Former Stormers flyhalf Peter Grant says he is happy to be back playing Super Rugby again after taking a break in 2015.
Grant is now with the Force in Perth having plied his trade in France and Japan and says he says he is loving being back.
“Getting back in after some time away from the competition I realized how much I missed playing Super Rugby, ” he said on the Force’s site.
“It’s such an exciting competition, it’s quick, it’s testing and quite grueling. ”
“The skill level throughout the whole competition is so high it really is a fantastic competition. I must say I’ve really enjoyed getting out their especially the game time I’ve had in the last two weeks.”
Grant was a mainstay in the Stormers team and has 107 Super Rugby caps to his name and despite the year break he is the highest scoring active player in the competition (874 points).
The five time Springbok made his first start last week against the Hurricanes but eased into the season by coming off the bench through the first three rounds of the competition.
“To be honest I was quite happy coming off the bench the first few games because Jono (Lance) was in such great form and it was terrible to see him go down with injury. ”
“But that is the nature of sport sometimes and it gives me a chance to step in there and I really enjoyed it last match. It has been a long time coming to get to Perth and now I’m in and starting it’s time to get comfortable and make the position my own. ”
His move to Western Australia actually comes six years after he first considered a move to Perth and now that he is settled in he says he is loving being a part of the Force and living in WA.
“It’s been really easy settling into Perth, the lifestyle is great and the team has been really welcoming, we have such a diverse group and a lot of South Africans which has been great. ”
“The guys have shown me a lot of respect from the start. I’ve played over 100 Super caps and everyone has really valued my opinions and taken them into consideration. ”
“In saying that I have taken my time to find my feet in terms of being a leader of the group. It is obviously very different playing rugby in Australia for the first time and the great thing about this club is that there are so many great leaders from the veteran guys down to some really great young guys who are keen to step up and lead. ”
“I’ve taken some time to get comfortable with the group and now that I’m starting I have a lot more involvement and hopefully can make my experience count. ”
Despite the Force not getting the results in the club’s last two outings Grant believes they are heading in the right direction but must consistently put together 80-minute performances if they want to compete with the best.
“The nature of the competition is that if you don’t put in a full 80-minute performance anyone can beat anyone. We learnt a lot from the weekend and have done a lot of work but we haven’t lost sight of what we want to do and how we want to play. ”
“If we had taken some of those opportunities we created instead of rushing them a little bit then it could have been a different game. We were a little impatient so that is definitely something we are focusing on for this week against the Chiefs and looking to do it right to the last whistle. “
