'It was honestly unreal' - Zachary Porthen reflects on 'dream' Springbok debut

At the first whistle, the 21-year-old became the youngest prop to debut for South Africa in the professional era. But the fresh talent was not overawed by the occasion. He packed down well at scrum time, hit 13 rucks, made nine tackles and had one carry for seven metres in an industrious 48 minutes at a wet Wembley.

"It was honestly unreal," said the Wynberg native after the match.

"It was a dream come true to be on the same field as all those guys. I could only dream of it before, and now it has come true. It's crazy.

"This is what I've wanted to do my whole life, and it is certainly the highlight of my career so far. I'm grateful to be here, and I hope I can stay here. That's the next step."

On the performance, Porthen admits he's at the start of a long journey of learning. He looks set to be the next visitor to coach Daan Human's notorious scrum dungeon on his farm, as the legendary bucket-hat toting coach has already identified some areas of improvement.

"I thought I did all right," reflected the former Junior Bok.  

"I obviously have a lot to learn, but there are also things I can be proud of. That said, I'll go back to the drawing board and learn. I've already spoken to coach Daan and he said we have a couple of things we have to get into.

"The level of rugby was completely different, but it was nice that I got to this stage, and I feel I'll be a little bit better next time because I now know what to expect."

Porthen was earmarked for greatness from a young age and is a product of the SA Rugby's Elite Player Development Programme. As such, Porthen had his own expectations of representing the senior side at some point, but he admitted he didn't think it would be so soon.

"I didn't think it would come as quickly as it did," he continued.

"I had a different plan for myself and that was to become more established at the Stormers. I thought this would happen over the course of maybe four or five years. But God had a different plan and now I'm here."

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