Bath scrum half Bernard van der Linde made his Bath debut in a 30-26 victory against West Country rivals Gloucester, playing his first competitive game since May due to a hamstring injury picked up in pre-season.
“You’d think being out for four months is one of the worst things that can happen to you, I felt like it was the best four months of my life being at Bath.”
The scrum half joined from South African side Bulls, and has loved his time in the South West so far despite being out injured.
“I can’t actually put into words the way things at this club works, starting with the coaches, the players, everyone made me feel so welcome. Even though I wasn’t part of it for four months, I still felt part of it, it’s not like this everywhere.”
The South African came on in the 70th minute of a very heated clash between two bitter rivals for his first taste of PREM rugby, and was left blown away by the atmosphere.
“Since the start of the week, everyone told me it was going to be massive. Everyone said, keep your ears closed when you come on.
Everyone was screaming and the fans were so loud. It was an awesome experience having my debut at Gloucester in the West Country derby, I enjoyed it so much.”
It didn’t take the 25-year-old long to get involved as he almost immediately clashed with his opposite scrum half, Tomos Williams.
When asked what happened, van der Linde laughed, “It was just some friendly banter, he was basically saying welcome to the Premiership.”
Despite their on pitch clash, the debutant was full of praise for his opponent, saying “it’s been awesome making my debut against someone like him. He’s a guy I’ve been looking up to since I was very young.”
With the return of the PREM Cup coming in the next few weeks, there is a good chance for van der Linde to get some valuable game time and experience for Bath.
“Hopefully I’m going to be part of some of the games in the PREM Cup which will be nice to get some game time.
I’m just going to do the best I can to make the team better, whether it’s me running the ball, me kicking the ball or me passing the ball. Whatever it is I can do to make the team better is what I want to do.”
The South African spoke highly of fellow veteran scrum half, Ben Spencer who he has been learning from on the training ground.
“I just follow what he does, especially his kicking and just the way he speaks to the boys.
“If there’s a call, you know exactly what’s going to go on, so having a guy like him as a leader makes a massive difference on the field.”
Bath’s next fixture is on 8th February away to Sale Sharks in the PREM Cup, and with first choice scrum half Ben Spencer away on international duty, van der Linde will be hoping to make his first start for the club.
