Janco Bronkhorst – Brandwag Captain
Player Profile
Brandwag head down the East Rand to play HTS Springs in a FNB Classic Clash on Saturday. Janco Bronkhorst captains Brandwag of Benoni from the flank position.
Johannes Jacobus Bronkhorst was born in Pretoria on 4 February 1988. Janco has rugby in his blood; he has two uncles who both played representative rugby for Northern Transvaal (the Blue Bulls). He went to junior school in Benoni and moved to Brandwag in Grade 8 because his family live close to the school and the rugby is strong. Brandwag is a co-ed school with some 1 000 pupils of whom about 650 are female. As vice-head boy and captain of the 1st XV Janco has the pick of them!
Janco has played flank his whole life and is playing in his second year in the Brandwag 1st XV. As a fetcher flank he plays with the No. 6 on his back. Janco excels in turning over ball on the ground and is also a strong defender. Even though Janco is a Bulls supporter his rugby hero is WP and Stormers star Schalk Burger. Janco admires the way that Schalk puts his body on the line in every game and never stops playing for the full 80 minutes. Janco was disappointed not to make the Falcons Craven Week team this year after having captained the Falcons Under-16B team at the Grant Khomo week in 2004.
Janco says that Brandwag have a good, dynamic team this year who play completely differently from the Bulls. Janco referred to the Bulls as “stampkarre” or crash cars. Brandwag have a small pack and quick backs. According to Janco they usually run their opposition off their feet in the second half. Brandwag have good depth this year as well and Janco says that every week the 1stXV players feel like they are playing for their positions. In addition the Grade 11s and Grade12s in the team have bonded well and they have a good team spirit.
Brandwag came 3rd in the Super 16, losing to Heidelberg Volkskool in the semi-final. They are unbeaten in the Falcons league with good wins over Linden (85-0) and HTS John Vorster.
Brandwag play HTS Springs only once a year, and so Saturday’s game is a very big one, especially for the Grade 12’s. Janco says his players are in the right frame of mind and they are looking forward to defending their FNB Classic Clash title.
Next year Janco intends studying financial management at Tukkies. In his typical down-to-earth style Janco says he will start playing his rugby in the koshuis (inter-residence) league and see what happens from there.