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Partners
This story was first published on 28 September 2021.
Many fans were disappointed when they heard the pair had split up. The Rugby World Cup hero who chatted with Prince Harry in his skimpy Springbroekie seemed perfectly matched with his salt-of-the-earth Northern Cape girlfriend.
But trying to maintain a long-distance relationship and the pressures of the pandemic took their toll and they went their separate ways last year.
Yet true love will always find a way – and Cupid has come through again for Faf de Klerk and Miné van Niekerk. The pair are an item once again and optimistic about the future – albeit cautiously so.
“We’re going to see how it works out,” Miné (28) says. “I work with my dad in Postmasburg and since Covid it’s been really hard to get together. That’s the real problem.”
Faf (29), who’s based in Manchester, England, where he plays club rugby for the Sales Sharks, confirms this and says they need to relieve some of the pressure on their relationship and see how things go.
“Once things open up, it’ll be easier to see each other again. Somehow we always end up back together again.”
We’re chatting to Faf and Miné on a video call where she’s in Postmasburg and he in Gqeberha a few days before the Boks are due to leave for Australia for the Rugby Championship.
Faf says the team is happy to be playing together again after the pandemic had them stuck at home for months.
“After the World Cup we got very tight but we didn’t see each other much. Sometimes I played against the guys who live overseas and we got to catch up. In the past month everyone sent messages saying they couldn’t wait to jol together again.”
The couple decided that after the World Cup Miné would join Faf for six weeks at a time and then return home for work. She’s a pharmacist and works with her dad, BJ, in the pharmacy he’s owned for 34 years.
When lockdown began Faf returned to SA and stayed with Miné in Postmasburg for two months before he had to head back to Manchester at the end of May last year. Faf says back in the UK he started feeling things were a bit off between them and asked Miné what was going on.
They realised they didn’t know when they’d be together again and decided to just be friends. “We’re so good when we’re together, but long distance makes it difficult,” Miné says. “You’re left to do everything alone and you can’t share everything that happens in your day.”
They still talked from time to time but communication dried up towards the end of the year. The turning point came when Faf was preparing to come home for the British and Irish Lions tour in July.
“I called her to ask if I should bring some of her stuff back with me,” he says. “My house was full of her things. It wasn’t nice to have all those reminders.”
The two started chatting again and Faf invited Miné to join him in the isolation bubble at a Cape Town hotel where the Springboks and their spouses were staying before the tour.
Miné flew to Cape Town where she spent a week isolating in a hotel before she could join Faf. Was it good to be back together? “Flip, yes,” Miné says. “I wouldn’t have sat in a hotel on my own for seven days if I wasn’t serious about it all.”
“I’m very happy right now,” Faf says. “I just hope it stays like this.”
“It will,” Miné says. “I’m telling you, we should just go to America and get married in Vegas.”
Their journey started almost six years ago when they met through mutual friends in Hermanus during the December holidays. Miné invited Faf to go with her to a wedding because he’s such a good dancer and soon they were a couple.
Although being apart during the pandemic was tough on their relationship, rugby courses through Faf’s veins and he was glad to get back to England when hard lockdown ended in SA.
“It was a huge blessing to continue playing and earning a salary,” he says. “But the break was good too, because I hadn’t had such a long holiday in five years.”
Though they’re working out the logistics of their relationship, there’s no doubt how Faf feels about Miné.
“I’ll always love her, no matter what,” he says. “It’s just always been there. We’ve been together a long time and we know each other well. We’ve experienced amazing things together – that’s one of the things that makes our relationship so special.
“The problems start when we’re apart.”
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The first signs of a reconciliation were pictures on social media following the Lions tour.
Miné shared a picture of them with Faf’s teammate Steven Kitshoff and his wife, Aimee, and later Faf posted a pic of the two of them with the winners’ trophy.
Faf says not only did the isolation bubble bring him and Miné back together, it was also good for the rest of the Bok team.
“The dads don’t see their children much, so it was good to have the families there. Of course the guys enjoy it when it’s just us, but really only for a short time and then you want to be with your loved ones again.” Bok management encourages a family-friendly environment.
“They really make an effort because they know how much time we spend away from our families,” Faf says. “[Coach] Jacques [Nienaber] always says it’s 100% fine if a child runs into a meeting.”
The recent “bubble” experience in the Cape Town hotel with the families was very different, Faf says. “Usually, you have a few close friends you’ll go out to dinner with but this time it really brought everyone together because there was nowhere to go.”
Faf hasn’t decided what he’ll do when his Sales contract ends in two years.
“I’m pretty happy-go-lucky about where I’ll go, but it needs to make financial sense too,” he says. “I don’t know where Miné and I will be by then, but I’ve always said my wife and children will be my first priority. I don’t want to be without them for long periods of time.”
For now, Faf just wants to spend time with Miné when the Springboks get back from Australia and before he leaves for England again. He’s hoping travel will become easier in the coming months.
And who knows? Maybe there’s a flight to Vegas on the cards.
