Hard work has paid off as Adendorff aims to shine at Saints

And that is certainly the case for Saints' new South African recruit, Shaun Adendorff.

The No.8 arrived from French second division side Aurillac this summer, in time to play his part in his new club's return to Gallagher Premiership action.

He has yet to feature at Franklin's Gardens as Saints opt to employ a two-team policy to deal with their hectic schedule.

But Adendorff will line up at what is a home from home for Northampton this month, the Twickenham Stoop, on Sunday.

And as it turns out, the home of Harlequins is exactly where Adendorff started to learn his trade as a rugby player, although it was not the English club, but a South African side of the same name.

"We had a Harlequins in our local area, Durban Harlequins, and we would go down to the field there and we had to spend our Sunday morning working," Adendorff explained.

The motivation to do so much training so young came from Adendorff's father, Ian.

The player says his dad, who passed away a couple of years ago, was his inspiration.

"My biggest influence would be my dad," said Shaun.

"He's a very difficult army guy, very strict and if you do something you have to do it well.

"He always saw the potential in me and my brother and so he pushed us to our limits to get the best out of us.

"Back then, you think 'he should just get off my back' but now when you see where you are in your career and you think back to when he was so hard on us, it's the best thing to do.

"He's definitely the main man.

"Because my dad was a scrum-half and rugby coach as well, all the weekends were about rugby.

"If there were games on television, Test match rugby, Currie Cup, Vodacom Cup, Super Rugby, anything that was on, he would record it and we would all sit down for the rest of the weekend and watch all the reruns of all the games.

"He would tell us this is what we need to do, this is what we need to do.

"Some kids would have a nice, relaxing Sunday morning, but we didn't. We would go down to the local rugby field."

Those weekend training sessions helped Adendorff establish himself as one of the most exciting players in South African rugby.

He was a star of the show for the Under-20s side, earning a place on the three-man shortlist for IRB Junior World Player of the Year award as the Baby Boks made it to the IRB Junior World Championship final in 2012.

But the back row forward's career took a series of twists and turns that he wouldn't have imagined or hoped for before he found his way to France, where he really started to get back on track.

And now Adendorff has the big chance he craves at Saints.

"I worked really hard for this so it's awesome for me and my family and everyone back home," said the 28-year-old.

"It was just sad there were no fans there for my debut last weekend and I couldn't enjoy the cheering and stuff like that, which was weird but it's just one of those things.

"It's any professional rugby player's dream to play first division rugby and I feel I should have been playing it much longer than I have, but that's a different conversation.

"It's a massive moment for me, a massive moment for my family and I've worked really hard to be here.

"I'm just so fuelled up to work even harder and progress even more.

"It's weird the family can't come and watch my games but my biggest goal is to leave a legacy with my career.

"With things not going my way, I couldn't settle and become a household name at one club but that's what I want to achieve here.

"I'm really setting my mind to achieve that."

That determination and drive instilled by his father clearly still resides in Adendorff, whose brother, Ian, also used to be a rugby player.

He was forced to retire due to injury but now takes real pride in watching Shaun succeed in the game he loves.

"He (Ian) played for the Sharks but he was unfortunate with a knee injury that didn't heal properly so he had to give it up," Adendorff said.

"He's also started coaching and stuff like that.

"He was going to be a big thing in Durban rugby but unfortunately he never reached that point because of the knee injury.

"He made the decision to leave eight and go back to centre and was doing awesome but he never recovered from the injury.

"My brother lives in America now and he's watching the games.

"He didn't give me any tips last weekend - he's just supportive and so proud of me.

"When I do get to see him, I can see his passion has never left rugby and he's just so glad I'm able to still do it."

Like his brother, Adendoff also considered trying to build a career as part of the back-line.

But he soon realised it wasn't for him.

"Before I made the transition to play eight, I was playing fly-half and centre," he said.

"I had a decision to make about whether I would go back to centre because I had pace to burn - I was obviously much lighter and I was really fast and agile.

"But I thought, no, they don't make enough hits, it's not tough enough, I'd like to stay at the front so I just stuck to eight."

Adendorff only knew one player at Saints, but that man, Cobus Reinach, departed as he arrived.

Nevertheless, the new recruit at least has some links to England to make him feel at home.

He explained: "My wife's British so it's very convenient for her to be here.

"I met my wife when I was in South Africa when I was in the sevens setup. She's followed me all the way.

"She's from Derbyshire so we've got all the family there.

"It is a big move for me as a professional and I can really see myself making a home here.

"Everyone we've met so far in our little village, Harpole, has been so welcoming and so nice to us."

Adendorff is now setting his sights on a second Saints appearance, and a second trip to The Stoop is the space of just eight days.

"Hopefully it will be a ground where I don't have to see a loss," he said, ahead of Sunday afternoon's clash with Harlequins.

"Hopefully I can have a winning record there and make it a home away from home."

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