Pierre Johan Spies (born 8 June 1985 in Pretoria, South Africa) is a South African rugby player. His usual position is on the flank or at number 8, where he plays for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in the Super 14 competition. He has been included in the Springboks’ 2006 & 2007 Tri Nations squad.
Spies made his Super 12 debut on the wing against the Brumbies, becoming the youngest player ever to represent the Bulls. After being injured in his first ever Super 12 match, he made his comeback through the national under-21 league, where he scored nine tries in just six games. He made his debut for the Blue Bulls in 2005 in a match against the Griquas.
Although he plays as a loose forward, he has incredible pace. His 100m time is believed to be about 11 seconds. This is especially impressive considering his size, 195cm tall and 107kg at present. He has played wing for the Bulls when they experienced an injury problem last season.
After starring for the U21 Springbok side that played in the U21 Rugby World Cup France last year, Spies made his debut in the Springbok’s 49 – 0 drubbing at the hands of Australia in the 2006 Tri-Nations. Spies was largely anonymous in that game, however, Springbok coach Jake White picked him again for the home-leg of the tournament. There, Spies turned in two Man of the Match performances, most notably in the win over the All Blacks in Rustenburg, and in the victory over Australia in Durban.
He was widely praised for these performances against world-class oppostion, but unfortunately was injured in a dismal Springbok showing against Ireland on the end of year tour. This injury ruled him out for the rest of the tour, as well as much of the 2007 Super 14 competition, but he has since made his comeback for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in their 49 – 12 victory over Southern rivals the Vodacom Stormers.
Spies is believed to be a certainty for Jake White’s squad for the IRB Rugby World Cup to be played in France in September.
Pierre Spies hit the international scene with a bang last year. He was nominated as newcomer of the year by the International Rugby Players Association after a few brilliant displays for the Boks at loose forward.
A very versatile player Spies still played on the wing at under-19 level a few seasons ago. He is big, strong, very fast and has all the skills. No surprise then when he gets compared to former Bok captain Bob Skinstad.
Spies recovered from injury at the start of 2007 and stormed back into fine form during the Super 14 and June internationals.
He was widely tipped to be the Springbok number eight at the World Cup before his tragic withdrawal due to blood clots discovered in his lungs.
Pierre Spies on his return to form, steroid allegations and his quest to be the best No 8 in the world.
Over the course of our conversation Pierre Spies speaks openly about a range of interesting topics – the pain of missing the 2007 World Cup due to a rare blood disease and how religion helped him stave off depression in that period, life as a newlywed and the benefits of not having to drop his wife off at home after a night out, Schalk Burger’s explosiveness in Test matches despite his laid-back attitude to training, and the won’t-go-away rumours of steriod use – none of which capture the attention more than a simple response to a simple question.
‘Who is the best No 8 in world rugby?’ I ask. I fully expect him to rattle off some boring bullshit like: ‘That’s tough. Ryan Kankowski is an unbelievable player, and that bloke from Wales, whatshisname? Powell? Ja, Andy Powell, that boy can play a bit. And the Irishman, Jamie Heaslip, he’s coming through nicely. Oh ja, and Rodney So’oialo …’
Instead, I’m met with a thoughtful gaze before the most unexpected response. ‘That player is still in the making. It’s me.’
‘Wait a minute, you’re breaking protocol here,’ I say. ‘You’re supposed to sing the praises of the first half-decent players who spring to mind. So, I’ll ask again for fear of misquoting you: who is the best No 8 in world rugby?’
‘Look, I’m not going to make excuses for having confidence in my ability,’ Spies fires back. ‘If you look at the guys out there, not much separates them. I’d like to think I have that extra bit that sets me apart. I know it’ll be perceived as arrogance, like: “Listen to this guy talking himself up. He needs to learn his place.†That’s the way we are as humans isn’t it? We’re encouraged to aspire to be the greatest, then shot down when we do. But it’s not arrogance. I know my limitations and strengths and I’d like to believe that I can be the best in the world.’
I’m incredulous by now, stunned at what I’m hearing, but completely overjoyed to be listening to a player spitting unbridled truths.
‘I know I have a long way to go,’ he says. ‘But I want to get to the point where coaches, players and the public think about the best No 8s in the game and my name is at the forefront of their minds.’
We’ll discuss the physical and technical evolution of Pierre Spies at length, but from the outset there’s no denying that a cognitive evolution has been at the heart of his return to something resembling his best form.
This is my sixth Spies interview in four years. We’ve spoken extensively about playing on the wing in his rookie Super Rugby season, the death of his father, becoming a Springbok, a nightmarish debut Test and how that was the catalyst for his transition from man-child to man, an outstanding 2007 Super 14 campaign which culminated in him kneeling down on the King’s Park turf thanking God, who he communes with regularly, and his decision to specialise at eighthman.
Evolution in the world’s elite players is triggered by an evolution in their mindset. The body is at the complete mercy of the mind and since the end of the 2008 season Spies’s mind has been barking orders at his body with the intensity and relentlessness of a commanding officer in the US Marine Corps.
My previous encounters with Spies mean I’m well aware of how physically imposing he is. I’m no expert on conditioning, but to my mind he had reached his physical ceiling prior to the 2007 World Cup, so I’m fully expecting a man mountain to come striding through the doors of a cafe close to Loftus, where we’ve agreed to meet, but wholly unprepared for what I am about to encounter.
I interviewed Spies in Cape Town just before news of his illness broke, and then it seemed the Boks’ kit manager would have to put in an order for custom-made apparel. No professional sportsman, I thought, could get more muscular than that. At least not naturally. But we’ll delve into that nagging issue in a minute.
Yet Spies is bigger and even more imposing than he was 18 months ago. He looks like a lab experiment who had spent that period doing nothing more than being intravenously pumped with protein and lifting weights the size of a five-year-old. My hand disappears in his as we greet and I catch myself measuring my thigh and wondering if it’s bigger than his bicep. Brutal honesty leads me to the conclusion that it is, in fact, not.
I’ll throw some stats your way to underline the majesty of the beast who has just declined a meal and a Coke, preferring mineral water instead. ‘I’ll eat later,’ he says. ‘What? A baby rhino?’ I wonder. Spies power cleans 135kg. He dead lifts 240kg. He bench presses 165kg. Only mildly impressed? Wait, here are some more. He is able to do pull-ups with a 50kg weight between his legs. He can launch his 108kg body 1.4m onto a raised platform, sprints for 835m before slowing on a repeated sprint-ability test and has a body-fat percentage of 6.5.
‘Pierre has been blessed with amazing genes and has maximised those,’ Bulls conditioning coach Basil Carzis says. ‘As humans we don’t really know what our full physical potential is. We think we’re pushing the limits but the reality is that we’re not even close most of the time. Pierre refuses to die wondering.
‘Mediocrity doesn’t sit well with him. In the gym he pushes himself to lift the most, jump the highest and run the fastest. We have competitions between teams in the gym and you’re feeling pretty confident if Pierre is on your side. Physically he’s well above the norm. I’ve heard the term freak used to describe him and that’s probably accurate.’
But there’s a nagging thought in my mind: What if this freak is a drug cheat?
Since the modern era of drug testing began at the Pan Am Games in ‘83 I’ve seen more elite athletes banned for the use of performance-enhancing substances than I care to remember. I recall sitting transfixed as US sprinter Marion Jones took gold at the Sydney Olympics 100m final in 2000, wondering who on earth would ever be as quick, and I watched juiced-up baseballer Barry Bonds hit his 654th career home run at Yankee Stadium, craning my neck to see the ball land in the car park outside. Gods among mere mortals, I thought. Floyd Landis, Ben Johnson, countless swimmers, weightlifters, cyclists and sprinters … drug cheats the lot of them.
Everything inside me wants to believe that Spies is different. I want to believe that true athletic phenoms, ones with no intruders in their bloodstream, still walk the earth. He speaks candidly about the rumours which have dogged him throughout his senior career and, rightly or wrongly, I’m sold.
‘What can I do about those rumours? Nothing,’ he says with a resigned tone. ‘I can’t shape what people think. But those people who make those sorts of allegations aren’t there with me in the gym when everyone else has gone home. They don’t see what I eat, the lengths I go to to look after my body. They’re not there when my mates are going partying and I turn down the invite because I know it will affect the way I train. They’re not there. They don’t see what sacrifices I make.’
OK, let’s establish something: this is not an article hailing the arrival of a Messiah. Spies is flawed and doesn’t at any stage attempt to plaster over the cracks in his game. At 23 it would, of course, be grossly unfair to expect him to be flawless, as it would at 24 or even 25.
Yet such is his extraordinary talent that we continue to judge him by an exaggerated standard. It’s partly his own doing. How dare he raise our expectations of him with performances like he delivered against England at Loftus in 2007, or more recently, in the Super 14? Silly boy. How dare he give us glimpses of heaven then facilitate our return to a reality that pales in comparison.
‘I set a high standard for myself but at times it seems like I have to make 15 linebreaks, 100 tackles and score five tries carrying four defenders on my back across the tryline,’ Spies laments. ‘I want to be a player who dominates matches because I don’t think I do yet. It’ll take time but I will get there.’
Heyneke Meyer is the authority on Spies. Before he resigned as the Bulls’ director of rugby in 2007 he’d been considerably more than Spies’s coach. He was and remains a father figure and confidant.
‘He’s been phenomenal recently – really, really good – but we haven’t seen the best of Pierre yet, not even close, and won’t for a couple of years to come,’ Meyer says. ‘He was great in 2007 but mentally his illness would have slowed his development. He’s showing glimpses of his best form again, but it’s important to keep in mind everything he’s been through and the fact that he’s only 23.
‘Physically he’s superb and in this regard is unmatched by any No 8 in world rugby. He doesn’t have all the technical skills of a great No 8 yet, but whenever he gets his hands on the ball he has an explosive quality that you just can’t coach. Give him a year where he stays injury free and he’ll become the best No 8 in the world.’
No analysis of Spies would be complete without the insights of former Bok coach Jake White, who watched Spies being buried alive on debut (the 49-0 hammering by the Wallabies in Brisbane in 2006) and then saw him kick the casket lid open, dust away the soil, and stride purposefully into the rest of his Test career.
‘People are talking about him like they did when he arrived on the scene in 2006,’ White says. ‘I think Pierre is back to where he was when he was playing his best rugby in 2007. The second try he scored against the Blues [in the Super 14] was a replica of the one he scored against England in 2007 at Loftus where he busted through four tackles. It was sensational and gave me goosebumps.
‘But we have to remember that he still needs to mature as a player. He’s so big and strong we forget how young he actually is. People see him as something that he’ll be one day, but isn’t yet. He’ll get mentally stronger and that will bring about improvements across the board. It’s not that he disappears in tight games as is the perception, it’s that he’s not as mentally tough as he will be when he’s 26, 27, 28. He’ll learn the shortcuts and when he does, performances like the ones against England and the Blues will become the norm.
‘He has all the attributes to become the best No 8 the world has ever seen.’
By Ryan Vrede
One player that epitomises the Bulls psyche is the human wrecking ball, Pierre Spies. I could not resist to write a few words on him in a conditioning blog after his recent run of form. Pierre is quite simply the most complete athlete I have ever seen. His brute strength, explosive power and pure speed are unrivalled in world rugby today and I would challenge anyone who can name a current or past player who possesses the physical attributes and capabilities that Pierre has. On consecutive weekends now he his out sprinted back line players to score 60m tries, quite simply sensational.
Pierres current form is the result of someone who has relentlessly committed himself to physically be the best he can be. He is passionate about his training and will spend many extra hours training in the gym to improve himself. He is the classic example of what can be achieved when you combine an individual who is genetically gifted, passionate about his training and has accepted hard work and sacrifice to be a norm in his life.
While training the Boks I often used to see how his Springbok team mates would laugh in amazement as they watched him bench pressing, power cleaning or out box jumping the backs during freakish displays of explosive leg power. When it came to training, the rest of the Boks knew that Pierre was the bench mark. Transworld Sport recently did a story on Pierre. They showed footage of him training in the gym in his vest, revealing a machine like physique, but the interview that followed showed that his character was as well conditioned as his body. Pierre is a man of strong faith and believes in making positive decisions that will better your life. His commitment and discipline to his training and way of life are founded in his strong christian beliefs and foundational principles that he lives by.
I remember clearly watching him walking off the field in Cape Town during a pre world cup training session at Bishops when he discovered he had been spitting up blood while training. The result was he was ruled out of the tournament for a rare medical disorder. Rumours spread that he had been caught taking steroids and he was pulled out to save him from getting banned, utter rubbish! He walks the walk and talks the talk, a firm believer that actions speak louder than words. There is nothing artificial about Pierre Spies.
Following the discovery of his condition he was not shaken, dissapointed yes, but not demoralised or devastated. Instead he fell back onto what he believed, commited himself to getting well and training harder than ever before, always believing he would be healed. The result the man you see today, strong in mind and body, thoroughly desrving to own the Springbok number 8 jersey.
I honestly can not think of a better role model for any aspiring young sportsman.
Maybe one day in the future all rugby players will be like him?
by Steve Mac
Pierre Spies – My Testimony
My brother sent me an email a few weeks back which i thought i had to share. Its Pierre’s Testimony and how he came to God. Pretty Awesome!
I was blessed to grow up in a loving Christian home. Both of my parents had committed their lives to the fulltime ministry of serving God and His people. Our little family, my parents, my elder sister Johanni, younger sister Steffani and I were instructed in the Way of the Lord – always placing Him first. We were taught the Word of God from an early age – learning it verse by verse and reciting it to guests visiting our home, Psalm 1: 1 was my recital verse and I rehearsed it over and over again. We were basking in the Love of the Lord and I felt blessed and at a young age was starting to comprehend the Fathers Heart for His children here on earth.
In Primary school I was excelling at academics and sport. I was a happy child and was experiencing Gods true blessings in my life. My parents loved each other and protected and challenged us on every level – always offering their support and motivation. My Father instilled a strong champion spirit within us teaching us to believe that we are winners and most importantly that: “The best is yet to come.â€That is what God wants for you, the BEST,to PROSPER. My mother taught us the art of survival: to live with endurance and perseverance. She taught us diligence and nurtured a fighter spirit within each one of us. Never to give up in challenging times and to have patience and perserverance.
At the time I went to highschool things started to change. I was going through the typical changes a teenage boy experiences. Wanting to impress the girls but feeling insecure, looking terribly out of proportion with extra large ears and feet and experiencing problems with my skin, didn’t play for the A-team, and wasn’t popular. A good thing was that my attitude was right and I always participated in as many events as I could. Knowing through what I had been taught that hard work and a good attitude is what pulls you through.
My parents were going through a crisis in their marriage and it became evident that my pretty picture of home was going to change. Satan has a way of stealing your inheritance and happiness if you do not nurture and take good care of what God has entrusted to you like your marriage,your talents or gifts.
At the age 15 my parents chose to get a divorce. I was asking more and more questions about life and God – especially, how a loving God could allow this to happen? Why does bad things happen to good people? Why do families get separated? I realised only later that this isn’t Gods plan but we live and die by the decisions we make…like in Deutoronomy 30 God says “I lay before you life and death, blessing and cursing, so choose life..†and alot of times we blame God for the decisions we make.
This was a very big blow to my world. My picture of family was shattered – no more family holidays or Christmas’s. This security was plucked out from under me. Through this pain I made a decision that one day I would make a success of my marriage and I would learn from the mistakes my parents have made. You also have to make that decision…its not good enough to say because your parents did it, thats why you are doing it, you’re better than that!
Turn your pain around. Learn from it. You can do it!
Instead of seeking God in all of my pain I found consolation with my friends and became more and more influenced by the group. Peer pressure like what people thought of me, trying to be someone else, initiated a lifestyle of self centeredness, always in pursuit of acceptance and acknowledgement but ironically only feeding the void in your soul. Being empty when i was alone.
I was living with my mother and two sisters and as a family we were going through some really challenging times. My elder sister Johanni was a full time student studying law. Myself and Steffani were both still at high school. At 40 years old, having been a stay at home mom, my mother decided to study a degree in law in pursuit of her independence and financial freedom. This was adding a lot of pressure to our situation and financially we were straining to make ends meet. I remember a time I invited friends over to our house, advising them that they could only visit our home but could not eat there because we did not have enough money for food to entertain our guests. It was during this time that my sister Johanni, in her final year of LLB and 22 years old fell pregnant with her long time boyfriend from high school. This was another blow to my understanding of life and family. A family so committed to serving God? What would everyone say? How would this look to the world? Our moral core values were in question.
Johanni was faced with the choice so many women are faced with, the question of having an abortion. This proved to be the easy way out. In our home we were taught that discipline and the pain of discipline is worth more than the pain of shame. Taking responsibility was the right thing to do – it would bring forth fruit in the long run. Johanni chose to take responsibility for her actions and not to give up, but to follow through with the pregnancy. God blessed her with a beautiful baby girl called Milla two weeks before her final LLB Law exam. Milla was a miracle and came to us in such a difficult time. Today we cannot imagine our lives without this little princess.Now she’s 7 years old and a bundle of life giving joy!
My father taught us that if we continue doing the same things that other people were doing we would never be different. I wanted to be different.
God blessed me with sporting talent. In this difficult time I chose to be different and make a few decisions. I wanted to be the fastest, the strongest and the best at what I did. When my father was young he was a prominent sports figure in South Africa, excelling at athletics and rugby. I had the blessing of inheriting these genes. Yet, talent is never enough. My father had taught me that the seeds of discipline and sacrifice needed to be sown for the harvest of success to come in. I had to make a commitment. It was the only thing I was sure of in my life.
“Success is not the blaze of sudden glory won, it is the effort adding up of strong work done.â€
I was in gym every morning at 5am, playing rugby after school , choir in the evenings and then there was the academics. This was such a busy time but before I knew it I was in grade 12 and I had grown from small out of proportion teen to a tall, strong and fast young man. I started reaping the reward of those disciplined decisions. Not partying when they did and train when they didn’t . I was number 1 in South Africa in Discus, I was number 3 in shotput under 20 and qualified for the world juniors. I was chosen as cravenweek captain an I was excelling at my rugby. I was confronted with a choice to pursue a professional career in sport. I chose rugby.
After highschool I signed a contract with the Blue Bulls and was given a full bursary for studying at the University of Pretoria. This was awesome and I was experiencing my independence – all my studies were paid and my contract allowed me financial independence. I started experiencing the glory and the reliance on self. My first year I was chosen for the SA u/19 side. The media started paying attention – I was labelled the next best thing in SA rugby. I was experiencing the honor of man. I was riding this wave of glory but at the World Cup tournament the unexpected happened… and I broke my arm. The break was bad and the injury would initially take me out of play for at least 2 months. I was asking so many questions. This was supposed to be my time and my breakthrough after everything I had invested? Why me Lord? Why now? My gran gave me John 13:7 and I would only later understand. God has a plan with everything. My arm did not heal and my injury turned into a 10 month period of no play.
I was thinking this was a great time to commit to my studies – but it turned out to be the perfect excuse for a party. I was young and started hanging out in all the clubs, drinking and slowly losing my focus which had driven me to succeed. I was in a very bad space. My dad kept motivating me by saying I had to remain positive and that the best was yet to come. By the end of 2004 I had no goal and no motivation and was totally unfocussed. On top of all this my arm wouldn’t heal. It was at this time I believed things could not get any worse that I got the shocking news that my father had a heart attack and had died at the age of 53. How sudden! How could this be?
Lord this is too much! Why now? I need my dad, my father, my mentor…
But God had other plans…a better plan.
I was immediately confronted with life, mortality and eternity. This was the moment my life changed. I started asking what was the goal of my life? Could it be that God had a plan with my life? I knew that I desperately needed to get my life right with God. I was not sure of what would happen to me if I died – I needed to connect with God and make a few radical decisions for what I believed in.
My father had been the cornerstone of my security. He was my foundation, my protection my guidance. My dad called himself the “Groot Leeu†he was 6 feet 4 inches and had an aura around him. He had a fantastic sense of humour, was multi talented, played the piano and guitar, wrote the most incredible letters, always sent us motivational texts and always inspiring us. He believed in me and raised us for one great goal and that was to do great things for the Kingdom of God.
My father taught us to always be the best you can be and wrote each one of us a song when we were little, mine went something like this:
“My naam is Ouboet en ek is my pa se bul,
Ek is nog maar baie klein, maar Loftus gaan nog brul
Al wil ek nooit aan die lag kom nie en almal se ek is nors
Bly ek nog die baas, met “Big Shot†op my bors…â€
My dad spoke prophetically into our lives from a young age. I will never forget the simple truths he taught me: always be humble and friendly and be friends with everyone.
They say when a father dies the son becomes a man. The “Groot Leeuâ€(Big Lion) was gone and the “Klein Leeuâ€(Small Lion) had to take his place.
God started sending people into my life, sharing His love and relating their life stories and that it was time for me to make a decision for Him.
One Sunday morning after a heavy night before, I found myself sitting in church. He was calling, the CALL was loud and clear within my spirit and I knew I wanted to make the commitment to give my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. That day the pastor spoke, it felt like he was speaking directly to me. The Bible says God is light and when he shines upon you it is your conscience that speaks to you.
For with man it is impossible but with God all things are possible.
And then…after the 6months of medication…a miracle happened…GOD HEALED ME
Doctors said it was impossible, i would never play again , most people with blood clots never gets of the medicine.. but God is moved by faith and not by world systems.And he did a great work in me and he can do the same for you.
And i was able to play rugby again and persue my career and got married at the end of 2008 which shows his great love and mercy.
Through everything in our lives God will fulfil his plan for you. Jesus has used me as an instrument to reach my family and friends and help them change their lives by loving them the way He instructs us to. Through my rugby career I have been honoured to visit many exceptional countries and places and meet wonderful people, many doors have been opened to me to share His Name and His Love.
My message to you is that God has a plan for your life. He has a passion for YOU. He speaks to you everyday, that still small voice inside you – yes, you probably know it. Once you have decided to follow Him and live for Him, He will do more for you than you ever could have imaged. Take His hand, He will do the rest.
Pierre Johan Spies
Playing Position:8th Man/Flank
Province/Union:Blue Bulls
Club:Tuks
Honours:
Cravenweek 2002 – 2003
SA U19 2004
Blue Bulls Vodacom Cup 2004
Vodacom Bulls S12 2005
Vodacom Blue Bulls 2005
Blue Bulls U21 2005
Vodacom Bulls S14 2006
SA U21 2006
Blue Bulls Absa Currie Cup 2005, 2006
Springbok Squad to Ireland & England – 2006
Bulls Super 14 2007
2007 – Springbok Squad to RWC in France (Injured & withdrew)
Spies is currently the name on the lips of every Springbok fan. After making an inauspicious debut against the Wallabies in Brisbane, where the Boks lost 49-0, Spies was dropped and only recalled following injuries to Juan Smith and Joe van Niekerk.
Spies then delivered three outstanding performances during the home leg of the Vodacom Tri-Nations, winning the Man of the Match award in Rustenburg.
He followed that up with devastating performances in the Absa Currie Cup, as the Bulls marched to yet another final.
The son of former Northern Transvaal winger Pierre Spies Snr, Spies Jnr has all the skills of a back. This is due to the fact that he played on the wing for South Africa U19 and the Bulls, before settling among the loose forwards.
Personal Details
Full Name: Pierre Johan
Surname: Spies
Height: 194cm
Weight: 104kg
Birth Date: 8 June 1985
Birth City: Pretoria
Marital Status: Single
Favourite Film: Braveheart
Favourite Music: Alternative, Hillsong
Favourite Food: Steak,Pizza
Primary School: Skuilkrans PS
Secondary School: Affies
Tertiary Education: Tukkies
Pierre Johan Spies (born 8 June 1985 in Pretoria, South Africa) is a South African rugby player. His usual position is on the flank or at number 8, where he plays for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in the Super 14 competition. He has been included in the Springboks’ 2006 & 2007 Tri Nations squad.
Spies made his Super 12 debut on the wing against the Brumbies, becoming the youngest player ever to represent the Bulls. After being injured in his first ever Super 12 match, he made his comeback through the national under-21 league, where he scored nine tries in just six games. He made his debut for the Blue Bulls in 2005 in a match against the Griquas.
Although he plays as a loose forward, he has incredible pace. His 100m time is believed to be about 11 seconds. This is especially impressive considering his size, 195cm tall and 107kg at present. He has played wing for the Bulls when they experienced an injury problem last season.
After starring for the U21 Springbok side that played in the U21 Rugby World Cup France last year, Spies made his debut in the Springbok’s 49 – 0 drubbing at the hands of Australia in the 2006 Tri-Nations. Spies was largely anonymous in that game, however, Springbok coach Jake White picked him again for the home-leg of the tournament. There, Spies turned in two Man of the Match performances, most notably in the win over the All Blacks in Rustenburg, and in the victory over Australia in Durban.
He was widely praised for these performances against world-class oppostion, but unfortunately was injured in a dismal Springbok showing against Ireland on the end of year tour. This injury ruled him out for the rest of the tour, as well as much of the 2007 Super 14 competition, but he has since made his comeback for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in their 49 – 12 victory over Southern rivals the Vodacom Stormers.
Spies is believed to be a certainty for Jake White’s squad for the IRB Rugby World Cup to be played in France in September.
Pierre Spies hit the international scene with a bang last year. He was nominated as newcomer of the year by the International Rugby Players Association after a few brilliant displays for the Boks at loose forward.
A very versatile player Spies still played on the wing at under-19 level a few seasons ago. He is big, strong, very fast and has all the skills. No surprise then when he gets compared to former Bok captain Bob Skinstad.
Spies recovered from injury at the start of 2007 and stormed back into fine form during the Super 14 and June internationals.
He was widely tipped to be the Springbok number eight at the World Cup before his tragic withdrawal due to blood clots discovered in his lungs.
Pierre Spies on his return to form, steroid allegations and his quest to be the best No 8 in the world.
Over the course of our conversation Pierre Spies speaks openly about a range of interesting topics – the pain of missing the 2007 World Cup due to a rare blood disease and how religion helped him stave off depression in that period, life as a newlywed and the benefits of not having to drop his wife off at home after a night out, Schalk Burger’s explosiveness in Test matches despite his laid-back attitude to training, and the won’t-go-away rumours of steriod use – none of which capture the attention more than a simple response to a simple question.
‘Who is the best No 8 in world rugby?’ I ask. I fully expect him to rattle off some boring bullshit like: ‘That’s tough. Ryan Kankowski is an unbelievable player, and that bloke from Wales, whatshisname? Powell? Ja, Andy Powell, that boy can play a bit. And the Irishman, Jamie Heaslip, he’s coming through nicely. Oh ja, and Rodney So’oialo …’
Instead, I’m met with a thoughtful gaze before the most unexpected response. ‘That player is still in the making. It’s me.’
‘Wait a minute, you’re breaking protocol here,’ I say. ‘You’re supposed to sing the praises of the first half-decent players who spring to mind. So, I’ll ask again for fear of misquoting you: who is the best No 8 in world rugby?’
‘Look, I’m not going to make excuses for having confidence in my ability,’ Spies fires back. ‘If you look at the guys out there, not much separates them. I’d like to think I have that extra bit that sets me apart. I know it’ll be perceived as arrogance, like: “Listen to this guy talking himself up. He needs to learn his place.†That’s the way we are as humans isn’t it? We’re encouraged to aspire to be the greatest, then shot down when we do. But it’s not arrogance. I know my limitations and strengths and I’d like to believe that I can be the best in the world.’
I’m incredulous by now, stunned at what I’m hearing, but completely overjoyed to be listening to a player spitting unbridled truths.
‘I know I have a long way to go,’ he says. ‘But I want to get to the point where coaches, players and the public think about the best No 8s in the game and my name is at the forefront of their minds.’
We’ll discuss the physical and technical evolution of Pierre Spies at length, but from the outset there’s no denying that a cognitive evolution has been at the heart of his return to something resembling his best form.
This is my sixth Spies interview in four years. We’ve spoken extensively about playing on the wing in his rookie Super Rugby season, the death of his father, becoming a Springbok, a nightmarish debut Test and how that was the catalyst for his transition from man-child to man, an outstanding 2007 Super 14 campaign which culminated in him kneeling down on the King’s Park turf thanking God, who he communes with regularly, and his decision to specialise at eighthman.
But this is the first time I encounter this Spies. He has progressed beyond the self-effacing kid whose offerings were often a hybrid of the mundane and clichéd. There’s a self-belief that was missing or concealed in his formative years. A self-belief that allows him to confidently share his vision of being the best No 8 in the world.
Evolution in the world’s elite players is triggered by an evolution in their mindset. The body is at the complete mercy of the mind and since the end of the 2008 season Spies’s mind has been barking orders at his body with the intensity and relentlessness of a commanding officer in the US Marine Corps.
My previous encounters with Spies mean I’m well aware of how physically imposing he is. I’m no expert on conditioning, but to my mind he had reached his physical ceiling prior to the 2007 World Cup, so I’m fully expecting a man mountain to come striding through the doors of a cafe close to Loftus, where we’ve agreed to meet, but wholly unprepared for what I am about to encounter.
I interviewed Spies in Cape Town just before news of his illness broke, and then it seemed the Boks’ kit manager would have to put in an order for custom-made apparel. No professional sportsman, I thought, could get more muscular than that. At least not naturally. But we’ll delve into that nagging issue in a minute.
Yet Spies is bigger and even more imposing than he was 18 months ago. He looks like a lab experiment who had spent that period doing nothing more than being intravenously pumped with protein and lifting weights the size of a five-year-old. My hand disappears in his as we greet and I catch myself measuring my thigh and wondering if it’s bigger than his bicep. Brutal honesty leads me to the conclusion that it is, in fact, not.
I’ll throw some stats your way to underline the majesty of the beast who has just declined a meal and a Coke, preferring mineral water instead. ‘I’ll eat later,’ he says. ‘What? A baby rhino?’ I wonder. Spies power cleans 135kg. He dead lifts 240kg. He bench presses 165kg. Only mildly impressed? Wait, here are some more. He is able to do pull-ups with a 50kg weight between his legs. He can launch his 108kg body 1.4m onto a raised platform, sprints for 835m before slowing on a repeated sprint-ability test and has a body-fat percentage of 6.5.
‘Pierre has been blessed with amazing genes and has maximised those,’ Bulls conditioning coach Basil Carzis says. ‘As humans we don’t really know what our full physical potential is. We think we’re pushing the limits but the reality is that we’re not even close most of the time. Pierre refuses to die wondering.
‘Mediocrity doesn’t sit well with him. In the gym he pushes himself to lift the most, jump the highest and run the fastest. We have competitions between teams in the gym and you’re feeling pretty confident if Pierre is on your side. Physically he’s well above the norm. I’ve heard the term freak used to describe him and that’s probably accurate.’
But there’s a nagging thought in my mind: What if this freak is a drug cheat?
Since the modern era of drug testing began at the Pan Am Games in ‘83 I’ve seen more elite athletes banned for the use of performance-enhancing substances than I care to remember. I recall sitting transfixed as US sprinter Marion Jones took gold at the Sydney Olympics 100m final in 2000, wondering who on earth would ever be as quick, and I watched juiced-up baseballer Barry Bonds hit his 654th career home run at Yankee Stadium, craning my neck to see the ball land in the car park outside. Gods among mere mortals, I thought. Floyd Landis, Ben Johnson, countless swimmers, weightlifters, cyclists and sprinters … drug cheats the lot of them.
Everything inside me wants to believe that Spies is different. I want to believe that true athletic phenoms, ones with no intruders in their bloodstream, still walk the earth. He speaks candidly about the rumours which have dogged him throughout his senior career and, rightly or wrongly, I’m sold.
‘What can I do about those rumours? Nothing,’ he says with a resigned tone. ‘I can’t shape what people think. But those people who make those sorts of allegations aren’t there with me in the gym when everyone else has gone home. They don’t see what I eat, the lengths I go to to look after my body. They’re not there when my mates are going partying and I turn down the invite because I know it will affect the way I train. They’re not there. They don’t see what sacrifices I make.’
OK, let’s establish something: this is not an article hailing the arrival of a Messiah. Spies is flawed and doesn’t at any stage attempt to plaster over the cracks in his game. At 23 it would, of course, be grossly unfair to expect him to be flawless, as it would at 24 or even 25.
Yet such is his extraordinary talent that we continue to judge him by an exaggerated standard. It’s partly his own doing. How dare he raise our expectations of him with performances like he delivered against England at Loftus in 2007, or more recently, in the Super 14? Silly boy. How dare he give us glimpses of heaven then facilitate our return to a reality that pales in comparison.
‘I set a high standard for myself but at times it seems like I have to make 15 linebreaks, 100 tackles and score five tries carrying four defenders on my back across the tryline,’ Spies laments. ‘I want to be a player who dominates matches because I don’t think I do yet. It’ll take time but I will get there.’
Heyneke Meyer is the authority on Spies. Before he resigned as the Bulls’ director of rugby in 2007 he’d been considerably more than Spies’s coach. He was and remains a father figure and confidant.
‘He’s been phenomenal recently – really, really good – but we haven’t seen the best of Pierre yet, not even close, and won’t for a couple of years to come,’ Meyer says. ‘He was great in 2007 but mentally his illness would have slowed his development. He’s showing glimpses of his best form again, but it’s important to keep in mind everything he’s been through and the fact that he’s only 23.
‘Physically he’s superb and in this regard is unmatched by any No 8 in world rugby. He doesn’t have all the technical skills of a great No 8 yet, but whenever he gets his hands on the ball he has an explosive quality that you just can’t coach. Give him a year where he stays injury free and he’ll become the best No 8 in the world.’
No analysis of Spies would be complete without the insights of former Bok coach Jake White, who watched Spies being buried alive on debut (the 49-0 hammering by the Wallabies in Brisbane in 2006) and then saw him kick the casket lid open, dust away the soil, and stride purposefully into the rest of his Test career.
‘People are talking about him like they did when he arrived on the scene in 2006,’ White says. ‘I think Pierre is back to where he was when he was playing his best rugby in 2007. The second try he scored against the Blues [in the Super 14] was a replica of the one he scored against England in 2007 at Loftus where he busted through four tackles. It was sensational and gave me goosebumps.
‘But we have to remember that he still needs to mature as a player. He’s so big and strong we forget how young he actually is. People see him as something that he’ll be one day, but isn’t yet. He’ll get mentally stronger and that will bring about improvements across the board. It’s not that he disappears in tight games as is the perception, it’s that he’s not as mentally tough as he will be when he’s 26, 27, 28. He’ll learn the shortcuts and when he does, performances like the ones against England and the Blues will become the norm.
‘He has all the attributes to become the best No 8 the world has ever seen.’
By Ryan Vrede
One player that epitomises the Bulls psyche is the human wrecking ball, Pierre Spies. I could not resist to write a few words on him in a conditioning blog after his recent run of form. Pierre is quite simply the most complete athlete I have ever seen. His brute strength, explosive power and pure speed are unrivalled in world rugby today and I would challenge anyone who can name a current or past player who possesses the physical attributes and capabilities that Pierre has. On consecutive weekends now he his out sprinted back line players to score 60m tries, quite simply sensational.
Pierres current form is the result of someone who has relentlessly committed himself to physically be the best he can be. He is passionate about his training and will spend many extra hours training in the gym to improve himself. He is the classic example of what can be achieved when you combine an individual who is genetically gifted, passionate about his training and has accepted hard work and sacrifice to be a norm in his life.
While training the Boks I often used to see how his Springbok team mates would laugh in amazement as they watched him bench pressing, power cleaning or out box jumping the backs during freakish displays of explosive leg power. When it came to training, the rest of the Boks knew that Pierre was the bench mark. Transworld Sport recently did a story on Pierre. They showed footage of him training in the gym in his vest, revealing a machine like physique, but the interview that followed showed that his character was as well conditioned as his body. Pierre is a man of strong faith and believes in making positive decisions that will better your life. His commitment and discipline to his training and way of life are founded in his strong christian beliefs and foundational principles that he lives by.
I remember clearly watching him walking off the field in Cape Town during a pre world cup training session at Bishops when he discovered he had been spitting up blood while training. The result was he was ruled out of the tournament for a rare medical disorder. Rumours spread that he had been caught taking steroids and he was pulled out to save him from getting banned, utter rubbish! He walks the walk and talks the talk, a firm believer that actions speak louder than words. There is nothing artificial about Pierre Spies.
Following the discovery of his condition he was not shaken, dissapointed yes, but not demoralised or devastated. Instead he fell back onto what he believed, commited himself to getting well and training harder than ever before, always believing he would be healed. The result the man you see today, strong in mind and body, thoroughly desrving to own the Springbok number 8 jersey.
I honestly can not think of a better role model for any aspiring young sportsman.
Maybe one day in the future all rugby players will be like him?
by Steve Mac
Pierre Spies – My Testimony
My brother sent me an email a few weeks back which i thought i had to share. Its Pierre’s Testimony and how he came to God. Pretty Awesome!
I was blessed to grow up in a loving Christian home. Both of my parents had committed their lives to the fulltime ministry of serving God and His people. Our little family, my parents, my elder sister Johanni, younger sister Steffani and I were instructed in the Way of the Lord – always placing Him first. We were taught the Word of God from an early age – learning it verse by verse and reciting it to guests visiting our home, Psalm 1: 1 was my recital verse and I rehearsed it over and over again. We were basking in the Love of the Lord and I felt blessed and at a young age was starting to comprehend the Fathers Heart for His children here on earth.
In Primary school I was excelling at academics and sport. I was a happy child and was experiencing Gods true blessings in my life. My parents loved each other and protected and challenged us on every level – always offering their support and motivation. My Father instilled a strong champion spirit within us teaching us to believe that we are winners and most importantly that: “The best is yet to come.â€That is what God wants for you, the BEST,to PROSPER. My mother taught us the art of survival: to live with endurance and perseverance. She taught us diligence and nurtured a fighter spirit within each one of us. Never to give up in challenging times and to have patience and perserverance.
At the time I went to highschool things started to change. I was going through the typical changes a teenage boy experiences. Wanting to impress the girls but feeling insecure, looking terribly out of proportion with extra large ears and feet and experiencing problems with my skin, didn’t play for the A-team, and wasn’t popular. A good thing was that my attitude was right and I always participated in as many events as I could. Knowing through what I had been taught that hard work and a good attitude is what pulls you through.
My parents were going through a crisis in their marriage and it became evident that my pretty picture of home was going to change. Satan has a way of stealing your inheritance and happiness if you do not nurture and take good care of what God has entrusted to you like your marriage,your talents or gifts.
At the age 15 my parents chose to get a divorce. I was asking more and more questions about life and God – especially, how a loving God could allow this to happen? Why does bad things happen to good people? Why do families get separated? I realised only later that this isn’t Gods plan but we live and die by the decisions we make…like in Deutoronomy 30 God says “I lay before you life and death, blessing and cursing, so choose life..†and alot of times we blame God for the decisions we make.
This was a very big blow to my world. My picture of family was shattered – no more family holidays or Christmas’s. This security was plucked out from under me. Through this pain I made a decision that one day I would make a success of my marriage and I would learn from the mistakes my parents have made. You also have to make that decision…its not good enough to say because your parents did it, thats why you are doing it, you’re better than that!
Turn your pain around. Learn from it. You can do it!
Instead of seeking God in all of my pain I found consolation with my friends and became more and more influenced by the group. Peer pressure like what people thought of me, trying to be someone else, initiated a lifestyle of self centeredness, always in pursuit of acceptance and acknowledgement but ironically only feeding the void in your soul. Being empty when i was alone.
I was living with my mother and two sisters and as a family we were going through some really challenging times. My elder sister Johanni was a full time student studying law. Myself and Steffani were both still at high school. At 40 years old, having been a stay at home mom, my mother decided to study a degree in law in pursuit of her independence and financial freedom. This was adding a lot of pressure to our situation and financially we were straining to make ends meet. I remember a time I invited friends over to our house, advising them that they could only visit our home but could not eat there because we did not have enough money for food to entertain our guests. It was during this time that my sister Johanni, in her final year of LLB and 22 years old fell pregnant with her long time boyfriend from high school. This was another blow to my understanding of life and family. A family so committed to serving God? What would everyone say? How would this look to the world? Our moral core values were in question.
Johanni was faced with the choice so many women are faced with, the question of having an abortion. This proved to be the easy way out. In our home we were taught that discipline and the pain of discipline is worth more than the pain of shame. Taking responsibility was the right thing to do – it would bring forth fruit in the long run. Johanni chose to take responsibility for her actions and not to give up, but to follow through with the pregnancy. God blessed her with a beautiful baby girl called Milla two weeks before her final LLB Law exam. Milla was a miracle and came to us in such a difficult time. Today we cannot imagine our lives without this little princess.Now she’s 7 years old and a bundle of life giving joy!
My father taught us that if we continue doing the same things that other people were doing we would never be different. I wanted to be different.
God blessed me with sporting talent. In this difficult time I chose to be different and make a few decisions. I wanted to be the fastest, the strongest and the best at what I did. When my father was young he was a prominent sports figure in South Africa, excelling at athletics and rugby. I had the blessing of inheriting these genes. Yet, talent is never enough. My father had taught me that the seeds of discipline and sacrifice needed to be sown for the harvest of success to come in. I had to make a commitment. It was the only thing I was sure of in my life.
“Success is not the blaze of sudden glory won, it is the effort adding up of strong work done.â€
I was in gym every morning at 5am, playing rugby after school , choir in the evenings and then there was the academics. This was such a busy time but before I knew it I was in grade 12 and I had grown from small out of proportion teen to a tall, strong and fast young man. I started reaping the reward of those disciplined decisions. Not partying when they did and train when they didn’t . I was number 1 in South Africa in Discus, I was number 3 in shotput under 20 and qualified for the world juniors. I was chosen as cravenweek captain an I was excelling at my rugby. I was confronted with a choice to pursue a professional career in sport. I chose rugby.
After highschool I signed a contract with the Blue Bulls and was given a full bursary for studying at the University of Pretoria. This was awesome and I was experiencing my independence – all my studies were paid and my contract allowed me financial independence. I started experiencing the glory and the reliance on self. My first year I was chosen for the SA u/19 side. The media started paying attention – I was labelled the next best thing in SA rugby. I was experiencing the honor of man. I was riding this wave of glory but at the World Cup tournament the unexpected happened… and I broke my arm. The break was bad and the injury would initially take me out of play for at least 2 months. I was asking so many questions. This was supposed to be my time and my breakthrough after everything I had invested? Why me Lord? Why now? My gran gave me John 13:7 and I would only later understand. God has a plan with everything. My arm did not heal and my injury turned into a 10 month period of no play.
I was thinking this was a great time to commit to my studies – but it turned out to be the perfect excuse for a party. I was young and started hanging out in all the clubs, drinking and slowly losing my focus which had driven me to succeed. I was in a very bad space. My dad kept motivating me by saying I had to remain positive and that the best was yet to come. By the end of 2004 I had no goal and no motivation and was totally unfocussed. On top of all this my arm wouldn’t heal. It was at this time I believed things could not get any worse that I got the shocking news that my father had a heart attack and had died at the age of 53. How sudden! How could this be?
Lord this is too much! Why now? I need my dad, my father, my mentor…
But God had other plans…a better plan.
I was immediately confronted with life, mortality and eternity. This was the moment my life changed. I started asking what was the goal of my life? Could it be that God had a plan with my life? I knew that I desperately needed to get my life right with God. I was not sure of what would happen to me if I died – I needed to connect with God and make a few radical decisions for what I believed in.
My father had been the cornerstone of my security. He was my foundation, my protection my guidance. My dad called himself the “Groot Leeu†he was 6 feet 4 inches and had an aura around him. He had a fantastic sense of humour, was multi talented, played the piano and guitar, wrote the most incredible letters, always sent us motivational texts and always inspiring us. He believed in me and raised us for one great goal and that was to do great things for the Kingdom of God.
My father taught us to always be the best you can be and wrote each one of us a song when we were little, mine went something like this:
“My naam is Ouboet en ek is my pa se bul,
Ek is nog maar baie klein, maar Loftus gaan nog brul
Al wil ek nooit aan die lag kom nie en almal se ek is nors
Bly ek nog die baas, met “Big Shot†op my bors…â€
My dad spoke prophetically into our lives from a young age. I will never forget the simple truths he taught me: always be humble and friendly and be friends with everyone.
They say when a father dies the son becomes a man. The “Groot Leeuâ€(Big Lion) was gone and the “Klein Leeuâ€(Small Lion) had to take his place.
God started sending people into my life, sharing His love and relating their life stories and that it was time for me to make a decision for Him.
One Sunday morning after a heavy night before, I found myself sitting in church. He was calling, the CALL was loud and clear within my spirit and I knew I wanted to make the commitment to give my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. That day the pastor spoke, it felt like he was speaking directly to me. The Bible says God is light and when he shines upon you it is your conscience that speaks to you.
I was tired of hangovers and the fake glory of man. I chose to give my life back to God that day in the church, publicly in front of people, crying and repenting of my sins, accepting Christ in my heart completely…wanting Him to consume every part of me.And He did…he made me new.God makes you a new creation and wipes away your past!
AGAIN, I wanted to be different.
I no longer wanted to live the lie. To be lukewarm and live proclaiming to be a Christian but not walking or really living like one. I had a burning within my soul to serve God and people, to find God and to really know God. Because, I had made the decision to seek God’s Kingdom first above everything else, He started to change things in my life. I wanted to serve people, to forget about myself, to see people coming into the Kingdom of God and finding Jesus Christ. finding freedom and peace and restoration for their brokenness.
I knew that I was chosen to fulfil God’s plan for my life and not my own. God had stationed me in a specific position to reach people and to share with them what He has done in my life. God has called us to be fishers of men and to live in love with one another. I am a warrior for the Kingdom of God and will stand on His word with my life and all that I am.
I realised Gods plans are better than mine and that He knows more than me!
In …2005 I met Juanné ,my (then girlfriend) and now my wife
A woman who loved God more than me ,who is my best friend and the most beautiful woman on earth. Someone who was willing of walking a road less travelled and who had a heart for broken people… Something I wanted, and God blessed me with her, in abundance.
In our relationship we made tough decisions and set boundaries to keep us pure before marriage and really become best friends. We still reap the rewards, and you can too if you make tough choices and put God first above yourself and your partner. Remember the devil wants to destroy your relationship and that your relationship is the first test of your faith.
Charity starts at home…always!
My rugby career started to soar and I was chosen to play for the Springboks in 2006.
My test debut was a nightmare losing 49-0 to Australia and then being dropped from the team.But i got a second chance and then gave a man of the match performance.
2007 was world cup year and the excitement was building having had a succesfull Super 14 with the Bulls winning the trophy and after that all roads led to France.I was selected in the Worldcup squad being a favourite for player of the tournament without it even started
2 weeks after the squad announcement i started to cough up blood and had chest pains and pain breathing…our team doctor took me for tests and the shocking news hit us…i had blood clots on my lungs.
I was thinking:
What? blood clots? God you must be joking? We’re on our way to the world cup? highlight of my career? im walking in your ways God? i live healthy and look after my body and train hard and don’t use illegal substances?
Doctors said a minimum of 6months blood thinning medication,and never to play rugby again.
Immediately i knew God was in control…i didn’t know exactly how but His word says He has great plans for our futures and that we’ve been healed by his wounds.
Walking in faith was what i did now…i wrote on a big poster :’’Healed in Jesus name†because i knew God had the power to heal me, otherwise His word would not have been true.My faith was tested but i made a decision to praise God even if i stayed sick or get healed…because i know Gods plan is bigger than mine and i had to submit to His will…an unconditional choice, the way He loves us.
There was alot of medical tests done on me, from head to toe, and always in my car on the way to the hospital i put on praise and worship music,and screamed and praised God with a loud voice knowing that whether these lungs are sick or if they’re healthy, i’m gonna praise God for He IS GOOD. You keep with your decision…you keep on keeping on.
For with man it is impossible but with God all things are possible.
And then…after the 6months of medication…a miracle happened…GOD HEALED ME
Doctors said it was impossible, i would never play again , most people with blood clots never gets of the medicine.. but God is moved by faith and not by world systems.And he did a great work in me and he can do the same for you.
And i was able to play rugby again and persue my career and got married at the end of 2008 which shows his great love and mercy.
Through everything in our lives God will fulfil his plan for you. Jesus has used me as an instrument to reach my family and friends and help them change their lives by loving them the way He instructs us to. Through my rugby career I have been honoured to visit many exceptional countries and places and meet wonderful people, many doors have been opened to me to share His Name and His Love.
My message to you is that God has a plan for your life. He has a passion for YOU. He speaks to you everyday, that still small voice inside you – yes, you probably know it. Once you have decided to follow Him and live for Him, He will do more for you than you ever could have imaged. Take His hand, He will do the rest.
Pierre Johan Spies
Playing Position:8th Man/Flank
Province/Union:Blue Bulls
Club:Tuks
Honours:
Cravenweek 2002 – 2003
SA U19 2004
Blue Bulls Vodacom Cup 2004
Vodacom Bulls S12 2005
Vodacom Blue Bulls 2005
Blue Bulls U21 2005
Vodacom Bulls S14 2006
SA U21 2006
Blue Bulls Absa Currie Cup 2005, 2006
Springbok Squad to Ireland & England – 2006
Bulls Super 14 2007
2007 – Springbok Squad to RWC in France (Injured & withdrew)
Spies is currently the name on the lips of every Springbok fan. After making an inauspicious debut against the Wallabies in Brisbane, where the Boks lost 49-0, Spies was dropped and only recalled following injuries to Juan Smith and Joe van Niekerk.
Spies then delivered three outstanding performances during the home leg of the Vodacom Tri-Nations, winning the Man of the Match award in Rustenburg.
He followed that up with devastating performances in the Absa Currie Cup, as the Bulls marched to yet another final.
The son of former Northern Transvaal winger Pierre Spies Snr, Spies Jnr has all the skills of a back. This is due to the fact that he played on the wing for South Africa U19 and the Bulls, before settling among the loose forwards.
Personal Details
Full Name: Pierre Johan
Surname: Spies
Height: 194cm
Weight: 104kg
Birth Date: 8 June 1985
Birth City: Pretoria
Marital Status: Single
Favourite Film: Braveheart
Favourite Music: Alternative, Hillsong
Favourite Food: Steak,Pizza
Primary School: Skuilkrans PS
Secondary School: Affies
Tertiary Education: Tukkies