Springbok fever hits Nelspruit as hometown hero Faf returns: 'It means so much to them'

In Mbombela

Springbok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk may be a lynchpin for his team, but he hardly talks about the path he's taken to play for the Boks.

Saturday's Rugby Championship Test against the All Blacks will be his second in his hometown of Mbombela, having featured in the 30-13 win against Argentina at the same ground in 2016.

De Klerk, who went to Hoërskool Waterkloof in Pretoria, actually represented the South African Academy side at the 2009 Craven Week in East London, where one Cornell du Preez, who represented the Southern Kings and Scotland later on, played alongside him.

READ | Green-blooded Mbombela braces for Boks-All Blacks Rugby Championship storm

He then, along with Vincent Koch, did the rounds with the Pumas, before moving to bigger and better places that led them to the Springboks.

De Klerk hasn't lost sight of what's got him to the Boks and what it means to stay there.

"We last played here in 2016 and sometimes, you sort of start reminiscing over the things you went through," De Klerk said.

"Vincent and I laughed just thinking of how the other guys don't know what it's like to go through this route and the stuff we did with Jimmy (Stonehouse) back in the day.

"We had a giggle while thinking about the route that one had to take to get here. Coach Jacques Nienaber generally mentions quite often the path some of the guys had to take to get here.

"You were written off as a youngster and you weren't supposed to be here. One leans on that a lot and takes a lot of energy from that.

"We try to use that in everything we do."

Sold-out signs have yet to go up for Saturday's Test, but the squeeze in accommodation speaks of every indication that the 2010 World Cup stadium in Matsafeni will be packed to the rafters.

Having trained