Danie Poolman joined Connacht in 2012, married a local, and now lives in Dublin.
Craven Week 2024 has been taking place at the Hoërskool Monument school in Krugersdorp, bringing together the best U18 players in the country as they compete in their provincial sides, with the show concluding tomorrow.
The game was live on national TV and took place in Paul Roos, making it all the more painful. The best players from Craven Week go on to play for the South Africa Schools team and though Western Province had been expected to provide a big group for that national side, only one of them made the cut. Poolman vaguely remembers running around his house with a South African flag when the Springboks won the World Cup on home soil in 1995, a year after apartheid had ended. His father sat in front of the TV crying.
He did well in his first season under head coach Allister Coetzee, starting eight games, but opportunities were harder to come back in 2012 with all the back three competition. “There was also a chance you could play with the Springboks even if you were away. I even started to think about playing for Ireland because I could qualify, but it was a very tough decision to leave.”
“It was a culture shock, straight into drinking so much Guinness that I was wondering what I’d done!”Poolman arrived with an injury that delayed his debut until late October but he settled in well and had a strong first season, playing on the wing and at outside centre as he scored five tries in 17 starts.
He never got a call into the Ireland set-up but has no doubt he would have thrown himself into the challenge if he was asked to switch national allegiance.His time with Connacht ended in 2017 when the province opted against re-contracting him. Still only 28, Poolman was keen to play on. The Southern Kings tried to get him back to South Africa but the financial offering was poor and he turned it down.
Connacht Man Danie Poolman South Africa Springboks West Is Best Wild West
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