Super League / Ralph Ellis / 05 February 2009 / Leave a comment

The new, expanded Engage Super League starts on Friday night - and Betfair went to meet Jace Van Dijk, the Australian scrum half who is captain of new boys Celtic Crusaders, to hear how the Welsh club feel about taking on Leeds Rhinos.

So Jace, in with the big boys - is a Super League debut exciting or frightening?

Couldn't be anything but exciting - we've plugged away for this for the last three years and now it's coming around you can feel the tension. It's great.

That must be all the more so for you because you've been with the Crusaders since day one playing in an open field at Hemel Hempstead...

It's certainly been an interesting journey. As you say I've been here since day one along with a few other guys, but we made a decision to come over from Australia, it was an adventure, and we're certainly getting where we planned.

You were playing for Wynnum at top level in Australia and playing for Queensland, so how did they sell the idea to you to go halfway round the world to start off in a field?

I'd had a few things to do with John Dixon, the coach. I was involved with him at the Broncos since I was about 14, so I knew if he was going to it there was a good chance it was going to succeed and go forward fairly quickly. That was what got me interested in coming.

You're based in Bridgend and Wales has always been the heartland of Rugby Union. Has the 13-man game caught on and will you fill your ground during the season?

To be honest I'm not too sure if we will fill the ground or not. But it is slowly catching on down here, and I think once the top four clubs start visiting we are going to tap into a lot of the rugby followers and hopefully put a lot of bums on seats. Over the three years we've been here the club has worked hard at it. I was talking the other day about how we had a schools competition the first year the Crusaders were running and we had 14 teams in it. Now there are more than 120 of them and more coming all the time. That work will carry on.

How big a jump will it be to go into Super League now?

Pretty big, no doubts about that, but I think we've recruited well and I think the new guys and the guys we've kept will put together a reasonable side, and we can compete week in and week out.

Do you expect it to be physically harder, or higher skill levels? What's the difference between the National League and Super League going to be?

I've had this conversation with a few people. I don't think there's too much as far as the skill level is concerned, I think the main thing is everyone is a better athlete. The guys are a little quicker, a little stronger, everything they do is a higher tempo. They are just fitter, I think that's the biggest challenge. You have guys who play national league that are as skilful, they just might not be as quick or as fit and strong.

How do you think Super League compares with the game in Australia then?

I think it compares favourably. You'll see that in a month's time when Leeds take on Manly Sea Eagles in the World Club Challenge. I think the top sides in Super League would compete really well in the NRL. Last season Leeds beat Melbourne fairly comfortably - I know it's held over here, but I think the other top sides like St Helens and Wigan would compete with the top sides in NRL, no problem.

On the subject of Leeds Rhinos, you couldn't have had a harder start than playing them away...

No, but if we're going to play we might as well play the best first off. I think it's a good time to play them, everyone's excited, there will be a good crowd at Headingley, I think there's no better way to start.

Your preparations haven't been too good. We gather you only got back in to the country a few days ago because of problems over work permits and visas...

Yeah, there were eight of us stranded because all the paperwork took longer than expected. It seems there are new rules. But we all did get back here on Sunday morning so since then we've been settling in and we're ready to go. Actually training wasn't a problem - we did it by the internet! We had the fitness conditioner sending us programmes over, and I was training with some local teams, so we've done plenty to keep fit.

What does it mean to you personally to be a Super League player now?

It means a lot - I've played Rugby League since I was four years old, and this is a crack at one of the top tier competitions, so it's a pretty big deal.

Will being captain make you puff the chest out a bit more?

Maybe, although if I wasn't captain it wouldn't' affect the way I play the game. I do plenty of talking to lead the guys around anyway as a half back, I like to get in everybody's ears. Once the game starts it makes no difference to my approach.

We saw you described on the internet as an Australian born Dutch international. That's not right, is it?

No, definitely not! That's one of those Google things that somebody makes some mischief with and it turns into fact! Actually my grandfather is Dutch, which is where the name Van Dijk comes from - and I did have opportunities to play for Holland the first year I was over here. It just didn't fit in with the way we were playing. But I'm Welsh qualified now, and hopefully will get a crack at an international at the end of the year. In fact I'm a proper Taffy now. I realised that when I was at home at Christmas time and started complaining about how hot the weather was!

Thanks for your time and good luck - we've a free £50 bet in aid of a favourite charity...

That can go to the Rugby League Benevolent fund which looks after players who get serious injuries - and since coming over here I've become a big Liverpool football fan so I'll back them to win at Portsmouth on Saturday night at [1.81] Even with the injury problems after losing to Everton, I'd back them to take three points.