilling my dream of playing for the Sharks.”
Then, somewhat out of the blue came the call that would change everything and put Whiteley on course to become the player he is today.
“Dick Muir was about to join the Lions and he asked me to look into coming up to Johannesburg. He knew me from our time at the Sharks and said I’d get more of a chance at the Lions. He said he believed in my ability, saw something and would back me. That’s all I wanted - a chance.
“My dad taught me at a young age that you need to take your opportunities when they come. “It’s weird, my parents had moved to Johannesburg from Natal when I was in Grade 10 at school in Durban, which forced me to go to boarding school. But I now had a home to go to and the support structure I felt I needed.”
But Whiteley’s first season at the Lions ended before it began. He hurt his hamstring in pre-season training and couldn’t break into the Super Rugby squad or even the Vodacom Cup squad. “I ended up playing club rugby for Pirates,” he says.
Former New Zealand coach John Mitchell’s arrival at the Lions a year later coincided with Whiteley finally breaking into the Lions’ starting team.
“I made my Currie Cup debut after Jonathan Mokuena, then the No 8, got injured and that’s where it all started. Mitch was tough, he was extremely honest and technically brilliant and I learnt a lot from him, we all did, but it was difficult with him as coach.
TOUGH TIME
“I grew immensely as a player under him, though, but it was a roller-coaster ride. We won the Currie Cup in 2011 but then struggled in Super Rugby the next year. The senior players stood up to him and then the team got relegated from Super Rugby. It was a very tough time being at the Lions.”
Enter Johan Ackermann, who took over from Mitchell, and the Lions would spend the next three years building a team that is now rated among the best in the history of the union and leading the way in South Africa.
“Coach Ackies took everything on his shoulders, which is why we all have so much respect for him. He came in and said, ‘Right guys this is it, we’re starting afresh. I have a vision of what I want, we’re going to stick together and build up a team we can be proud of'.
“He went out and got the players. He picked guys on their character and everyone bought into what he said and believed in him from the start.”We were out of Super Rugby, had been relegated, and we had nothing to lose. We were rock bottom.
“He made us believe in ourselves again. We went to club fields, school fields, to train and play. We roughed it. He brought back our love for rugby; we rediscovered why we play this game.”Ackermann also instilled in his players an appreciation for what they do.”Yes, we are professionals and sometimes we can take little things for granted, like travelling to new places, getting paid a salary, but we had to learn to appreciate it again.
“There are sportsmen and women in this country, look at some of those going to the Olympics, who’ve struggled to get finance to go and do what they love for their country. But as rugby players we’re fortunate to be paid for doing what we love. He made us love it and appreciate the game again.
“We started playing for each other, we started believing in ourselves again and then we won the Vodacom Cup, we won the promotion-relegation match (against the Southern Kings) … heck that was tough … and we started building from there.
“We also went through disappointment - losing a Currie Cup semi-final (in 2013), losing the final in 2014, not winning on our Super Rugby tour - but then also learning a lot in Super Rugby in 2015, enjoying a better than expected tour and season and then, obviously winning the Currie Cup.
“With all those up and downs came belief and now here we sit.” It took time.
The vision was always there but it's always been reinforced. We’ve grown as a squad, grown as people, become better people.”When did Whiteley actually think his team were good enough to make the semi-finals - and maybe go all the way?
“A massive game for us was the win against the Chiefs in Hamilton. To play the type of rugby we did against a team like them and beat them, that was a turning point I think. We’ve always believed in ourselves but that gave everyone a massive boost. It reinforced the ‘we can do it’ talk in the squad.”
Win or lose on Saturday, go all the way or not, it’s already been one helluva 2016 season for Whiteley and his charges.
The Star