For every Dan Vickerman, CJ Stander and Pieter de Villiers(France), there is a Clyde Rathbone, Mouritz Botha and a Brad Barritt. An interesting six-man list with a split of some of the best and well…not so best South African-born foreign internationals. One thing is for sure, however, and that’s no matter which one of the polarized directions ones international career could go, the risk of having just that…an international career is well worth taking. It is no secret that South Africa is a country with a constant overflow of international calibre players produced in it, in excess of the amount it can actually accommodate. This is a rugby playing nation that can’t even guarantee the cream of its junior crop a step up into the big time, nope! Not even those who boast a World Junior Rugby Championships Gold medal like Allan Dell.
Queenstown-born Scottish international prop Dell can attest, as a member of that iconic 2012 u20 WJRC winning Junior Bok side, that all of eight years later, still remains as the only SA u20 side to achieve that feat. “Looking back at that tournament triumph, I think at that time I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should’ve” admits Dell. “You know when you are young, you’re rushing onto the next thing and not absorbing what you have achieved. But it was really special, a joy, because looking back we are still the only South African side to have won it, at that age group” he continued. Dell went on to laud the quality of players in that squad, that was able to even effortlessly replace some key members who were unavailable for selection. “A lot of players went on to become Springboks, quite a few won the World Cup being key players. We had a very talented group, we were really blessed, even Johan Goosen was meant to be our flyhalf but he ended up being selected for the Boks instead”.
Although he would watch on as some of his teammates graduated to the senior international ranks, he recalls that his sole focus was going back to the Sharks and establishing himself at the union’s senior team and things were looking up.
“After that tournament we played the Currie Cup u/21, I then got my senior debut off the bench against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, so I got a taste of senior rugby and was involved at that level under the management of John Plumtree and Rudolf Straeuli” he recalls.
Dell then had even more involvement that following pre-season, to such an extent that he was one of the four props the Sharks had earmarked going into that particular season alongside Beast Mtawarira, Jannie Du Plessis and Wian Herbst. At this point Dell felt it was only a matter of time as he was being involved in squad plans and strategies, so much so that he was guaranteed to make his debut on the Sharks Australasian tour, “Just before that tour, I was on the bench for the Vodacom Cup side with the plan being for me to be just cover, as Beast was set to be rested the next week and I was meant to deputize for him.”. He said. But then…a tragic twist… “I then came on and tore my MCL, only to find out later that Beast had broken his ankle in the Super Rugby game” a turn of events that would’ve no doubt compounded Dell’s misery as it only served to further delay his Super Rugby debut and career progress.
However, that particular incident didn’t spell doom for Dell’s hopes at the Sharks, as he managed to return from that injury stronger in the 2014 pre-season. That season, though, coincided with the announcement of a change of management, at the Jonsson Kings Park Stadium outfit, where former player and Springbok World Cup winning captain John Smit was appointed CEO, before appointing his World Cup winning coach Jake White, to come steer the ship at the Shark tank. Unfortunately, with new management usually comes new ideas and in the nature of the sporting business those new ideas often either lead to a new lease on life or a new job hunt for some, a somewhat rude awakening then ensued for the former Queens College captain.
“It all kind of changed when Plumtree and his management team got sacked” he recalls as he pinpoints the anti-climatic moment of his Sharks career. “When Jake White came in, I was told I was too small at 104 kg’s which subsequently led to me being pushed down the pecking order”. He then recalls being called in for make or break crunch talks, “They sat me down and said “listen, we want you at 115 kg’s if I was going to play senior rugby for the Sharks and I was honest and told them that was not going to happen” he said. Dell then found himself at a strange crossroads, “What made it unfortunate was that I had just signed a new two-year extension just before Plumtree got sacked and under him I was gaining senior rugby favour and felt I was starting to get integrated into the senior squad. But then under Jake White the sticking point was always about my size”.
Unfortunately, his reluctance to follow through with those instructions subsequently closed the curtains on a pathway, that once held so much promise at the Durban-based union. However, there seemed to be no shortage of offers locally for a player of Dell’s quality, as he reveals: “I remember Straeuli wanted me to go up to the Lions on loan when they heard I was being overlooked, the Cheetahs as well and the Sharks said no”. It was only at this point that Dell began to serious consider his overseas options immediately. “I then said, fine let me go to Edinburgh to prove that size isn’t everything”.
This was a deal he emphasized was not initially in the view of playing for Scotland, in fact he reveals he had never even thought about representing another country until an interesting encounter that planted the initial idea in his mind one year prior. “ When Scotland toured South Africa in June 2013 I had met up with Scott Johnson(former Scotland interim coach) for a lunch in Umhlanga where we discussed the option of playing for Scotland, an option I had never really thought of before then, even though I knew I was Scottish-qualified, with even my grandmother born there” he said.
It wasn’t, however, that conversation with the Australian-born rugby mentor that necessarily made his mind up about representing “The Thistle” but then recalls a trip that served as a game changer, “That November I went up to visit family there, I went to Murrayfield and checked everything out”. Even at that time Dell was still adamant that he wanted to first return and play the 2014 Super Rugby season before moving to Scotland but White’s management had already made the prospect of an early release up north the most plausible. “That was the pre-season I was told to put on weight in a manner which I wasn’t comfortable with, so it was all a size issue and not about leaving the Sharks and South Africa to get an international opportunity” he reiterated.
But as soon as he landed in Scotland, the landscape switched. “I decided, you know what? I’m committing to Scotland, but it was not like out of the blue I just decided to up and leave for Scotland. In fact throughout my childhood I always had strong ties with the country, but ultimately it was the size issue that forced me to go play rugby where I would be loved and appreciated and I did that, and it proved to be one of the best decisions I have ever taken in my life” he said, beaming.
Despite being forced to leave the Sharks and subsequently the country under acrimonious circumstances, he insists he harbours no bad blood and understands that what happened to him is part and parcel of any industry and nothing personal. “Sometimes when you not good enough for one team it doesn’t mean you not good altogether” he said. He goes on to make an illustration: “Under Plumtree I was good enough, getting opportunities, being brought through the ranks as the future, then six months later when the new coach came in, I was literally nowhere near the team anymore even after a good pre-season. It doesn’t make you a bad player, it just means stylistically you not a match, everyone has their preference, and even myself so there is no bitterness there” he clarified.
In part two of his story, Dell takes us through what type of mind state he was in when he made the decision to represent Scotland, the impact of wearing that Scottish jersey, build up and emotions before playing against the Springboks and being on the other side of the South African national anthem, he also details an interesting story about his late arrival into the British and Irish Lions side of 2017, before revealing his career ambitions. You don’t want to miss out!
