Augustus: I fight to stop feeling sick

By JON NEWCOMBE

SAINTS fans’ favourite Juarno Augustus leaves nothing in the tank on the pitch and is close to emptying his stomach off it every weekend because of a bad bout of prematch nerves.

Opening the window on what he goes through immediately prior to kick-off, the quietly spoken South African offers a fascinating insight into the anxiety he suffers before running out in front of thousands of fans.

“Before the game, I kind of get a little anxious, and I almost throw up before the game,” the fearsome 26-year-old No.8 said.

“It all just builds up at once, five minutes before kick-off. But as soon as I run onto the field it all just disappears because I know I am going into battle with my team-mates, brothers of mine, and they’ll have my back if anything goes wrong. That’s just me.

“I don’t know what it is. I don’t think it is nerves about not doing well or being scared and afraid to play or about getting injured. When that happens I know that I really want to do it, it shows that I really care.”

Augustus overcame a knee “niggle” to start the season off the bench in the defeat at Bath, replacing Sam Graham with half an hour to play.

Now he’s into his fourth season, the former Junior Springbok is hoping for a big season in the green, gold and black as he looks to press home his claims to be first-choice at the back of the Saints pack, and also potentially make the breakthrough into Test rugby.

Jasper Wiese is currently the man in possession of the Springboks No.8 jersey having forced his way through his performances at Leicester.

And while Augustus says he is very much his own man, Wiese’s meteoric rise from international outcast to World Cup winner can’t have gone unnoticed.

“I watch him play but I won’t take inspiration from him because his has his own goals and I have my own goals,” he said. “I am not comparing myself to anyone else out there.

“As a young boy, as a rugby player, it is a player’s dream to play international rugby, but at the moment I am just trying to stay fit and I’ll take it week by week.”

The former Stormers player started at No.8 in last season’s 25-21 Premiership final win over Bath. And now that he’s had his giant hands on the trophy once, Augustus wants to experience the thrill of winning silverware again.

“When I came over here, my goals were to get into the team, help the team improve and win a trophy,” said Augustus, who arrived at Saints ahead of the 2021/22 season.

“We did that and we have put it behind us now because it’s a new season and we have new players and new game plans.

“We start the season fresh and we’ve got the ability to do well this season, maybe go back to back. It’s the focus for us to do it again this season and not to dwell on the past.

“We’ve won the Premiership last season, we’re champions and we’ve probably got a big target on our backs but we won’t stand back because of that – it just gives us more fuel and energy.”

If they are to go backto-back, Saints will have to do so with different personnel in the back row as Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam are now plying their trade in France.

Josh Kemeny, from the Melbourne Rebels, is one of the new recruits and made a try-scoring debut down at Bath.

Augustus feels that Saints have the right culture to easily deal with a relatively high turnover of players and make the transition as seamless as possible.

“It’s quite tough losing however many players – maybe 10 or more than that,” he admitted.

“For the new boys coming in, it’s good that they have a pre-season so they can get used to what we have been doing for the last couple of years.

“That’s why we have a development meeting for the new boys so they can be on track with us going into the season, and some of them played on the weekend, and they played well, so I don’t think it is a massive adjustment for boys to come in.

“I’ve asked a few, what’s the biggest difference from playing in other leagues and coming here, and they say it is not that hard because we make it easy for them to settle in. We’re a tight group of players.”