Fourie feeling right at home as new season brings fresh goals

Heady words indeed, and coming from a man in Neil Back who wore the No 7 shirt for England with such distinction, it is quite an endorsement.

Such is the impact, though, that the 30-year-old back row forward had last season on Leeds Carnegie's successful battle against the drop that Back's statement is understandable.

Fourie was the club's outstanding player and by the end of the 2010 Six Nations campaign he had forced his way into Martin Johnson's England reckoning.

Only injury robbed him of participation in England's summer tour to Australia, but as England enter a World Cup year the South Africa-native is arguably the second-choice openside flanker behind the new England captain Moody and ahead of Tom Rees and Steffon Armitage, having been elevated into the 32-man elite squad.

"For me, Hendre was the stand-out openside flanker in the Premiership last season," continued Leeds head coach Back in a recent interview.

"He was doing everything slightly better than some great players in the Premiership.

"Johnno has an open mind about places in the side. Hendre is certainly a part of his plans at the moment and I believe that if he plays as well as he can this season then he can get that starting role with England."

It is praise that could place too much pressure on a lesser man, but is expectation Back knows his star pupil can carry safely on his broad shoulders.

And for his part Fourie, who learnt of his promotion to the elite squad two weeks after it was announced because he was on a ranch in South Africa holidaying with his wife, is grateful for the attention.

"The way he boosts me in the media, makes me play better," said Fourie, who joined Leeds three years ago after spending his first two years in English rugby under his compatriot Andre Bester at Rotherham's Clifton Lane.

"He puts confidence in me to play as well as I did, and it's a massive confidence boost for you as a player if he's praising you in the media.

"It's a different thing than if he just says it to you at club level, in private. Reading it in the media is massively boosting for me as a player."

Fourie hopes to maintain his push for international honours this coming campaign.

"I'm going to give it my best shot to get that No 7 jersey with England," he said. "It's going to be a real contest but it's a challenge I'm relishing.

"Now that I'm in that 32-man squad there are other people who are putting pressure on me to get in there ahead of me.

"But that's great for me because I love the competitiveness of it. It makes me play better and better.

"How English do I feel? Well, I've been in the country for five years now. I go on holiday to South Africa and then I come back home to England.

"I do feel really English and now I just need to change my passport. Then I'll be a proper Englishman."

Fourie's progression has been aided by the experiences Back had wearing the very same No 7 shirt he covets for England. There is no better sounding board for an ambitious player than a man who has won a World Cup and played 66 times for his country.

Fourie said: "A few times I went to Backy and asked his advice and he gave me pointers and things I can improve on.

"The end of the season is usually the time to do that with a coach, but you can go to him any time and he's always there to say 'this is what you need to work on, this is what will make you a better player'.

"Like for instance, I never used to jump in lineouts and yet I took a few lineout balls in the Premiership last year, which I never thought I would do.

"But thanks to Neil and Marco (Wentzel), who plans the lineouts, I took a few balls much to the surprise of myself and more importantly a few of the opposition teams.

"I'm improving every day and every week under a man like Neil Back."

There were echoes of Back in Fourie's ferocious ball-carrying and tackling as Leeds took the Premiership by surprise last season, surviving against the odds with a game to spare.

And mirroring the head coach's obsessive desire for victory was one of the key factors to their success on the field last season.

"If everybody can have that fierceness, that urgency and that desire to win like Neil had and still does, then you can't go wrong," said Fourie, who ended speculation about his future in April by penning a new two-year deal at Headingley before the club had even secured their Premiership status.

"That's what he was trying to hammer into the squad.

"And when we started winning games, that rubbed off on all the players and that's because of the positiveness he exudes and that fierceness in his attitude, his way of doing things is hugely beneficial.

"He does plenty of sessions with us and if he hits you, you can still feel you've been in a tackle.

"That's why I signed when I did, I didn't want to go away, the feeling growing in the club was that we could become one of the big clubs."

And Fourie readily acknowledges that his international aspirations and Leeds's ambitions to kick-on this season go hand-in-hand.

"If we put our minds to it and play like we did in the latter half of the season we can achieve our objectives," he said. "The reason why I went on tour is because Leeds stayed up.

"If we didn't stay up I don't think I would have made the squad and that's a massive help to everybody.

"If the team goes well then the players in the team are noticed more and more.

"The team has to do well for players to be recognised."