There is a tenacity to Vernon Paulo’s approach to rugby that is, quite frankly, scary. The soon-to-be 22-year-old dynamo of a hooker has an appetite for destruction. Just ask Ikeys scrumhalf Asad Moos who, during the Varsity Cup final between the Eagles and the Tigers, decided to test the home team’s defence with a dummy. He failed. Paulo lined him up and smashed him back with impunity. Then there is his appetite for tries. He crossed the whitewash an incredible 12 times during the tournament. For a hooker … what is that all about? Those are numbers reserved for wings. Yet, when Paulo is on the field, carnage ensues.

At the end of the Eagles’ victorious campaign, Paulo, together with teammate Gustav Erlank and Shimlas’ Lourens Oosthuizen, was nominated as one of the competition’s overall Player that Rocks, and as part of the same trio was nominated as Forward that Rocks.

“I get goosebumps when I think about where our tournament started and where we finished. Everyone played their part and gave their best. We did our jobs and what was expected of us. We played for each other and we wanted to make everyone proud,” says Paulo.

The 60 points he contributed to the Eagles’ cause via tries were the result of one of the many targets he set himself: “I wasn’t greedy for tries – winning is the most important thing. But you cannot win if you do not score tries,” he quips. “I had a lot of rugby goals I wanted to achieve, and one of them was to be the best hooker in the Varsity Cup. It was what I played for and what I strove for.”

However, that is only one part of the equation that unequivocally made Paulo the best No 2 in the Varsity Cup. “You play for your teammates. That is what the game is about. We also had a system that worked. We bought into that system and we backed that system.”

After the Varsity Cup, Paulo joined the Potchefstroom-based Leopards and was contracted to play for the Cheetahs from November.

“I am excited, but I am also a little bit nervous. I love challenges and I will make the best of this opportunity. I want to keep moving up into bigger professional setups. I want to become a Springbok and I am working hard to achieve that. I believe in myself.”

From Eagle to Leopard to Cheetah, Vernon Paulo is clawing his way to the top.

Hard as nails. Vernon Paulo in his Leopards gear.