Benhard Janse van Rensburg: It would be amazing to play for England

Having previously represented a menagerie of sides around South Africa in Limpopo Blue Bulls, the Leopards, the Sharks and the Cheetahs, it might have seemed inevitable that Benhard Janse van Rensburg would one day join the Bears.

The well-travelled 26-year-old can also detail North West University Pukke, the Kings, the Green Rockets, from Abiko in Japan, and London Irish on a loaded CV. But teams with animal monikers are particularly apt. Janse van Rensburg, known as ‘BV’, grew up on a farm in a town called Thabazimbi, around 2½ hours north of Pretoria and not far from the border with Botswana.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” he says of the plot run by Gerhard, his father. “We have crops, some cattle and a little bit of wildlife; buffalo and warthogs, kudus, zebras, stuff like that.”

For the past two seasons, Janse van Rensburg has been one of the most accomplished and effective centres in the Premiership, his mullet and moustache familiar to regular observers of the competition. A fly-half in his youth, he has an impressive passing range and is a flinty carrier, too. Janse van Rensburg often disrupts opposition breakdowns and boasts experience of Super Rugby, the Pro 14 and Japan’s top tier, where he was a Green Rockets colleague of Alex Goode. Bristol, his latest home, are benefiting, and inquiring about Test aspirations feels natural.

South Africa face a period of transition. Damian de Allende, now a double world champion, turns 32 later this month. Lukhanyo Am, Jesse Kriel and André Esterhuizen will be 30 by next March. Each of those midfielders could be around for the foreseeable future and Canan Moodie, 22, certainly will be. Even so, by opting to stay in England after Irish went under, on the back of an encouraging Zoom call with Pat Lam while he was with family in Thabazimbi last spring, Janse van Rensburg has retained different opportunities.

Some seven years ago, he was whisked into a South Africa Under-20 squad featuring Manie Libbok as an injury replacement for the third-place play-off of the 2016 World Championship in Manchester. “I flew in on the Thursday, did the captain’s [run] on Friday, played on the Saturday and flew back on Sunday,” Janse van Rensburg remembers. “It was a four-day trip and I played 19 or 20 minutes.”

To delve into the murky realm of eligibility laws, South Africa Under-20 was the Springboks’ designated second team during that period, which caused players to be tied to that nation as far as eligibility – as long as they faced another designated second team. Argentina’s second team at the time was a more senior outfit known as ‘Argentina XV’, effectively an A side. Theoretically, all this leaves Janse van Rensburg open to qualify for England should he complete a five-year residency period. And he has obviously researched the possibility.

“The game I played was against Argentina and the year I played, Argentina’s Under-20s was not their second team,” Janse van Rensburg explains. “It doesn’t qualify as an international cap, or something like that. I just need to spend five years in another country and then I can qualify to play for someone else.”

“I just want to enjoy my rugby week-in, week-out and whatever happens, happens,” he adds with a smile. “Let’s say I get to 36 and I’m thinking of retiring – even if I want to play ’til I’m 42 – and I haven’t played international rugby, I’ll still think of my career as a success. I just want to play the best rugby I can.

‘If I don’t play for England I won’t see my career as unsuccessful’

“Five years is a long time. I’ve been here two and this is my third season. It’s still a long way away. If I qualify for England and manage to play for them one day, amazing. If I don’t, I won’t see my career as unsuccessful. I’ll just focus on playing the best rugby I can.”

By 2026, on the verge of the next World Cup, a midfield partnership might have been established for England. Dan Kelly, Seb Atkinson and Max Ojomoh are all promising prospects. Others are coming through. Since Janse van Rensburg first played for Irish in September 2021, though, and before this weekend, the top three inside centres as far as Premiership starts were Esterhuizen (41), Nick Tompkins (33) and Rory Hutchinson (31). Janse van Rensburg has 30, putting him fourth on the list, behind a Springbok, a Wales international and a Scotland international.

Across the same period, only Fraser Dingwall had more combined starts across both centre roles:

Having spent most of the 2022-23 campaign at outside centre alongside Rory Jennings for the Exiles, Janse van Rensburgis back wearing 12 to accommodate Virimi Vakatawa, another of Lam’s new signings. Bristol are at Sandy Park on Sunday, taking on Exeter Chiefs. The victor will have three wins from four fixtures to begin the season. In a 10-team league comprising 18 matches before the play-offs, that amounts to serious momentum.

Janse van Rensburg predicts an “exciting” year for a squad that has “gelled quickly”. An avid golfer with a handicap of 7.6 – “sometimes I’m under, sometimes I’m way under,” is a modest summary – he is one of life’s all-rounders. “I don’t mind where I play on the field, I still have the same mind-set,” he adds.

‘I don’t mind bending down there on the flank and having a go’

“Sometimes I do like to get into the mix with the forwards. If there’s a yellow card, I don’t mind bending down there on the flank and having a go. Playing at centre, I know how the 10 thinks. That’s helped me a lot throughout my career and helped me evolve as a player.”

A close friend of Jasper Wiese from their time at the Cheetahs, Janse van Rensburg describes watching the Springboks at the World Cup, especially over the knockout stages, as “very stressful”. For the first half of the semi-final against England, he was the sole South African on a coach returning from Bristol’s win in Northampton. He watched the second half, as he did the final, on his own at home. Well, not quite on his own. HJ, his 19-year-old brother, fired over texts throughout. The pair are obviously close, and may take over the farm from Gerhard one day.

“You never know,” grins Janse van Rensburg. “I like to keep my options open and see whatever life throws at me.”

Whether or not life throws him a red rose and a run-out at Twickenham, he is “grateful” for what has come so far and intent on enjoying himself. Thabazimbi, you sense, is never too far from his thoughts.

“My favourite thing about Bristol compared to London is that we have a little more countryside,” Janse van Rensburg finishes, smiling. “That reminds me of home, and we have an outside area where I can have a Braai… if the weather allows it.”