When 19-year-old Gino Cupido got stretchered off the rugby field during a game for the South African Schools side two years ago, his parents feared it might be the end of their son’s dreams of becoming a professional rugby player.
Cupido injured his knee in a game against England in Stellenbosch and had to undergo surgery that would see the Sir Lowry’s Pass-born youngster take a long and arduous road back to recovery.
For most kids with big dreams growing up in Sir Lowry’s Pass who face challenges of unemployment and poor service delivery, such a setback would surely be a bitter pill to swallow.
Fighting spirit
“Not for our Gino,” say the parents of the latest Springbok Sevens graduate, Gordon and Zelna.
Zelna, who runs a daycare centre called Kingdom Kids in Sir Lowry’s Pass, and Gordon, who is a painter by trade, are gearing up to watch their son make his official debut in this weekend’s Hong Kong Sevens tournament.
However, Zelna admits her heart stopped beating for a moment seeing her son lay cringing with pain on the lush grass of Paul Roos Gymnasium’s Markotter Field two years.
It felt as if my whole world was falling apart. At that time, he was with the South African Schools fifteens team and we had not seen him at home for about a month, after he also represented the SA Sevens Youth Team at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago.
I had to curb my motherly instincts of running onto the field to go and see if my son was okay. But, seeing him raise his hands and waving to the crowd as he got stretchered off somehow calmed me and Gordon’s emotions.
Long journey back to play
Little did the Cupido family, however, know that the extent of young Gino’s injury would see him spend a year on the sidelines after going under the knife.
We counted the days, and it totalled 386 days before Gino could start playing rugby again. And I must admit, there was a time during that recovery that I could see it getting to him a bit. He refused to watch any rugby on television and did not even want to talk about anything in relation to it.
But, the Cupido’s know their son, who, from his Primary School days in Sir Lowry’s Pass, always showed a steely determination to be the best.
Provincial debut
Zelna reckons it is also her son’s determination and faith in God that led to Western Province (WP) offering him a professional contract even as he was still recovering from his knee injury.
The hard work to get back to the game paid off as Cupido got rewarded with his first senior cap for WP in a Currie Cup Premier Division game against the Sharks XV on 24 August at DHL Stadium and also helped the Province u21 side retain the SA Rugby U21 Cup title after defeating the Lions by 53-36 in the final at Emirates Airline Park.
Missed Cape Town Sevens
Meanwhile, Blitzbok coach, Philip Snyman, tells Telecom Asia Sport that he planned to give Cupido his Blitzbok debut during December’s Cape Town Sevens tournament.
And of rating the 19-year-old so highly, Snyman says:
Gina is an exceptional player and over the last few months he has shown real growth. And not a lot of people know that the plan was to give him a debut in Cape Town. But he suffered a small injury that robbed us of the opportunity to give him his debut.
Snyman reckons Cupido’s pace, length and deceptive feet will bring a different dimension to the Blitzbok attack and plans to unleash the youngster in his accustomed position of centre in the brand new host venue of Kai Tak Stadium.
And of finally getting his debut, Cupido says:
It did take a bit long [to finally make my debut] but I am glad that the hard work on the training field has paid off. Getting to make my debut here in Hong Kong is truly special as the tournament has such a rich history.
Blitzbok Fixtures
On Friday the Blitzboks will play in two games in Pool B when the face Uruguay at 11:56 (SA time) and Australia at 14:39 at Kai Tak Stadium.
Snyman’s team then play New Zealand at 07:34 on Saturday in their last game in Pool B before the Men’s Cup Quarter Finals starts from 11:51.
