Sharks centre Ethan Hooker says winging it for the Durban-based team might give him another shot of getting called up to a Springbok training camp.
Earlier this year in June, the 21-year-old Sharks back was one of the surprise inclusions in one of coach Rassie Erasmus’ training squads ahead of the start of the South African team’s Test-match season.
He got the Bok call-up after shining in his preferred midfield role during the previous United Rugby Championship season, but during the Sharks’ triumphant Currie Cup campaign and since the start of the new URC campaign, coach John Plumtree has stuck to picking Hooker on the wing.
Since the switch, Hooker says of it enhancing his Bok kanse: “In this day and age it’s a benefit to be able to play multiple positions if you want to go on and achieve higher honours.
“Playing on the wing is [also] going to help when I go back to centre, so I’m enjoying that quite a lot.
“When I was told I was playing wing I was very happy about it as it just opens more doors.”