sport news Racing powerhouse and Bomb Squad linchpin Trevor Nyakane is ready to demolish ... trends now
As a schoolboy, Trevor Nyakane always had an eye for gold. He would often spend the day at work with his father, Norman, identifying precious metals at the local mine in Gravelotte, South Africa.
'My dad worked at the mining plant,' he says. 'It was near the Kruger Park, so on the drive in you would pass through so many game reserves. On the road you'd get to see all the animals: lions, buffalo, rhinos, bush pigs, giraffes, zebra, springboks. The only one you didn't see was the leopard.
'Dad would test the mining samples to see whether there was gold, antimony or stuff like that. When he started he had no qualifications but he just learnt on the job. He'd take the samples, put them in the lab and let them know what exactly it is.
Trevor Nyakane's job is to wreak havoc when Racing 92 faces Sale in the Champions Cup
'The office where he worked was interesting for me to visit and watch him mixing things, to see things boiling away. It was fun to watch as a kid. It wasn't good for his health, though. He lost all his teeth because of the exposure.'
At the nearby primary school, Nyakane collected silverware in the form of medals and trophies. Growing up in the apartheid hangover of the Nineties he became a talented sprinter. He would race barefoot on the gravel of the local 'black school'.
'It was back in the days when 'black schools' couldn't compete against 'white schools'. When things changed, my primary school was allowed to go race against the other school. That's when the Gravelotte principal told my parents he wanted me to come to that school because of athletics.'
Sport was Nyakane's ticket to the big time. He lived the rural life, with his mum Zondi making ends meet by selling tomatoes, but soon dreamt of travelling the world as a rugby player.
Trevor Nyakane (right) is a household name in South Africa's victorious Bomb Squad
'It was a tiny school,' he says. We lived in a compound house provided by the mine and there were other mining kids there too. There were maybe five or six guys who were good at rugby and the principal would find other kids to fill up the team.
'Because I used to sprint, I would play centre when we had the ball. They would just give the ball to me and say, 'Trevor, Go!' I was quite the guy! When it was the opposition ball, I would move to prop and they would say, 'Ok, Trevor, now go and get the ball back!'. Luckily, because of rugby and athletics, I got a
