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Published 10:35 24 Aug 2017 BST
Updated 18:17 1 Sept 2017 BST
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"Not really; the ankle was good. We got a cast in May made for me and I just put it on for games. I just think it was a long season and I had played a lot of games and took a lot of bangs. "It's funny when you start offloading more and not carrying, you have people telling you you're offloading too much but when you're offloading too much you're not carrying enough so you never know what to do."[caption id="attachment_134799" align="aligncenter" width="798"]
Stander with his right ankle heavily strapped after the PRO12 final.[/caption]
Stander was hamstrung from early in the tour as Warren Gatland, leaning towards Faletau as his No.8, played him with a midweek side that struggled to get a handle on opponents until midway through the tour. Still, such was his impact that he became impossible to deny as the series went down to the wire.
"Just to be on the tour and playing all those games before the Test was unreal," he says. "To be involved in the second and third Test was unbelievable."
The 27-year-old is looking fresh after a month split back in South Africa and holidaying in Mauritius. He would love to get going as soon as possible but, with pre-season markers to be hit, he is not expected back until October 7 and the PRO14 game against Leinster.
Unsurprisingly, it was an experience with schools rugby that reignited his passion for... rugby.
"I went back to my old school again and started to do a bit of coaching," he said. "I almost wanted to cut my vacation short because you miss it. We do it for fun and we get paid to do it so it's even more enjoyable."The ankle cast is gone but the enthusiasm remains.
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