Jacques Burger ‘plays every game like his last’

Saracens flanker Kelly Brown has hailed his back row partner Jacques Burger as ‘simply incredible’ after the Namibian’s display in the 46-6 Heineken Cup semi-final drubbing of Clermont Auvergne.
Brown, no slouch at the breakdown either, admits he marvels at the astonishing efforts of Burger, 30, who has defied multiple, potentially career-ending, operations on the knee he wrecked battling for his country at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
Burger set a Premiership record of 34 tackles away at Exeter earlier this season, and the 27 he completed against Clermont proved too much for the French as Saracens clinched their first appearance in Europe’s showpiece final.
“Jacques was simply incredible,” Brown told The Rugby Paper. “He leads a lot of the line-speed and physicality in our defence and is a huge asset.
“But what’s more impressive is the injury trouble he’s been through, and continues to go through, and the effort he makes to actually get out on the pitch.
“He’s always been physical and wants to smash people, but because of what he went through, there was a real chance he’d never play again.
“He came back at the tail end of last season and it wasn’t quite right and there were doubts, but what he feels now is that he’s lucky to have got through that. He just plays every game as if it’s his last and that’s not a bad way to approach it.”
Of Burger’s battered features, Brown adds: “Everyone puts in physicality, but Jacques has this uncanny knack of tackling with his face. That’s his style, we love him for it and he’s in the side to bring that level of intense physicality.”
Brown suffered trauma of his own during the Six Nations when, as Scotland captain, he was humiliated by coach Scott Johnson, who dropped him from the squad before reinstating him for the final matches against France and Wales.
“This season’s been up and down,” says Brown, “but you have to view any setback as a challenge – and that’s what I did during the Six Nations.
“All I could do was focus on myself, continue to work hard and try to keep on improving. I just want to do my part for whatever team I’m in.”
In common with discarded England wings Chris Ashton and David Strettle, Brown is grateful to Saracens, explaining: “It’s a fantastic environment, an unbelievably positive and upbeat place, so when people like me or Ashy get dropped we come back into an environment where everyone is genuinely delighted to see you.
“People really care and the experiences we’ve been through here, on and off the park, have been magnificent.
“Some people see our bonding trips to New York and the like as a bit of a jolly, but they enable us to spend time with each other and it makes us a really tight group of friends which is reflected on the pitch.”
If he appears against Toulon, Brown, 31, will join a select band of Scotsmen who have appeared in a Heineken Cup final – one that includes multi-capped veterans such as Andy Nicol, Budge Pountney and Nathan Hines.
He is unfazed, though, adding. “It’s the sort of thing you’ll look back on when you’re an old man in a rocking chair and think: ‘That was good.’
“Right now, I’m just working hard to play in that final. There’s a lot of competition in our back-row and we’ve got big games between now and then.”
NEALE HARVEY