Van Staden still sharpening his rugby blade

Apart from his love for rugby, Vodacom Bulls star Marco van Staden also has a love for knife collecting that reflects his own journey in the game.

Much like the knives Marco van Staden is passionate about collecting, the Vodacom Bulls forward has been tempered by the heat of a difficult early start to his career, and has also had his competitive edge shaped by the fire of those challenges, turning him into the force he now is in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

Reflecting on one of his many hobbies of knife collecting, this analogy is certainly not lost on the flanker.

“I suppose the process to get where I am today has been exactly like that of making a knife – what the steel looks like in the beginning to how it becomes the final product. If I look back, it’s been a journey to get here,” he says.

The summary of that journey is that Van Staden grew up with a strong desire to play rugby for a living. As a student at the small North West agricultural school of Hoërskool Bekker in the Magaliesburg, Van Staden actually started his rugby career at scrumhalf and then centre before moving to flank. It wasn’t a rugby name school, but Van Staden says it was a good school and he loved it there as it was close to his family farm.

After school, the plan was to go and study and play rugby at the North West University, but when he wasn’t accepted in the rugby academy there, a decision had to be made.

“I was given an opportunity at the Tuks rugby academy, but my parents had to pay for it and I had to study sports science. My father and my grandfather were both mechanical engineers, and it would’ve made sense for my father to tell me I need to rather just go and study mechanical engineering. But I take my hat off to him because he backed me. He told me to go for it,” says Van Staden.

From that difficult beginning to the challenges of injury that cost him earlier places in the Springbok team, to winning a Rugby World Cup with the Springboks, Van Staden is the epitome of someone who has worked hard to get where he is today.

“I’m actually thankful for the difficult times. It’s taught me to appreciate things more. It taught me that you have to work for everything you want in life. Nothing has ever been handed to me. I’ve had to work for it. My dad also taught me that value of hard work.”

It was a lesson his father taught him in his workshop. From an early age Van Staden spent hours with his father in his workshop where he learnt to make everything from knives to rebuilding old cars.

“My dad and I are very close. I don’t have a brother, and he’s almost like a brother to me as well as my father. We did everything together. It was him who taught me how to work with my hands. To this day, if I’m working on something myself, I’ll phone him maybe three times a day for advice.”

When Van Staden’s hands aren’t reaching for a rugby ball, they’re busy with all manner of projects and hobbies, including farming and hunting, and now rebuilding an old Land Cruiser.

But knife collecting remains one of his biggest passions, ever since he was given his first knife at the age of five.

“My dad and I then built our own kiln and started making our own knives. While I was at school we’d spend many late nights in his workshop making a knife. I go to knife shows and am always on the lookout for something different. I like to collect knives that have a story behind them, and I’m especially fond of handcrafted knives. South Africa has some of the best handcrafted knives in the world. Sometimes I’ll be looking for a knife with a handle made from a warthog tusk. I also have a knife where the blade has been made from the rim of an ox wagon wheel. The story behind the knife is important to me.”

And the story behind Van Staden’s career is also far from over.

“I still want to play the best rugby of my career. I always believe the best lies ahead, and you cannot stop learning. My faith has always driven me to keep pushing through the challenges, and I try to focus on what you can learn from them rather than complaining about them.”