You’d be forgiven for thinking he was a farmer on his way out to bring in cows. Munster and Ireland rugby star CJ Stander leads the way as we head down the field to see the Cagneys’ milking cows grazing on the hills of Ballinaha, outside Croom in Co Limerick. CJ was keen to have a look around a real Irish dairy farm and the Cagneys were more than happy to accommodate him.
“Rugby and farming are my top loves – obviously my wife Jean Marie is my No 1 love,” he chuckles when asked where farming ranks.
We arranged to meet CJ last Friday and he was looking forward to having the weekend off rugby duty. For the previous four days, the Irish squad were tucked up in camp in Athlone, training and plotting for Saturday’s game against Wales.
“In South Africa our cows stay out all year round,” he tells us. “We have no sheds. The temperature only falls as low as 12 degrees and rises as high as 42 degrees in the summer.”
CJ has come a long way since he arrived in Limerick on 1 November 2012. Already he has over 100 caps for Munster and the supporters have taken him in as one of their own. On Saturday, he will tog out with Ireland to win his 26th cap.
“The weather was a big issue for me. I arrived on 1 November so I didn’t see any sun or feel any heat until June, and then I went home and it was winter so I practically missed sun for a whole year.”
Not only was the weather a problem, but so was speaking English, and it was very nearly a Jenga block that made him pack his bags for home. Afrikaans is CJ’s native language and while he could spell and write in English, he couldn’t understand or speak the language when he first arrived.
“I remember playing the Scarlets in Musgrave Park the first week I arrived. It was three degrees with a Baltic northerly wind and I travelled down from Limerick with Peter O’Mahony and some of the lads.
“I was sitting in the car but I couldn’t understand or speak a word. The lads said: ‘Hey man, you’re very quiet – don’t be stressed?’ In my best broken English, I spluttered out: ‘No I’m not stressed – I just don’t understand one word ye are saying.’”
Due to injury, CJ came on after two minutes in that game, and he says Peter and others had to practically pull and push him around the pitch, because he hadn’t a clue of his new team-mates’ names or the different calls. The only players he knew when he arrived were Dougie Howlett, Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara.
There are a lot of set plays in rugby, practised on the training ground and then implemented at ferocious speed on match day. Blink or don’t do your part of the job and the whole move could fall down.
“After that game I sat beside the pitch with my head in my hands and asked myself: ‘What have I done? Is this really the right move for me?’ I rang my dad and asked him the same question. He was the person who told me you only need two words over here: yes and no.”
Defiance
He was defiant and kept the head down, and ploughed on as only CJ knows best. Hard work from growing up on a farm where you have to muck in is the best training ground for rugby and life, he tells us. He repeatedly mentions his father, who is obviously held in very high esteem, and to this day controls the ranch near George in South Africa, on the Garden Route heading for Port Elizabeth. CJ’s brother, the taller and stronger brother, is also still in South Africa, playing rugby for the Eagles, a regional team near the family farm.
Why didn’t CJ stay playing rugby in South Africa? “I was playing with the Blue Bulls and the boss says: ‘CJ, there is a place for you in the front row as hooker [the position Rory Best plays] but other than that, we don’t see a role for you in the team.”
Gutted with the news and not wanting to play in the front row, CJ was on his way home destined for farming, when Shaun Payne (South African and ex-Munster player) intervened. He asked if he would like to go to Munster. Within three weeks, the contracts were signed and CJ was on a plane to Limerick.
So what makes Munster special? “I think the players know you don’t own the jersey that you are playing in. That drives all of us to leave the team in a better place. That and the link between the supporters is unreal.”
Munster next play Toulon in the Champions Cup and CJ is confident they can do better than they did against Saracens at the end of last year. He is also confident about Ireland’s prospects in this Six Nations and beyond.
“The French game was stressful and we were lucky to get out with the win. Wales are flying but we have been training well for the last few weeks. Wales played unbelievable rugby and were unlucky against England. I’m really looking forward to Dublin and a good match-up. It’s out there now for any team to take it so two good teams going well means it will be a good match-up.”
Life after rugby
CJ’s plan is to go farming after his rugby career ends, but is he worried that in 20 years’ time his body might be suffering from all the big hits?
“Rugby is very physical and places a lot of demands on players, but I think Munster and Ireland look after players well.
“If we have a hard weekend game, you can get rest Monday and Tuesday. Also, good gym work gets you physically stronger to take the hits.”
Would he encourage young people to take up rugby? “For sure. When I was a kid, it’s a place where I learned a lot about myself, self-discipline, respect – to be fit. Think about it: a lot of kids sit at home and watch TV, are on PlayStations and drink soft drinks all day. We’ll have a generation that won’t want to work or be physically tough enough to work any more. I take all the good things from rugby and I feel it has made me a better person.”
He’s a trier, not afraid to take a chance or take the ball on. It’s why Munster and Ireland supporters have fallen in love with him. We all love a person that tackles hard and this born-and-bred farmer plays it physical in a physical game. CL
For more on CJ, see A Farmer Writes on pages 24-25 of the Irish Farmers Journal.
Factfile
Favourite food: “Anything with meat – a barbeque or spaghetti bolognese.”
Favourite player at the moment: “Keith Earls.”
Most hated exercise: “I started pilates two years ago and used to hate it but now I hate the Wattbike – it’s tough work.”
Favourite hobby:
“Hunting.”
Best moment in an Irish Jersey: “Soldier Field, Chicago, when we beat New Zealand.”
Typical day training:
• 8am – movement exercises, • 8.30 am – gym work • 10am – meetings • 11am – on the pitch with forwards• 1pm – lunch• 2pm – meetings• 3pm – on the pitch training with full team• 6pm – home Read more:
Farmer Writes: CJ's drought challenges when milking cows in South Africa
Ireland rugby sevens captain Lucy Mulhall on how a random email changed her life
Scotland international Alex Dunbar on farming in Tasmania
You’d be forgiven for thinking he was a farmer on his way out to bring in cows. Munster and Ireland rugby star CJ Stander leads the way as we head down the field to see the Cagneys’ milking cows grazing on the hills of Ballinaha, outside Croom in Co Limerick. CJ was keen to have a look around a real Irish dairy farm and the Cagneys were more than happy to accommodate him.
“Rugby and farming are my top loves – obviously my wife Jean Marie is my No 1 love,” he chuckles when asked where farming ranks.
We arranged to meet CJ last Friday and he was looking forward to having the weekend off rugby duty. For the previous four days, the Irish squad were tucked up in camp in Athlone, training and plotting for Saturday’s game against Wales.
“In South Africa our cows stay out all year round,” he tells us. “We have no sheds. The temperature only falls as low as 12 degrees and rises as high as 42 degrees in the summer.”
CJ has come a long way since he arrived in Limerick on 1 November 2012. Already he has over 100 caps for Munster and the supporters have taken him in as one of their own. On Saturday, he will tog out with Ireland to win his 26th cap.
“The weather was a big issue for me. I arrived on 1 November so I didn’t see any sun or feel any heat until June, and then I went home and it was winter so I practically missed sun for a whole year.”
Not only was the weather a problem, but so was speaking English, and it was very nearly a Jenga block that made him pack his bags for home. Afrikaans is CJ’s native language and while he could spell and write in English, he couldn’t understand or speak the language when he first arrived.
“I remember playing the Scarlets in Musgrave Park the first week I arrived. It was three degrees with a Baltic northerly wind and I travelled down from Limerick with Peter O’Mahony and some of the lads.
“I was sitting in the car but I couldn’t understand or speak a word. The lads said: ‘Hey man, you’re very quiet – don’t be stressed?’ In my best broken English, I spluttered out: ‘No I’m not stressed – I just don’t understand one word ye are saying.’”
Due to injury, CJ came on after two minutes in that game, and he says Peter and others had to practically pull and push him around the pitch, because he hadn’t a clue of his new team-mates’ names or the different calls. The only players he knew when he arrived were Dougie Howlett, Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara.
There are a lot of set plays in rugby, practised on the training ground and then implemented at ferocious speed on match day. Blink or don’t do your part of the job and the whole move could fall down.
“After that game I sat beside the pitch with my head in my hands and asked myself: ‘What have I done? Is this really the right move for me?’ I rang my dad and asked him the same question. He was the person who told me you only need two words over here: yes and no.”
Defiance
He was defiant and kept the head down, and ploughed on as only CJ knows best. Hard work from growing up on a farm where you have to muck in is the best training ground for rugby and life, he tells us. He repeatedly mentions his father, who is obviously held in very high esteem, and to this day controls the ranch near George in South Africa, on the Garden Route heading for Port Elizabeth. CJ’s brother, the taller and stronger brother, is also still in South Africa, playing rugby for the Eagles, a regional team near the family farm.
Why didn’t CJ stay playing rugby in South Africa? “I was playing with the Blue Bulls and the boss says: ‘CJ, there is a place for you in the front row as hooker [the position Rory Best plays] but other than that, we don’t see a role for you in the team.”
Gutted with the news and not wanting to play in the front row, CJ was on his way home destined for farming, when Shaun Payne (South African and ex-Munster player) intervened. He asked if he would like to go to Munster. Within three weeks, the contracts were signed and CJ was on a plane to Limerick.
So what makes Munster special? “I think the players know you don’t own the jersey that you are playing in. That drives all of us to leave the team in a better place. That and the link between the supporters is unreal.”
Munster next play Toulon in the Champions Cup and CJ is confident they can do better than they did against Saracens at the end of last year. He is also confident about Ireland’s prospects in this Six Nations and beyond.
“The French game was stressful and we were lucky to get out with the win. Wales are flying but we have been training well for the last few weeks. Wales played unbelievable rugby and were unlucky against England. I’m really looking forward to Dublin and a good match-up. It’s out there now for any team to take it so two good teams going well means it will be a good match-up.”
Life after rugby
CJ’s plan is to go farming after his rugby career ends, but is he worried that in 20 years’ time his body might be suffering from all the big hits?
“Rugby is very physical and places a lot of demands on players, but I think Munster and Ireland look after players well.
“If we have a hard weekend game, you can get rest Monday and Tuesday. Also, good gym work gets you physically stronger to take the hits.”
Would he encourage young people to take up rugby? “For sure. When I was a kid, it’s a place where I learned a lot about myself, self-discipline, respect – to be fit. Think about it: a lot of kids sit at home and watch TV, are on PlayStations and drink soft drinks all day. We’ll have a generation that won’t want to work or be physically tough enough to work any more. I take all the good things from rugby and I feel it has made me a better person.”
He’s a trier, not afraid to take a chance or take the ball on. It’s why Munster and Ireland supporters have fallen in love with him. We all love a person that tackles hard and this born-and-bred farmer plays it physical in a physical game. CL
For more on CJ, see A Farmer Writes on pages 24-25 of the Irish Farmers Journal.
Factfile
Favourite food: “Anything with meat – a barbeque or spaghetti bolognese.”
Favourite player at the moment: “Keith Earls.”
Most hated exercise: “I started pilates two years ago and used to hate it but now I hate the Wattbike – it’s tough work.”
Favourite hobby:
“Hunting.”
Best moment in an Irish Jersey: “Soldier Field, Chicago, when we beat New Zealand.”
Typical day training:
• 8am – movement exercises, • 8.30 am – gym work • 10am – meetings • 11am – on the pitch with forwards• 1pm – lunch• 2pm – meetings• 3pm – on the pitch training with full team• 6pm – home Read more:
Farmer Writes: CJ's drought challenges when milking cows in South Africa
Ireland rugby sevens captain Lucy Mulhall on how a random email changed her life
Scotland international Alex Dunbar on farming in Tasmania
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: