Duane Vermeulen hoping to draw on past experience in must-win Ulster clash

The powerhouse No.8 was an integral part of the South African team that overcame adversity to triumph at the 2019 World Cup.

Eighteen months out from the tournament in Japan not many were giving the Springboks any hope of lifting the Webb Ellis trophy and their odds drifted further after losing to the All Blacks in their first game.

However, Vermeulen and his team-mates rallied to bring the cup back to the Rainbow Nation for a third time with the Ulster backrow named man of the match in the final against England.

On Saturday night at Kingspan Stadium Vermeulen faces another win-or-go-home game with Ulster in the Champions Cup against Sale.

Anything other than a victory against the English Premiership side, who beat Ulster 39-0 on the opening weekend of the competition, will end Vermeulen and his colleagues’ interest in the tournament.

Despite three loses in their opening three games Vermeulen believes Ulster can still emulate the Class of ’99 and lift the trophy in Dublin come May.

“You have got to have belief and you still have to stay task-focused,” he said.

"For us now and where we are we still have to believe we can still be champions of this competition; if you don’t believe that than you can just leave your stuff, put your things down and walk away because why are you doing this then?

“So you have got to have that belief and it starts with the first step in a forward direction.

“It is small margins, playing Champions Cup is kind of like playing test rugby, you have got to work for every inch and everyone has got to be on song.

“It is the small little victories and those avoidable penalties that can make a massive difference in a game,” he added.

“That is the one thing that will change our season: if we can have one victory, the confidence is there but something needs to spark just to get everybody to shine again.

“A lot of guys feel ‘I’m scared of doing this’ and you stay a little bit in your shell. When I joined this squad and this club you could see everyone playing and thriving out on the field, everyone was pushing in that direction, and it just needs that little bit of something and hopefully one game can change that for us.”

Vermeulen says he has a simple gameplan to win big knockout games.

“Take your points when it is [sic] on offer and the other thing is, stay away from avoidable penalties – that’s the biggest thing – try to keep 15 men on the field.”

Unsurprisingly, the backrow feels whoever dominates the battle of the packs will be successful.

“They have a big pack, and they thrive on getting over the gain line and for us it is the same thing,” he said.

“When you are defending you have got to stop that momentum, and when you are carrying you have got to make gain line and that is the most important thing for forwards and backs.

“The team that wins the gain line this weekend is probably the team that will walk away with the victory.”