Sub-100kg loose forward JC Pretorius punches well above his weight in the Vodacom URC, right on brand for the overachieving Lions.
Pretorius produced a player-of-the-match performance against Cardiff to help keep the Lions on the trail of a first URC playoff appearance.
At just 1.8m and 92kg, Pretorius is smaller than most midfielders in the league, but the former Springbok Sevens star is used to proving his doubters wrong. “We are from the same school, play the same position and I always tried to play the way he does, by bringing a huge work rate to the game,” Pretorius says about the comparisons to Smith.
Just as it seemed that prediction would come true for Pretorius, who had no offers from any of the provincial unions, a bolt from the blue came with an invite to the Springbok Sevens Academy. “From the day I arrived in Stellenbosch in 2016, I puked every Monday for years until my body was finally used to the drills. It didn’t matter if I trained with the academy, the Blitzboks or if they trained together, I was sick every Monday. They used to leave two doors open in case someone had to run out when he felt sick.”
Pretorius once again had to be patient for his opportunity, making his tournament debut against Benetton in Round 3.
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