CJ Stander’s Grandad Is A Legend After These Comments

CJ Stander is quickly becoming a household name in Ireland.

The South African born flanker declared himself for Ireland in October and made his debut in the 2016 RBS Six Nations, starting all five games- including a man of the match performance in his debut against Wales.

Speaking about his whirlwind few months, the Munster man highlighted his Grandad as the person who had the biggest influence on his career.

I was about 12, and he didn’t say he wanted to see me play for the Springboks, he said “I want to see you play international rugby” and I didn’t really know what he meant at that stage.

But yeah, it worked out, I got a contract from Munster and the first guy I told was my grandad, and he said “As long as you don’t go to England I’m happy.”

So playing in front of him will be great, he always gives me a call after matches for advice, before matches sometimes. That’s a big drive for me, to play in front of family, they couldn’t make it to the Six Nations because I wasn’t sure if I was going to start.