A two-year stint in France, where he had no distractions or sideshows, has Curwin Bosch feeling like he is back to the rugby that made him a Springbok.
Now, ahead of a potential debut for the Bulls against the All Blacks in the third tour match of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR), the utility back wants to show that he is ready to make that step up again.
The 29-year-old Bosch, a former star for the Sharks, will call Pretoria home from this season in the United Rugby Championship and Champions Cup, and is ready to embrace the challenge that awaits at Loftus Versfeld.
Bosch, who is expected to start at No 10 in Saturday’s highly anticipated third RGR tour match (kick-off 7pm), says his time with Brive gave him a new lease of life in his rugby career.
“The biggest part of it was the mental break,” Bosch said this week of his stint overseas.
“It was so good for me mentally to spend a bit of time in France and just get the shackles off and get back to doing what I do best, and that’s play rugby. There were no sideshows and no distractions. I could just focus on playing good rugby.”
He says it is amazing to be back in South Africa and that there is no place like home.
“Even Pretoria, which is somewhere I’d never lived before, just feels different. It feels like home.”
Now, Bosch is ready to embrace what is waiting for him at the Bulls, starting with the tour match against the New Zealanders.
He has played two Tests for the Boks, in 2017 and 2018, but has never faced the All Blacks.
It will be the perfect game at Loftus Versfeld to showcase that he has found the attacking instinct that made him a star. According to Bosch, he rediscovered his flair overseas after feeling a bit boxed in during his final seasons with the Sharks.
“I just felt a lot more free. The last couple of seasons I spent in South Africa, I felt boxed in a little bit. That time in France freed me up. It took me back to how you play rugby at school.
"You see the space and you play the space. That’s when I’m at my best.
“It’s probably an opportunity of a lifetime to test yourself against the second-best team in the world. The last time the Bulls faced them, I was not born yet.”
He added that his Bok ambitions are still burning bright and that the day they go away, he will stop playing rugby. Despite being away from the Bok conversation for almost a decade, Bosch has set his sights on playing good rugby at the Bulls to get himself back into the national picture.