Willie le Roux still pursuing greatness as he hunts down 100 Test caps

Le Roux is now a veteran of three World Cup campaigns. While young pretenders are challenging for his place, the 34-year-old more than holds his own. The fullback still pulls the strings of the Boks' attack and is often found slotting in at flyhalf or linking up with a winger to put him away for the try.

With 100 Springbok caps in sight, the Bulls player isn't planning on lifting his foot off the throttle.

"[As a kid] my dream was always to play for the Springboks and if I had to play one Test that would have been enough for me, I would take that," Le Roux told the Behind the Ruck Podcast.

"Where I am now, I'm just so grateful for everyone that has supported me since day one. The 2019 World Cup was tough but we got the job done. There was the [shoulder]  injury that not a lot of people knew about.

"I'm on 94 caps now, if I could get another six it would be amazing to get to 100."However, Le Roux knows not to take his centurion march for granted. The likes of Damian Willemse as well as newcomers Aphelele Fassi, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Quan Horn are nipping at his aged heels.

"There's young guys coming through and they are playing so well in the URC and all over the world so I still have to fight to get that spot," admitted the double World Cup winner,

"It's never guaranteed that you get that jersey. The younger guys keep you on your toes, you have to play very well every weekend to still have a chance to play [in the Boks].  

"Hopefully I can get there but if I can't, I tried my best and I'm happy."

With advances in modern medicine and athlete recovery, even the attritional sport of rugby has seen its fair share of stars playing at the highest level deep into their thirties. For le Roux, he hopes to take a leaf out of the lengthy books of former Boks Ruan Pienaar and Willem Alberts.

"Seeing guys like Ruan and Willem get to 40, I'm like 'why won't you get there Willie? What's going to stop you?'", he continued.

"I'm not going to stop playing rugby until they tell me â˜listen, you have to really stop now'. I feel good. It's just about looking after the body. If you and the conditioning coach are good mates, that helps!"

Should le Roux reach the milestone, he will be the eighth Springbok to do so. The Stellenbosch native would join the exclusive club of Victor Matfield (127), Bryan Habana (124), Eben Etzebeth( 119), Tendai Mtawarira (117),    John Smit (111), Jean de Villiers (109) and Percy Montgomery (102).

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