Van vroeg af was dit nie net sy teenstanders nie, maar ook ondersteuners wat hom raakgesien het.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Connor Mahoney, veelsydige agterspeler van Safcol-rugbyklub in Grabouw, was letterlik \u2019n doring in menige teenstander se vlees. Nie net kan di\u00e9 speler deur die verdediging breek nie, maar hy is ook nie bang om soos in Leon Schuster se liedjie \u201cDoring Danie van Despatch\u201d te skop, \u201cplace\u201d en \u201cdrop\u201d nie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Connor, oorspronklik van Abbotsdale, \u2019n klein dorpie buite Malmesbury, het sy skoolloopbaan by die Laerskool St. Michaels begin en het aan die Ho\u00ebrskool Schoonspruit gematrikuleer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dit is daar waar hy aan rugby blootgestel is en vandag is hy dankbaar vir die opleiding wat hy op ho\u00ebrskool ontvang het.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Connor het die rugbyleer geklim en n\u00e1 skool vir die Blou Bulle se o.19-span uitgedraf, vir die Boland-Kavaliers gespeel en was ook by die Blitsbok-akademie betrokke. En vanjaar is hy \u2019n kontrak by die Griekwaland-Wes-rugbyunie (GWRU) aangebied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maar dis by Safcol waar hy van eenheid en respek geleer het. \u201cSaffies is \u2019n baie lekker klub om voor te speel \u2013 veral as jy vir God in jou kamp plek maak. Die eenheid en respek van die span teenoor die bestuur is een van die redes waarom ons al die trofe\u00eb gewen het. Maar ek moet s\u00ea die lekkerste vir my by Safcol is die gees en liefde van ons lojale ondersteuners.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saffies het verlede jaar van vroeg af gewys hy is die gunstelingspan en was nie net die wenner van die Boland-Top-12 nie, maar ook die Paastoernooi en die Overberg-beker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Volgens Connor was dit baie spesiaal om die Boland-Top-12 te wen: \u201cEk kan nie daai gevoel beskryf nie . . . om die supporters<\/span> te sien huil en die trots in hul o\u00eb te sien, was regtig \u2019n riem onder my hart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor kan in enige posisie in die agterlyn speel, maar dis op heelagter waar hy uitblink. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy gunstelingposisie sal altyd nr. 15 wees. Dit is daar waar ek meer met die bal kan hardloop en dis ook daar waar ek ruimte kan identifiseer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hy kan nie wag om sy slag op die rugbyveld in Kimberley te wys nie en is baie opgewonde om sy buiging in die Curriebeker te maak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor kyk op na die Springbokspeler Kurtley Arendse en s\u00ea hy het al die geleentheid gehad om teen Kurtley te speel en dit was baie spesiaal. \u201cWat Kurtley op \u2019n veld kan doen, is ongelooflik . . . daar is baie min sulke spelers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Die voorsitter van Safcol, Dimitri Jacobs, is Connor se rolmodel. \u201cDimitri gee om vir sy gemeenskap en wil graag \u2019n verandering in de gemeenskap bring. Vir hom gaan dit nie net oor die klub nie, maar oor die omgewing, kinders en die ondersteuners. Van al die klubs waar ek al gespeel het, moet ek s\u00ea Safcol se ondersteuners is die beste. Dit maak nie saak waar Saffies speel nie \u2013 ons ondersteuners het altyd met drie of vier busse opgedaag. Hulle sing en raas en n\u00e1 die wedstryde het ons altyd foto\u2019s saam met die ondersteuners geneem . . . dit is iets wat ek gaan mis.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Van vroeg af was dit nie net sy teenstanders nie, maar ook ondersteuners wat hom raakgesien het.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":46738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"","_yoast_wpseo_inclusive_language_score":"","_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_crsspst_to_novanewscoza":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozabloemnewsexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozacityvision":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozadistrictmailhelderberg":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaeikestadnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakomani-karoo":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakougaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozamthathaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozanoordkaapbulletin":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapaarlpost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeoplespost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaswartlandgazette":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozatygerburger":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaudexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavistanews":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavrystaatkroon":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweskusnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweslander":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaworcesterstandard":false,"_EventAllDay":"","_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":"","_EventShowMapLink":"","_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":"","_EventVenueID":"","_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":"","_VenueShowMapLink":"","_application":"","_batch_id":"","_company_name":"","_company_tagline":"","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_company_website":"","_custom_id":"13316347-bc2b-4e59-a804-ebb3dceb26b4","_EventDuration":"","_EventOrigin":"","_EventTimezoneAbbr":"","_featured":"","_filled":"","_job_expires":"","_job_location":"","_media_credit":"","_media_credit_url":"","_menu_item_menu_item_parent":"","_menu_item_object":"","_menu_item_object_id":"","_menu_item_target":"","_menu_item_type":"","_menu_item_url":"","_menu_item_xfn":"","_navis_media_can_distribute":"","_navis_media_credit_org":"","_OrganizerOrigin":"","_provider":"","_pum_built_in":"","_pum_default_theme":"","_pum_form_conversion_count":"","_remote_id":"","_remote_name":"","_remote_position":"","_report_frequency":"","_report_reference_dates":"","_send_attempts":"","_site_id":"","_sitemap_exclude":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_sitemap_priority":"","_source_url":"","_subscription_period":"","_subscription_period_interval":"","_subscription_price":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":"","_template_type":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_tribe_aggregator_allow_multiple_organizers":"","_tribe_aggregator_content_type":"","_tribe_aggregator_file":"","_tribe_aggregator_finalized":"","_tribe_aggregator_hash":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_id":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_interactive":"","_tribe_aggregator_origin":"","_tribe_aggregator_post_status":"","_tribe_aggregator_preview":"","_tribe_aggregator_source_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_type":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_hide_attendees_list":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":"","_tribe_ticket_version":"","_type":"","_VenueOrigin":"","_wp_attachment_context":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","_wp_font_face_file":"","_wp_old_date":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":"","_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_block-catalog":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_job_listing_type":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_nova_retailer":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_publication":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_tribe_events_cat":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-duration":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-rating":"","_menu_item_classes":[],"_tribe_modified_fields":[],"_wp_attachment_backup_sizes":[],"_wp_suggested_privacy_policy_content":[],"_yoast_post_redirect_info":[],"_yoast_wpseo_video_meta":[],"activation_date":"","archive_insertion_is_repeating":"","archive_insertion_posts_count":"","article_feature_media":"","article_feature_type":"","article_main_image_caption":"","article_media_icon":"","article_template":"","author_byline":"Mari\u00ebtte Strydom","background_color":"","block_editor":"","byline":"","cmplz_hide_cookiebanner":"","competition_end_date":"","contact_advertise_email":"","contact_advertise_phone":"","contact_editorial_email":"","contact_general_email":"","contact_general_phone":"","contact_office_hours":"","contact_physical_address":"","enabled":"","featured_image_custom_caption":"","featured_video_url":"","fields":"","font_body":"","font_header":"","frequency":"","headline":"","hide_border":"","icon":"","is_wp_suggestion":"","issuu_download_url":"","issuu_embed_url":"","language_version_url":"","large_border":"","name":"","nm_contact_name":"","nm_contact_number":"","nm_date_lost":"","no_overlay_background":"","node-url":"","obituary_born_date":"","obituary_died_date":"","obituary_memoriam_text":"","origin":"","overlay_color":"","overlay_opacity":"","overlay_size":"","placement":"","plural_label":"","post_author":"","post_id":"","post_language":"en","secret-key":"","sponsored_utm_campaign":"","sponsored_utm_content":"","sponsored_utm_medium":"","sponsored_utm_source":"","sponsored_utm_term":"","start_date":"","utm_suppression":"","video_embed_url":"","wp_pattern_sync_status":"","data_version":[],"enclosure":[],"pongrass_image":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"publication":[],"class_list":["post-46736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\n