'He deserves it': Bekhuis to join Rutledge as record holder
“Sabin my young fella has been keeping an eye on it saying; ‘he’s going to pass you, Dad’."
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Jason Rutledge was well aware it was coming - his youngest son Sabin made sure of that.
All going to plan Josh Bekhuis will run out onto Rugby Park against Waikato on Sunday for his 143rd appearance in a Stags jersey.
The lock will equal Rutledge as Southland rugby’s most-capped player if that is the case.
The following Saturday he would then have the chance to pass Rutledge and hold the Southland record outright when the Stags host North Harbour in their final 2024 outing.
“Sabin, my young fella, has been keeping an eye on it saying; ‘he’s going to pass you, Dad’, Rutledge said.
“It’s something I can’t control, bloody good on him, he deserves it.”
Rutledge took over from Gerald Dermody as Southland’s most-capped player in 2012. Dermody’s record of 120 games had stood since 1977.
Rutledge has watched Bekhuis’ remarkable career of longevity closer than most since he joined the Stags setup straight out of Southland Boys’ High School.
That was before Bekhuis debuted in a 53-10 win against North Otago in 2006.
In fact, Rutledge was aware of Bekhuis before that given he had played a lot of club rugby against his father Richard, who himself also played lock for Southland.
“Obviously when he turned up, he was already a big lad, and he was earmarked to go a lot further.
“He was really raw-boned and whenever you did contact, he was someone you would look to avoid, I suppose. He was certainly able to hurt people.
“He obviously had a good work ethic coming from Skelty [Peter Skelt] at Southland Boys’. He came in [to the Stags] and fitted in well,” Rutledge said.
The two ended up playing a lot of rugby together, both for Southland and the Highlanders. Even in July this year Rutledge and Bekhuis were still going at it on the field playing against each other in a Southland premier club rugby semifinal.
Rutledge’s 143 games for Southland stretched from 2000 to 2020 with his last outing coming at the age of 42.
The Southland hooker’s ability to look after his body late in his career has been the key to his longevity. Bekhuis has used his former teammate’s longevity as motivation since returning to Southland in 2022 in the twilight of his career.
“Especially since [Bekhuis] has come back, I’ve heard from a few of the boys how Josh looks after his body.
“I don’t know if that has come from being overseas at Japanese clubs, but the boys have made mention that Lurch does an amazing job looking after himself post-game, pre-game whatever else,” Rutledge said.
“If you add up all his games, he must have massive numbers considering he has gone away and played professionally overseas, which I never did.
“If he had stayed here from day one, right through, he would have racked up over 200 games [for Southland]. He’s done well, he’s racked up some big numbers.”
Bekhuis spent five years playing overseas in France and Japan and on top of his 142 outings for Southland he played 100 Super Rugby fixtures in New Zealand.
It’s hard to think of anyone in the future getting near the numbers that Rutledge and Bekhuis have recorded in the maroon jersey.
In their early days, they would be able to notch up 13 or 14 NPC games per season. Some preseason games would also previously count as first-class fixtures.
Stags teams now play just 10 games per season - and because those 10 games are squeezed into just nine weeks some players require a game off through three games in a 10-day period which limits game time further.
Ironically, at 38 years old, Bekhuis is one of only a couple of players who has played in all eight games to date this season.
Rutledge plans to pay Bekhuis a visit at Stags training at some point for a chat with a historic couple of moments likely to play out in Southland rugby in the next fortnight.
So, what has the former Southland hooker made of the 2024 Stags season to date?
“The first thing that wants to come out of my mouth is frustrating. Even watching against Auckland, you think; ‘they are struggling here’, and then they come good.
“Watching against Manawatu you think, ‘we are going to run away with it’ and then we lose. It’s almost like the All Blacks where we go to sleep for that period and it hurts us, but the difference is [the All Blacks] snuck a win.
“The win against Otago was a great start and I thought we were away. It’s frustrating and I would say Panel [Matt Saunders] and Tin Tin [James Wilson] will be frustrated as well.”
Southland’s game against Waikato on Sunday will kick-off at 2.05pm.
Most appearances for Southland:
143 - Jason Rutledge (2000-2020)
142 - Josh Bekhuis (2006-2024)
127 - Tim Boys (2005-2017)
123 - Jamie Mackintosh (2004-2015)
120 - Gerald Dermody (1965-1977)
113 - Leicester Rutledge (1972-1983)
111 - Jimmy Cowan (2000-2016)
107 - Greig Spencer (1958-1967)
106 - David Hall (2002-2015)
104 - Brent Shepherd (1987-1997)
103 - Ack Soper (1954-1966)
103 - Paul Laidlaw (1980-1991)
103 - Simon Culhane (1988-1998)
100 - Lin Booth (1969-1979)
100 - Phil Butt (1971-1980)