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The story behind Specmagic

rugby20 February 2019 08:49| © SuperSport
By:Brenden Nel
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Rosko Specman © Gallo Images

It may be hard to believe, but Rosko Specman wasn’t always fast. There was a time when Specman was toiling away at school in Grahamstown, struggling to find the speed he knew he wanted to possess.

A time when coaches had moved him from scrumhalf to outside centre as they started to recognise his rugby talent. But he wasn’t as fast as he thought he could be.

So Specman did the only thing a kid could do – he sat down with his father Joseph, a club rugby player in Grahamstown, and asked for advice.

“We have to go old school,” his dad smiled, “and there will be no turning back.”

And so began the long road of hard work for the Bulls newest hero, a long road that culminated in Specman scoring two tries with a step for the ages, and the promise that “Specmagic” may become a cliché in the halls of Loftus Versfeld before too long

“I didn’t have the speed and I sat down to talk to my dad. I told him I’m not fast enough,” Specman smiles as he tells the story.

“He said fine. There is a gravel hill outside Grahamstown – a very steep uphill. The call it Selfmoord (Suicide hill). For a year I had to attach a tyre to me and drag it up the hill.”

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So began a year of hard toil. Through sun and rain but fuelled by determination. Selfmoord became Specman’s back yard, the alpha and omega of his determination to play rugby with speed.

“I didn’t feel it was working. It was tough on me, here all my friends were playing street cricket and touch rugby and I was dragging the tyre up and down in the sun. At one stage I decided it is time to try out for athletics and see if it was working,” he explains.

Specman was shocked beyond belief when on a grass track he recorded an 11 second flat 100 metre.

“My dad said – it shows you – you have to go old school,” he laughs.

But Specman didn’t have the coaching like other athletes, and was shocked when he went to the SA Schools meeting and ended up fourth.

“I saw these guys were next level, they had coaches and they had facilities to train in. I was at an ordinary school, I never had any of that. So I decided to leave athletics and concentrate on rugby.”

It began a long journey for a player with immense talent, but one who had to fight his way through the system. There were no big name contracts at big unions for him.

His start was a lot smaller, playing at the EP Mighty Elephants Academy at under-19 level – where he played with a 16-year old upstart named Siya Kolisi – while in the bay.

From there a move to College Rovers saw him enter the Sharks system and complete his junior rugby there, winning the National Club Championships with Rovers during his stay. He made the Sharks under-21 team, alongside Guy and Ross Cronje and a fullback named Pat Lambie. For once it seemed as if his career was on the up.

But then things changed and his path was blocked at the Sharks, leading to a move to the Pumas under coach Jimmy Stonehouse, who Specman says was hugely influential for his career.

Specman flirted with Sevens and won player of the tournament at the National Provincial Sevens tournament and started a conversation with Neil Powell. But the glory of the World Series was still a long way away.

Finally he got his break in 2014, playing his first tournament in Las Vegas and tearing ankle ligaments against Kenya. His dream was shattered, but it never dampened his determination.

“I knew I had to do better because they won’t take you back unless you can show something special,” Specman said.

Winning the First Division with the Pumas gave him the confidence and he slotted in perfectly into Powell’s plans, being nominated in 2017 for the World Sevens Player of the year award. And flirting with a return to fifteens he played Pro14 for the Toyota Cheetahs in 2018.

So why then a move to the Bulls?

“My agent and I chatted and we said there was something happening at the Bulls. They were playing exciting rugby and giving other players a chance. It wasn’t the old Bulls rugby of Bakkies and Victor, with Fourie du Preez kicking a box kick and Bryan Habana chasing. That excited me,” he says.

“Coach John (Mitchell) and Pote (Human) were doing something special and I wanted to be a part of that.”

Specman never expected such an amazing Super Rugby debut, and prepared for it the same way he prepares for any game – by binge-watching animation – especially his favourite Pokemon.

“I watched Pokemon. I love animations, it calms me. Ash and Picachu and those two are very close and when I look at them, they keep each other sharp. Iron sharpens iron as they say, and I know the more I sharpen my skills, when I work on my step. To work on that detail. It’s the small things and that is what I learn from it.”

And while he wants to still “get used to fifteens again”, his two-try start was something spectacular that Loftus needed to see after so many disappointments in recent years.

“It will take me a while to get used to fifteens again, I need to play more and then my other triggers will come into play, like the chip. At the moment, it was more the step – like the first try – when I saw Dillyn (Leyds) was on defence I knew there was nobody at the back, and the scrumhalf was covering the right side of the field. I thought to go for the step – and it worked, so I was A for away,” he explains.

And the second try was almost more masterful from an inside pass from Warrick Gelant.

“Warrick is one of those guys who always seems to have a lot of time when he has the ball in his hands. I told him to pop inside to me, but said if he felt he needed to take contact, or try break the line, I was there to support him.

“He did exceptionally well and drew the defenders before popping to me. I knew then I had to go, because if it didn’t work, then he would say to me ‘hey you told me to pop.’ So I had no choice.”

Specman knows the exploits of game one will make him a marked man this weekend against the Jaguares, but that’s all part of the fun.

“Everything went perfectly, I never dreamed I would have a Super Rugby debut like that, but now I know the hard work begins. I need to work harder, because people are going to expect the same from me in the next game, and other teams are going to know this is the guy to stop,” he says.

“It doesn’t make me scared. It gets me excited, and now I can bring the chips into the game, and decide when to step them. I can continue to try to confuse them.

“At Sevens I had a few things – I could step, and I could chip and chase. And if I feel it is on, on the day, then I will try and take you on the outside. You have to play mind games with the opposition on that front.”

Specman knows all too well that he will be closely marked from now on. But that is the way he likes it. His whole career has been overcoming challenges others would have failed at.

And now that he is at this point, there will be little that will convince him not to overcome a few more.

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