It came as no surprise that Duane Vermeulen was announced as the South African Rugby Players’ Player of the year on 11 March 2021.

This award follows a few days after Duane was also rewarded by SARU with the South African Rugby Player of the year title for 2020. The 34-year-old has debunked a popular fallacy that form on the rugby field flattens with a decreasing gradient as time marches on. Since his man of the match performance in the Rugby World Cup final of 2019, Duane has gone from strength to strength. His performance curve climbed like a “Strava graph” of an Everest ascending expedition.

Duane captained the Bulls by example, used his experience wisely in making decisions on the field, and was instrumental in the Bulls winning both Super Rugby Unlocked and the Currie Cup. Opinions on the performance of players always need to be taken with a pinch of salt. They are easily tainted by pre – conceived ideas and inherent favoritism. However, when the outcome of a collective opinion is through a process of peer review, it carries real weight with it. For this reason, the Players’ Player award, is one to be cherished. It carries genuine authenticated authority with it.

Duane has proven that age is just a number. What makes his achievement more significant, is that in the history of these awards there were only four instances where the same player picked up both the SA Ruby Player of the year and Players’ Player of the year awards simultaneously. Jean de Villiers  and Pieter – Steph du Toit managed to achieve this.

Duane has now done so twice, being the first player in the history of the awards to succeed in doing so. These acknowledgements confirm an age-old truth, being that there is no substitute for hard work, genuine purpose driven work ethic, and a permanent backpack of humility worn with radiating pride and a smile.

Congratulations Duane. Your desire and strive for perfection is inspiring. Your genuine love for the game and engraved awareness that every day in the game is only through grace and the combined effort of your team, is a principle and truth from which much invaluable lessons should be memorized. May the remainder of your career continue down this pathway.