Vermeulen is raring to go
New Springbok squad member Duane Vermeulen has been hard at work in an attempt to reach full fitness before leaving for Australia.
Vermeulen only recently returned from a long-term knee injury, and his selection in the Bok squad to tour Australasia came as something of a surprise as he has not yet had a full game at Currie Cup level.
The powerful loose forward said that he has been focusing on his conditioning in order to get up to speed with Test match standard before the squad departs for Perth tomorrow.
"One can always improve, so there is always something to work on. I'm in the gym every day, busy with rehabilitation and conditioning.
"I must say, I weighed myself on Monday in Cape Town and I weighed this morning again and I've lost three kilograms, so I think there has been some good work that we've been doing," he said.
Vermeulen has had to wait quite a long time for his Bok call-up, and admitted to feeling relieved when he got the call from coach Heyneke Meyer on Tuesday.
"It's a great feeling for me. I've been working at this for quite a few years now and to be able to get here is a dream come true.
"I'm pleased to finally have got the opportunity and I think coach Heyneke [Meyer] has shown a lot of trust in me.
"I got a personal call from Heyneke and he said he wanted to tell me personally, so that it comes from his side, and to tell me that I'm part of the Australasian tour," he said.
"To finally be part of the squad and to be one of the guys is a great feeling," added Vermeulen.
The big loose forward said that the team has been working on the details that went wrong against Argentina in Mendoza next week and hope to bounce back strong against the Wallabies in Perth next weekend.
"After last weekend, there was probably a bad feeling that we drew, but I think there are a lot of positives to draw from the game and now it's all about improving small issues that went wrong," he said.
"I think we now have to go to Perth and turn the result around. The tournament is still long, so hopefully we have time to improve on that," he said.