{"id":595906,"date":"2026-04-09T15:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595906\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T15:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:23:08","slug":"meet-jj-van-der-mescht-the-6ft-7in-146kg-saint-a-fly-half-trapped-in-a-second-rows-body-northampton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595906\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet JJ van der Mescht, the 6ft 7in, 146kg Saint: \u2018A fly-half trapped in a second-row\u2019s body\u2019 | Northampton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cometh the hour, cometh the big man. There are certain situations when size matters on a rugby field and the 6ft 7in tall, 23 stone JJ van der Mescht is the larger-than-life proof. If spectators at the Rec on Friday feel the ground beneath them shake as Northampton run out to face Bath in their keenly awaited Champions Cup<\/a> quarter-final, there will be a giant-sized reason why.<\/p>\n

Clearly Saints will also bring their razor-sharp running game but even Bath\u2019s meatier forwards should brace themselves. There is invariably a major collision when the massive Van der Mescht thunders into contact and asks the direct questions that led South Africa to include their exiled lock in an alignment squad ahead of their July Tests against England, Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n

The joint-heaviest player in the Prem is particularly eager to bump into an old friend. As a youngster he was a teammate of Thomas du Toit at the Sharks in Durban and packed down directly behind the Bath prop. Running hard at his former colleague once the latter comes off the bench is clearly an enticing prospect. \u201cOh, 100%, yeah. And he\u2019ll do the same to me. It\u2019s a respect thing. I\u2019ll feel disrespected if he comes in softly against me. I love Thomas. He\u2019s a great human being who helped me a lot when I was younger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVan the Man\u201d, now 26, particularly recalls the day in his teens when he was required to test himself physically during pre-season against a bunch of older forwards including Du Toit and Tendai \u201cBeast\u201d Mtawarira. \u201cI remember we trained against each other in an octagon. We had to throw each other out of the ring. It was tough. I was 18 and going in against the Beast, Thomas and the Du Preez brothers. You had to prove yourself.\u201d Did anyone survive? \u201cI lost. I think the Beast won.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will be kids around Essex still similarly scarred by the memory of Van der Mescht running at them during his brief spell as an exchange student at New Hall school. \u201cI was already 6ft 4in or 6ft 5in at the age of 14. I was a big kid. It was enjoyable!\u201d As a schoolboy, the son of a pro wrestler and a 6ft 3in netball international was timed at 11 seconds flat for 100m. These days he has size 16 feet and reckons only Australia\u2019s Will Skelton needs bigger boots.<\/p>\n

JJ van der Mescht of Northampton Saints hurtles towards the Bulls\u2019 Nizaam Carr in December\u2019s Champions Cup game. Photograph: David Rogers\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Skelton is also the player he feels he relates to most closely in terms of playing style. Both are too heavy to be lifted regularly in the lineout but try stopping either from close range. As the personable but purposeful Van der Mescht politely puts it: \u201cWe can do things other people can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

That ability to give a team vital post-contact metres is precisely why Phil Dowson, Saints\u2019 director of rugby, and his scrum coach Jaco Pienaar, once the Sharks forwards coach, made contact after Stade Fran\u00e7ais let Van der Mescht go. \u201cPeople are getting bigger but he\u2019s genuinely a freak,\u201d says Dowson. \u201cWhen we looked at him Jaco said he was a fly-half trapped in a second-row\u2019s body. He also said people talk about what JJ can\u2019t do but you\u2019ve got to look at what he can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has proved to be an extremely happy marriage and has also rekindled Van der Mescht\u2019s love of rugby. \u201cSince I\u2019ve been here something has clicked. Previously I felt like I was in a constant loop \u2026 rugby felt like a chore rather than something I loved. When I was growing up all I wanted to do was play with a rugby ball. Since coming to Saints I\u2019ve got that passion and enjoyment back. When I get home my wife can see that I\u2019m happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as long, that is, as there is food in the house. Remarkably Van der Mescht fasts during the day and has neither breakfast nor lunch, preferring to eat only one meal. He has dropped seven kilos since joining Saints and currently weighs in at 146kg, depending on exactly how many barbecue steaks Pienaar has been grilling for him. \u201cJaco loves a braai,\u201d reveals Dowson. \u201cI think JJ does the eating.\u201d<\/p>\n

JJ van der Mescht, in action against Castres, credits Northampton with rekindling his love of rugby. Photograph: Joe Giddens\/PA<\/p>\n

The Springboks could be the next beneficiaries. Van der Mescht is content to bide his time \u2013 \u201cWe\u2019ve got amazing locks in South Africa and if I don\u2019t fit into their gameplan I understand why\u201d \u2013 but Dowson believes he has huge Test potential. \u201cI\u2019m delighted he\u2019s back on the South African radar because that was one of his ambitions when he joined. There\u2019s loads more in JJ and I\u2019m sure people like Felix Jones will push him as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, though, the priority is to knock over Bath. Northampton have England\u2019s Fin Smith back fit at 10 and can also draw on the spectacular evidence of December\u2019s 41-21 league win at the Rec<\/a>. Even with a supposedly depleted lineup, their front-foot gameplan was richly rewarded with Tommy Freeman grabbing a hat-trick of tries.<\/p>\n

This latest reunion between England\u2019s top two sides may yet be the prelude to another full-on battle in this year\u2019s Prem Final. Either way Van der Mescht is in bullish mood, always assuming he can squeeze into Bath\u2019s famously cosy away dressing room. \u201cIt\u2019s OK, I\u2019ll get dressed outside if necessary. I feel like we\u2019re going to give our best. We have a lot to prove and people have already written us off. We want to show we can compete in this competition.\u201d When it comes to heavy-duty missions, Saints have the perfect man for the job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cometh the hour, cometh the big man. There are certain situations when size matters on a rugby field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-595906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}