CJ Stander always moving forward

CJ Stander put in a lot of hard work to get where he is today and the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year for 2016 believes it will take an awful lot more toil to stay ahead of the pack.

The Munster and Ireland forward, who last night added the Guinness Rugby Writers award to similar honours last May as Munster’s and IRUPA’s Players’ Player of the Year, is acutely aware of just how competitive it is for places in both his provincial and national team back rows.

Yet Stander, 26, sees no danger in him becoming complacent, no matter how many awards are filling up his mantlepiece in Limerick. For he has had the wise words of his father Jannie ringing in his ears since he was a boy helping out on the family’s 500-acre farm in George, South Africa.