43
ULSTER
RUGBY
“My wife and I are enjoying every minute
here,” says Herbst. “I am enjoying being a
part of the Ulster team, my teammates, the
coaches, everyone is just wonderful. The
weather has changed quite drastically in the
past few days, it is a lot colder and a little bit
more wet so it will take us a while to get used
to that. We have been to the Giants Causeway
and to Portrush with the team which was really
nice so we are having a great time. Also my
wife and I love the big parks, especially on
a Sunday, we like to have a nice picnic and
enjoy the beauty of the big green parks here –
that is becoming our favourite past time.”
Recruited by then Director of Rugby, David
Humphreys, Wiehahn spent a few days in
Belfast during the Easter holidays so he had a
fair idea of what to expect from the Ulster set
up however nothing could have prepared him
for the experience of match nights: “When I
visited last Easter I was very impressed with
the facilities,” explains Herbst. “But now I am
more blown away by the crowd. Back home
the stadiums are much bigger but the fans
and the atmosphere here are much better.
The home fans have definitely surprised me,
I had some friends over at the weekend and
they couldn’t believe the atmosphere inside
Kingspan, the fans are just amazing. My
parents watched the Edinburgh game from
South Africa and they said they could even
feel the atmosphere by watching on TV, which
is awesome.”
Having played for South Africa at Schools
level, in the Under 19 Rugby World
Championship and also in the IRB Junior
World Championships Wiehahn has found
things slightly different to what he is used to
but he is thoroughly enjoying the opportunity
to continuously improve his trade here at
Ulster:
“The intensity in training is slightly different to
what I am used to, especially on Tuesday’s
– that is our loading day and we get a lot of
hard work done. There is a lot of competition
here at Ulster, but it’s nice to have good
competition in every position because you
know you have to be on the top of your game
every week otherwise there is someone else
who is able to take your position, so you have
to be performing every week, training hard and
playing well.
“I am enjoying training, I love Allen Clarke as a
coach I think he brings out the best in people
even a little bit more than you even believed
you had in yourself. He is well respected and I
am really enjoying working with him.”
In terms of his goals for the season Wiehahn
tells us: “I will take every game as it comes,
but my ambitions for the season are to play
as many games as I can in an Ulster jersey,
and it would be great to get to the semi-final
or final stages of the Guinness PRO12 or the
European Rugby Champions Cup, that would
be just mind-blowing.”
25 year-old Herbst joined Ulster in the summer having
spent five years with the Sharks in South Africa. With
only the word of Johann Muller and Ruan Pienaar to go
by, Wiehahn and his wife upped sticks and moved their
lives half way across the world to Belfast…
WIEHAHN HERBST:
AT HOME IN ULSTER
