Jané Mulder was born into rugby, so to speak, as the daughter of 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok centre Japie Mulder, and the impact of the game would not have gone unnoticed in her household.
Mulder’s progress into rugby also started at provincial level, with the Golden Lions Women, and then the Junior Springbok Women, before her sevens call-up came in November last year, when the University of Pretoria student trained with the Springbok Women’s Sevens and was included in the ‘A’-side that contested the Dubai Sevens International Invitational tournament.
This month, the 19-year-old went on to feature in the Springbok Women’s squad at the Sevens World Championship, although her wait for a highly anticipated Blitzboks Ladies debut goes on.
Springbok rugby runs in the family
Some 30 years after Japie Mulder featured at the 1995 Rugby world Cup, Jané now finds herself wearing the green and gold at senior level.
“I didn’t really plan to play rugby seriously; I just wanted to play to enjoy myself,” she said in an interview with the University of Pretoria, where she is a BA Psychology student.
“Before long, though, I found myself playing with complete dedication. At first, I didn’t tell my parents that I was playing rugby. When I told them, they were initially quite shocked. But now my mother, Ronel, is one of my biggest supporters.
“My dad keeps encouraging me to do my own thing on the field. If there’s one thing he hates, it’s players who are like robots on the field. According to my dad, a good player should be able to adapt to what’s happening on the field at any time.”
Reminder of the Bok career highlights of Japie Mulder
Jacobus ‘Japie’ Cornelius Mulder was born on 18 October 1969 in Springs. Mulder played 34 Tests in total for the Springboks scoring 30 points thanks to six tries.
He was on the winning side in 23 Tests, while losing 10 and drawing one for win percentage of 69%.
Mulder made his debut against New Zealand in Wellington in June 1994 and played his final Test against Italy in Port Elizabeth in June 2001.
When speaking to Rugby365, Japie reflected on his daughter’s career progression.
“In matric, when she was at Helpmekaar College here in Braamfontein, right next to Wits, and without telling me, in the afternoons after school, she used to walk over and train with the Wits ladies. She did it for about a month.
“And then after about a month, she came to me and said, ‘I want to tell you something.’ I said, ‘What?’ She said, ‘I’ve started playing rugby, and I need to play this weekend,’ and just wanted to know if it was OK with me. And I was like, what? So yeah, she did it on her own.
“In that first month, she just wanted to see what it’s all about and if she enjoys it. But she loved it… It’s still early days… she’s in the system. So that’s already a big bonus.”
