Tackling a double career

“From as early as I can remember, I have wanted to be a doctor.” Brendan told me, as we sat in the sun in the London Irish club stands in the leafy suburb of Sunbury in London.

Brendan started off playing rugby for South African schools. He said that even then his studies came first. “I was a good rugby player at school. I saw it as a tool to get a degree--my parents weren't very wealthy. I decided that if I made it as a rugby player it would be a bonus but that even if I didn't it would pay for my studies and I could become a doctor.”

Brendan went to the University of the Orange Free State to study medicine and play rugby. After too much partying in his first year, he just scraped through his exams. “I had …