The PRO14 is nothing new to the 20-stones South African, who is set to make his first start for the region after two cameo replacement appearances against the Ospreys and the Dragons.
Now, the 26-year-old Scholtz is poised to play against the Blues at the Cardiff City Stadium – in a match that is live on S4C – and if resilience is character-forming in a physical sense, then the home side’s front row could be in for a long night.
S4C – Saturday, 19.15: Clwb Rygbi – Cardiff Blues v Scarlets
Live coverage of the Guinness PRO14 rugby match between Cardiff Blues and Scarlets, from Cardiff City Stadium. English commentary available. K/O 7.35.
In recent months, Scholtz has:
- Overcome playing for a team that hardly won a game
- Left without unpaid wages after the Southern Kings were bankrupted
- Come through a nine-month period without playing a single match
- Spent two weeks in quarantine in a Llanelli hotel
- Been divided from his fiancé back in Port Elizabeth after all flights from the country were banned
When the Scarlets suffered front row injuries, head coach Glenn Delaney was quick to move for Scholtz, a tight-head with a reputation for old school, rock solid South African scrummaging, back in November.
He was quick to join, too, after three years with the Southern Kings – the South African, Port-Elizabeth-based side that struggled in the Guinness Pro14 and won just four games in three seasons.
“The problem for the Southern Kings was that lots of good players got drafted by the other provinces. Losing became a bit of a habit, it became normalized,” said Scholtz.
“In the final year, we had a proper development of young players, but the whole COVID thing started and everyone had to leave because there was no money there.”
The Kings were reduced to paupers by last September and went into liquidation, leaving Scholtz and his teammates out of pocket.
“Four or five days before pay day, they called us all in and said, ‘Sorry, boys. There’s no money. You’re not going to get paid any more,” he explained.
“At least I had managed to save a bit, but for younger guys who hadn’t played much, they were going month-to-month and then told there was nothing.”
What made it harder was that COVID-19 had meant Scholtz, who hails from the Northern Cape, had not played a game for nine months.
“It was mentally tough after they told me they weren’t going to pay me anymore. The last game I had played was in March – so there was no outlet on the pitch, either,” he added.
With no rugby and no money, plus a recent engagement to get married, Scholtz did not need to be asked twice when the Scarlets got in touch. Suddenly he had something positive to cling on to, rugby was back on his agenda.
“Some of the Southern Kings guys went to play rugby in France, some still haven’t been fixed up, but I just got lucky. The connection was made from the Scarlets through my agent and I told him, ‘Where’s the contract? I’ll sign’,” said Scholtz.
“I knew that the Scarlets were the main team in Wales and when Wales went on that 14-match unbeaten run under Warren Gatland a little while ago, there were a lot of Scarlets players in that team.
“I had played at Parc Y Scarlets once before, I knew it was a good venue for rugby, so I was excited about joining. I like Wales, it’s very friendly, like the part of South Africa I’m from, and Llanelli is a nice, slow-paced, chilled kind of town.”
Before he could play, though, there were 14 days of quarantine isolation in Llanelli’s Diplomat Hotel before he could meet his new teammates.
“I was on my own, all alone, but luckily I had Netflix and I watched everything on their schedule. It was a bit frustrating because I couldn’t do a lot. In a hotel room, it was difficult. But you had to follow the rules,” he said.
So far, Scholtz has played 20 minutes against the Ospreys and 30 minutes against the Dragons – what his coach Delaney calls “bite-size” portions for a man who had been starved of rugby.
Delaney says: “Pieter does the basics well, loves a scrum, loves a maul, and cleans rucks out pretty effectively. He’s a really good lad who is fitting in wonderfully well. He’s a renowned scrummager and we want to make sure we use that to our advantage.
“It’s about giving him time to get into things, because he hadn’t played for nearly nine months by the time he arrived. It’s bit-size chunks with Pieter, but he’s fitting in really well.”
The player himself is looking forward to an increasing influence with his new team, even though he may have to wait a while before playing in front of Scarlets fans.
“The guys here think it’s weird playing in front of no fans, but I played for the Southern Kings, so I’m used to playing with no fans,” added Scholtz.
“I would like to stay beyond this season and get a longer contract. It was always my dream to play a proper spell with a team from overseas.
“The Scarlets have some of the best rugby players in the world here and I think we can definitely win things. Ken Owens is one of the best hookers in the world, so I’m looking forward to playing with him.”
