“The key to interceptions?
Being lucky! There is risk
and reward; you have to
back your decision because
if you’re half-hearted you
could get yellow-carded. I
always work on my pace and
aim to get quicker every year.”“My wife and I once saw this expression written on a
wall: ‘Walk alone you’ll walk fast, walk together you’ll
walk far’. With no one to think about, you can do what
you want. When you’re with your partner, it’s about
walking the road together, helping each other when
you’re struggling. It was a key moment for us.”“Fatherhood is unbelievable
(wife Frances gave birth to
Righardt in March). It gives you
a new perspective. When I get
home, he gets all the attention
and it shows you there’s more to
life than rugby. I’m a hands-on
father and help as much as I can.”“My goal is
to be the best
nine in the Premiership.
If that’s good enough
to get selected for the
Springboks, great. If it’s
not, I’ll keep trying
to get better.”“My dad (former
Springbok wing Jaco,
who died in 1997 when
Cobus was six) was my
childhood hero. He passed
away early and I didn’t have an
understanding of what he’d
done until much later, but
then I watched all the
videos of him.”“My
best holiday
was my honeymoon.We went to the Serengeti
and then to an island off
Mozambique. We really
like wildlife so that was
great, then we got
to chill out.”“Faith is very
important to me. It’s
what I believe in. There are
a lot of different faiths and
people can believe or not
believe – it doesn’t matter.
What’s important is to be
nice to each other and
human towards
each other.”“The villages
around Northampton
are so beautiful. Where we
live has the farm-type feel of
back home. There are horses
in front of the house and it’s
so green. We go walking
a lot around the
villages.”“I miss the
sunshine of South
Africa! Coming from Durban,
we get a lot of sun and walk
around in shorts and flip-flops.
When I came here, I only had
one jacket and got off the
plane in shorts and
flip-flops! I’m all kitted
out now.”“Growing up, a
house was being built
near where we lived and
before they put the glass in
we’d do drop-goals into the
windows. I’d always pretend
to be Freddie Michalak.
Then for my first Sharks
game he was my
room-mate!”Front Row
INSIDE THE MIND OF...
COBUS REINACH
Get to know the Northampton No 9 who has been in stellar form
Interview Sarah Mockford //Picture REX/Shutterstock100
BEST PLAYERSCOBUS
REINACH
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