BKT United Rugby Championship round two
Lions v Ulster (today, 11.55am, live on Premier Sports 1)
WHEN Ulster announced the signing of the dynamic South African Werner Kok in March, it raised quite a few eyebrows on both sides of the equator.
Kok was playing a starring role for the Sharks and at the season’s end had a European Challenge Cup medal in his back pocket to add to the sevens Olympic bronze medal he won in Rio in 2016.
Now 31, and with his career somewhat approaching a crossroads, Kok felt it was the perfect opportunity to seek something different while time was still on his side. And when Ulster came knocking, he didn’t have to go too far to find out what to expect if he went to the province.
“I had a good chat with Ruan Pienaar and heard his stories from when he was here. And Duane [Vermeulen], I spoke to him and recently I spoke to Marcel Coetzee and his father and they said that if I make the decision to come to Ulster it will probably be one of the best decisions and they were 100% right.”
Kok also revealed his desire to one day return to northern hemisphere rugby stemmed from a stint in France with Toulouse.
In 2020 Kok spent time with the French giants as a medical ‘joker’ signing, and it was following this spell that a seed was planted in his mind to come back at some point to give European rugby a proper go.
“That was one of the journeys that we took,” said Kok.
“I’m 31 now and if I stayed in South Africa, I don’t think there will be another option to come so that was one of the big reasons.
“I really want to get into a different culture, a different team and a different style of rugby because South African rugby is pretty similar. I wanted to just sharpen up my skill and things like that in the northern hemisphere rugby style.”
Despite making it sound like coming to Ulster was the easiest decision of his career, Kok admits that when the offer was put on the table, he was faced with a difficult decision.
“It was tough. I really liked my time in Durban. It was a good place to be,” he said.
“But when my contract negotiation stuff came up, I spoke to Byrn [Cunningham, Ulster’s head of rugby operations and recruitment] and the coaching staff here, and it just seemed like they wanted me more.
“The Sharks knew that I wanted to go overseas so they really had to spin a good story to actually keep me there.
“But it was tough to leave, especially leaving family behind and things like that. That was tough but being here now is probably the best decision I made for my rugby career.”
Round two fixtures
Saturday Lions v Ulster (11.55am); Bulls v Edinburgh (2pm); Zebre v Munster (3pm); Scarlets v Cardiff (5.15pm); Connacht v Sharks (7.35pm); Ospreys v Stormers (7.35pm)
