Halstead revelling in his new home

WHEN Munster came calling in the early summer of 2005, Trevor Halstead was betwixt and between. Should he stay with the Natal Sharks or seek a new challenge in a country and with a team he didn’t know a whole lot about.

He chose the second option and tomorrow his experience, powerful defence and game breaking bursts from first centre will be key factors as Munster tackle Perpignan in the quarter-final of the Heineken European Cup at Lansdowne Road.

It’s the prospect of that kind of fixture that sends the competitive juices coursing through the veins of the 29 year-old, 6’ 1”, 15 stone 11 lbs Springbok who has played in front of similarly packed houses at Kings Park, Durban, and Ellis Park, Johannesburg, to name but two famous South African grounds.

Listen for a short few moments to Halstead’s passion for the Munster cause and you will realise just how much tomorrow’s game means to him. He talks with undisguised enthusiasm of ‘how well the move has worked out’ or ‘how comfortable I am here’ or ‘it’s a great atmosphere’ or even ‘I’m enjoying my rugby again.’

While there may be a perception that South Africans can be dour and humourless, it is obviously a sweeping generalisation. Halstead doesn’t fit that bill at all - had he done so, it is unlikely he would have settled in so easily with the many pranksters in the Munster camp.

He reads the situation something like this: “You know, fortunately I like to mess around a bit as well. I’ve always been a bit of a joker, I make fun of people and if you do that, you fit straight into the Munster fold. Their sense of humour, in the way they pull everybody’s leg and mock and joke, has a nice side to it.

“But it gets serious when it needs to and it’s a nice change for me because the pressure in South Africa was a hell of a weight. I was coming back from injury and I felt I needed to do more than I actually had to and I so wanted to play for the Springboks again.”

It wasn’t to be and South Africa’s loss has been Munster’s gain - a point not lost on their coach Declan Kidney.

“When you’re coming into a team like Munster, the first thing you have to do is to be able to take a slag,” says Kidney. “If you can’t, you’ll find it difficult to settle in and he’s certainly done that. It’s been a huge change for him in the structure of our season, but he’s fought that well and is looking forward to this part of the campaign. Trevor has been a very good pro, his work ethic is excellent and he’s a very valuable member of our squad.”

Halstead began playing rugby at the age of 13 because it was the chief sport at his secondary school, Kearnsey College, in Durban. He showed natural talent from the outset and went on to make 49 appearances in the Super 12 and 46 in the Currie Cup in spite of suffering a serious knee injury that kept him out of action for a year and restricted his Springbok caps to six.

“It all became a shambles,” Trevor admits. “There were so many undercurrents and so many things happening in SA rugby that it was a difficult position to be in. Rudolph Streauli brought me back into the squad in 2003 but I was still getting over the knee injury that put me out of the game for nine months. I played two Tests against Scotland in Durban and at Ellis Park and they didn’t go badly but I think they were looking for something else.”

He insists he didn’t want to leave but a clash of personalities meant he didn’t see eye to eye with the Sharks coach, Kevin Putt. Ironically, the day after he signed with Munster, Putt resigned, and left Halstead to wonder “whether it was inevitable or destiny that I was meant to come over but in hindsight I’m glad I left. It was like a destiny thing.”

Having played four full Super 12 campaigns for the Sharks, Halstead is well equipped to compare that tournament with the Heineken Cup. Because Munster have such a core of great players, he believes that they “would do phenomenally well” in the Southern Hemisphere Championship. He has actually played in three Currie Cup finals and one Super 12 decider so he is well qualified to speak on the subject. Ruefully, though, he also admits that he was on the losing side in all four matches, but now he sees the European Cup as a means of putting the record straight.

Halstead’s contract is up at the end of the 2006/7 season and he plans to hang up his boots. Back in Durban, he has a girlfriend he intends to marry and a brother who’s waiting for him to come and help run the family business manufacturing builders hardware.

Even so, he will keep the apartment he bought in Hartys Quay in Cork and promises: “It will actually be quite difficult for me to leave, I’m getting quite comfortable here. I just miss my family to be honest, other than that I could easily live here.”

You suspect that should Munster finally capture the Holy Grail of the Heineken Cup this year or next, the temptation to put down his roots in Cork will be all the greater.