Ulster Rugby vs Glasgow Warriors

WIEHAHN HERBST: AT HOME IN ULSTER

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…

“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.”

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