Burger ready to make a meal of any role in squad

You know what they say about absence.

Well, when it afflicts a player like Schalk Burger, who also happens to wear his heart on his sleeve, it's a recipe for restless, combustible energy.

Just ask the Wallabies, whom Burger faced last weekend on his return to the Springbok side after having last played against Scotland in June.

Springbok forwards coach Johann van Graan said yesterday: "It's the first time since I've been involved in rugby where a guy played under 30 minutes and had 15 ball carries. He had a massive impact on the game."

Burger had been absent from the squad since joining Suntory Sungoliath in Japan, but with Francois Louw and Willem Alberts on the sidelines, he was happy to jump in on the national cause.

Said Burger: "When I got the call-up to come from Japan, I don't think my wife was too pleased, but I jumped at it and I was on the first plane out of there."

He described his first two weeks in Japan as "weird".

"If you come from South Africa, and especially Cape Town, the easiest way to describe it is it's like being in space."

Though he had only been in Japan for two months, it had brought a fresh perspective and awakened a yearning to again play at the game's cutting edge.

"When you haven't had something for a while and you get it again, you perhaps have a bit more energy," he said.

"I think you go through phases in life where you play 50, 60 Tests in a row and perhaps accept that it goes without saying that you're here."

The 31-year-old is older and wiser. He may have an even greater role to play this week if No8 Duane Vermeulen fails to recover from a rib cartilage injury.

It will also spare coach Heyneke Meyer from having to make the delicate decision of having to make room for Burger elsewhere in the starting lineup.

Burger doesn't know in which role he'll be cast but is ready to embrace it.

It is after all, he admits, matches against the All Blacks, whom the Boks play at Ellis Park on Saturday, that stir the soul most.

TV Highlights

Today

Mixed martial arts: EFC 34 weigh-in at 2pm on SS7

Soccer: Champions League,

Zenit St Petersburg vs Monaco at 6pm on SS3, Atletico Madrid vs Juventus at 8.45pm on SS3, Anderlecht vs Borussia Dortmund at 8.45pm on SS4, Lodogorets vs Real Madrid at 8.45pm on SS5, Basel vs Liverpool at 8.45pm on SS6, Arsenal vs Galatasaray at 8.45pm on SS7, Bayer Leverkusen vs Benfica at 8.45pm on SSMax

Tennis: ATP Japan Open at 6am and 4am (tomorrow) on SS5; ATP China Open at 6.30am and 3pm on SS6