UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP
Leighton Koopman|Published
Seabelo Senatla got the seal of approval from former Springbok and Stormers winger Breyton Paulse after his backflip celebration marked the first try scored in the Cape side’s new ‘Men in Black’ kit on Saturday against the Sharks.
Paulse, who donned the black No 14 jersey in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is synonymous with the flick-flack celebration, and Senatla has now seemingly made it his mission to revive the acrobatics of yesteryear.
In the same fashion as Paulse at Newlands, the speedster went over the try line in the right-hand corner of DHL Stadium, took off after getting up and, with both his knees strapped, performed a backflip. It brought back some nostalgic memories and, according to Paulse, gave him goosebumps when he saw Senatla doing it.
Paulse wants the celebration to continue
But now, he has challenged the former Blitzbok star to continue with the celebration whenever he scores.
“I was busy doing Afrikaans commentary on the game and it really surprised me when he did the flick-flack,” Paulse told IOL Sport.
“The two of us spoke earlier at the launch of the Stormers’ new home and away kits, and I told him that it is about time someone does the backflip again. He normally did those front flips when he scored in the corner. But then he did the run-up for the flick-flack, I didn’t know he could do it.
“But it was a thing of beauty and it went viral immediately. And how fitting was it not that he also wore the No 14 on his back, scored the first try in the new black jersey in the first game and he did the backflip. It was really special.”
Paulse says the Stormers also did brilliantly to get about 50 former Stormers players together for that game against the Sharks, and it was brilliant to catch up with his former teammates and their families.
He chatted to Pieter Rossouw, who was the other winger in the team, and captain Corné Krige. According to him, the players enjoyed the moment captain Ruhan Nel led his side onto the field and the brilliant rugby the Stormers dished up in the coastal derby.
“This is the type of rugby our Cape supporters come out to watch. It was an excellent start to the new era in the away jersey and it was good to see the ‘Men in Black’ perform like that again.”