He continued “Having met with Andre, I am confident he will bring an enormous amount of value to the club.”

Five years later, Andre is leaving Harlequins and retiring from Professional Rugby. He has brought much to the club in those years, both as a player, a captain and a man. 

Bloodied

Let’s deal with the player first. He is one of the most prolific tacklers I can remember. In his last year playing Blindside, Andre is in the top 5 tacklers in the Guinness Premiership. How many times have we seen Andre hanging on to a player as the opposition try to make a crucial break through. The white sweat band, the body slunk low in position to make his move, at the edge of rucks or though the middle protecting his Fly Half. His ability to tackle has always been combined with amazing positional sense, knowing which way a back is going to cut an angle, whether a forward will pick and drive, he has that sixth sense that is impossible to teach, the sense to be in the right place at the right time.

Andre in support

We’ll remember Andre at being superb at turning over ball. Hands in quickly, always on his feet and rarely in a cynical way. Time and again Andre turned defence into attack. His combination with Tony Diprose and Pat Sanderson was memorable. What a back row combination. Dippy would flip them over, Andre would take the ball and out it would go.

Kick off

He also had great hands. I’ll never forget his interchange with Nathan Williams to score Quins try of the season in 2002/3. Fantastic to watch. He was excellent in loose play but also took the ball well in close quarters. Rarely did you see Andre drop the ball. He never had the blisterling pace of some open sides or the try scoring ability of some back row players but his talents were better to suited to the graft and unglamorous work. Standing six foot five Andre was always an option in the line out almost always secure taking a lot of ball at the back but also through the middle. Sometimes we forget that he put in the graft as well acting as a superb lifter.

Lineout Catch

The thing that most stands out was his consistency. I don’t think I ever saw him have a bad game. In 2004/5 he was voted the player most coaches in the League looked out for in the opposition. The silence at The Stoop when Andre went down injured spoke volumes. Andre never went down unless it was bad. Occasionally his shoulder would go towards the end of the match and if Quins were leading you knew we would be hanging on without him. Talisman is a word that has been banded about a lot at Quins, but Vossy was certainly that. The player all of the supporters looked to whether it be in the first minute or the last.

Lineout Call

We have been extremely lucky at Quins to have had some fantastic open side flankers over the years. David Cooke, Peter Winterbottom, Laurent Cabannes, David Wilson and now Andre Vos. Not a bad roll call. But where does Andre stand in this list? For my money he is right at the top with Winterbottom. The same ability to tackle, the quiet determination, the unseen work and the ethic. That is high praise indeed as Winterbottom is one of World Rugby’s all time greats.

Having a polite word with Lander

Andre was an outstanding leader, both for South Africa and for Quins. Always there with his team in a huddle, fist banging against his open palm, also giving encouragement to others, particularly the younger players. You could see they listened to Andre. I remember a player telling me of Andre’s first day at training at Quins. He introduced himself, smiled to the players and it was all friendly. They were in the middle of the first session and Ace Tiatia, starting messing around with a ball. A sharp word from Andre and everyone realised who was in charge. He never ranted and raved but had a quiet authority. There are some that might say that Andre was the captain who took Quins into ND1. All I would say them is could Andre have given anymore? Did he ever leave anything on the pitch? Was he there when we needed him, to help bring us back up. Yes he was. And that is the man.

Receiving the Supporters' Player of the Year Award

Dignified, honest, hard working, true to his team mates and superb to the supporters. That was the mark of the man. Always there to have a chat, sign an autograph, join in with jokes and always with a smile. Andre Vos was everything a club could want of its Captain. Andre is a very religious man but it is rare that you see someone with those beliefs manifestly follow them in life. Andre has done a huge amount of work in the community, in schools for the club and for the HopeHIV charity.

The ND1 Trophy

Perhaps he hasn’t had that really hard edge that other clubs tell us you must have. Perhaps he doesn’t throw the sly punch or put the boot in, but that is not his way.

Parker Pen Trophy

In terms of silverware, Andre lifted the Parker Pen Challenge Cup in 2003/4, The Powergen National trophy in 2005/6 and Quins were winners of the National Division One League also in 2005 /6. In 2002/3 the club finished 7^th, in 2003/4, the club came 5^th, In 2004/5 the club finished 12^th and was relegated and was then promoted in 2005/6.  His time here has not been easy in many ways. In his first season we had to deal with the passing of scrum half Nick Duncombe, John Kingston’s illness and three years later, the difficulties that relegation brought. There were few successes on the field but we hardly heard a word against the Captain. Andre was always there with a soothing word and a smile.

After the Parker Pen Final

Andre now joins the list of all time great Harlequin players, names that include Poulton-Palmer, Stoop, Wakefield, Hiller, Moore, Leonard, Wilson. Wood, Greenwood and now Vos. I’ll go back to Mark Evans’ words in 2002; ““Having met with Andre, I am confident he will bring an enormous amount of value to the club.” He was spot on.

 
Clearing a ruck

Player Biography

Full name: André Neale Vos
Height: 1.90m
Weight: 104kg
Date of Birth: 9.1.75
Place of Birth: East London, South Africa
Educated at: Selborne College, East London & University of Port Elizabeth
Position: Flanker or Number 8
Marital Status: Married
SA Debut: 12 June 1999 (against Italy at Port Elizabeth)
Caps: 33 (16 as captain)
International Tries: 5

Playing Career: Selborne College, Border, Eastern Province U/21; Mighty Elephants (1995-1996), South Africa U21 (1996), South Africa A (1996), South Africa Barbarian 7s (1996), Gauteng Lions (1997-2000), Queensland Reds (1998), Emerging Springboks (1998), Springboks (1998-2001), Springbok Captain (June 2000- June 2001), Cats (1999-2002), Harlequins (1st November 2002-April 2007)

Andre will finish his Quins career having played 139 times for the club.

A few more photos:

Congratulating Ceri

Scrumaging

Two Quins captains

Muddy

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