Alberts ready for World Cup opener

A back injury at the end of 2014 led to hamstring problems for the Bok flank for much of the 2015 Super Rugby season. After recovering from that, an ankle injury right at the end of the season meant the Springbok hard man has only played one Test match going into the global showpiece.

Nevertheless Alberts was confident he would be back to his bruising best after being named in the Springbok World Cup squad on Friday night.

“I think a couple of month’s back I was stressing over my injuries and niggles. Luckily I’ve been working hard and I got to play against Argentina and it went quite well. I wasn’t back to full fitness but after that the coach made sure I’ve trained hard enough so by the first game of the World Cup. I’ll definitely be 100 percent fit and ready to go,” Alberts said.

Meanwhile Alberts’ Cell C Sharks teammates Marcell Coetzee and Cobus Reinach were unfortunate to be left out of the World Cup squad. The ‘Bone Collector’ was empathetic towards his provincial teammates and said the team would do their best to make the wider squad proud.

“Unluckily there are only 31 guys who can go to the World Cup and it’s a difficult decision for the coach and selectors. There are always guys who are going to miss out and some great guys have to stay behind. We just want to go to the World Cup and make them proud,” Alberts said.

“I think Marcell is a great guy and there are many good things to come for him in his career in the future.”

With the squad settled, Alberts is turning his attention to making sure he is physically ready for the tournament. Despite a lack of game time the 31-year-old believes he will find match fitness fairly quickly.

“I think if you’ve been playing for a long time you find that balance quite quickly. You just need to be medically fit then that percentage is so much smaller for you to get into a good playing condition.”

 “The pool stages are some of the most important games because if you fail there it can make the road ahead so much more difficult. I think just take it game by game, do what you need to do to hit your straps later in the tournament.”

Alberts was also excited about playing alongside Duane Vermeulen, who is also on the verge of recovering from surgery on his neck.

“Duane is an awesome player and I think the rest has benefitted him a great deal because he has played a lot of rugby over the last couple of years. He’s a guy who’s got class and you don’t lose that – he might struggle a bit with his fitness but his class will always be there and it will come through at the right moment.”

The Boks take on Japan first up in the World Cup on September 19.

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