Nizaam Carr has had to rein himself on the pitch in recent years, particularly at the Bulls, where he often has to do the ‘hard yards’ as an openside flank.
But in Saturday’s 50-34 victory over his old Western Province team, the 33-year-old loose forward rolled back the years for a glorious half-an-hour in the second half to play his part in an astounding comeback from the Pretoria side, who moved to the top of the Currie Cup log with 18 points.
The crowd at Loftus Versfeld were left stunned by an error-filled first half as WP roared into a 27-3 lead in just 31 minutes, and it looked like the Bulls were going to get a hiding from their fierce rivals.
Yet it was one of Cape Town’s favourite sons in Carr, who is the Bulls Currie Cup captain, who led his team’s revival.
In a post-match interview with SuperSport TV, the five-cap Springbok stated that the team had received a stern rebuke from the management at halftime, and the players reacted by playing some inspiring rugby in the second half to score seven tries in total.
When powerful Springbok squad member Mpilo Gumede went off with cramps, Carr had to move to No 8 – and suddenly his renowned silky skills came to the fore.
He ran his trademark excellent running lines, produced a couple of terrific offloads and kept his team calm after a helter-skelter first half in which he also got a yellow card for a high tackle.
“It’s really special. Throughout the week already, there’s always a lot of talk about me playing down in the Cape, so it’s a lot of pressure – especially being the captain,” Carr said.
“I’ve got a role to control my guys, but also focus on what I want to do on the field personally. But for me, it’s always the team first – how I can bring them forward. That’s always the case for me.
“I’m really pleased with the way we went out. I found myself in the naughty chair, but I need to tackle lower!
“The (youngsters) have been really unbelievable. At times they are over-eager, but that’s where the older guys and experienced players will cool them down.
“If you have the excitement and also the calmness, it will show a lot of maturity and they can go far in their career.
“We really dug deep, as we were 27-3 down at one stage. We got a real shouting at us at halftime, but the boys definitely came out a different team.”
Flyhalf Jaco van der Walt scored two tries himself, as well as six conversions and a penalty for a 25-point haul, while forwards such as hookers Joe van Zyl and Juann Else, props Khutha Mchunu and Francois Klopper, as well as flank Merwe Olivier got stuck in physically.
Veteran centre Lionel Mapoe also played his part after replacing the injured wing Sergeal Petersen in the first few minutes, which saw Aphiwe Dyantyi moving out wide.
Bulls coach Phiwe Nomlomo praised his bench for their impact in the second half.
“I thought that the try we scored just before halftime was the game-changer,” he said.
“We went in there, and it was actually very calm at halftime as we just spoke about a couple of things that we needed to get right... Just solution-driven, and that’s what it was.
“We’ve got youngsters that we want to come through, and it was beautiful for us because we wanted to put them in difficult situations.
“We emptied our bench early on, because that was the plan. A guy like Juann Else got a longer run at hooker, and that was good for us to see what we’ve got there. He is still 21.
“We saw a six-two (bench), and we almost ended with a six-one because Serge was off so early.
“A big thing for me and the biggest learning is that we can play – we don’t have to wait for the second half to play... We can be more brave, for me, in that first half.”
Next up for the Bulls are the Cheetahs – who are second on the log on 15 – in Bloemfontein on Friday (5pm start).
Points-Scorers
Blue Bulls 50 – Tries: Jaco van der Walt (2), Mpilo Gumede, Francois Klopper, Zak Burger, Joe van Zyl, Juann Else. Conversions: Van der Walt (6). Penalty: Van der Walt (1).
Western Province 34 – Tries: Gary Porter, Wandisile Simelane, Imad Khan, Angelo Davids. Conversions: Jurie Matthee (4). Penalty: Matthee (1). Drop goal: Matthee (1).