Warrick Gelant will make his Barbarians debut against the Springboks at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday, describing the prospect of facing his former teammates as 'a big challenge' for the invitational side.
The Stormers full-back, who earned 10 Test caps and was part of the 2019 World Cup-winning squad, lines up in a Barbarians back division that also includes TJ Perenara, Virimi Vakatawa, Duhan van der Merwe and Andrew Kellaway, with Kyle Sinckler among the forwards.
The match carries particular personal resonance for Gelant. He and Van der Merwe were schoolmates at Outeniqua High School in George before both joined the Bulls, and Saturday marks their first time playing together in a senior representative fixture. 'I played with Duhan in school and to come here together more than 10 years later is amazing,' Gelant said. 'He's obviously playing for Scotland now so the dream was down the drain — but then I saw he was also coming here.'
Gelant is clear-eyed about the difficulty of taking on the world champions with a side assembled across the week. 'There is no average player at the Springboks and they are all together, which makes it even more difficult given we come together from all over the world,' he said. 'We want to give our best punches and test them just as much as they are going to test us.'
He added that the Barbarians' ethos of expansive rugby would not come at the expense of accountability. 'It's not necessarily going all out and not taking responsibility for what you do. Guys like Duhan, TJ Perenara, Andrew Kellaway — these are top professionals, they want to perform.'