29-year-old now dons a captain\u2019s band<\/a> and is leading this year\u2019s roster as the team seeks its fourth Major League Rugby Shield in as many seasons.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
New England recorded its win of the season last weekend, a 12-point victory over Anthem Rugby Carolina. The result came after a less-than-ideal start to the season: a two-point defeat at home to East Coast rival Old Glory DC sandwiched between blowout losses to the California Legion and Chicago Hounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those losses became lessons for van der Bank and New England.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the thing that we value most is how the team responded compared to the first three weeks,\u201d van der Bank said. \u201cYou have a choice to either be negative about the result, or you can fix it. I think the response from the boys was awesome, and it’s awesome to be a part of a team that will not stop fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
That response to adversity parallels earlier iterations of New England\u2019s championship-winning teams. Last year, the Free Jacks had lost three of their first five matches to start the season, but won 12 of the last 14 to ultimately hoist the MLR shield at the championship game in Pawtucket, R.I.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Triumph and togetherness have a direct relationship in New England, and van der Bank, a South African native, has grown as a professional and team player from his experience in the Free Jack culture.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Free Jacks organization, everything is about connections,\u201d van der Bank said. \u201cEverything is about the culture of the Free Jacks and how the team connects with one another. I think a big thing I learned is to have a successful team, you need to have players that enjoy each other’s company, players that want to be around each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s side looks vastly different from the Free Jack rosters that have come before it. Nearly 70% of the team is new, and alongside returning impact players Ben LeSage, Joe Johnston and Kaleb Geiger, van der Bank is helping instill the \u201cFree Jack Way\u201d and blue-collar mentality to a 2026 crew with high aspirations.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you set a standard, people have to follow that standard,\u201d van der Bank said. \u201cComing into the season, everyone had a huge expectation of the team that the management put together. I think this is one of the Free Jack sides that probably has the most potential. We know we had a lot of potential, but we\u2019ve had to rise to the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s match against the Seattle Seawolves is a key test for the Free Jacks. The Coffee Cup has become one of the league\u2019s most heated rivalries that has produced a number of memorable moments, from a thrilling 2024 MLR Championship to last year\u2019s comeback victory by the Seawolves in Week One. Though van der Bank prefers a Starbucks cortado, he\u2019s switched to a black coffee from Dunkin ahead of this weekend\u2019s matchup of teams with java giants in their area.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting game,\u201d van der Bank said. \u201cIt\u2019s a game where you know it\u2019s going to be a dogfight until the end. Seattle’s a big, physical team, and the Free Jacks pride themselves in being a very physical team as well. What excites me is that you’re faced with this big, massive, physical team, and you have to try to go show them what you got.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
A return to the basics will be the key to finding success this week and sustaining it for the duration of the season, van der Bank said. It\u2019s winning those personal battles that will lead to victories. Winning matchups, crossing the gainline, and fighting on the tackles are part of the \u201cyak fight\u201d that the Free Jacks have been focused on in team meetings and on the training field.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to do the dirty work before we can do the fun things,\u201d said van der Bank. \u201cI think the big, big job is going to be fronting up physically, and then I think the rest will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photos By Greg Sabin After sharing the field with Free Jacks legends who helped him develop into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-645473","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\/645473","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=645473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}