The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly chats to Munster's South African prop Wian du Preez.
"From Greys, he followed the established path through university into the Cheetahs system, where he was blessed with some extraordinary tutelage.
"It was a great learning curve," he recalls. "Myself and Jannie (du Plessis) came up together and we were learning from front-rows like Os du Randt, Ollie le Roux, CJ van der Linde and Naka Drotske. I was blessed to have access to that level of front-row knowledge."
"With international call-ups creating opportunities, Du Preez made steady progress, his best year coming in 2008/09 when he featured on the Cheetahs side that rattled Ian McGeechan's touring Lions (the day Brussow announced himself to a wider audience as a flanker of rare ability).
"However, despite his good form, Du Preez failed to make the Springbok squad for the November tour to Europe so, when he heard Munster were interested in a short-term deal as cover for the injured Marcus Horan, he took the plunge.
"It was a decision that led to his first and, thus far, only cap, as injuries to props in a midweek defeat to Leicester meant Du Preez was in the right place at the right time and was called up for the clash with Italy."
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