Bulls fan in the right place at the right time

South African Bulls fan Wykie Etsebeth was surprised to see a bus load of Bulls rugby players gesturing for him to follow them when he was driving his work van down Te Rapa straight last week.

Mr Etsebeth followed the team bus through Te Rapa. When they stopped, team manager, Wynie Strydom asked Etsebeth if he could sell them some biltong, a type of dried meat popular in South Africa.

Mr Etsebeth, who opened his shop Safari Biltong in Tramway Road four weeks ago, delivered $1000 worth of biltong (20 kilograms) to the Bulls at their hotel.

“I was lucky to meet three quarters  of the team,” he said.

They also gave him 10 free tickets to their game against the Chiefs on Friday.
Mr Etsebeth is originally from Potchefstroom, a town in the middle of Bull’s territory.

Coincidentally, Etsebeth had earlier in the week arranged with a Waikato Rugby event manager to drop off biltong samples for the Bulls. He was told Waikato Rugby could not share anything about the Bull’s whereabouts with him and that he had to do all his communication through rugby management.

But after his lucky run in with the Bulls he rang the manager to say there were no samples to deliver because the Bulls had bought most of his stock.

He says the Bulls were likely missing the taste of home when they saw his biltong van.

“They’ve been away from home for four weeks so I think when they saw the biltong sticker on my van there was an instant longing for biltong. Maybe they were surprised to see it in Hamilton.”

And as for where Mr Etsebeth’s rugby loyalties lie?

“The Chiefs are my second team. When they are playing anyone else I support them. If the Bulls or the Springboks are playing my heart will always be with them.”