Wed 20 Sep 2023 | 09:19

Pierre Schoeman discusses WP Nel's traditional Scottish Braai

Scottish international Pierre Schoeman has become a staple in Gregor Townsend's squad over the past few seasons.

Anchoring the scrum for what is a dynamic pack, Schoeman has shown his full array of skills to slot into the up-tempo Scottish game plan.

A former South Africa U20 representative, Schoeman has brought a Springbok-style hard edge to the Scottish scrum that has gone a long way to securing a solid platform for his world-class backline to operate from.

Whilst there is no doubt this has brought delight to the faces of stars such as Finn Russell, Duhan van der Merwe and Huw Jones. Schoeman it appears also has his teammate's back off the pitch.

In conjunction with fellow South African-born front-row WP Nel, Schoeman has been cooking up a storm to ensure his teammates hit the required protein intake.

Speaking to the Scottish media team, Schoeman goes into depth explaining his recent cooking exploits.

"The previous Braai (BBQ) we had for the Scotland World Cup here in our sacred haven, we had darkened Salmon and some people were fined because WP Nel took the Salmon and chucked it back wherever it came from.

"Then we swapped it for some nice steaks and we only used natural ingredients because the testers are around camp always.

"so we only used olive oil, salt and paper, a bit of rosemary, sneaky butter, to keep the keto fans happy as well."

Poking fun at fellow South African-born star Duhan van der Merwe, Schoeman says, "Duhan van der Merwe obviously had to take his shirt off and hide his legs behind the fire.

"We did say for safety precautions he has to stand a meter behind the fire because if that gets tan fire on it we will have to chuck him in the swimming pool.

"But everyone enjoyed the steaks and there was healthy salads and french baguettes as well to have with it."

As the consummate Braai professional, Schoeman looked at ways that he and his teammates could do better next time.

"I think next time, the only thing we can do better is, (Kyle) Steyn unfortunately bought, I think it was horse meat patties.

"That was not a good one and not a winner amongst the boys, so I think we will just get him to hold the tongs next time so we can do the job."

Clearly, spirits are high in the Scottish camp ahead of their crucial upcoming clash with Tonga on Sunday.