50 Years of South African Rugby: A Free Sunday Times Ebook

50 YEARS OF
SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY
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2 50 Years of South African Rugby
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2015 Rugby World Cup Preview
Introduction
Black Rugby in South Africa
South African Test Rugby through the Decades
1965-1974
1975-1984
1985-1994
Transformation in South African Rugby
1995-2004
2005-2015
All the Scores: 50 Years of Test Rugby
4
8
13
18
30
44
62
76
101
129
Copyright Times Media (Pty) Ltd 2015

All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1-928216-90-2 (ePDF)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other
electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The Eighth Rugby World Cup, hosted by England for the second time,
is set to be the biggest yet, with over two million fans watching live
matches. Here we break the tournament down by the numbers:
RUGBY WORLD CUP 2015 FACTS:
SA RECORDS:
111
Most points in RWC history (Percy Montgomery, 1999-2007)
105
Most points in a single RWC tournament (Percy Montgomery,

2007)
34
Most points by an individual in a single match (Jannie de

Beer vs. England, 1999)
10
Most tries in RWC history (Bryan Habana, 2007-2011)
Most tries in a single RWC tournament (Bryan Habana, SA,

2007)
Most penalties by an individual in a single match (Jannie de

Beer, vs. Australia, 1999)
Most conversions by an individual in a single match (Jannie

de Beer vs. Spain, 1999)
Most drop-goals by an individual in a single match (Jannie

de Beer, SA vs. England, 1999)
Most tries by an individual in a single match (Bryan Habana

vs. Samoa, 2007)
Staging of Rugby World Cup
11Cities
13Venues
20
competing nations in the finals
20
scrum machines deployed
44
days long
48matches
100
spin bikes
200
kicking tees
207
broadcasting countries
620players
6000volunteers
400000
visiting fans expected from over 100 countries
2,300,000
match day tickets sold
4,000,000,000
expected global TV audience
40,000,000,000
projected income for Britain in Rand value
PREVIOUS HOST COUNTRIES:

1987
New Zealand and Australia
1991
England (with games across Britain and Ireland)
1995
South Africa (first RWC where all games were played in

one country)
1991Australia
1999
Wales (games played in Britain, Ireland and France)
1995
2003
Australia
1999Australia
2007
France (with games played in Britain)
2003England
2011
New Zealand
GENERAL RUGBY WORLD CUP FACTS:

PREVIOUS WINNERS:
1987
New Zealand
South Africa
2007
South Africa
2011
New Zealand
TEAM RECORDS:
INDIVIDUAL RECORDS:
Number of winners from the northern hemisphere

(England, 2003)
277
The number of titles New Zealand, Australia and South

Africa have each won
126 Most
The number of times France have been runners-up (1987,

1999, 2011).
45
Most points by an individual in a single match (Simon

Culhane, NZ, vs. Japan, 1995)
24
The number of Pool matches NZ have won. The only team

in history to have won all their Pool games
20
Most conversions by an individual in a single match (Simon

Culhane, NZ, vs. Japan, 1995)
21
Most number of tries scored by one team in a single

match (NZ vs. Japan, 1995)
15
Most tries in RWC history (Jonah Lomu, NZ, 1995-1999)
Most tries in a single RWC tournament (Jonah Lomu, NZ,

1999 and Bryan Habana, SA, 2007)
Most penalties by an individual in a single match (Gavin

Hastings, SCO, Thierry Lacroix, FRA, Gonzalo Quesada, ARG,
Matt Burke, AUS)
46.8
Average number of points NZ have scored in every one of

their 43 RWC games
Most points in RWC history (Jonny Wilkinson, England, 19992011)

points in a single RWC tournament (Grant Fox, NZ,
1987)
142
Largest winning margin (Australia 142 Namibia 0 in 2003)
145
Most points scored by a team in a match (NZ vs. Japan in

1995)
Most aggregate points in a match (NZ 145 Japan 17 in

1995)
Most tries by an individual in a single match (Mark Ellis, NZ,

vs. Japan, 1995)
Most drop-goals by an individual in a single match (Jannie

de Beer, SA vs. England, 1999)
162
272
Total tries scored by NZ in RWC history
2012 Most points by a team in RWC history (NZ)
DID YOU KNOW?

1
The number of matches the Springboks have lost in World Cups played in the northern hemisphere
The number of games legendary prop Os du Rant lost in his World Cup career.
The number of World Cup winners medals Du Randt won
93.75
Du Randts winning percentage at RWC. He played 16 games and SA won 15.
The number of games the Springboks have lost in RWC history
The number of RWC tournaments the Springboks have played in
86.2
the Springboks RWC winning percentage after 25 wins in 29 matches. Its the highest by any nation. NZ has a winning percentage
of 86.04 with 6 losses in 43 outings
82957
The highest attendance for a RWC match when Australia and England played in the 2003 final at the Sydney Olympic Stadium.
2015 POOLS
POOL A
POOL C
1 AUSTRALIA
2 ENGLAND
3 WALES
4 FIJI
5 URUGUAY
1 NEW ZEALAND
2 ARGENTINA
3 TONGA
4 GEORGIA
5 NAMIBIA
POOL B
POOL D
1 SOUTH AFRICA
2 SAMOA
3 JAPAN
4 SCOTLAND
5 USA
1 FRANCE
2 IRELAND
3 ITALY
4 CANADA
5 ROMANIA
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6
50 Years
of South
African Rugby
SOUTH AFRICAS WORLD CUP 2015 TEAM

Adriaan Strauss Hooker
Lwazi Mvovo Wing
Bismarck du Plessis Hooker
Morn Steyn Fly-half
Bryan Habana Wing
Pat Lambie Fly-half
Coenie Oosthuizen Prop
Pieter-Steph du Toit Lock
Damian de Allende Centre
Ruan Pienaar Scrum-half
Duane Vermeulen Number 8
Rudy Paige Scrum-half
Eben Etzebeth Lock
Schalk Brits Hooker
Fourie du Preez Scrum-half
Schalk Burger Flanker
Francois Louw Flanker
Siya Kolisi Flanker
Frans Malherbe Prop
Tendai Mtawarira Prop
Handr Pollard Fly-half
Trevor Nyakane Prop
Jannie du Plessis Prop
Victor Matfield Lock
Jean de Villiers (Captain) Centre
Willem Alberts Flanker
Jesse Kriel Centre
Willie le Roux Fullback
JP Pietersen Wing
Zane Kirchner Fullback
Lood de Jager Lock
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50 YEARS OF
SPRINGBOK RUGBY
An Introduction
THIS BOOK looks back at the past 50 years of South
African test rugby through the eyes of the Sunday Times
writers who covered those matches. It reflects the period
from 1965 to 1989 when the Springboks played as a team
representing apartheid South Africa, the hiatus between
1989 and 1992 when the difficult process to rugby unity
was achieved, and up to the present with the Springboks
preparing to contest their sixth Rugby World Cup.
Springbok rugby, of course, goes back much further than
1965. The first time a South African rugby team was called
the Springboks was in 1906 when Paul Roos, a Stellenbosch
school teacher who was selected as captain by his teammates,
led a team to Britain for the first time. The nickname for the
team emerged from an impromptu meeting between Roos,
his vice-captain Paddy Carolin and the teams manager,
Cecil Carden. It was an attempt to pre-empt the British press
coming up with its own name for the team. The touring
team was made up of English and Afrikaans-speaking
players, some of whom had been on opposite sides just four
years before in the South African (Anglo-Boer) War. Rooss
aim during the tour apart from winning the rugby matches
was to heal race relations in the team. In those days
that meant reconciliation between the two white language
groups. Articulate and gracious, in victory or defeat, Roos
also regarded the tour as an opportunity to mend fences
with Britain, the aggressor and victor in the war.
Ninety-six years later, a new Springbok team would
attempt to do much the same for South African black and

white people, briefly achieving apparently unequivocal
unity in 1995 when one of Rooss more recent successors,
Francois Pienaar, declared that the Springboks victory over
the All Blacks in the World Cup final had been achieved
not only for the 63000 mostly white fans in the Ellis Park
stadium that day, but for the countrys entire 43 million
people. Accepting the trophy from Nelson Mandela, who
was wearing a Springbok cap and jersey, the two men in
that brief, euphoric, moment for South Africans became
symbols for unity.
That feeling of optimism was short-lived. As difficult as
it was for Afrikaners to put aside their bitterness over the
devastation of their land and their women and children
being forced into concentration camps during the AngloBoer War, so it was for black South Africans to suddenly
forget the oppression of apartheid after just one democratic
election and one world cup triumph. The very symbol of
that brief unity on a June afternoon in Johannesburg the
Springbok quickly became divisive as South Africans got
back to the business of normal life. Among many black
South Africans, the Springbok was a symbol of white
supremacy and apartheid, despite its having been used as
an emblem on the jerseys of African and coloured teams
who had played separately from the white Springboks until
1992. Compromises have been made over the past 23 years
in which the Springbok emblem, if not the teams name,
has been relegated to the jerseys sleeve amid a profusion

of sponsors logos, national symbols, clothing brands and
every four years a World Cup label.
Today the controversy over Springbok rugby is rather
the pace of transformation. Team selections, widely
debated among the fans and coaches, dare not lose sight of
racial make-up of Springbok teams. Since the first unified
Springbok team in 1992, which contained not a single black
player, coaches and selectors have striven or been urged to
strive for a more representative side. But the complexities
of rugby politics, the socio-economic disparities of players
from different ethnic groups and all the old prejudices have
proved difficult to overcome in choosing the strongest team to
confront rivals that dont share these problems. Nevertheless
it would be churlish to deny that Springbok rugby has moved
on, dramatically so, since 1965 when teams were made up
of only white men and many white South Africans firmly
believed that black people did not play rugby, or if they did,
were not up to white standards. Overcoming such bigotry
and also eliminating the perception that rugby is still the
preserve of white Afrikanderdom remains at the bottom
of the games problems. Indeed, todays Springbok coach,
and even the captain and players, have responsibilities wider
than just tactics on the field.
This book attempts to put Springbok rugby in its wider
context, although games played, won and lost from 1965
to 2015 remain the main focus. However, it cannot ignore
that in the first decade of the past 50 years, while Springbok
rugby players were packing their bags to tour overseas, other
rugby players were packing up their belongings in places
like District Six in Cape Town to be forcibly removed far
from communities that had been established for more than
a hundred years. In the case of District Six, the Roslyns
club which had been established in the 1800s, disappeared
altogether as a result of the area being declared white in

1966, the removal of an entire community in the 1970s and
the destruction of old community ties.
If such comparisons smack too much of politics, its
because rugby has always been about politics, whether
racial politics, national and provincial politics, or pure rugby
politics where Danie Craven proved a master. Paul Roos,
too, was a politician. His diplomacy during the 1906 tour to
Britain was nothing less than the politics of reconciliation
between former enemies. He was even elected to Parliament
in 1948 by the voters of Stellenbosch on the National Party
ticket but died in the same year.
Craven was as skilled a politician as he was a rugby
player, Springbok captain, coach and administrator. In his
37 years as head of first white rugby then briefly as head
of the united SA Rugby Football Union, together with
Ebrahim Patel, Craven had to defend his presidency against
insidious Broederbond attempts to undermine him. For
most of his life he was a Sap, a Jan Smuts/United Party
supporter, although he never declared that openly. Although
he appeared to run the SA Rugby Board like an autocrat,
he cunningly manipulated votes, sometimes through blatant
gerrymandering, to stay in power. When annual meetings
of the board, always held on a Friday, appeared to run as
smoothly as a communist party central committee with
no dissent it was because any contentious issues had
been caucused and resolved the day before in some secret
gathering. So anyone who believes that sport and politics
should not mix and it was phrase often uttered by white
sports people during the apartheid era, including Craven
they are being either wilfully ignorant, or plainly dishonest.
Cravens politics extended beyond South Africa. He
became a member of the International Rugby Board in
1957, a year after ascending to the South African Rugby
Boards presidency. He was chairman of the IRB on

several occasions and used his contacts within that
body to maintain South Africas rugby ties with the
outside world while other sports were being shut out.
His influence and connections had much to do with
maintaining tours to South Africa, and Springbok
tours abroad.
There was also something homespun about
Cravens administration of South African rugby. If he
appeared to be running things singlehandedly, it was
only because his faithful assistant, Alex Kellerman,
a former newspaperman who had become board
secretary, laboured tirelessly in his shadow. Together
the two men also seemed to run things out of the Docs
car boot, a Jaguar that the board had bought for him.
On more than one occasion, Kellerman would take
a rugby reporter into his confidence and show him a
document in the Jags car boot. While Craven often
pretended to loathe rugby writers and rugby referees,
he never allowed a reporters phone call to be in vain;
there was always a morsel or even a potential scoop
to be had from calling the Doc. Some reporters did
it on a daily basis. It was part, possibly unintentionally,
of Craven playing publicist for rugby as well as being
its chief administrator.
The fact that the Springbok tours of 1965 went
ahead owed much to Craven and his connections.
Anti-apartheid feelings, especially in wake of the
Sharpeville massacre of 1960 and the jailing of
Nelson Mandela in 1964, were beginning to run high
and the Springbok cricket tour in 1965 to England
would be the last until 1994. The Springbok history
in this book, then, starts with the tour to New Zealand
in 1965 when the Springboks would win only one
test. They would win another only in 1967 because
there were no tests in 1966 as their rugby counterparts

in the rest of the world agonised over contacts with
apartheid South Africa.
The opening game, so to speak, of this book is
the match against the All Blacks at Lancaster Park
in Christchurch on September 4 1965. The drama
of the match still resonates in the reporting of Paul
Irwin, the legendary Sunday Times and Rand Daily Mail
writer and columnist. The story of Springbok rugby
will continue through the reports filed by a succession
of highly regarded rugby writers, from Irwin in the
first game to Chumani Bambani in the most recent
one, a Springbok victory in Buenos Aires on the eve
of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. It is mostly a story
of Springbok success, because South Africans love
a winning Springbok team. Reports of defeats
where in these are relevant, such as in 1974 are also
contained on these pages.
The stories are often dynamic, occasionally
poignant, and reflect a high standard of reporting from
the rugby frontline. More often than not, they were
written under huge pressures of deadlines, barked
down a bad phone line to a dictate typist struggling
to hear at the other end, typed and telexed or, more
recently, tapped into a laptop followed by a prayer that
a modem had connected to a mainframe back at the
office. Some stories were filed under extreme conditions,
such as a freezing press box at Twickenham, open to
the elements before it was enclosed, or in the deluge of
a Durban thunderstorm, as Dan Retief had to do in
1995 reporting on the dramatic, and drenched, World
Cup semifinal between the Springboks and France.
The Springboks played 346 test matches during
these 50 years (76 before 1992), so it is impossible to
re-produce match reports for each game. We have
selected those that were special, like the Lancaster Park test of 1965, and
especially those where the Springboks were triumphant at two World Cups.
There were unexpected successes, such as a Loftus test against the 1970
All Blacks which helped turn around Springbok fortunes after a dismal
tour to Britain, where the team faced opponents off the field as well as on
it in the form of anti-apartheid protesters. There were heavy defeats, such
as the 26-9 reverse against the Lions of 1974, as well as unexpected ones,
against England in the single test of 1972. There were huge victories, too,
especially the 61-22 flattening of the Wallabies which, however wide the
margin might have been, failed to save the Bok coach at the time, Carel du
Plessis. There were also phenomenal comebacks, like the one at Ellis Park
in 2000 when the Springboks edged the All Blacks 46-40 in the highestscoring game between the two ancient rivals.
There was drama on the field and off it. Coaches and captains were
hired and fired. The sport became professional in this era and it abandoned
many traditions. If you were wearing a Springbok jersey on a Saturday
in 1965, it meant that you would be playing that afternoon and not just
showing off your latest sports-shop purchase. Training methods and
technology became more sophisticated. Springbok rugby players of today
are bigger and fitter than those of 1965. The balls are no longer made of
leather, but plastic and dont absorb water, as they did for Tiny Naude in
1965 (see the chapter on the first era of the 50 years). Grounds are better
drained and, in New Zealand especially, are no longer the quagmires
of the past. Television has brought the game up close, with replays and
television match officials. What has not changed is the emotion the game
evokes. We still get excited about a Springbok victory and depressed by a
defeat. This book is more about victory.
by Archie Henderson
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BLACK RUGBY IN SOUTH AFRICA

BLACK AND white rugby in South Africa have never been far
apart in terms of history and locality. Politically, however, it might
as well have been a game played on different planets.
There has long been a perception among many white
South Africans that rugby never appealed much to black South
Africans. It persists even today in some white minds, who believe
that black people have come to the game only recently, and it
might even contribute to the slow pace of transformation. Yet
black and white rugby emerged, albeit separately, within a few
years of each other. The game would remain rigidly divided
for just over a hundred years, reflecting the racial, religious and
political dynamics of the country: complex on one hand and
brutally stark on the other.
When the white South African Rugby Football Board came into
being in 1889, it was from a ruling-class perspective: paternal and
exclusive. At that time, rugby outside of South Africa was played
mostly by white countries, which dominated the International
Rugby Football Board (now World Rugby) when it was formed in
1887. Scotland, Ireland and Wales were the founding members.
England joined only in 1890, having earlier refused because it
had wanted the sole right to make the laws of a game it claimed
to have invented. (Rugby, like cricket and unlike other sports
has laws rather than rules.)
The SA Rugby Football Board had connections with the IRFB
in an old boys club manner of doing business. The white SA
Rugby Football Board was admitted as a full member, along with
Australia and New Zealand, only in 1948 but ties had always
been strong. The Home Unions of England, Scotland, Wales and
Ireland, along with fellow Commonwealth dominions, blithely
accepted that the South African teams they played against would
always be white and in that complacency the SA Rugby Football
Board continued to arrange tours to the member countries
without much regard for black rugby in its own country.
It would take 80 years from the time of its establishment for
the members and adherents of the SA Rugby Football Board to
understand how obnoxious its accommodation of segregation

and apartheid had become. A Springbok tour to Britain in the
European winter of 1969/70 brought home to white South
Africans that whites-only teams were no longer acceptable.
The tour was disrupted by demonstrations led by a young
South African exile, Peter Hain. He inspired other protests, in
Australia during the 1971 Springbok tour, and especially in 1981,
when New Zealand was brought to the brink of civil insurrection
as police and protesters clashed violently during the Springbok
tour.
When apartheid South Africas pariah status led to sanctions
and sporting boycotts, the SA Rugby Football Board, in an
attempt to retain increasingly tenuous contact with the rest of the
world, began to co-opt the black rugby organisations it had for
so long shunned. The board hardly knew where to start. Black
rugby was fragmented and had been played in near-anonymity
because of the paucity of press coverage that matches received.
Some Eastern Cape Xhosa newspapers published reports, carried
scores and even helped create audience anticipation. Elsewhere,
if any black sport received coverage it was usually dominated by
soccer. The country knew who the white Springbok players were
because they had celebrity status, but few outside the black rugby
cognoscenti could name even half-a-dozen black rugby stars.
Jowa Abrahams, one of the finest number eights to play in
the non-racial South African Rugby Union teams in the 1960s
and 70s, recalls a time of rugby toenadering in the early 1990s
when former Springbok captain Morne du Plessis joined a South
African Veterans rugby movement to encourage transformation.
The black players knew all about Du Plessis and his achievements;
the same did not apply in reverse. Morne had to learn about his
new teammates and their rugby CVs quickly.
It was little wonder, then, that the leader of white rugby, Dr
Danie Craven, had an imperfect grasp of the magnitude of the
change required in South Africa, according to historian Albert
Grundlingh. Craven and his South African Rugby Football Board
did not easily understand what it would take for the Springboks
to be unequivocally welcomed back into the international arena.
As Grundlingh pointed out, Craven failed to understand the
precise linkages between rugby and politics.
Even today, the history of black rugby has remained in the
background. Andr Odendaal, historian, administrator and
former first-class cricketer, documented the history of black rugby
in a seminal chapter in the book Beyond The Tryline, which he coauthored with fellow historians Grundlingh and Burridge Spies.
This chapter, with permission of the author, will draw much from
Odendaals writing and research that appeared as The Thing
that is Not Round The Untold Story of Black Rugby in South
Africa.
Black rugby and politics were always closely linked. Its initial
separation from white rugby happened because politics, first
informal and then later rigidly official, kept white and black
people apart. And from as early as the 1960s, black rugby,
having declared itself non-racial, began to align itself with the
democratic forces working to bring down apartheid.
Just as black rugby administrators along with those in other
non-racial sports were beginning to embrace politics, their
white counterparts were fond of saying that sport and politics
did not mix. The white rugby attitude was a head-in-the-sand
mentality that, for a long time, prevented a breakthrough in
genuine sporting unity in the country. Too often white sport was
collaborationist, especially rugby.
Despite being ignored, and in the face of growing oppression of
black people by white, rugby existed in passionate pockets around
South Africa. The mere fact that it existed, and was properly
organised, is astounding. As historian Jeff Peires has pointed
out, black South Africans played rugby in appalling conditions.
Most fields were without grass, and many were riven by ditches,
located on slopes or acting as public thoroughfares, Peires wrote.
A leading black newspaper, Umteteli wa Bantu, which carried
rugby match reports, described the playing conditions for the
1940 African rugby tournament in East London as atrocious.

A white government official who attended that tournament (and
entered Rubusana Park through a separate entrance with other
whites) half-apologised. He said he had heard that black players
were tough men, adding that they would need to be tough to
play on a field like this one.
Boots were a luxury and transport in some cases non-existent.
Until 1926, when motor transport became available, it was not
uncommon for rugby teams to walk to venues, some times over
huge distances. Braber Ngozi, a renowned black rugby player in
his day and later a historian of black rugby, recalled a journey
by Tigers of Somerset East in the 1907 season to fulfil a fixture
against neighbouring Cookhouse. Tigers walked all the way, a
distance of about 30km, and back again all in a single weekend.
Even in modern times, things were not that much better. As
most urban players were working-class people, they reached
practices late. And there were no floodlights. Cars were parked
along the touchline to provide some illumination with their
headlights.
Despite these difficulties black rugby survived. By the time
white South African rugby had established itself nationally in 1889
as the South African Rugby Football Board, black rugby players
in the Western and Eastern Cape had been active in inter-club
competitions for several years. In 1886, three years after the white
Western Province Rugby Football Union had been formed, the
Western Province Coloured Rugby Union, a Muslim-dominated
organisation with clubs from District Six, Claremont and the BoKaap came into being. The infamous apartheid Group Areas Act
devastated some of these rugby communities, especially those in
District Six and Claremont. One of the WP Coloured Unions
founder clubs, Roslyns, disappeared completely in the forced
removals from District Six.
In 1887, the first black adult rugby club was established in
the Eastern Cape Union of Port Elizabeth. It still exists today.
Before that, black students had played rugby competitively since
at least 1878 at educational institutions of Lovedale, Healdtown
and the Anglican Institution, a sister school to white St Andrews
College in Grahamstown, where there was a strong British
influence.
As more clubs became established in the Western and Eastern
Cape, there was a need for a black equivalent to the white SA

Rugby Football Board. In 1897, the SA Coloured Rugby Football
Union was formed. It consisted of the same four provincial
bodies that made up the white board: Western Province, Eastern
Province, Griqualand West and Transvaal. It was the first nonracial national sports body in South Africa, following the example
of the Griqualand West Colonial Rugby Football Union, which
had been formed three years earlier and was specifically nonracial. According to Odendaal, the first independent Xhosa
newspaper, Imvo Zabantsundu, remarked about the union that it
did not discriminate on the basis of bala, luhhlanga, lulwimi,
nalunqulo (colour, nationality, language and religion).
It was the aim of the SA Coloured Rugby Football Board to
organise all players excluded by the white SA Rugby Football
Board and, as such, it was 10 years ahead of its time. Only in
1907 did the SA Native National Congress and the African
Political Organisation collaborate to protest against the proposed
new Union of South Africa and its restrictions on a universal
franchise.
The black rugby board contained some political pioneers.
Isaiah Bud Mbele, who was voted in as secretary, was one of the
new generation of intellectuals. Educated at Healdtown, where
he learned to play rugby, he was the first African to pass the
qualifying exams for the Cape Civil Service. He could speak six
languages and was appointed as an interpreter to the Supreme
Court in Kimberley. His sister married Sol Plaatje. Mbeles
nephew, Halley Plaatje, would later become secretary of the SA
Bantu Rugby Board, which broke away from the SA Coloured
Rugby Football Board.
The SA Coloured Rugby Football Boards first president was
Robert Grendon, who became a teacher at the Ohlange Institute
in KwaZulu-Natal, which had been founded by John Dube,
the first president of the SA Native Congress (later to become
the ANC). DJ Lenders, one of the boards auditors, would
later become president of both the rugby and cricket boards,
vice-president to Dr Abdullah Abdurahman of the APO and
a member of the delegation that travelled to London to try to
persuade the British Parliament not to ratify the discriminatory
Union of South Africa Act. It was a failed mission, but that is
another story.
Black rugby, although excluded from the white game,

emulated it. The coloured Western Province Union wore the
same blue-striped jerseys as their white counterparts. Eastern
Province, Griquas and Transvaal also aligned their colours. They
felt the need, however, to distinguish themselves racially while
the white union, with their sense of entitlement, did not. The
racial elements in the titles would change only in 1970 when the
SA Coloured Rugby Football Board became the plain SA Rugby
Union.
A year after the SA Coloured Rugby Football Board was
formed, the new union staged the first of 27 Rhodes Cup interprovincial tournaments. The trophy was donated by Cecil John
Rhodes and played in Kimberley until 1969 when the trophy,
with its colonial ties, was dropped and an SA Cup tournament
took its place. By that time non-racial rugby had become firmly
established and would become politically important in the forces
building up against apartheid.
Until then, however, many difficulties lay in the path of black
rugby. In 1936, a group of African players and administrators
broke away to form the SA Bantu Rugby Football Board. This
organisation changed its name to the SA African Rugby Football
Board and then the South African Rugby Association. There was
also a major realignment of black rugby in the Western Cape
with the formation of the Western Province League.
By the 1950s, the Western Province League had become
the most powerful affiliate of the SA Coloured Rugby Football
Board with 200 clubs and about 10000 players. In 1958, the
WP League broke away from the board to form the SA Rugby
Football Federation under the autocratic Cuthbert Loriston, who
was president until his death in 1986. The federation joined the
white SA Rugby Football Board and together with the SA Rugby
Association the three bodies formed the SA Rugby Board that
would follow the apartheid governments multinational sports
policy rather than challenge it, as the non-racial sports bodies
had begun to do.
Before this new alignment of rugby in South Africa, the
African and coloured national boards played test matches
against one another: the first in 1950 was won 14-3 by the African
XV at the Green Point Track in Cape Town, near where the
Cape Town Stadium, which was built for the 2010 FIFA World
Cup, stands today. Eleven of these tests were played, with

the Coloured XV winning seven and there being two draws.
The matches were organised in an attempt to bring black
rugby players closer together and there were even talks of
a combined team undertaking an internal tour and possibly
even one to New Zealand to play the Maoris. A tentative
federation of the African Board and the Coloured Board
fell apart because, despite growing anti-apartheid struggles,
ethnic feelings and awareness of the other were still deeply
ingrained, according to an interview Odendaal conducted
with Professor Wandile Kuse.
Although the tests resumed in 1957, there was
opposition building up against such interracial matches. The
new president of the SA African Rugby Board (which had
changed its apartheid Bantu title) was an East London
attorney, Louis Mtshizana, who would later be banned by
the apartheid government. During his presidency, the board
returned the Native Recruiting Corporation trophy to the
Chamber of Mines and Mtshizana made a plea to emerge
from our racial kraals and form a truly representative
organisation open to all racial groups on this basis of
equality.
Mtshizanas call fell on deaf ears and the interracial
matches resumed. These were, after all, the closest African
and coloured players would get to real test rugby. The rivalry
was intense and in 1960 the Eastern Province Africans beat
the Western Province Coloureds 9-6 in Cape Town, with
EP flyhalf Eric Majola dominating the match in front of a
crowd of 12000, a huge attendance for black rugby.
But greater repression, the Sharpeville killings and the
formation of the South African Non-Racial Olympic
Committee, set up in exile in London, combined to change
the national sports landscape, and with it that of black rugby
and white rugby. Sporting sanctions began to bite and the
white rugby board found it harder to travel abroad. Tours to
military dictatorships in South America became the norm
for the Springboks. In black rugby, momentous changes
were taking place. In 1966 the SA Coloured Rugby Football
Board changed its name simply the SA Rugby Union, under
the presidency of Dullah Abass, and dropped the Rhodes
Cup at the same time.
In the same year, City and Suburban, a union in Western

Province, left the Western Province League to join the SA
Rugby Union. Cities, as they were called, were an astonishing
union in an era of poverty and marginalisation of black
South Africans. The union was able to own its own ground
in 1903 when it bought a piece of land in Thornton Road,
Cape Town, where City Park stands. The union, which
was formed in 1898 at a meeting in the Excelsior Hotel in
Buitengracht Street, broke away from the WP Coloured
Rugby Union over religious and cultural differences. At
one stage its constitution even prohibited Muslim players
from joining. But in 1966 it became part of the SA Coloured
Rugby Football Board that was soon to change its name to
the SA Rugby Union and become a standard-bearer of nonracial rugby.
Five years later, several African clubs in Port Elizabeth
left the SA Rugby Association (formerly the SA African
Rugby Board) to form the Kwazakhele Rugby Union, which
became a potent force on the rugby field. In 1973, SARU
became a founding member of the South African Council of
Sport, an organisation that pursued a non-racial agenda and
whose influence would grow among black South Africans.
The rump of the SA Rugby Association later fielded a
national team, the Leopards, which would be given midweek games against touring sides. Along with Loristons SA
Federation it gave white rugby a veneer of respectability and
helped persuade the renowned British Lions to tour South
Africa in 1974.
The year 1970 also brought dissent in African rugby. With
the stirrings of Black Consciousness in the Eastern Cape and
the emergence of Steve Biko as a leader, there was much
unhappiness about SARAs alliance with the white SA Rugby
Football Board. An anti-SARA lobby group emerged in the
Eastern Cape, led by Vuyisa Qunta, Ben Ntonga, Silumko
Sokupa, Peace Ngquba and Arnold Stofile, who would
become sports minister in Thabo Mbekis government.
Open disagreement in the SARA group developed around
the funeral of the great SA African flyhalf Eric Majola,
who had died in a car accident. Some elements in SARA
wanted matches postponed for his funeral; others disagreed.
It led directly to a split and the eventual establishment of the
Errol Tobias
Kwazakhele Rugby Union, which also openly challenged

the apartheid government by selecting white players in
defiance of the Group Areas Act.
By 1977, the SA Rugby Association (African), the SA
Rugby Federation (coloured) and the SA Rugby Football
Board (white) would consummate their marriage with the
SA Rugby Board. But white rugby, with its wealth and its
stadiums, still held firm control. At the opposite end, the
SA Rugby Union still struggled for national identity and
coverage in the press, radio and TV but held a powerful
political card. South African rugby was headed down an
international cul-de-sac without SARU, which was the only
rugby body that could give white rugby any legitimacy.
There had been talks of uniting all the disparate rugby
organisations, but these came to nought until pressure
was put on them to achieve the goal in 1991. Before that
there had been an attempt in 1970, when Danie Craven
led the white SA Rugby Football Board delegation, Grant
Khomo the SA Rugby Association, Cuthbert Loriston the
Federation and Dullah Abass the SA Rugby Union envoys.
The talks broke down over a proposed SA Federation tour
to Britain. The team was to be called the Proteas and one
of those speaking against the tour was cricket administrator
Hassan Howa, who had been invited to a special meeting in
Malmesbury on 8 July 1970 to discuss rugby unity.
Howa told the meeting: All of us in this meeting have
so far agreed that it is wrong that Springbok sides should
only consist of whites. It would be doubly wrong of us to
watch a South African side to consist only of non-whites.
The breakdown also meant that Springbok teams would
be all-white until 1981 when Errol Tobias, a gifted flyhalf,
became the first black Springbok. Tobias, having impressed
for WP League for several years, was finally called up at the
age of 31 by the Springbok selectors for the first test against
Ireland on 30 May 1981. He played outside centre in both
tests and flyhalf in two tests against England and South
America in 1984. Tobias was never in a losing Springbok

side in six test matches. But it was clear that, although
deserving of his place on sheer talent, conservative white
selectors still needed to be pushed to pick him. Thirtyfour years later the issue of black selection still remains a
contentious one in South African rugby.
When genuine, all-embracing rugby unity was finally
achieved in 1992 as the SA Rugby Football Union it did
not suddenly erase all the suspicions, disappointments
and heartache of the past years. The SA Rugby Veterans
became a pressure group that attempted to ensure that
those who had been denied selection in the past were
somehow acknowledged. In 2002 there was some reward
when the united SA Rugby Football Union decided to
award Springbok blazers to those who would have been
eligible. Some white former Springboks resented this as
cheapening the colours, which themselves had become
controversial. Soon after unity, there was pressure to ditch
the Springbok emblem. However, the emblem was retained
after President Nelson Mandela donned a Springbok jersey
during the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, where
a Springbok team with only one black player winger
Chester Williams defeated the All Blacks in a historic test
match. The controversy over the Bok emblem, however,
refuses to die, even though the Springbok now occupies
only a small part of the jersey among all the advertising
logos and the national protea emblem. There might now
be just one rugby union in the country, but it is not yet
one happy family. With Craven delivering a long eulogy
of white rugby history at the unity dinner in Kimberley,
unity seemed more like a takeover. Twenty-three years
later, nothing has changed that perception.
by Archie Henderson
Chester Williams
40 minutes can fly by,

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A TUMULTUOUS DECADE: 1965-1974

SELDOM HAS a goaled penalty meant so much to the Springboks. It was no easy kick either. Just five yards in from the touchline,
but at least on the left-hand side to make it marginally easier for
a right-footed kicker. The soaked leather ball was heavy from the
waterlogged pitch at Lancaster Park in Christchurch and the runup a morass of churned grass and mud. There were also just
two minutes to play and the score read: South Africa 16, New
Zealand 16. The Boks had lost their previous seven test matches,
a sequence of defeats never before suffered by such a proud team.
Tiny Naude, a 28-year-old lock forward from the Hamiltons
club in Western Province who had been the teams regular goalkicker in his previous four tests, stepped up, wiping the mud from
the ball with a teammates jersey. He placed the ball pointing
slightly towards the New Zealand goalposts, took a few steps
back, then paused before making a measured run-up and toeing
the ball with a stab-like action. It flew low, but it was helped by a
stiff southerly breeze at Naudes back and it was over. The Boks
held out to win 19-16.
It is a match still regarded as one of the most heroic and
significant in Springbok history. But it was also one of the few high
points in a decade marked by shocking defeats and confrontations
with people who were willing to break the law and court arrest
just to show how much they abhorred a team that represented
white South Africa.
The 1965 season began with the Boks coming off a defeat in
their previous test, an 8-6 reverse against France in July 1964 at
the bleak venue of PAM Brink Stadium in Springs. It got worse
when the Boks set off on a short tour of Britain in early 1965.
They lost both tests, the first to Ireland, who had never before
beaten them, and then to Scotland, to whom they had last lost
in 1906 and whom they had routed 44-0 in a then world record
14 years previously. It foreshadowed greater defeats and was
considered a calamity back home. If nothing else, it was also time
to change personnel and captains.
Avril Malan stepped down as captain after the short tour and
Lionel Wilsons reign as Springbok fullback came to an end in
the Springboks final test of 1965, a 20-3 defeat by the All Blacks
at Eden Park in Auckland. Both men had won their Springbok
spurs during the successful 1960 series at home against the All
Blacks and Wilson had set a record of 22 successive tests at
fullback. It might have been 27 had he not been injured for a
test in 1961 against Scotland during the Springboks grand slam
tour of Britain. Wilsons record would only be broken in 1997 by
Percy Montgomery.
In those days, the Boks did not play as many test matches as
they do today and there were no international fixtures in 1966.
However, they turned their fortunes around in 1967, winning the
first two tests convincingly against France at home, but then lost
the third before clinching the series with a 6-6 draw in the final
test. The first test victory of 26-3 in Durban was also historic,
being the first time the Boks had beaten the French at home.
They lost and drew two tests in 1958 the first time France had
visited South Africa and were beaten again in the single test
against the Tricolores in 1964. Before the Kings Park victory, the
last time a Bok team had prevailed against France had been in
1952. They would never underestimate the French again.
The gloom lifted completely in 1968 when the Boks won
a series against the British Lions, clinching it in the third test.
Having won the first and drawn the second, the Boks again
denied the Lions a victory by winning 11-6 at Newlands, a win
that came on the same weekend that Gary Player triumphed for
the second time in the British Open and Paul Nash won the 100
and 200 metres titles at the British athletics championships. The
year ended with the Boks touring France and winning both tests.
In the following year, the Boks avenged their defeats of 1965
by winning all four tests against the Wallabies at home. But the
team could have had little idea of what would lie ahead in the
South African summer of 1969/70. Springbok tours of Britain
and Ireland had usually been team highlights and were looked
forward to by the players, but this one would shake the team and
South Africa and reveal just how abhorrent the outside world
believed apartheid to be.
The demonstrations were led by a 19-year-old South African

exile, Peter Hain, who four years earlier had delivered the
oration at the funeral of John Harris, the only white person to
be executed for being part of the anti-apartheid struggle. He was
a member of a fringe group of disillusioned white men who had
been members of the Liberal Party. They formed the Armed
Resistance Movement and carried out acts of sabotage. Harris
had planted a bomb in the white concourse of Johannesburg
Park Station, killing a 77-year-old woman. Hain, who would
later become a Labour minister in Tony Blairs government, was
chairman of the Stop the Seventy Tour committee that organised
most of the demonstrations against the Springboks.
Whether the Boks were distracted by the demonstrations or
whether British and Irish rugby had improved is still hard to
answer. Barry Glasspool, the Sunday Times reporter with the
Springboks on tour, interviewed a sports psychiatrist who believed
the former, but four years later there was hard evidence to sustain
the latter. Nevertheless, it was a disrupted tour with players
often confined to their hotel rooms and some bickering among
the management. Several of the players confided to Glasspool
that they had become sick and tired of being followed by the
demonstrators all over Britain. There was little, if any, respite to
relax and play golf. Glasspool reported that before the test against
Ireland on 10 January 1970, the Boks nerves were stretched to
a dangerous point.
The coach was Avril Malan, a former Springbok captain
and a taciturn man who was the brother of apartheid general
Magnus Malan. The manager was Corrie Bornman, a close ally
of controversial Transvaal rugby boss Jannie le Roux, a leading
Broederbond member. Neither man was equipped to deal with
the eruptions of anger against the touring team. The captain,
Dawie de Villiers, who would become South Africas ambassador
to Britain 10 years later and would also serve as a cabinet
minister in South Africas government of national unity after
democratic elections, was more accommodating but his role on
tour was circumscribed by the manager and coach. As a result,
the Springboks had no way of countering the propaganda war. For

most of the tour, they were in hiding.
The demonstrators harassed the tourists from the first game, a
defeat against Oxford University, to the last, a 21-12 win against
the Barbarians. They failed to win a single test, being defeated by
Scotland and England, but drawing against Ireland and Wales. They
lost only three of their non-test matches and drew two. Statistically,
reported Glasspool, it was the worst by a Springbok team to the
British Isles.
Their return, however, was one reserved for heroes if only white
heroes. The biggest crowd ever to greet a sports team turned out at
the then Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg on 1 February 1970.
But amid all the acclamation, it must have been clear to even the
most narrow-minded rugby fan that things would have to change.
Change would come incrementally and proper change was still
24 years away. Old complacencies returned a lot quicker. On 25
July 1970, the Springboks delivered one of the biggest shocks of
world rugby. The All Blacks were at last coming to tour again. Their
proposed tour of South Africa in 1967 had been thwarted by classic
grand apartheid. The then prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, in
an offensive speech at Loskop Dam, declared that no Maoris would
be welcome in an All Black team. By 1970, with Verwoerd having
died at the hands of an assassin in Parliament in 1966, the apartheid
government relented slightly. Maoris would be welcome, and among
them was scrumhalf Sid Going and a Samoan wing Bryan Williams.
Going had already made his name; Williams was about to make his.
The All Blacks, led by Brian Lochore one of New Zealands
most revered rugby captains had not lost in 17 matches. Indeed
their previous defeat had been against the Boks in the mud of
Lancaster Park in 1965. They were heavy favourites despite being
far from home. The Boks, with four new caps, including a slightly
built medical student from Cape Town called Ian McCallum and a
solid Free State centre named Joggie Jansen, played with fervour and
energy. Jansen made a devastating tackle on his opposite number
Wayne Cottrell that in retrospect was a harbinger for the series
and Syd Nomis on the wing scored one of the most sensational
Springbok tries. The Boks prevailed 17-6 at Loftus in the opening
test of a four-match series. They lost the second but won the next two
tests to clinch the series. McCallum scored 35 points with the boot,
including a monstrous penalty in the final test at Ellis Park, which
seemed to take the final wind out of the All Black sails.
The following year the Springboks won a two-test series at home
against France and a three-test series away against Australia, where
they were again dogged by demonstrators. A surprise defeat by

England in the sole test of 1972 did not, however, prepare South
Africans for what was to come: the 1974 Lions.
The 1974 Lions, led by Willie-John McBride, are still regarded
as one of the finest touring teams ever to visit South Africa. JBG
Thomas, a passionate Welshman and an astute critic, even titled his
book of the tour The Greatest Lions. The tourists won all their games
except the last, which was controversially drawn 13-13. Irish flanker
Fergus Slattery appeared to score a winning try for the Lions in
the final minutes of the match but it was disallowed by the referee.
Thirty-five years later, Bobby Windsor, the Lions hooker in that test,
recalled that he and some teammates had spoken to the referee, Max
Baise, about the disallowed try after the game. He said, Look boys,
I have to live here. Fair enough, I suppose, said Windsor.
The tour was marked not only by the superiority of the Lions over
the Boks and the local provincial teams (they crossed for 107 tries,
conceding just 13), but also by violence on the field. The Lions were
also notorious for their 99 code which, when called by any of their
players, would bring the entire team into any fray. They realised,
correctly, that a referee would never have the gall to send off the entire
team. JPR Williams, an orthopaedic surgeon who played fullback for
the Lions on that tour, recalled years later that he sprinted 60 yards
on hearing the call to deliver a right hook on Springbok lock Moaner
van Heerden. Thats not something Im proud of, he admitted.
The Lions team had received a letter from British prime minister
Harold Wilson asking them not to tour and demonstrations were
held outside the hotel where they gathered before leaving for
Johannesburg. According to Kevin Mitchell of The Guardian,
McBride argued that a sports boycott of South Africa would not
help the disenfranchised black majority in South Africa. He also
considered that because the itinerary included, for the first time,
games against an African team, the Leopards of the SA Rugby
Association, and a coloured team, the Proteas of the SA Rugby
Federation, that it was an advance of sorts.
The reality was somewhat different. The few black people who
came to watch the Lions games were, in a British reporters words,
crammed into their demeaning, segregated pens and cheered
to a man for the Lions. According to Mitchell, Nelson Mandela,
in the 10th year of his internment on Robben Island, heard the
scores from sympathetic prison guards. The man who would wear a
Springbok jersey 21 years later at a Rugby World Cup final to rally
the Springboks, wanted the Boks to be beaten on that tour.
by Archie Henderson
Demonstrators being removed during the 1969/70 Springbok tour.
ALL BLACKS PACK HAMMERED INTO THE MUD

Paul Irwin
5 September 1965
New Zealand 16
South Africa 19
MY HAT is somewhere in the mud of Lancaster Park.
My pipe is broken. My voice is hoarse from cheering
and after a long, long time in the sportswriting business.
I never thought I had a cheer in me. But my head is
high this night in Christchurch and I am walking ten
feet high in the air.
And why has all this happened to the somewhat
ageing reporter, whose byline is Paul Irwin I will tell
you. Not so long ago I saw South African rugby return
to all its old glory.
Gone are the bitter memories of those seven lean
international matches matches which saw South
Africa sent staggering to defeat.
Small wonder then that as this fantastic game
ended when the substitute referee (yes, we even had
two referees to handle this memorable affair) blew
his whistle for no side my hat went soaring and I
smashed my pipe with one resounding blow as I
cheered and cheered and cheered again those fifteen
South African warriors who had beaten New Zeland
with one of the greatest recoveries in the whole history
of international rugby.
And to the everlasting credit of New Zealand
sportsmanship and appreciation of fighting qualities
in the game that this lovely little country know best.
Let me add that 55 000 spectators rose to their feet in
Lancaster Park setting this face-saving third Test for
South Africa to acclaim the whole Springbok team.
Look what happened: two Tests down in the fourmatch series, trailing by sixteen points to five at halftime. Dawie de Villierss Springboks not only saved
a game that everybody thought they had lost but did
more they won it.
New lustre
And in storming through those last 40 memorable
minutes to beat the All Blacks by 19 points (two goals,
two tries, penalty goal) to 16 (two goals, try, penalty
goal) they added new lustre to South African rugby.

What I saw for myself was the transformation of
a team of no-hopers, one written off as having no
possible chance in the morass that was Christchurchs
Lancaster Park into a side in the finest South African
tradition.
And lets say it now, the Springboks put themselves
back into the running to square the Test series at
two-all by shading out the All Blacks in typical New
Zealand conditions not those they know back home
which are the best suited to their style of play.
I said before the game that New Zealand could be
defeated if the Lancaster Park pitch was firm and dry.
But as the weather changed for the worse on Friday
night and it rained as it seems to rain only in New
Zealand, I thought South Africas last winning chance
had foundered without trace.
How wrong I was. How happy I am to admit it.
There were patches of water all over the playing
area.
In the centrefield, where they have a cricket pitch,
the mud was ankle deep. And yet, in spite of conditions
worth at least three points if not more to the All Blacks,
our green-and-gold jerseyed heroes yes, every man
jack of them was a hero played the sort of game you
would expect on Ellis Park during a heatwave.
Dont misunderstand me. There was plenty of hard
grafting in the mud. There had to be, otherwise the
tale of triumph that I tell you could never come about.
But it is an inescapable fact indeed, and
unforgettable fact that our backs handled the greasy
ball, slippery as a serpent, with consummate skill and
assurance.
Those backs of ours were wonderful to watch and
to them I will return, but now is the moment to salute
one man Jacobus (Tiny) Naude.
It was his penalty kick, just 120 seconds from
fulltime, that put South Africa into a three-point
winning lead.
Recapture the scene as I saw it in the late afternoon
sunshine and, incredibly enough the sun did come
out after a morning of rain to punish the pitch still
further.
The score was 16-all. The sands of the game were
running out and a draw wasnt good enough to keep
South Africa from squandering the series.
Tiny Naude had to boot over that penalty, given
for offside or else.
Very carefully he teed up the ball about five yards
from the left touchline, first wiping the cloying mud off
it on Jan Elliss jersey.
And then, as the huge crowd was blanketed in
silence, and we all held our collective breath, the
Springbok lock forward measured off his run one,
two, three, four steps backward.
A pause, a pause that seemed like eternity, and he
was going forward committed to the kick.
His right foot met the ball in that peculiar stabbing
motion he uses: more like the punch of a boxer than
the accepted follow-through. Low and raking went the
ball, aided a touch by the southerly wind that blew
downfield.
Glory be, it was over!
Oh only just, no more than six or seven inches to
spare, but the Springboks were in the lead for the first
time in the game and had only to hold on to keep the
Test series alive.
This they did with Walton, their hooker, helping
to kill a last-minute All Black rally by making a mark
under pressure and booting it hard and successfully for
touch.
Next thing it was all over and across the mud swept
thousands of spectators to engulf the players as they
fought their way to the dressing rooms.
After it all, the big ground rang with the sound of
singing. It was the traditional New Zealand swansong
to departing friends Now is the Hour.

It was the South Islands farewell to the 1965
Springboks, but, for me, it was more. It was symbolic of
the hour in which South African rugby football, which
has so long plumbed the depths, regained something
of its old stature and its old pride.
For Dr. Danie Craven, the President of the South
African Rugby Board, who was sitting in the main
grandstand as guest of the New Zealand Rugby
Council, it must have been a heartening moment.
Yet, to the handful of South African loyalists in that
55 000 crowd, there was a time when the bottom had
been knocked out of their little world.
Examine the facts. In spite of the sixty-second try
by Kelvin Tremain, who went over unopposed and
untackled when fed from the ruck by Colin Meads,
the Boks gave as good as they got in the opening 20
minutes.
His first try
They were put back in the game by John Gainsfords
first ever try against New Zealand this, in his recordbreaking 29th Test match for South Africa.
Pouching the ball as it was heeled from a set
scrum, Dawie de Villiers, an inspired captain on
this afternoons showing, knife-edged a pas to Jannie
Barnard.
In turn, the Springbok flyhalf fed the ball out and
Gainsford saw his chance. Head thrown back and legs
churning like pistons he thrust his 190 lb. for the line as
he broke outside and then swung inside. He was over
near the posts without one defender getting a hand on
him. Naude duly added the extra points.
So, inside another four minutes, South Africa led
5-3, only for tragedy to strike about 15 minutes later.
Ron Rangi, the All Black centre who had already
scored three tries against the Boks collected the ball
and booted diagonally to the right corner flag.
Awkward bounce
Wilson was on the spot, but the ball bounced awkwardly
and bobbled back in goal with the fullback after it.
As he was about to touch down, he slipped in the
mud and there was the rampaging Rangi, who had
followed up quickly to get to the ball as it slithered
away from Wilson and scored a very lucky try.
As if that wasnt enough Mick Williment, New
Zealand fullback, converted and now South Africa
were trailing.
Seven minutes later New Zealand made it 11-5
through a Williment penalty from near the touchline
after Sakkie van Zyl went offside in the lineout.
Willement landed the goal from every bit of the 45
yards Don Clarke couldnt have done it better.
Then, not long before halftime, tragedy struck
South Africa again. The All Blacks scrumhalf, Chris
Laidlaw snapped on to the ball from a ruck and fed his
inside centre Peter Murdoch.
Although Hopwood got across he just couldnt
reach the scudding Murdoch, who went over the try in
full sail for Williment to convert.
Just on the interval Naude was close with a penalty
kick, but no close enough to count, and so the All
Blacks lead by eleven points at half-time.
Now for that glorious fight back one described to
me by Bob Stuart, a former New Zealand captain, as
the greatest he had ever been in international football.
After a sound first-half start the Boks had fallen
into their old bad habit among the forwards of failing
to get back and support team-mates in trouble when
the ball went behind them.
Different story
How different was the second half story.
Suddenly everything came right, both in the pack
and among the backs.
Those eight stalwarts, led in inspired manner by
Doug Hopwood, laid the foundation of recovery.
They drove into the rucks, they smelt out the loose
ball, getting to it a split-second faster than Wilson
Whinerays men, and then went down to foot rushes to
hold up the opposition.
Hopwood was the genius, the link between the
forwards and the backs.
Yet, genius though he was in this phase of the
game, he was really the foil to Dawie de Villiers, who
was never played better on this tour, or captained the

side with such authority.
Where Hopwood did such impressively good work
was at the back of the lineout.
He sealed it up completely by blotting out Red
Conway and thus preventing the All Blacks from
peeling off and starting passing movements from the
back line.
Just as effective was Don Walton at the front.
Whereas Bruce McLeod, the New Zealand hooker,
had caused lots of trouble and gained lots of ground in
the Wellington and Dunedin Tests by taking or booting
the ball along touline, he simply couldnt do so today
and Walton saw to that.
Right there with them in a magnificent pack were
Jan Elllis and Lofty Nel, who both overshadowed the
opposing flankers, Tremain and Conway, as they got to
the ball in the broken play.
Tough time
And, too, praise must go to the frontrow props,
Sakkie van Zyl and Andy Macdonald especially
Maconald, who gave Whineray a tough time on the
set scrums.
As for our locks, Frik du Preez and Tiny Naude,
they finally got the upper hand of the Meads brothers
Colin and Stan and rugged Ken Gray in the lineouts.
Naude turned in his best game of the tour and
was unlucky not to get another three points when he
splashed a 40-yard penalty kick against the far uptight
and saw the ball bob away on the wrong side.
With the forwards combining splendidly, and the
live-wire De Villiers getting that split-second extra
time to switch his passes out to Jannie Barnard, our
backs got a fair share of clean ball.
No hindrance
The result was that the pintsized Barnard, who
overcame the mud in a manner that surprised all
of us, was, in turn, given the opportunity to set his
threequarters moving without the opposing midfield
defence being able to get up to them.
After Naude was inches wide with a penalty from
35 yards when Stan Meads went offside. South Africa
reduced the All Blacks lead.
Here is how it happened. The ball flashed from
Barnard to Roux and in turn to Gainsford, who made
his break with beautiful timing.

Coming up to Williment, as the fullback covered,
Gainsford whipped a pass to Brynard and the wing
wheeled to score and unconverted try far out.
That try arrived with the second-half five minutes
old and within another nine minutes Brynard was over
the All Blacks line again when he put the finishing
touch an exhilarating combined move by the backs
and forwards.
First the ball was worked to the right, only for Jan
Ellis, right in the thick of things all the way, to change
the direction of the attack within yards of the New
Zealand line.
Throwing out a long pass to De Villiers, Ellis saw
his scrumhalf bring Barnard into the movement.
That was it. Barnard half broke, and, seeing a
cloud of defenders, flashed a pass to Brynard for the
left wing to hurl himself over when faced with three
opponents.
Now it was 16-11 and with Naude converting, the
All Blacks lead was reduced to three points.
The hunt was on, and how it was on.
Matter of time
Naude slapped that penalty against an upright but a
Springbok score was only a matter of time.
Sure enough, De Villiers whipped a pass to Barnard
and the ball was on to Mannetjies Roux. Flip, flap it
went, and Gainsford was sent knifing over on the right
with Williment beaten for pace as he tried to get to the
Springbok centre.
Naude didnt convert that one so it was sixteen-all.
But then came that final South African penalty and
the victory that was so well deserved.
Glorious. Glorious. Glorious! And the sweet taste
of success is all that more palatable because it was
gained by football that is the very breath of South
African rugby.
Everything clicked for the Boks.
As important, there was the tremendous defensive
work of John Gainsford and Mannetjies Roux. They
went fast into the tackle to reach the opposing backs as
they got the ball.
Roux was at the top of his form. Time and again
he took Ron Rangi, ball and all, until the All Black
centre simply couldnt come back.
Add effective wing work by Jan Engelbrecht, seen
covering Lionel Wilson shrewdly in the first-half and

Brynard and the picture is about complete.
As for Wilson, he did have on unhappy moment
with that eel-like ball when Rangi scored, but otherwise
was safe throughout the first-half.
Little work
As for the second, he had so little to do, such was the
South African superiority, that he only had to filed one
kick.
But in the final summing up, it was our forwards
who put us on the high road to success.
They cut down their errors to a minimum,
contained the powerful All Blacks pack, and, in the
end, hammered them into the mud of Lancaster Park.
Doing so, they wiped out all the memories of so
much patchwork play on this current tour.
Amid much that was so good to see, it seems
almost oblivious to pick out one brilliant bit of work
by Mannetjies Roux showing through the mud, and
reaching to his right, he picked up the ball from an upand-under kick as he slithered yards like a skier.
As if that wasnt enough, he was up on his feet to
fling a long passout to Engelbrecht that nearly brought
about a wonderful try.
Alas, as the right wing tried to cut outwards, he
half-slipped, and, in that split second, when he was not
in full stride, Malcolm Dick was able to bundle him
into touch at the flag.
Mannetjies Roux personified the spirit and
determination of the South Africa the Cinderella
men of world rugby, for whom this third Test had the
happiest of endings.
Benefit of ideas
Now for Auckland, and the bid to square the series.
If the Boks carry on where they left off today, they
can do the job, to return home trailing clouds of glory.
Why so? Because it was evident at Christchurch
that the All Blacks, once they are contained at forward,
are bereft of ideas among their backs.
They just arent enterprising enough, nor, it seems,
are they entirely to be trusted.
Thus provided the Springboks play running rugby,
as they did this time, they have a real winning chance
hail, pain, shine or mud.
NOW FRENCH HAVE ALL THE WORRIES

Barry Glasspool
16 July 1967
South Africa 26
France 3
DAWIE DE Villiers Springboks, superbly led and playing
together with fire and purpose crushed the might of the French
rugby machine with such awesome ruthlessness that even the
most ardent South African supporters must have been shaken.
Why? Simply because the Boks, with eight players new to
international football against an established side around which
an aura of invincibility was steadily being built in their whirlwind
start to the tour, were not generally given much chance of victory.
Instead, taking command from the third minute when the
powerful Dirksen went over under the post for the first try, the
Boks swept the gesticulating Gauls right off the Kings Park stage
into the wings.
The much-vaunted French ploys from the lineout were never

in evidence and instead it was the Boks who were tremendous
in bursting away with bouts of hand-to-hand passing which
rekindled memories of Hennie Mullers all conquering XV.
Behind the pack, Dawie de Villiers lived up to his label as the
worlds best scrumhalf.
His trusty boot, either probing on attack or driving the French
back down the touchlines, and snipelike runs had the Tricolors
groggy.
Throw in his knife-edged passes to Piet Visagie, another
outstanding success, and the job of the Bok backs was so much
easier.
Problems
No excuses, said the French journalist sitting alongside me.
We were licked and how.
Such was the decisiveness of the triumph that is now the
Frenchmen who have all the problems for the second Test next
Saturday. For we saw the might of European football destroyed.
No doubt the Tricolors pre-match tactics were to win this
match up front, but if they expected to subdue the Bok eight in
which Kotze, Naude, Greyling and Ellis were simply terrific, they
were quickly shattered.
And with their little matchwinner, 31-year-old Guy Camberabero at flyhalf never able to operate smoothly behind the
defensive screen, the Frenchmen were right under the whip.
The resilience and drive of the Bok pack was reminiscent of an
All Blacks eight at its rugged best and the Gauls came off second
best in the torrid exchanges that flared up in the second half.
Dirksens part
Cora Dirksens two tries were heart-stopping affairs, especially
the second one which rounded off the scoring. He beat half a
dozen Frenchmen in a darting 45 yards run that brought three
of the national selectors to their feet, applauding with the rest of
the jubilant crowd.
But in mentioning Dirksen one immediately thinks of H. O.
de Villiers, the brilliant Ikey fullback. Here is the most exciting
man to wear the No. 15 jersey for many years.
Some of his slashing runs will haunt the Frenchmen. Hes
here to stay.
However, in a final analysis, this triumph was essentially a
wonderful team effort, inspired and developed over weeks not
even the vicissitudes of several trials games could sabotage.
Little Time
What about the French? They have little time for re-building the
remnants of their shattered side before the Bloemfontein Test.
No doubt they sorely missed their seasoned props, Graurin and
Berejnoi, and Lillian Camberabero, the other half of the famous
family partnership.
But even with them yesterday, the green wave which surged
over their defences would have been unstoppable.
After a lean spell only one win in the last nine internationals
South African rugby is back in its rightful place in the World
Rugby standing. And what was achieved today can be done again.
LUCKLESS LIONS CANT COMPLAIN

Paul Irwin
14 July 1968
South Africa 11
British Lions 6
ITS ALL over bar the shouting. Yet another British Lions touring
team will go home without winning a Rugby Test series in South
Africa and that has not been done for the last 72-years.
The springboks clinched the rubber at Newlands today with
a victory by 11 points (goal, two penalty goals) to 6 (two penalty
goals) that turned on a tragic blunder for the red-jerseyed British
side with the second half three minutes old.
Through their convincing win in the first Test at Pretoria,
Dawie de Villiers Boks are now two ahead with only the fourth
and final Ellis Park international to play.
There can be no complaints from the Lions about the result or
the refereeing of Max Baise.
When the tumult and the shouting dies they will have only
themselves to blame.
And the reason why? With the scores level at half time through
a Piet Visagie penalty for South Africa and a penalty goal by
Tom Kiernan, the Lions tapped back from a lineout after only
three minutes into the second half.
Their scrumhalf Roger Young was under immediate pressure
from the opposing forwards. Tommy Bedford, the number eight
and pack leader, was there. So, too, was Thys Lourens, the flanker.
Lourens over
Bedford was quick to harass Young and as the ball bounced and
bobbed well inside the British 25, Lourens picked it and, head
down, went charging for the trylines.
Lourens went over for the try as Kiernan the Lions captain
and full back, and left wing Maurice Richards, tried to get to
him.
Up trotted Visagie to take the place kick from about 12 yards
in from the touchline.
As the ball soared on its way, you knew all right it was on
target from the great roar of the 52 000 crowd.
Although the Lions pounded away form 23 minutes, thanks
largely to flyhalf Mike Gibsons line-kicking, they were struck a
further and final blow when the Springboks were awarded a
penalty for offside.
Towering Tiny Naude took the kick the first at goal of the
second half from every bit of 55 yards range.
Carefully, oh, so carefully, the Western Province lock placed
the ball 12 yards from touch on the South African left. Just as
carefully he moved back, pacing off his run with calm deliberation.
And then he was into the ball with that short stabbing kick of
his.
Another full-throated roar from South African throats and
now the Boks were leading by 11 points to 3.
Minutes from the end referee Baise penalised Naude for
holding the ball as the 6 ft. 5 h. tall lock forward caught it from
a punt ahead. Naude was penalised almost in front of the posts,
and Tom Kiernan doesnt miss those chances.
Sure enough he booted the ball over to reduce the Lions
leeway by five points. But times was running out fast for him and
his team. No more than two minutes later the referee blew for
no side and South Africa had made sure of the rubber.
Tap back
While British supporters will no doubt feel that the result turned
on that tap back which led to try by Lourens. I dont think any
one of them could say that the better team didnt win.
Maybe there wasnt at all that much in it most of the way.
Nevertheless the Springboks were better together as a team
although they had nothing like the amount of possession which
they commanded when they Lions burgled a six-all draw in the

Port Elizabeth Test.
I know the Lions had cruel luck in losing Mike Coulman, their
217 lb. frontrow prop after six minutes play when he pulled a
ligament in his left ankle. Yet the Welsh lock, Delme Thomas,
who came on to the field as Coulmans replacement 13 minutes
later and took over as the tighthead prop, looked a very strong
and efficient retreat.
If the British scrummaging was weakended by Coulmans
absence, it was strengthened at the lineout by Thomas.
In fact, they were ahead 26-20 in lineout possession 13-9 in
the first half and 13-11 in the second.
There was only one heel on the tighthead. It came late in
the second half in favour of the home hooker, Gys Pitzer. But
dont think from this that the Springbok forwards didnt have an
advantage in the set scrums.
They had the power going for them and often pushed the
opposing eight back.
Alas, not for the first time, good ball secured by our forwards
was often wasted. It was the now familiar story of Piet Visagie
adopting safety-first tactics by kicking when the whole action
called for him to give the ball out for the backs to run with it.
Defensive role
I felt sorry for little Mannetjies Roux, recalled to his 15th Test,
and Eben Olivier. True enough, they did everything asked of
them in their defensive role I can still see in the minds eye one
terrific Roux tackle on Gibson, as the flyhalf scissored through
from Gerald Davies inside pass but they were wasted on attack.
I suppose we shall again be hearing that De Villiers and Visagie
were acting under instructions. Well, isnt it time the chaps out
there in the middle were left to play the game as obvious needs
of the moment, not work to the orders of those grandstand
masterminds?
Top class
I have said this before, I shall go right on saying it until Springbok
rugby shakes off its safety-first shackles and returns to the glories
of running football.
Now Dawie de Villiers did plenty of topclass work around
the scrum, often hurrying his opposite number, Irelands Roger
Young, into scrambling his service to Gibson. And sure enough
Dawie often used the touchline intelligently.
But as captain I do fault him for not telling Visagie to let the
ball out for the backs to spin it. Believe me, there were plenty of
occasions when the Lions defence would have been put under
full stretch by use of the backline. It just didnt happen. I lost
count of the times Visagie would either use the short punt or the
grubber to try and break down the defensive wall.
Once, with a two-man overlap yes, Olivier and Gert Brynard
who came into the side as late replacement when Jan Engelbrecht
stood down with ankle trouble were outside him all he did was
punt in a little kick.
It just didnt pay off against the British covering defence. Nor
for that matter did Visagies diagonal kicks pay off against the
experienced Kiernan.
Whatever he had to deal with, the Lions fullback handled
it like a master. Surprisingly fast in getting across, cool and
imperturbable, Kiernan played a near faultless game. Nothing
rattled him and he was there repeatedly to punch the ball from
high up and under kicks and drive the Boks back as he found
touch.
Only once was Kiernan caught and then it was Dawie de
Villiers who charged down his clearance kick and gave the Lions
a torrid couple of minutes under heavy pressure near their tryline.
Besides positioning himself well he was not afraid to use his

dummy right foot to get in clearance kicks. As for his left foot
kicking, it gained considerable yardage for the home side.
And thats not all. There were two glorious runs by the young
Natal player one that was every bit of 45 yards.
Over to the British backs. And for them the story is that they
(a) missed the genius of Gareth Edwards at scrumhalf and (b)
were not all that well served by flyhalf Gibson.
Plucky Roger Young tried hard all through. Yet he didnt help
Gibson to get the feel of the ball quickly. Scrambled passes early
on had the Irish international flyhalf on the edge and he began
to settle down to the sort of football he showed when planning
Northern Transvaals defeat 10 days ago.
The Lions decided against gambling on attack through their
backs.
Perhaps Gibson thought he could flog the Springbok forwards
into the ground with his kicking, first to one side then the other,
as he had done the job against Northerns.
Whatever was in his mind he kicked far too much. All right, he
found a lot of long touches and gained considerable ground but
that didnt help the snipelike Gerald Davies to cut the opposing
line. Davies had two breaks in he first half which showed what he
might have done had he seen more of the ball.
Wear down
First there was an outside break to link with Maruce Richards
who missed his pass.
Second there was a jinking, side-stepping straight run that
took a lot of stopping.
More use of Davies and Scotlands Jock Turner, who defended
as well as ever would have paid dividends. But no, Gibson, often
guilty of hesitant handling, preferred to kick. Seeing that he
wasnt beginning to wear down the tough Springbok pack, in
which Jan Ellis, Tommy Bedford and the fabulous Frik du Preez
were outstanding he should certainly have tried to run with the
As good
ball.
The highest tribute I can pay Rodney Gould, the home fullback,
After all in Keith Savage the Lions had the most dangerous
is that he was every bit as good as Kiernan.
wing, potentially, on view. But Savage never had any sort of
Gould wasnt everybodys choice in the first two Tests but chance; nor for that matter did Richards save for the one time
make no mistake he looked the part this afternoon.
Davies broke to the left.
As a fact it wasnt a day for the wings with all that kicking
going on from both fly-halves.
Yet Syd Nomis still did enough in defence, notably when he
tore inside to pick up a loose ball in his own 25 and clear, to show
his switch to left wing was a good move by selectors.
It says something for the way the backs were starved when the
best run of the game came from a lock forward. Yes, it was the
mighty Frik du Preez who set the grandstands roaring him on
as he went rampaging down the left touchline in a second-half
breakaway.
Two reasons
Ball held in one hand, the Springbok veteran went on and on
deep into the opposing 25. And there with him was Hannes
Marais pacing it out like a centre, not like the front row forward
that he is.
Coming up to Kiernan, Du Preez passed inside to Marais who
was brought down about ten yards from the tryline.
While the Lions were more than held in the scrums they were
always going for the ball in the loose.
Roger Arneil was the best of them, though Bob Taylor was
quick to the ball in the open and Jim Telfer worked double time
at the outskirts of the scrum.
It was Arneil who came close to a try in the Lions storming
20 minutes after the interval. Going with Young on the blindside
from about 20 yards out, he was held up close to the right corner
flag.
Ironically, the Lions were more in this crucial third Test than
in the drawn affair at Port Elizabeth yet they lost. And summing
it all up they did so for two reasons: One, a lot of the steam was
taken out of their fight-back by Thys Lourens try from that tap
at the lineout which gave him his chance. Two, Mike Gibson, a
long way below the form he slowly but surely reached, failed to
read the game correctly.
Once he saw he couldnt wear down the strong South African
pack by running them about the field, he should have gambled
on the backs, notably Gerald Davies, to break the solid defence
of Mannetjies Roux and company.
This he didnt do so its goodbye to British hopes of winning
the rubber.
WONDER BOKS SHATTER THE ALL BLACKS

Barry Glasspool
26 July 1970
South Africa 17
New Zealand 6
WRITTEN OFF as a virtual no hoper, the Springboks scored one
of their greatest triumphs at Loftus Versveld in Pretoria yesterday,
hauling themselves up a rugby Everest to defeat New Zealand by
17 point to 6 in the first international of the series.
The wonder Boks, bristling with determination and an
unsatisfied hunger for the ball, ended the All Blacks fabulous fiveyear unbeaten run which stretched over seventeen Tests.
The last time in New Zealand were beaten in a Test was a
Christchurch and again it was the Springboks who did the trick.
As referee Mr Piet. Robbertse blew for full time, Loftus erupted
into a cacophony. Thousands of wildly excited fans streamed onto
the pitch to cheer their heroes off. Hundreds of police ran to clear
a passage through the milling throng for the players.
First to be hoisted high in triumph was Springbok skipper Dawie
de Villiers, who played an integral part in the Springboks tactical
master plan to beat the All Blacks.
Outside him Springbok flyhalf Piet Visagie, kicking with the
precision of a Bennie Osler, kept driving the All Blacks back and
putting their three quarters under tremendous pressure.
His drop goal in the sixth minute earned him his 100th point
in Test rugby the first South African to achieve this feat. This
Griqua star also equalled Oslers long-standing fly-half record of
17 Test appearances.
Throw in the Boks superb hard first-time tackling and the
much-vaunted New Zealand machine was thrown completely out
of gear in a match that crackled with tension although in the
second half play did tend to become a little ragged.
The Springboks laid the springboard for victory in the first 11
minutes and clinched it when Nomis went over for a dramatic try
in the second half. First, it was De Villliers nipping smartly around
the scrum who booted the ball out of the hands of opposite number
Chris Laidlaw, who had an unhappy match and was replaced in
the second half by Sid Going.
Up quick as a flash to win the race to the touchdown was De
Villiers, inches ahead of Piet Greyling.
Dramatic
The crowds roar signalled the tremendous early advantage the Boks
had gained. Groans greeted Ian McCallums missed conversion,
but, no matter, for minutes later Visagie slotted a neat running leftfooted drop goal after a lineout.
Two minutes later the New Zealanders were penalised for
off-sides and McCallum, playing his first international, booted
the penalty with the assurance of a seasoned campaigner and
did so again five minutes before half-time to stretch the lead to a
commanding 12-0.
New Zealand got back into the game when Fergie McCormick
booted an easy penalty two minutes into the second half, and the
All Blacks managed to exert some influence on the game for the
first time.
Classic try
Their overall improvement came with the introduction of Going,
and it was the nugget little Maori scrumhalf, moving smartly away
on the blind side of a loose scrum, who set up a classic try by
Samoan wing Bryan Williams, who beat McCallum with a wide
step and outpaced the defence in the line.
Just for a moment it was the Springboks under siege, but their
forwards kept going superbly by pack leader Hannes Marais,
began to grind their way back and it was the heavier New Zealand
forwards who were looking decidedly leg-weary near the end.
Another moment of undiluted joy for the capacity 55 000 crowd
which crammed into Loftus Versfeld came just before the end. The
try happened this way: The All Blacks throwing everything into
an all-out running attack, mounted a move from just outside their
25, skipper Brian Lochore tried to run to the open side, was held,
and his intended lob pass to centre McRae was intercepted by Syd
Nomis.
The wing was quick to see the opportunity and snatch his
chance. His blistering acceleration and speed carried him through
the remnants and he scored under the posts for McCallum to
convert.
Not for a long time had New Zealand received such a hiding,
and several New Zealand commentators had seldom seen an All
Black pack so badly outplayed as they were in the first half.
As in 1960, the Springboks went into the first Test as underdogs
and came out resounding winners. And on the evidence of todays
international the Boks can do it again.
I would single out for special mention Visagie and De Villiers, at
halfback and among the backs Joggie Jansen for his crash-tackling
one tackle on Cottrell laid the New Zealand flyhalf out cold
and his co-centre Mannetjies Roux, who showed flashes of his old
ebullience and striking power.
Up front Tiny Neetling, whose selection was not warmly
received, justified the selectors faith in him with a storming match,
and in the second row Johan Spies, playing his first international is
a real find. The big Pretoria University lock slogged away in the
underworld of the scrums, did his work in the tight-loose and still
found time to gallop around effectively in the open.
Reformation
Frik du Preez won a lot of clean possession in the first half and
this more than anything else, thwarted the All Blacks. Several
former Springboks said after the Test that this was the reformation
of South African rugby following the dismal tour of Britain eight
months ago.
It is now clearly underlined that the Springboks poor
performances overseas were largely due to the stresses and strains
exerted by anti-apartheid demonstrators.
Todays international was a hard, gruelling affair, happily free
of any incidents. The big crowd, too, were well behaved, and
Northern Transvaal rugby officials said later that they were more
than satisfied with the arrangements for the match. The sale of
liquor had been prohibited at the grounds and no one was allowed
to take liquor into Loftus Versfeld.
The rampant Springboks great triumph was watched by the
Prime Minister, Mr B. J. Vorster and the State President, Mr
Fouche, who are both ardent rugby followers.
BOKS CLINCH SERIES IN 37 POINT THRILLER

Fred Labuscachgne
13 September 1970
South Africa 20
New Zealand 17
THE MUCH underrated 1970 Springboks have done it. And
the way they smashed to a nerve-wracking 20-17 win over Brian
Lahores All Blacks left no doubt about who was the better side
in this series for the mythical world rugby crown.
But mythical or not, the Springboks are proudly wearing that
crown today. And nobody deserved his champagne after the
match more than Ian McCallum, the slimly built medical student
from Cape Town who scored 14 points for South Africa, one of
them a penalty from an incredible 65 yards.
Yet the match, which had the 67 000 spectators roaring most
of the time, never reached greatness.
It was too hard, and at times too ill-tempered for that.
The All Blacks themselves down by eight points after just 10
minutes through a brilliant break by Visagie who scored from a
set piece, and a penalty by McCallum.
They did not deserve that deficit, as at that stage they were
on top in the rucks and the mauls. But bad luck and McCallums
boot took care of their aspirations to such an extent that they
were down 14-3 at halftime.
But the Kiwi spirit was far from broken, and so well did they
fight back after the score had moved to 17-6 that they looked at
one stage certain to win the match with the Springbok forwards
wilting.
The score became 17-14, and defeat was a possibility for
South Africa.
But once again as the seconds flew to full time, the All Blacks
came back and Kembers neat penalty, made it 20-17.
The Boks, tired, battered and praying for time, joyfully threw
their hands into the air at the final whistle.
Kember kicked off, and from the first scrum the All Black
caught De Villiers going blind and Lister took play to the
Springbok line. From the scrum, Thorne beat Visagie and Roux
before being pulled up just short.
Going was penalised and McCallum relieved the pressure.
The first rucks were torrid affairs, with both packs climbing in.
A brawl developed between Meads, Murdoch and Sutherland on the one hand and two Springboks on the other. While
this was going on, Muller nearly ran through.
McCallum missed a 50-yard kick.
The Springboks went ahead when Visagie broke past Furlong
and swept through for 35 yards. After being dumped he jumped
up and scored. McCallum made it 5-0 after only seven minutes.
(11-3). Within seconds South Africa were back in New Zealand

territory as Nel won a good ball from a maul and De Villiers
and Visagie went on the blindside.
Standing
Williams left Nomis standing after a long kick by Visagie, but the
move broke down.
McCallum saved again with a mark, again showing his class.
The Springboks failed to retire quickly enough after a penalty
and Williams too the kick from 50 yards, but it went wide.
Play was stopped as Murdoch again started an altercation
which spread to half a dozen other players.
From the penalty which resulted McCallum put the Springboks
into New Zealand 25 for the first time in several minutes.
With five minutes to go to halftime Du Preez broke around the
front of the lineout, but was just out.
Tempers flared again, and with Muller flooring Myburgh
another kick came McCallums way. This time from 65 yards.
With the wind behind him McCallum made it an incredible
Wild
Immediately afterwards, Going put the ball in crooked and from 14-3.
Visagie saved the situation when Williams charged down on
the hallway line McCallum made it 8-0. Wild enthusiasm swept
Nomis and slammed the ball out. But he took an awfully hard
the ground.
There was a nasty moment when Kirkpatrick rabbit-punched knock from Thorne in the process.
Halftime came with the Boks on the attack after Ellis had
Greyling, but referee Bert Woolley penalised the All Blacks.
robbed Lister on his line.
A flykick by McCallum saved a certain All Black try.
With the Springbok forwards looking a bit jaded Visagie
Murdoch was booed by the crown for kicking Greyling on the
kicked off into the wind. Williams tried to do a McCallum from
head in a maul.
nd
Rallied
the halfway line, and the dark-haired No. 13 was just short.
Roux stiff-armed McRae in the 22 minute.
Then they rallied strongly and Gert Muller, taking the ball from
From the dropout, Jan Ellis offside and Kember was brought
Kember made it 8-3 with a 40-yard penalty.
Mannetjies Roux after the little Griqua had snatched the ball
Going, although not limping, had trouble with his passing as up. He made it 14-6 as the ball barely cleared the bar.
following a tackle by the battering ram from the Free State, Joggie his leg was too weak to take the strain.
Greyling had the crowd roaring as he charged down a Going
Jansen and found a gap between Furlong and Dick to score a
Going made a silly mistake, and put the ball under his kick and from the lineout obstruction McCallum had an easy
corker.
forwards feet and McCallum put the ball over from 48 yards kick from 30 yards (17-6), and South Africa looked the winners.
Disallowed
McCallum was now just one short of Okey Geffins penalty record of five
against the 1949 All Blacks.
There was a brief scare as Going held his knee, but he recovered.
The All Blacks caught De Villiers and then McCallum in possession and
Lister went over but the try was disallowed.
The first 10 minutes had resulted in one penalty each, but the All Blacks had
the play.
They scored again when Going, the supposed weak link, broke blind and
sent Williams over under the posts. Kember made it 17-11.
Tardy play at the scrum gave Kember a great chance from 35 yards and he
took it joyfully to bring the All Blacks right back into the game at 17-14.
Disaster
The Springboks counter-attacked back but Roux lost the ball on the line.
With 20 minutes gone, play settled in midfield. Then Muller, taking a poor
kick by Furlong and evading Dick, nearly scored. Muller ran 35 yards.
South Africa pressed hard for the next five minutes and again looked
dangerous as Jansen and Visagie went around the side.
Williams nearly sneaked a loose ball, but Nomis stuck determinedly to the
Samoan.
Once again play swung to the other side of the field and the All Blacks
pressed. But a good line kick by Visagie cleared the threat.
Then came disaster for the All Blacks as Kember was stopped dead, and
Roux snapped up the ball for Muller to cut between Dick and Furlong for a
brilliant try. McCallums kick failed, but it was the first time in history that
South Africa has scored 20 points against New Zealand.
With seven minutes to go New Zealand had to score twice to win.
Ellis playing his best game of the series, had a great run, but Jansen took the
wrong turning.
The Boks had found their second wind, and the All Blacks were contained.
Difficult
A long kick by McCallum had New Zealand back in their own territory.
But back they came, with Going putting the ball out five yards from South
Africas line where the Boks were penalised.
Kember came up in the 39th minute to take the difficult kick.
It went over truly (20-17).
South Africa stayed in and the All Blacks efforts could not shift them.
The final whistle went with the Springboks on attack.
Gert Muller scored his second try
Frik du Preez, (left), and Mof Myburgh teamed up to

subdue the New Zealand pack
THE MOURNING AFTER

Norman Canale
14 July 1974
South Africa 9
British Isles 26
SOUTH AFRICA will be donning their mourning
suits this morning to attend the funeral of Springbok
rugby at least for the present series. The playing of
the Last Post sounds sourly in my ears.
Willie-John McBrides Lions buried the
Springboks six feet deep in the Boet Erasmus
Stadium, Port Elizabeth, but the corpse will not be
allowed to rest in peace.
The five wise men who picked the Bok teams
for the first three Tests, now take on the appearance
of wise guys who never put our best side on the
Test fields.
They got a lot closer with the forwards yesterday
and men like Polla Fourie, Johan Kritzinger,
Moaner van Heerden and Johan de Bruyn, showed
exceptional courage in the face of heavy fire.
Jan Schlebusch, too, justified his selection with
kamikaze tackling at centre.
But the blunder of picking the inexperienced
Gerrie Sonnekus was underlined as the scrumhalf
frittered away chances with his bad service.
But even that was no excuse for Jackie Snymans
jittery performance. He dropped vital passes and
came apart at the seams under pressure and even his
three excellent penalties didnt make up for his Test
deficiencies.
It was a blunder to have dropped Gerald Bosch
and not to have recalled either Dirk de Vos or Joggie
Viljoen when Roy McCallum was injured.
Champagne toast
Nick Bezuidenhout did a lot of good work earlier at
the front of the line-out but he is just no scrummager
and so once again the Lions were allowed to dictate
matters up front.
A funeral for South Africa, yes, but a wedding

feast toasted with champagne for the Lions. So, while
I shed a tear for the Springboks, Im not too proud to
throw my hat high in the air for this great Lions side.
Willie-John McBride was chaired off the field by
his jubilant team-mates and boy it sure was a case of
Irish eyes are smiling.
McBride has led the Lions to the undisputed
title of world rugby champions and the outstanding
player in the field was another Irishman Fergus
Slattery.
Begorrah, what a day for the Irish!
Slatterys play yesterday puts him on a par with
great flankers like Basie van Wyk, Basil Kenyon and
Stephen Fry in my book,.
Slattery proved to be the skeleton in Snymans
rugby cupboard and he breathed so hard down the
Free Staters neck all afternoon that he must have a
stiff one today.
Also, he was up as a link in most of the Lions
sweeping movements and I even saw him once put
through a grubber touch with the aplomb of Phil
Bennett.
Flying wing
It was the Welshmen and Scots who kept the
scoreboard ticking merrily. The flying wing J. J.
Williams notched two tries and the burly Gordon
Brown got the other when he burst over from a
lineout.
Then Bennett dropped two radar-directed drops
and Andy Irvine slotted two penalties and one
conversion.
J. J.s tries even had the South Africans cheering
and they didnt have all that much to cheer about
after the Springboks first 20-minutes hurricane had

blown itself out.
He scored them in the 10-minute burst as the
sand of the game were running out and the Lions
spotted that the Boks tongues were hanging out.
Milliken cut inside Bennett going wide in a loop
and then fed the ball back to J. P. R. Williams who
had ranged up next to him with the Boks defence
crowded on the touch-line.
J. J. Williams called for the ball and as he fled
across the face of the defence the next thing he was
dotting down behind the posts.
Long pass
Next thing J. P. R Williams had picked up a Gert
Muller kick ahead in his own 25 and there he was
pounding across the field with the Boks braking hard
on the wrong foot.
A long pass and Milliken scudded away and soon
J. J. Williams again had the ball in his hands and the
crowd were on their feet sensing another score.
Somehow the defence got across by the halfway
line but the flying Welshman kicked ahead, snapped
back the ball when it popped up invitingly and
nobody was fast enough to stop him from scoring in
the corner.
The move of dropping Billy Steele on the right
wing to get Andy Irvines boot into the side with
Bennett a goal-kicking risk paid off like a Christmas
bonus.
The tearaway Scot kept a tight leash on Muller
and then those goal-kicking chances came he wasnt
mean with the points.
In was his 75-yarder that put the Lions on the
winning trail. The Boks were then after 75 minutes
trailing 7-3 and still in with a chance.

But that kick gave the Lions their second wind
and Gareth Edwards taking a grab at the ball from
the scrum that had Ellis and Fourie stuck to the side
of the scrum and putting Bennett in possession with
a clear shot at goal.
Significantly the second punch-up of the match
erupted between these two match-winning kicks and
it was fiercer even than the one that had the crowd
gasping just before the interval.
Punches fly
The Boks with Fourie, Kritzinger and De Bruyn
forming the spearhead, punched it out with the
Lions stormtroopers Brown, Cotton, Slattery and
Davies.
Punches rattled on heads and faces like a
hailstorm but nobody gave an inch.
The Boks side didnt pick themselves and are not
responsible for the blunders at half-back and on the
frontrow. But let me hasten to say that they never
folded like the Loftus side.
The forwards drove relentlessly in the first half
and rucked with the ferocity that would have warmed
the hearts of a New Zealand pack.
And we saw some first-class tackling midfield by
Schlebusch and Cronje that look the Lions territory
and Edwards with the mantle of greatness ripped
unceremoniously from his shoulders.
The nugget scrumhalf was put under so much
pressure by Ellis and Fourie that he had more kicks
rushed down than you care to remember, and I think
he only once got a touch down the line that didnt go
out on the full.
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THE WORLD BEGINS TO SHRINK: 1976-1985

THE FIASCO of South Africas tour to Britain and Ireland
in 1969/70 did not immediately spell the doom of the white
Springbok team, but it had repercussions elsewhere. English
cricket authorities, although outwardly optimistic about South
Africa touring there in 1970, finally bowed to pressure against the
visit. It hadnt helped crickets cause when the 1968/69 England
cricket tour to South Africa had been cancelled because of the
apartheid governments opposition to the late inclusion of Basil
DOliveira in the England team. DOliveira, a talented batsman
and who had been classified coloured in the country of his
birth and barred from playing test cricket as a result had
quit South Africa to play in England where he was subsequently
selected for that countrys test team. The DOliveira Affair
became a cause clbre in South Africas growing sports isolation.
With the tour to England cancelled and another tour to Australia
called off, apartheid South Africa found itself barred from test
cricket, the Olympics and world football. Rugby, the other major
sport, held out and at times appeared even to thrive.
Much of this had to do with the standing of Dr Danie Craven
in international rugby and the conservative if not reactionary
members of the International Rugby Board. Craven, president
of the white South African Rugby Football Board, was a figure
revered in the world game. His connections helped delay the
isolation of Springbok rugby, although it was also becoming
clear that South Africas sporting world had shrunk. There
would never again be a whites-only Springbok tour to Britain
after 1970 and although the All Blacks and British Lions visited
South Africa during this decade, it was becoming harder to find
regular opponents of stature to take on the Boks. The Springboks
would undertake only one more major overseas tour to New
Zealand in 1981 but it almost brought about civil war in what
was an easy-going, placid country.
The year 1976 was also a momentous one for South Africa.
The uprising by Soweto school children, ostensibly over the
teaching of Afrikaans, quickly spread to the rest of the country

and apartheid soon surpassed language as the central issue. With
the liberation from colonial rule of Angola and Mozambique
threatening white South Africas so-called cordon sanitaire, the
paranoia among the countrys ruling class grew. A rugby tour
by the All Blacks no less took white South Africas minds off the
growing insurrection.
The tour was supported by New Zealand prime minister
Robert Muldoon, who regarded sport to be a politics-free arena.
In that sense he was in complete agreement with his South
African counterparts, although he proclaimed his abhorrence
of apartheid. And once again Springbok rugby affected other
sports: twenty-five African countries boycotted the 1976 Olympic
Games in Montreal as a result. This led, in the following year, to
the Gleneagles Agreement by all the Commonwealth countries
to discourage contact and competition with sporting teams and
individuals of South Africa. It was seen by most Commonwealth
countries as a strict ban on South Africa, but interpreted more
vaguely by Britain and New Zealand, who continued to have
rugby links with the apartheid state.
New Zealand at least felt emboldened by South Africas
agreement to accept Maoris in the All Blacks team. Six Maoris
were included, along with Bryan Williams, who was of Samoan
descent. Williams would turn out be one of the stars of the tour.
In terms of the South African governments multi-national sports
policy, two matches were arranged against an African team, the
Leopards, and a coloured side, the Proteas.
The All Blacks lost three of their 20 non-test matches, against
Western Province (12-11), Northern Transvaal (29-27) and Free
State (15-10) but remained focused on the internationals against
the Springboks. The Springboks won the first convincingly in
Durban (16-7), then lost the second in Bloemfontein (15-9).
The third was a narrow 15-10 win for the Boks at Newlands in
Cape Town and the fourth, which clinched the series for South
Africa, was a controversial match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

The Boks won 15-14, but there was a dispute afterwards over a
possible penalty try that might have been awarded by referee Gert
Bezuidenhout. Instead he gave only a penalty for obstruction on
All Black centre Bruce Robertson by Springbok centre Johan
Oosthuizen. It was the difference between three and six points.
Craven, for one, believed the referee to be wrong, but he made
his comment in the heady aftermath of a Bok victory.
The series also involved a bit of rich family history. Morne
du Plessis, the Springbok captain, had led his team to a series
victory over New Zealand 33 years after his father Felix had
done the same in the 1949 series against Fred Allens All Blacks.
There were to be four lean years after the All Blacks left
South Africa, with only a World XV coming to play in 1977.
The Springboks comfortably dispatched the visitors 45-24 at
Loftus in Pretoria. An oddity of this test, which showed up the
paucity of international rugby for South Africa, was that the
Springbok team included seven new caps of which only one,
Daan du Plessis, the tighthead prop (and today a renowned
Pretoria orthopaedic surgeon) would play another test, and that
was against South America in 1980. The single-test debutants
were wing Hermanus Potgieter, centres Dirk Froneman and
Christo Wagenaar, flyhalf Robbie Blair, scrumhalf Barry
Wolmarans and flanker Piet Veldsman, one of the finest loose
forwards of his day.
By the time the next foreign opposition the South American
Jaguars arrived, the Springboks had to build virtually from
scratch. They put together a team for the first test consisting of
six new caps, among them a young Northern Transvaal flyhalf
named Naas Botha, who would leave his name indelibly on the
world scene. The total number of test caps in the side that took
on South America was 41, with skipper Morne du Plessis the
most capped with 14. How different from today with a recent
test team for the match against Argentina in Buenos Aires on
August 15 2015 went into the match with 643 caps in the starting
XV. The most capped player, Victor Matfield, emerged from the
26-12 victory with a record 123 test caps.
The Boks brushed the South Americans aside comfortably.
The touring team of 26 was in effect a ghost Pumas team made
up of 22 Argentine players who were selected with the blessing
of that countrys rugby union, but not by the government, which
had forbidden sporting contacts with South Africa. The Boks
would reciprocate the visit with a tour later in 1980 to South
America, playing in Montevideo and Santiago, where military
regimes still ran things and were sympathetic to apartheid South
Africa. Again this showed how South Africas rugby world was
shrinking; they needed to rely on military dictatorships to play
host to the Springboks.
The two tests against the South American Jaguars were good
warm-ups for the young Springbok side, who won the first three
test matches against the 1980 British and Irish Lions but lost the
fourth, at last providing South African newspapers with their old
clich headline for this touring team, Pride of Lions.
There was state opposition to the Lions tour from the British
and Irish governments, but the Four Home Unions committee,
which organises Lions tours, defied both as well as the Gleneagles
Agreement in going ahead with the tour. The rugby unions of
England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales decided on the tour in
November 1979 and approved it in January 1980. However, it
became clear that there would not be another Lions tour until
South Africa had become a full democracy, and three years after
the first democratic elections the next Lions team arrived to
shock South African rugby as it had in 1974.
By 1981 South African rugby was pushing its luck. The
townships were virtually in a state of insurrection, the country was
involved in a secret war against Angola and the sports sanctions
and cultural boycott were beginning to tell. White South Africa
was left in no doubt as to its pariah status. The South African
Rugby Football Board, however, remained undeterred and
played on the New Zealand Rugby Unions desire for revenge
after the 1976 defeats. The tour went ahead, largely because
Robert Muldoons conservative government in New Zealand
allowed it. Muldoon persevered with his no politics in sport
policy, perhaps sensing an eagerness among the strong rugby
constituency to see the Boks one more time. So 16 years after
their previous tour to the Land of the Long White Cloud, the
Boks were back. And what a close-run thing it would be, too.
The tour split New Zealand down the middle. An organisation,
Halt All Racist Tours, organised protests against the Springboks
and although committed to peaceful protest, violence often
broke out. The police assembled two special riot squads, the Red
and Blue, and for the first time the country saw officers wearing
helmets, shields and carrying long batons. Attempts by protesters
to invade the pitch at Gisborne for the first match were met with
violence from police and spectators in favour of the tour. The
next match was cancelled after protesters invaded the field at
Hamilton for the game against Waikato. A later match in Timaru
was also called off. If police were able to secure most playing
venues, it was a different matter outside the grounds where the
protests were vociferous.
One protest had been heard clearly the year before in South
Africa. The All Blacks captain Graham Mourie had declared
that he would not be available for the team. No All Blacks captain
had ever come out as strongly against apartheid, not that Mourie
said much about it at the time. He merely informed selectors
he was not available, but his action spoke loudly. A few years
ago he articulated the reasons he had not expressed at the time:
I felt that playing would have given tacit support to the unjust
regime in South Africa; it would have been hypocritical of me to
say apartheid was wrong, but go ahead and play just because I
wanted to. In an interview in 2013, he said that it had had been
a carefully researched decision, a head to heart one rather that
a purely emotional decision. When veteran New Zealand rugby
administrator Ron Don, a staunch supporter of the Springbok
tour, said most Kiwis backed the tour, Trevor Richards, head
of the Halt All Racists Tours committee, sent him a telegram:
100% current All Black captains opposed to tour. Mourie
watched the tour games on television and did not take part in
any demonstrations. I had a farm to run, he commented years
later.
Unlike previous tours to New Zealand when Springbok players
were acclaimed as rugby heroes, the 1981 team were under siege
wherever they went, hiding in hotels or being accommodated in
makeshift rooms like squash courts. But unlike the tour to Britain
and Ireland in 1969/70, the 1981 Boks did not allow themselves
to be distracted on the field. They won all their non-test matches
except for the one against New Zealand Maoris, which was
drawn 12-12. And they demolished Nelson Bays 83-0. But it was
in the test matches where they came close to becoming only the
second Springbok side, after the 1937 Boks, to win a series in
New Zealand.
Having lost the first test 14-9 at Lancaster Park, scene of
a heroic Springbok victory in the previous tour of 1965, the
Boks hit back in the second test, winning 24-12 against most
expectations. The tour management of Nelie Smith and Johan
Claassen had dropped skipper Wynand Claassen for the first
test, but brought him back for the second. Naas Botha scored 20
points in the second test, helping to set up the series for a cliffhanger at Eden Park in Auckland where the third test was played
amid much drama.
The third test, which decided the series, was marked by three
events: the first hat-trick of tries by a Springbok against the All
Blacks, a controversial penalty that helped New Zealand win the
series rather than share it, and the flour-bombing incident. With
demonstrators effectively kept out of Eden Park in Auckland
by a strong police presence, two New Zealanders, Marx Jones
and Grant Cole, hired a Cessna aircraft and circled the stadium
during the match. While the game was in progress Jones piloted
the aircraft while Cole accurately dropped parachute flares
followed by paper bags filled with flour onto the field. Some bags
hit spectators and one hit Gary Knight, briefly felling the All
Black prop.
Jones, who had learnt to fly at 18, came from a family who
were members of the Communist Party and at the age of 25 he
joined the party, having been a racing driver who had given up
that sport to become a unionist. Unsurprisingly, he was named
after the German philosopher Karl Marx. He was jailed for nine
months, but was out after six. He and Cole were not the first to
flour-bomb a South African sports team. In 1978, former World
War 2 Spitfire pilot Pat McQuarrie flour-bombed a softball game
between South Africa and New Zealand in north Auckland.
McQuarrie had been preparing to flour-bomb the Boks second
game, at Hamilton against Waikato, but it was called off when
protesters invaded the pitch.
On the field in that third test, Springbok wing Ray Mordts
three tries and Naas Bothas 10 points with the boot helped bring
the Boks level with the All Blacks at 22-22. But a controversial
penalty awarded by Welsh referee Clive Norling in the dying

minutes of the match turned fullback Alan Hewson into an
All Black hero that day. He goaled the kick for the three-point
victory. The relief in the country seemed palpable: the All Blacks
had won, and the Boks were going home.
A meaningless test match against the US on the way home
only underscored the Springboks pariah status. They had to hide
from even South African journalists as they won 38-7 on a polo
ground in New York state. It was the ultimate embarrassment.
The South Americans graced South African fields for
two more tours, in 1982, when they stunned the Boks with a
magnificent scrumming performance to win 21-12, and again in
1984. England brought a weak team to South Africa in 1984 and
were promptly humiliated with Errol Tobias, who had become
the first black Springbok in the 1981 test series against Ireland,
delivering a star performance. If the series was significant at all,
it was for the fact that whites had to recognise black men could
play flyhalf.
by Archie Henderson
IM FASTER THAN BRYAN! SAYS WONDER-TRY

GERMISHUYS AFTER SCORING NO. 300 FOR THE BOKS
Norman Canale
25 July 1976
South Africa 16
New Zealand 7
MORNE DU Plessis magnificent Springboks ended their Test famine
at Kings Park yesterday with a convincing victory over the All Blacks
that could usher in the years of plenty.
After a first half that had the All Blacks so much on top form that
they seemed to be playing from a rugby Everest, the Boks got off the
floor in the second frame to run the New Zealanders off their feet and
topple them from their throne as uncrowned world rugby champions.
What an unpredictable game rugby is and particularly Test rugby.
South Africa hoped to win through Gerald Boschs magic boot. The All
Blacks through their thrustful backs and linking forwards. It was tries
against kicks.
And so it proved to be. But the boot was on the other foot. It was
Boks who ran in two great tries through Gerrie Germishuys and Edrich
Krantz to one by the All Blacks centre Lyn Jaffray.
Kicks finally decided the issue, but it wasnt Bosch the destroyer
yesterday. The Boot could manage only a penalty and a great
conversion of Germishuys try from the corner to put South Africa in
the lead for the first time at 9-7 in the 50th minute. Ian Robertson kicked
a magnificent 40-metre drop in the dying minutes to clinch the match.
Truth to tell, Bosch shouldnt have played at all. The flyhalf spent
Friday in bed flat on his back.
He was felled by an opponent so tiny you could not see him with the
naked eye a flu virus. The selectors decided to gamble and it was soon
clear what a gamble it was yesterday afternoon.
Bosch looked as though he had seen a ghost, so pale was he. When
he kicked, his form, by his very high standards, was frightful.
Get a hold of yourself when I tell you that Bosch missed four out
of five penalties admittedly three of them from 50 metres. One
conversion admittedly it hit the right upright from touch and two
drops.
But his 30-metre penalty was vital for it put the Boks on level terms
with the New Zealanders at 3-3 and that conversion from touch of
Germishuys try put them in a lead they never lost.
Bosch was ordered off by the Bok medical adviser, Dr Swerdan,
10 minutes from time to be replaced by De Wet Ras. The wisdom of
the selectors gamble was underlined when Ras has a shot at the posts
from 40 metres, the first time in the match he touched the ball and it
screwed away wide of the upright.
Right now, South Africa should be drinking a toast, bubbly no less,
to the much-criticised Morne du Plessis. He led the Boks superbly, both
by action and force of personality. He had them playing with fervour
and a dedication in that vital second half as though they were playing
with Die Stem ringing in their ears.
Yes, it was good to see again that Watch it, you okes. The thrust
of the forwards chins, and the chips they carried on their shoulders.
Particularly on the shoulders of Morne, Jan Ellis, Moaner van Heerden
and Boland Coetzee.
Man, the came across so tough as to make the All Blacks think they
played week-end juskei with manhole covers.
And with it, Mornes men gave the All Blacks a hefty send-off in
their quest to become the first All Blacks side to win a series in South
Africa.
Man of the match was the Free State flier, Gerrie Germishuys. He
hasnt always been my ideal of a Springbok wing mainly because I
thought he was suspect on defence. Well, yesterday Gerrie made me eat
my words and thrust my typewriter down my throat.
His try was a gem of which the whole Bok side can feel proud. It
was a vital ruck that won Bayvel the possession that helped Bosch get
the ball away as if it was as red-hot coal.
Then Whipp cleverly missed out Oosthuizen and there was Ian
Robertson into the line to give Germishuys just that metre of pace
needed to round Bryan Williams.
This Germishuys is quick, man, he faster than Casanova as fast as
a blink. And toss in a snipe-like run that had three All Blacks grasping
at the humid Durban atmosphere and he was over in the corner before
you could say, Totsiens.
Not only that. He also showed he can tackle when he spread-eagled
the flying Williams after the Samoan had been sent fleeing for the first
line by Duncan Robertson.
It was a day for the wings it seems. New cap Edrich Kranzt scored
a try, even if it was Bayvel who floated between Batty and Stewart
and into the open with the tryline yawning ahead of him. Somehow
Duncan Robertson got a fingertip to his ankle and as the scrumhalf
sprawled five metres from the line, up came Krantz to snatch the ball
and dive over.
The other wing hero was nuggety Grant Batty. It was a day of
backslaps for him, tinged with disappointment. His suspect knee broke
down near the end of the match and it might sideline him from the
Bloemfontein Test. But he showed us first why he is the best leftwing in
the world.
If you saw Mannetjies Roux, then you will get an idea how dangerous
and unorthodox is this fiery little All Black. Hes as tricky as a conjurer
and his run of 40 metres in the first half, off an interception, had the
Boks thinking they might as well try to snatch a sunbeam as stop his
zig-zag runs.
They finally did, five metres from the line, but he flung a long, high
pass to Kirkpatrick and on it went to Jaffray who half-mooned it into
the corner and put the All Blacks into a 7-3 lead. This after Williams
had kicked a 30-metre penalty.
It was rugged, down there in the Kings Park cauldron. And it was
the All Blacks who got mean tempered. Once Kirkpatrick lashed out
at Du Plessis, and later Whiting took a few pot shots at John Williams.
At times the rucking on both sides was frightening in its coldbloodedness.
Talking about Kirkpatrick, let me give this rawboned flanker his due.
Hes the best loose forward in the world today about as stoppable on
the run as a runaway locomotive, a sure-handed handler of the ball
and intensive in his backing up. He was more than a handful, even for
these no-nonsense Boks.
Other memories that will linger include Sid Goings magical reverse
passes and broken-field running; the deft palming of the line-out ball
by Whiting and Kirkpatrick that would have been the envy of a Reno
cardshark; Peter Whipps great first-half break when he beat three
defenders with side-steps and fend-offs; and Andy Leslies clever touches
and backing up that should take him to the top of any rugby class.
BOKS CLINCH IN IT CLOUD OF CONTROVERSY

Barry Glasspool
19 September 1976
South Africa 14
New Zealand 14
SOUTH AFRICA clinched the series 3-1 by beating New Zealand
15-14 in a cliff-hanger final Test at Ellis Park yesterday but the
Springbok victory will be clouded by controversy.
Did referee Gert Bezuidenhout, who also handled the second and
third internationals, blunder in not awarding the New Zealanders
a penalty try in the second half when centre Bruce Robertson was
held without the ball as he looked certain to score.
Mr Bezuidenhout raced over to the spot, seemed to hesitate and
then awarded a penalty instead of a penalty try under the posts
and a certain six points.
Although Bryan Williams kicked the resultant penalty to put the
All Blacks into a 14-12 lead, Andy Leslies men were angry and
showed their feelings on the field.
Finally, the golden boot of Gerald Bosch carried South Africa to
victory. He kicked a drop goal, two pressure penalties and converted
Johan Kritzingers crucial first half try which inched South Africa
ahead 9-8 at halftime all against the run of the game.
In truth, the Kiwis were decidedly unlucky not to have sewn up
the match in that first half when they looked the more determined
and sharper combination. But as has happened throughout the
series, they just couldnt round off one or two gilt-edged scoring
chances and found themselves trailing by that single point at
halftime.
The Test, played in searing heat, produced the best of rugby of
the series and Ellis Park yesterday was no place for the meek and
mild.
With so much at stake and the Kiwis desperately wanting to
salvage some honours in the series, tempers were bound to flare,
and flare they did in one huge punchup in the second half.
It started when long-service All Blacks flanker Ian Kirkpatrick
and Springbok Moaner van Heerden squared up to each other and
slugged it out. Within seconds the tempers of other forwards had

been inflamed and Mr Bezuidenhout had a free fight on his hands.
With the aid of some of the players he was able to douse the
heat. But it was a sad sight to see the All Blacks pelted with naartjies
by the crowd.
Once again the All Blacks must have rued the lack of a reliable
goalkicker.
Sid Going, who was one of the Kiwi masterminds, missed the
conversions of both tries by Kirkpatrick and his own in the corner.
Neither kick was easy, but in Test matches they were the sort of
opportunities one must take.
The Kiwis other three points came from a splendid drop goal
by flyhalf Doug Bruce which regained the lead for the Kiwis in this
see-saw battle in which all the pre-match odds had pointed to a
convincing Springbok victory.
But this didnt take into account the tremendous fortitude and
resolve of the battered and weary Kiwis, who looked at times as
through they were prepared to die for New Zealand out in the
white-hot bowl of Ellis Park.
So Morne du Plessis has emulated the feat of his father by leading
a Springbok team to victory over the All Blacks.
Throughout the series Du Plessis has been in the thick of
things when the going has been the toughest and yesterday was no
exception. Together with Van Heerden, he was the most impressive
Springbok forward.
Mr Bezuidenhout spent a lot of time ensuring there wouldnt
be a repetition of the third Test troubles in the front row. He was
reasonably successful.
In the end, this Test will be remembered for that controversial
was it or wasnt it a penalty try?
ITS A DIVINE TRY, BOKS

Ted Partridge
1 June 1980
South Africa 16
British Lions 22
WHAT AN incredible test! Just when the Springboks looked to
have won it, then lost it and then shot their bolt, Divan Serfontein,
the tiniest man on the field, darted over in the corner and South
Africa had won without the help of Naas Bothas deadly boot.
Rugby is all about tries and the Springboks won the try
battle 5-1. Although the final scoreline looks close and indeed
was close, for Serfonteins supreme effort came two minutes from
injury time, when you work it out at five tries to one there was
really only one side in it.
Just as Naas Bothas boot has so often played a dominating
role for the Springboks in the past, so Tony Wards right foot
almost kicked the Springboks to death at Newlands.
The 48000 crowd were stunned two-thirds through the second
half when Ward, as cool as that proverbial cucumber., snapped
over a 23 m drop. It took the score from a deadlock 16-16 to 1916, with Lions pack on top and the Springboks looking a spent
force.
Then miraculously, Morne mustered his men to produce one
of the finest tries it has been my pleasure to witness in rugby. With
just seven minutes to go the mighty Springboks seemed to snap
out of their misery at having lost the lead for the first time.
Left wing Gerrie Germisthuys, on his own 10m line, started a
movement that was to end a minute later with himself storming
over in the right-hand corner, with Lions fullback Rodney
ODonnell and skipper Billy Beaumont on his back.
But between those vital seconds the ball had gone from the
Transvaaler to his fullback Gysie Pienaar, then onto flank Rob
Louw, then to Ray Mordt and finally back to Germishuys, who
clutched the ball in midair with his fingertips, drew it to his
chest, and drove himself over the two giants clinging to him like
grim death.
A couple of minutes later the Lions snarled back with Wards
boot shooting over his fifth penalty when Serfontein was caught
offside and it was even at 22-22 again.
But the Springboks werent happy with that anymore. Just as
five minutes previously they had seemed content to warily give
it to the Lions, now, charged with new adrenalin, they wanted
victory as badly as theyve ever wanted to win in a Test.
They stormed down the left wing and a Botha grubber stated a
loose maul a metre out from the Lions line. But the Lions defence
was there and they appeared to be heaving the Boks back until
Morne du Plessis and Ray Mordt joined the fray. Morne grabbed
the ball and slipped it out to his Western Province teammate,
Serfontein, who darted to glory between ODriscoll and Maurice
Colclough for the winner.
The 48000 Springboks fans jumped for joy as the conversion,
despite being sliced by Botha, didnt really matter the bruising
game was over.
And what a bruiser it was from the first minute, when Morne
du Plessis collected a beautifully placed right hook from his
Lions No. 8 counter Derek Quinell. It was a tough, unrelenting
struggle, but in that first half Beaumonts Lions were ground into
the threadbare turf that was Newlands.
The Springboks took a major part of the first half to settle
down. They were back in big rugby but they were struggling to
find the form that would take them back to the top. And indeed,
when the first try did come from Louw in the 22nd minute, it
was something of an opportunist effort as he collected Gysie
Pienaars punt ahead to drive himself forward and over the line
close to the posts.
Bothas conversion was a formality. Three minutes later, we

saw the first of Wards five penalties this one from 32m and
the Lions were back in the game. There was an audible groan
from this massive crowd.
With 10 minutes to go before halftime Botha grubbered the
ball forward and completely deceived fullback ODonnell, while
Willie du Plessis, always looking for a chance, snatched at the ball
and raced forward 15 metres to score what appeared to be the
easiest try of his life. Botha split the posts with his conversion.
Ward again, seconds later, clawed the Lions back into the game
with a penult which slipped in off the right-hand post (12-6).
Moaner van Heerden, now recovered from the blow hed
taken in the loose maul, was raring to go again and as halftime
loomed he fastened on to a Gerrie Germishuys kick ahead that
had been blocked by ODonnell and drove down the left wing to
dot down for the Boks third try in 12 minutes.
The angle was too acute for Bothas kick which,
uncharacteristically, he hooked past the posts.
In the dying second of that pulsating half Ward forced his
side back into the game with another pinpoint penalty this time
from 45 metres.
Down by seven points at the break, the Lions were far from
finished.
They came storming back in the second half in dramatic
fashion and almost snatched victory. But rugby won the day. The
five-try Boks, who so richly deserved their win in terms of playing
what this game is all about, werent to be outdone. But as Syd
Millar says there are still three to go in this series.
Ray Mordt
THE BOKS CANT LOSE

Barry Glasspool
15 June 1980
South Africa 26
British Lions 19
THE SOUTH African rugby renaissance goes on. Two sensational
last-gasp tries yesterday gave the Springboks a glorious second
Test 26-19 victory over the Lions before a wildly excited 60000
Bloemfontein crowd.
By winning this Test they also took an unbeatable 2-0 lead in
the four-Test series.
A country starved of international rugby for four long years
last night glowed in the reflected glory of the Boks great win,
the sixth successive victory since the third Test triumph over New
Zealand in 1976.
And as a rugby-mad Bloemfontein gave vent to the feelings
of a fraternity united behind Morne du Plessis and his mighty
Springboks, talk turned inevitably to the heady prospect of
a four-nil clean sweep more than ample recompense for the
traumas of 1974 when the Lions mauled the Springboks 3-0 with
to one draw.
The Springbok skipper himself is not allowing thoughts yet to
turn towards a grand slam.
We are playing each Test as it comes. We are thinking no
further than Port Elizabeth. But it is nice to be 2-0 up.
Its a sentiment every rugby-mad South African was sharing
after the Test.
So, while South Africa celebrates yesterdays triumph in a
match which was a near perfect replica of the Newlands crunch,
the vanquished Lions were in a more sombre mood, left to lick
their wounds, contemplating another serious injury in their
beleaguered ranks.
Gareth Davies, the slick Welsh flyhalf who limped off in the
second half, is out of the tour with torn knee ligaments a cruel
blow for the Lions who have nothing left to play for but a facesaving share of the series.
But on the evidence of this hammering Test that again crackled
with tension and throbbed with movement, the Lions will have to
haul themselves up a rugby Everest to halt the rampant Boks.

Late tries by Gerrie Germishuys and Gysie Pienaar darling
boy of the home crowd and one of yesterdays Springboks heroes
were the final two hammer blows in the Lions coffin.
They came at a time when the match was balanced on a razor
edge.
South Africa were clinging to a precarious one-point lead and
it was still anyones game.
Then the Springboks struck and Pienaar, who had a hand
in two of the four Bok tries set up Germishuys effort with a
cunning chip.
The former Free State flyer fled to the corner to dot down
under the noses of two desperate defenders.
There was no keeping the mercurial fullback out of the picture.
With the Lions in full cry and seeking to save the match, a
move broke down in Springbok territory.
Morne du Plessis hacked kick upfield suddenly switched play
to Lions territory, though few in the crowd senses a score was
on.
One who did, however, was Pienaar, who told me later: I
knew if we could get up to the ball quickly there was a chance to
score.
Not even a late Lions try could remove the impression that
the Springboks were again worthy victors and the Lions had no
real quibbles about the outcome.
But if they generally accepted the defeat, there was a
controversial note about Lions manager Syd Millars references
in his aftermatch speech to a senior South African Rugby Board
officials reported remarks yesterday morning in a South African
English morning paper.
An obviously angry Mr Millar said the Lions had come to
South Africa at great sacrifice and that the party took exception
to remarks that they were an obstructive side.
The managers comments were directed at Colonel Butch

Lochner, convener of the South African selectors and the
Springboks manager of the series.
Col Lochner denied that he had made the remarks attributed
to him about the Lions.
Bok skipper Du Plessis felt sufficiently concerned to reply,
because as he told me later:
One misquoted remark cant be allowed to damage the good
will and friendship this series means for both South Africa and
British rugby.
Du Plessis told a hushed gathering after Millars clipped
comments:
This may not be my station but I care too much about rugby
and how we play the game.
We have the greatest respect for these Lions and for British
rugby and one misquoted comment like this must not be allowed
to destroy that.
Among the Springbok heroes were, of course, Pienaar, Theuns
Stofberg, Morne du Plessis, Germishuys and Rob Louw.
The Springboks did not escape unscathed either.
Louw stretchered off near the end to give Northern Transvaals
long-waiting Thys Burger his first cap as a replacement had a
badly bruised kidney and a shiner of a black eye which matched
the one his skipper was sporting after the Cape Town Test.
But in the end the Springboks had forgotten these aches and
pains in the flush of victory but for the Lions the bruises and
bumps must have been hurting just that much more after defeat.
After the match Dr Danie Craven said:
It was anyones game. But I am proud of our Springboks. We
took the first half but they came back well just as they did at
Newlands. We have learnt a few more lessons.
Gerrie Germishuys
Morne du Plessis
BOK AVENGERS!
Barry Glasspool
29 June 1980
South Africa 12
British Lions 10
LIONS SKIPPER Billy Beaumont and his men hung their heads
and flailed the air in frustration as they trooped off the Boet Erasmus
Stadium field in Port Elizabeth yesterday after losing the third Test
and the series to Morne du Plessiss Springboks.
And as South Africa celebrated the completion of a 3-0 triumph
and avenged the crushing defeat of McBrides pride of Lions six
years ago Dr Danie Craven, Mr Rugby, said:
My heart goes out to the Lion. They could have won. They had
their chances but didnt take them, And the soul of this great game
of rugby does not forgive, so we say congratulations to Morne du
Plessis and his team. But we know the Lions will be feeling tonight.
Its not easy to take a hiding.
It still remains something of a major mystery that the Lions lost
12-10 but were so completely in control for so much of the Test
played in rain and in a swirling, biting wind.
The Springboks, having to make do with precious little possession
as the Lions tool charge in British-type conditions of wet and cold,
took all their chances while the tourists threw away three certain
tries and paid the price under the driving leadership of Du Plessis,
who notched yet another milestone in his 12th game as Springbok
captain.
In keeping with an amazing Test that defied all rugby logic, it
was a late sucker-punch try that sank the Lions.
Almost before anybody in the 50000 crowd knew what was
happening, the Springboks had scored.
The try followed a probing kick from the corner by Naas Botha
in which Gerrie Germishuys, following up fast, put pressure on
Clive Woodward to kick the ball into touch near the try line.
Wasting no time, and playing ballboy, Germishuys chased after
the ball, jumped over a rope and retrieved it.
A quick throw in to his former Free State teammate, Theuns
Stofberg, saw the big flanker whip the ball back to Germishuys who
fled down the touchline to score in the corner under the noses of
the startled Lions.
Botha, who also slotted a fine drop goal and a penalty, slammed
over the difficult touchline conversion and for the first time in the
match, with only eight minutes plus injury time remaining, the Boks
were ahead 12-10.
Germishuys said later that he and Stofberg had worked this trick
before.
I was just interested in getting the game restarted again quickly,
said the South African try-scoring hero.
Germishuys becomes the first man in rugby history to score three
tries in consecutive Tests in a four-match series.
Thus Beaumonts team paid a fearful price for that temporary
lack of defensive vigilance while the Springboks discipline and
unflagging determination in the tackle plus the Lions own
generosity, kept them at bay when it seemed they must concede tries
under incessant pressure.
It wasnt only the Lions who were caught napping by South
Africas winning try.
Doc Craven confessed later: I was watching the Springbok
forwards strolling across field to the line-out when the next thing
Gerrie Germishuys had scored. I didnt see it happen.
Victorious skipper Du Plessis said: For the first time in the series
I was preparing a losing speech at halftime, but I want to thank my
boys for their support in this Test and the series.
Lions captain Bill Beaumont accepted that his team had lost
because they failed to take their chances.
You dont win a Test that way, but full marks to Morne and his
men for the way they used their opportunities. We came with high
hopes. We came to win the series. But we say well done to South
Africa and hope that we can still salvage something out of the rest
of this tour.
Syd Millar, the Lions manager, was still shaken that his forwards
could be so much in control yet lose the match. The Springboks
took all their opportunities we didnt take ours.
Coach Noel Murphy likened it all to a bad dream. This team
doesnt deserve to be 3-0 down in the series.
Now theres the heady thought of a 4-0 clean-sweep in the final
international at Loftus in two weeks.
Morne du Plessis
OH, WHAT A BOK COMEBANK! OH, WHAT A PRICE!

Barry Glasspool
30 August 1981
South Africa 24
New Zealand 12
Wellington
The Springboks beat the odds, the All Blacks and their critics
at Wellington yesterday. But their 24-12 heavyweight triumph
has cost them dearly.
Hooker Willie Kahts is out of the tour suffering from a serious
shoulder injury and a replacement will be called for. Men on the
list must be either Northern Transvaals J C Strauss or Western
Provinces Shaun Povey.
Others who suffered during yesterdays battle were centre
Willie du Plessis, who was replaced by Colin Beck, lock Louis
Moolman (thigh injury) and prop Okkie Oosthuizen, who was
badly concussed but courageously carried on after the Boks had
used up their two allowed replacements.
Kahts went off early in yesterdays second Test match against
the All Blacks, but the names of the forwards left on the field
should be written large in green and gold letters by all rugbyloving South Africans.
From Oosthuizen in the front row to reinstated skipper
Wynand Claassen they plus golden-booted Naas Botha were
the mud-spattered heroes of South Africas magnificent victory at
Wellingtons Athletic Park.
The much-maligned Boks, showing seven changes from the
side which was mauled in the first Test, proved every critic wrong.
The forwards chosen to grind New Zealand down, did exactly
that.
Staging one of modern Test rugbys greatest comebacks,
Wynand Claassens team saved this grievously troubled tour and
set the stage for a do-or-die final Test at Eden Park, Auckland, in
a fortnights time.
And what a finale that will be!
But first, back to yesterdays memorable match.
Glorious
The Bok points came from a glorious first half try by Gerrie
Germishuys pushing his record Test try tally to 10 and 20
points from the cool and educated boot of Naas Botha, who
slotted five penalties, a drop goal and a conversion for a nearly
faultless effort of six out of seven.
Bothas feat earned him two records. He beat Okey Geffins 15
points by a South African against New Zealand in a Test which
was set up at Newlands in 1949, and he bettered Tiny Naudes 10
points in a series in New Zealand.
He also equalled the fabled Gerry Brands record of 100
points on an overseas tour.
New Zealands points came from four penalties by fullback
Alan Hewson, three of them in the second half when the All
Blacks had a stiffish wind behind them.
What the Springboks achieved at Wellington yesterday they
can repeat again at Eden Park, Auckland, when the battle for the
world rugby crown will grip two nations thousands of kilometres
apart.
By winning the second Test, Wynand Claassens magnificent
men turned the rugby formbook inside out.
On rugbys longest day the Springbok team spent the last
24 hours countdown in the concrete bunkers of Athletic Parks
main pavilion South Africas frontline troops won the battle in
splendid style.
When he was left out of tour skipper Wynand Claassen told
me: Ill be back!
And in true McArthur fashion the 30-year-old Durban
architect returned in the most spectacular manner (the pinnacle
of my rugby career) as the Springboks ran up a killer 12 points
in as many minutes.
The Wellington fans were stunned.
The All Blacks looked shattered.
And that phenomenal kicking machine, Nasty Booter to

those who enviously wish they had him, the Golden Boy to South
Africans, Naas Botha, was going to take full revenge on those
voluble Kiwis who wrote him off as a no-hoper after the first Test.
Apart from those 20 precious points, the young Pretoria
policeman made the All Blacks cop it rough with an all-round
performance which the uncanny 23-year-old has never surpassed.
Magnificent
His tactical kicking, his handling, his coolness under pressure
and his fierce competitive spirit made him one of the Springbok
heroes.
But the men at the battlefront deserve all the medals. All nine
were magnificent.
Okkie Oosthuizen was the target for the special attention from
some of the All Blacks forward meanies.
Twice the blond physical education instructor was smashed to the
ground, once by a wild punch and later laid out cold by a boot.
A concerned Divan Serfontein, himself a doctor, rushed over
to lift the prone Oosthuizen out of the mud as he lay face down.
There was a knot of concerned people around the slumped
prop.
He took several minutes to recover and in fact left the field
for more attention before returning to play his part in this greenand-gold triumph on a red-letter day for South African rugby.
Oosthuizen told me in the dressingroom later, as he cleaned
up blood that oozed from his nostrils for most of the game, that
this was the toughest match he had played in.
Claassen revealed that for a while the brave Northern
Transvaal prop was slightly concussed.
But he knew he just had to stay on the field because we had
already used our two replacements.
This shows our fierce will to win, said Claassen.
And that now sums up the mood of the beleaguered Boks.
Wynand Claassen
Gerrie Germishuys and

Naas Botha
ONE KICK ROBBED BOKS OF GLORY

Barry Glasspool
13 September 1981
South Africa 22
New Zealand 25
SPRINGBOK HEADS hung not in shame but in despair yesterday as the
rugby world argued over the controversial last-gasp penalty that cost them the
third Test and the series against the All Blacks.
In the final seconds of their demo-ridden tour ordeal, the Boks were robbed
of an opportunity to share the Test spoils probably, say the critics, on a
technicality.
Certainly the final match possibly the most bizarre international the game
has known, with anarchy in the streets outside and flour-bombing aircraft
circling above could hardly have ended on a more controversial note.
The argument centred on Welsh referee Clive Norlings puzzling injurytime decision to award a penalty to the Kiwis.
With the score level at 22-22, New Zealand fullback Alan Hewson sent the
left-footed kick that clinched the series sailing into the wind and through the
uprights of Eden Park.
It was a blow the Springboks firmly believe they should never have suffered.
Several had to choke back tears of disappointment and frustration.
Mr Norling penalised Wynand Claassens side for foot up in a set scrum.
But I hadnt even struck for the ball, said the man on the wrong end of
the whistle, South African hooker Robert Cockrell.
Springbok scrumhalf Divan Serfontein had not even fed the ball into the
scrum.
The muscular little man from the Western Cape was showing it to the
front rows when the All Blacks, using the tactics that had been so effective all
afternoon, wheeled the scrum and dislodged the ball from Serfonteins hands.
he had awarded the penalty at the same spot as the free kick.
Another puzzling aspect was the five minutes of extra time awarded by Mr
Norling.
The official Eden Park clock which is stopped for every interruption and
therefore gives true measure of actual time played showed time up.
But Mr Norling chose to disregard the official timepiece and, for the 1981
Springboks, time ran out finally in the 85th minute.
It was a heartbroken bunch of Boks who sat slumped in the change-room
afterwards.
Failed narrowly
Even among New Zealanders here were many who believed that the Springboks
had deserved a draw for the magnificent second-half fight-back that saw them
recover from a half-time deficit of 16-3 to level 22-all right on time with Naas
Bothas conversion attempt to come.
This time, however, the greatest kicker the game has known failed narrowly
from near the touchline.
The aircraft which had been circling perilously low throughout the
game buzzed in over the blond head of the Springbok flyhalf, who ducked
instinctively and covered his head as he waited to set the ball up.
To their credit, the Springbok management of manager Johan Claassen
and coach Nelie Smith were last night making no public excuses for the defeat.
Neither was skipper Wynand Claassen, who said simply: I thought maybe
we deserved a draw, but good luck to New Zealand on their victory. We look
forward to rugby Tests between these two great rugby-playing countries going
Confirmed
ahead when you come to us in 1985.
Mr Norling awarded a free kick and then with the teams reeling from a full
Coach Smith would not be drawn on commenting on Mr Norlings decision.
80 minutes plus injury time, awarded a penalty against the Boks for failing Lets just say that, with neutral appointments, nobody can complain, neither
to withdraw 10 metres. We were all falling back, said Cockrell afterwards. the All Blacks nor the Springboks.
You cant do more than that, but he didnt give us a chance.
We will try to take our defeat with dignity. The Springbok is wounded but
Mr Norling confirmed that he had penalised the Boks for foot up and that he lives to fight another day.
Time is precious,
so use every advantage.
dialdirect.co.za
A NEW BEGINNING: 1986-1995
IT WAS the worst of times, but within 10 years it became the

best of times for Springbok rugby.
Sports sanctions had reduced white rugby to the level of
white cricket, where an international team had to be bribed to
tour. This was the case with the rebel 1986 All Blacks, who came
thinly disguised as the New Zealand Cavaliers. Whoever paid
the players to tour remains a mystery, but suspicions pointed to
the government of the day. At the time none of the rebels would
even confirm they were paid because rugby was still strictly
amateur and they risked life-long bans. Later they would not say
how much they were paid, but insisted they did not get rich on
the money. Colin Meads, the All Blacks legend of the 1960s, who
stepped in as coach when Brian Lochore withdrew, said he joined
the tour only after the pay negotiations had been completed and
claimed disingenuously that he had not been interested enough
to ask. There were tales of players returning to buy farms and
that they had received NZ$100000 each, but even today these
stories remain rumours.
The rebel tour came about after the official 1985 All Blacks
tour to South Africa had been cancelled by the New Zealand
Rugby Union. The cancellation came after two New Zealand
lawyers had tried to obtain an injunction against the tour, based
on the unions constitution, which promised to promote, foster
and develop the game. Auckland lawyers Patrick Finnigan and
Phillip Recordon argued that a tour to apartheid South Africa
would contravene such intentions. Two days after the application
was filed in court, the New Zealand Rugby Union cancelled the
tour.
The rebels arrived in the following year and although they
conducted themselves as All Blacks and the South Africans
referred to them as such, the feeling back home was not widely
shared. Warwick Taylor, who was a member of the rebel team,
admitted in an interview 29 years later that, just before the last
test against the Springboks, he realised that the team was not
representing New Zealand. We were representing ourselves.
And the country wasnt behind us, he told the New Zealand
Herald in 2011.
It wasnt just the lure of lucre; the interviews with some of
the players years later revealed a sincere desire to play in South
Africa and to beat the Boks. It was what wed all dreamed
about since we were kids, Taylor told the Heralds Alan Perrott.
But I gradually realised it had been a false hope. He said it
had been naive of the players to think they could win in South
Africa, because it was never going to happen. The players put
some of the blame on the Welsh referee Ken Rowlands, but the
truth was that they should have won the first test, but lost it;
should have lost the second, but won it; and were outplayed in
the remaining two unofficial tests.
The team was a fair representation of the then current All
Blacks squad except for star winger John Kirwan and scrumhalf
David Kirk, who withdrew, along with coach Lochore. Kirk
would never play against the Boks, but the rebel tour opened
the way for him to become captain of the official team later
in the season when rebel skipper Andy Dalton was injured in
the second tour match. Daltons jaw was broken by a punch
thrown by Northern Transvaal flanker Burger Geldenhuys.
Danie Craven, president of the white South African Rugby
Football Board, was so incensed that he reportedly instructed the
selectors not to consider Geldenhuys for the tests. It opened
the way for Transvaals Wahl Bartmann to play in all four of the
internationals.
The rebels were treated leniently once back home, being
banned for only two matches. Kirk was also meant to be a standin captain for the All Blacks while Dalton recovered from his
injury and served his ban, but in 1987 Dalton was injured shortly
before the first Rugby World Cup and Kirk was appointed
officially in his place and became the first rugby skipper to hold
aloft the William Webb Ellis trophy.
Kirwan later played just four games against the Springboks,
but only at the end of his career, once the Boks had become
respectable again. He played 63 tests of which the All Blacks
won 48 and he was never in a losing team against the Springboks.
Between 1992 and 1994 he played in four tests against South
Africa, ending his career in Dunedin where the Springboks held
the All Blacks 18-18.
On the Springbok side, 1986 heralded the return of prodigal
son Naas Botha, who had left to seek fame and fortune as an
American football player with the Dallas Cowboys. Botha had
left in 1983, opening the way for Errol Tobias to play flyhalf
for the Boks, and returned in 1984, but too late to contest for a
place in the Springbok team. There were no tests for the Boks in
1985, and by the time 1986 came round, the Bok selectors forgot
all about Tobias and Botha was warmly welcomed back into the
fold. The flyhalf played a valuable role in the Springbok series
victory over the Cavaliers, scoring 69 points.
While New Zealand was, at best, ambivalent about the
Cavaliers, in South Africa the mainstream media treated the tour
as the real thing. It was often mentioned as the decider of the
mythical world rugby championship. Barry Glasspool, sports
editor of the Sunday Times, summed up the white rugby fans
euphoria after the fourth test: The Springboks have thrown
down the gauntlet to the world after clinching the mythical,
magical crown at Ellis Park yesterday.
When the genuine World Cup came around two years later,
there was nothing mythical about the winners: the All Blacks
triumphed 29-9 against France at Eden Park. The Springboks
were glaring absentees, and would be missing again at the
second Rugby World Cup when Australia prevailed 12-6 against
England at Twickenham in London.
By the time the first Rugby World Cup was staged, Craven
and some colleagues were holding talks with the ANC. It had
dawned on the rugby dinosaurs that they needed to make
contact with people they have previously labelled terrorists
and communists. In their approaches to the ANC they were
helped by outside events. The Cold War had come to an end,
South West Africa had become an independent Namibia and
the war in Angola, at least for South African conscripts, had
ended. FW de Klerks speech to Parliament on February 2 1990
signalled the end of apartheid and, with the ANC and other
political organisations unbanned, rugby always ready for an
expedient saw its chance to revive international competition.
It was not an easy process, however. The South African
Council for Sport (SACOS) was still determined that there
should be a moratorium on tours until social and political
disparities had been eliminated. The National Sports Congress,
which had led the demonstrations that forced cricket to abandon
an English rebel tour in 1990, was allied to the ANC and took
a more pragmatic line. Steve Tshwete, the ANCs spokesman

on sport, played a leading role in helping to unite cricket and
then turned his attentions to rugby, a game he had played in the
Eastern Cape. His role was crucial in helping to overcome fears
among the non-racial SA Rugby Union that unity would not
be just a white take-over, an issue which is debatable still today.
SACOS maintained what historian Albert Grundlingh described
as a position of doctrinal purity and resisted being part of the
unification process. Whatever the flaws of unification might have
been, SACOS had made itself irrelevant.
In December 1991 the formation of the new SA Rugby
Football Union (later to become the SA Rugby Union of today)
was announced. It was launched early in 1992 with Craven
and Ebrahim Patel, president of the non-racial SARU, as joint
presidents with Patel to take over in 1993. Craven died in
January 1993 and Patel withdrew in 1994, giving as a reason his
desire to return to teaching. It was treated with some scepticism
and opened the way for Louis Luyt, a bombastic self-made
millionaire, to become president.
Luyts tenure was controversial, to say the least. He allowed
the singing of Die Stem at the first rugby test following unity, a
match between the All Blacks and the Springboks at Ellis Park.
He also did little to prevent the crowd waving the old South
African flag. Far worse, he reneged on an agreement to observe
a minutes silence for those killed in township violence, which
had escalated since De Klerks speech. Grundlingh described the
scene inside Ellis Park as the last convulsions of a dying order.
Rugby unity was still fragile, but the tensions were marginally
eased a week after the Ellis Park show of Afrikaner nationalist
defiance when the minutes silence was observed at Newlands
in Cape Town, where the Boks took on the Wallabies. The very
symbol of rugby, the Springbok, then came under threat. Mluleki
George, a stalwart in SARU and a committee member of the
new SARFU, and the ANC Youth League, wanted it discarded
because it represented white supremacy and apartheid. Morne
du Plessis, a former Springbok captain, was one who pleaded
for its retention and suggested giving up Die Stem instead of
Die Bok. In supporting the retention of the Springbok symbol,
he was supported by Nelson Mandela. Again a compromise was
reached, with proteas added to the Springbok emblem. Today its

not such a big deal, with the Springbok crowded out by the SA
Sports Confederation and Olympic Committees protea emblem
and advertising logos.
On the field the Springboks found that they had lagged behind
the world. The All Blacks superiority at Ellis Park was greater
than the scoreline of 27-24 suggests and the Australians were
convincing winners a week later at Newlands, 26-3. The Boks
briefly redeemed themselves on a short tour to Europe, beating
France 20-15 in Lyon but losing a week later in Paris 29-16. The
last game of the tour was against England at Twickenham where
they were again beaten, 33-16. The day after it was revealed
exclusively in a Sunday Times front-page report by Edward
Griffiths that Naas Botha had retired from rugby. The golden
boy of Springbok rugby had left the stage and Springbok rugby
would need to find a new one. But looming in the background
was a bigger issue: transformation. It would prove easier to find a
new flyhalf than resolve the issue of bringing more black players
into what had been with the exceptions of Errol Tobias and
Avril Williams (who played in the 1984 series against England)
a lily-white Springbok team.
It would take 12 tests from unity for the first black player to
make it into the new Springbok team. Chester Williams, a
cousin of Avril Williams and player from the defunct SA Rugby
Federation, was selected on the left wing for the second test of
1993 against Argentina in Buenos Aires. He scored a try on
debut in a 52-23 win and his presence in the team would hold
even greater significance two years later.
The Springboks, although they had fallen behind world rugby
in the isolation years, proved to be quick learners. Despite losing
a home series to France in 1993 (one defeat and one draw), they
surprised the Wallabies at home in Sydney with a 19-12 win in
the first of three tests. The Wallabies hit back, winning the next
two to take the series but South Africa took solace in the single
victory against the reigning world champions and Pienaar even
led them on a lap of honour at the end of the third test in Sydney,
despite being losers.
The 1994 season started encouragingly with the Springboks
delivering a brilliant performance against England at Newlands
in the second test to square a two-match series, having lost the

opener in Pretoria. But the ultimate test, a tour to New Zealand,
lay ahead. The Boks lost the first two tests in New Zealand, but
drew the third and final match. There was a massive public fallout between team manager Jannie Engelbrecht and Luyt, the
new president of the SA Rugby Football Union. There could
be only winner, and it would not be former Springbok wing
Engelbrecht. Luyt was beginning to flex his considerable muscles
in running South African rugby and his next victim was Bok
coach Ian McIntosh.
Ian Macs replacement was Kitch Christie, a coach who the
year before had taken Transvaal to victory in the new Super 10
competition which featured provincial teams from South Africa,
Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Western Samoa. Christie
would retire in 1996 with a 100% winning record, having
coached the Boks to 14 consecutive victories including a World
Cup. At the time the sequence of victories was a world record
for a coach, shared with the All Blacks Fred Allen and broken in
1998 by Nick Mallett, with 16 consecutive victories.
Christie was a quietly-spoken man who insisted on peak fitness
for his players, endured little dissent and had a will of steel. If the
appointment was an inspirational one by Luyt, so was the coachs
decision to retain Francois Pienaar as captain, in spite of strong
feelings within South African rugby that Western Provinces
Tiaan Strauss was a better player and leader. That might well
have been so, but Pienaar understood the world beyond rugby,
could play the diplomat when necessary and provide Springbok
rugbys greatest sound bite without it even sounding rehearsed.
While both Pienaar and Strauss were up to the job on the field,
Pienaar gave it grace and elegance off it; he was ready to win over
people while Strauss was inclined to be arrogant and dismissive.
Christie not only believed that Pienaar was the man to lead
the Boks, he also knew that Strauss, a strong personality, could
disrupt the easy harmony between coach and captain. Still it
came as a shock when Strauss was omitted from Christies squad
for the 1995 Rugby World Cup. In Cape Town and Stellenbosch,
where Strauss was a favourite son, they were aghast. However, it
worked. Christie, the quiet martinet, also knew about personal
relationships and his management of the team, assisted by the
urbane former Bok captain Morne du Plessis, made for a group

of happy players.
Another selection that Christie got right was the recall of
Joel Stransky at flyhalf. The selectors had snubbed Stransky the
year before when a lot of provincial horse-trading led to Lance
Sherrell, then playing for Northern Transvaal, being preferred
as the second-string Bok flyhalf for the 1994 tour to New
Zealand. At the same time, Christie moved the most cerebral
of backline players, Hennie le Roux, from flyhaf to centre. The
coach was beginning to put together a combination that would
prove unbeatable at the World Cup.
The most critical selection was that of Chester Williams, but
he was almost lost to the Boks through an injury. Williams was
injured after scoring four tries in the World Cup group match
against Samoa, depriving the team of its only black player. But
when South Africa was allowed to call up a late replacement in
the tournament, following the bans on James Dalton and Pieter
Hendricks for their roles in the fighting that broke out in the
World Cup group match against Canada, Williams, now fully
recovered, was quickly brought back, saving the Springboks from

an embarrassment of playing an all-white team in a final that
was later described as the apotheosis of the Rainbow Nation.
Once the euphoria of victory in the World Cup final had
settled, Springbok rugby was involved in a different drama,
one that was partly played out in the courts and became a vital
footnote to the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
The amateur nature of the game had for long been
undermined by secret payments, but it now became essential
to face economic realities. It began with Australia, where rugby
union was under threat from two professional football codes
the popular Aussie Rules and the Super League. If union was to
survive Down Under it would be vital to start openly paying its
players and pay them well.
The most immediate threat came from Kerry Packer, the
Australian media magnate who had forced full professionalism
on world cricket. Packer, through a Sydney-based group called
the World Rugby Corporation, was threatening to take rugby
union away from its staid administrators in much the same way
as he had previously done it with his World Series Cricket. The

rugby establishment quickly realised the danger and, led by the
three main southern-hemisphere countries, countered the move.
Louis Luyt even went to court in Cape Town to prevent Packers
agents from signing up the players from the world champion
Springboks, who were now in a strong negotiating position.
The Boks had already signed contracts with the Packer
group, but had not yet handed them over. In often acrimonious
negotiations between the Boks and Luyt, the players withheld
their contracts from Packers WSC and signed instead with the
SA Rugby Football Union. The All Blacks and Wallaby players,
realising that without the Springboks, the Packer plan would
lack credibility, did the same with their national unions. Packer
had been outmanoeuvred, for once, but rugby would never be
the same again. From that point rugby would change from a
noble amateur pursuit to a highly paid profession.
by Archie Henderson
A World Cup victory lasts a lifetime,

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African Rugby
NAAS THE BAAS!

Barry Glasspool
11 May 1986
South Africa 21
New Zealand 15
LIGHT THE victory fires for Naas Botha and Springbok
rugby! The stocky little South African flyhalf out-generalled
and out-kicked the All Blacks at a rain-sodden Newlands
yesterday.
At the end, the scoreline read Springboks 21, All Blacks 15
and the South Africans were singing in the rain. They
were one-third of the way towards the unofficial rugby
championship of the world.
And Botha, the prince of Loftus Versfeld, became the
king of Newlands and the toast of South Africa.
In kicking 17 priceless points in the Boks heartstopping
victory, Botha established himself as one of the greatest
match-winners in the history of rugby and set up a classical
showdown for the mythical world crown in the next three
tests.
Leading his country for the first time, the blond pivot
produced his majestic performance in front of an audience
that included the State President and had supporters of
the green and gold thrusting their chests out with pride.
In conditions made wet, heavy and progressively more
treacherous as the rain pelted down, Botha slotted two drop
goals, three penalties and the conversion of left-wing Carel
du Plessiss match-winning try five minutes from time.
But it wasnt only his valuable 17-point haul that stamped
him as the man of the match. His clearance kicks on either
foot under pressure, and in conditions suited to the Kiwis,
had seasoned New Zealand judges and former Test players
shaking their heads in admiration and disbelief.
Botha has been the centre of recent media speculation
over a R100 000 business offer to leave Pretoria and join
Transvaal.
Seldom out of the headlines in recent times, the

controversial Naas has dominated matches to a degree
where he is either loved or hated. Its the price sporting
greats often have to pay.
But yesterday there were no doubts where most loyalties
lay, and the Springbok skipper, leading a reshaped team
with six new caps, more than repaid his debt to those who
fought his case for legitimate re-entry into the amateur fold.
In confirmation of any lingering doubters, Pretorias
prodigal son produced a performance that had the
Newlands faithful, and many more watching the game
on TV, breathing a sigh of relief that his attempt to break
into the big bucks of American gridiron football had come
unstuck.
Kiwi tour captain Andy Dalton, speaking at the
aftermatch function, touched on it.
No doubt, the talk about big job deals are just rumours.
But after today, its true that Naas has been made a R500000
offer to go to America to play, he quipped.
In a more serious vein, though he attempted to make it
all sound jocular, Botha replied that a counter-offer would
keep him in Pretoria.
All Black manager Ian Kirkpatrick said his side had no
excuses.
The Boks deserved their win and played better wetweather rugby than we did especially in the second half.
Welsh referee Ken Rowlands, who awarded the Kiwis
a penalty try for deliberating collapsing the scrum near
the tryline a decision which looked like costing the Boks
victory said there can be no better match in rugby that the
Springboks against the All Blacks.
Naas Botha
GLORY BOKS!
Mel Channer
25 May 1986
South Africa 33
New Zealand 18
NAAS BOTHAS 21 points allied to tries by Ull Schmidt, Danie
Gerber and Jaco Reinach earned the Springboks a runaway
victory over the touring All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld yesterday.
But Im sure the 70000 fans who shoehorned their way into
the stadium will agree with me when I say that it was more a
selectorial triumph than anything else which has place the Boks
in an unassailable 2-1 series situation over the tourists.
Mythical or not, the world crown is now there for South
Africas taking. And the men who can take a bow for that are
Daan Swiegers and his fellow selectors.
With so much at stake they took the plunge and literally threw
untried and untested Garth Wright to the wolves. It made all the
difference.
As a debutant, Wright was magnificent. He hardly put a foot
or pass wrong from the first scrum to the last. In fact, the
only one really bad pass he bounced out to skipper Botha actually
resulted in Gerber scoring.
Biggest surprise of all is that Bothas golden boot didnt
capitalise on its own instant service. The Kings Park swirl seems
to have taken its toll on the king of kickings confidence.
The Nasty Booter, as he has become known, had four droppots at goal and missed all four. His touchfinding wasnt exactly
deadly accurate either.
In fact, on the day I would say Kiwi Grant Fox won the battles
of the generals hands down boots and all.
Botha nullified the penalties with two kicks of his own, but
it was Uli Schmidts try which earned the Boks some breathing
space. And what a brilliant effort that was.
A switch in direction and a blistering run by Carel du Plessis
found the hooker out on the left touchline. Given the ball, Schmidt
jinked his way through some groping defenders like a seasoned
winger but the final barge through fullback Crowleys despairing
tackle had forward written all over it.
Botha added two points with the conversion.
One the debit side, Schmidts handing-off All Black scrumhalf
Dave Loveridge earlier in the game also smacked of forward
power and he didnt endear himself to the visitors when he
appeared to elbow the little man out of the game.
The clash resulted in Loveridge being replaced by Andy
Donald and this 16th minute setback didnt help the visitors cause.
Unfortunately for the paying customers Schmidts effort was
about the only part of the first half action worth shouting about.
In contrast the second half went on the boil immediately and
it was the All Blacks who lit the fuse. With their marauding mauls
spearheaded by Murray Mexted they steamrolled their way into
Bok territory and then, within five metres of the goal-line finally
let the ball see light.
Donald flicked the ball to Fox on the blindside and before
the hounds could get anywhere near him, he handed on to
Crowley who darted over unopposed. Again Fox banged home
a difficult kick and for the first time in the match the tourists had
taken the lead at 15-12.
The entire move had caught the Boks flatfooted and when the
Kiwi forwards continued to dominate it looked as if the greenand-gold jerseyed men were in for a hiding.
But somehow they held out and with the Kiwi backs
squandering plenty of good ball slowly crept back into the match.
And here its only fair to single out the two babies of the side,
young Wright, the newboy scrumhalf, and Wahl Bartmann.

Botha started badly with his kicks. He seems to be intent on
getting too much distance instead of making sure of his touches,
and the way hes missing drop goals from easy positions is
absolutely unbelievable.
But apart from this, the little wizard remains King of Loftus
and the uncanny anticipation that puts him in the right spot at
the right time makes his value to the side incalculable.
Apart from scoring a personal tally of 21 points, he ran in
a brilliant try when he collected his kick ahead, cut inside the
covering defence and hared to the line in a 30-metre dash.
That prince of wings, Carel du Plessis, was in the act again
when he jinked his way through the All Black backs before
sending Danie Gerber away on a 25-metre run which led to a try.
The final try, another beauty, came from Free State flyer Jaco
Reinach, who showed the All Blacks a clean pair of heels when
he sprinted down the touchline to dive over and cap a great
40-metre run.
Although the Kiwis were beaten by 15 points, the score is not
really a true reflection of the play.
But the All Blacks will need to make a few changes next week
if they hope to draw the series. They need more speed and punch
in the backline and possibly a new lock in place of Andy Hayden.
Of course the Boks had their backs to the wall in the first two
Tests by having to fight back after trailing badly.
But they now lead the series and cant lose, and if they click
the way they did against John Scotts Englishmen in the second
Test at Ellis Park in 1984 I can only see them running up a cricket
score against the present crop of All Blacks.
Carel du Plessis
Tiaan Strauss with ball tries to avoid a tackle as Garth

Wright left Adriaan Richter and Willie Hills right
WRIGHT ON TIME
Mel Channer
1 June 1986
South Africa 24
All Blacks 10
NAAS BOTHA and his green-and-gold Goliaths walked off with
rugbys mythical world crown in convincing fashion at Ellis Park
yesterday.
And it was skipper Botha with five penalties and the
conversion of Garth Wrights super try minutes from the end
who was largely responsible for the Springboks triumph. The
other three points came from a drop goal by a very much out-ofform centre, Michael du Plessis.
Ive seen Michael play very many better games than this one,
but seldom seen him play worse. He was completely out of tune
with the backline and this had a lot to do with their lacklustre
display in the first half.
But it was that third penalty of Bothas which flew high wide
and handsome through the posts in the third minute of the second
period that opened up the floodgates.
From that moment the green-and-gold avalanche swept
inexorably down the field and a Kiwi side that had battled so
gamely up to this point had to be content to take a back seat.
True they had their moments of glory, especially the first half
when Murray Mexted and the tall Alan Whetton and what a
difference he made with his springheeled jumping at the back of
lineouts threatened to dominate up front.
But the first half was similar to the one played in the third Test
in Pretoria last Saturday except that it was the turn of the All
Blacks to lead at half time.
This they did from a try by Andrew Donald when the scrumhalf
slipped over following a short lineout near the Springbok goalline.
The other six points were scored by fullback Robbie Deans.
But oh how the All Black selectors must have rued dropping
flyhalf Grant Fox who has served them so well during the series.
They included Wayne Smith in the side and for their kicker
chose Deans. It turned out to be a fatal move as Deans missed
three goalable kicks at vital time which made all the difference to
the final result.
The All Blacks won the lineouts and the only tighthead of the
afternoon but once again the sideway crablike running of their
backs came to nought.
There were too many instances of centres Warwick Taylor
and Victor Simpson running straight back into the Springbok
defence and here Wahl Bartmann was a power of strength with
some tigerish first-time tackling.
Garth Wright was superb at scrumhalf and certainly didnt
look or play like a relative Test newcomer. The little scrumhalf
was quicksilver round the base of the scrum and his service to
Botha quick, long and accurate, and it was a real thrill to see
him score his try minutes from the end when Helgard Muller,
substituting on the wing for fellow Free Stater Jaco Reinach, who
left the field seven minutes before full time, pushed through a
little stab punt which laid on the try.
Louis Moolman was a tower of strength in the lineouts and
once again Uli Schmidt was great in both the loose and tight even
though he lost a tighthead.
Gert Smal still has a lot to learn about rugby at international
level and his left hook on Gary Knight which earned both players
a five-minute suspension in the cooler, didnt do him much good.
Botha played his usual immaculate game, but he will certainly
have to get that boot of his to the cobbler before his next Currie
Cup game. He tried some colossal penalties and was unlucky to
have one of 60 metres hit the upright.
His long torpedo touch-kicking kept the All Blacks at bay and
his uncanny anticipation again stood him and the Boks in good
stead.
In all a magnificent win and one which once and for all makes
the Springboks the rugby champions of the world.
In both tests against a strong World XV

in 1989 the Springboks delivered strong
performances under the captaincy of
Jannie Breedt, an inspirational choice as
skipper ahead of Naas Botha. But it was
white rugby in its death throes. There would
be no Springboks in action for the next three
years and although the first 11 tests under
a united South African rugby organisation
would still feature all-white Springbok teams,
the series of 89 was the last of a divided era.
ALL BLACKS TRIUMPH OVER FIGHTING BOKS

Dan Retief
16 August 1992
South Africa 24
New Zealand 27
NAAS BOTHAS brave Springboks were unable to shake off the flaws
left by years of isolation as they went down fighting against the All
Blacks at an emotion-charged Ellis Park yesterday.
Down 10-27 after 60 minutes the Springboks were faced with
conceding a record margin of defeat against a committed and intense
All Black team, but the pride which has historically sustained South
African rugby saw them claw their way back from the brink.
Leading the charge was veteran Danie Gerber, a juggernaut of
restless energy and determination, with two tries in the south-eastern
corner where he had devastated England in South Africas last official
Test in 1984.
In the end the Springboks left the field rueing their lack of
experience, stunning missed chances and upset with Australian referee
Sandy MacNeil.
The three-point margin of defeat seemed infinitesimal and thoughts
turned to what might have been particularly a shattering lapse of
concentration which befell James Small, a man who up to that moment
had been the pick of the Springboks with his solid defence.
Sensing that the pacy Bok backline had the beating of the All
Blacks, Botha started to fan the ball wide on a bold bid to wipe out the
big deficit. A flat skipped pass unerringly found Theo van Rensburg
ranging up from the fullback and he in turn put Small in possession
with a clear run to the line.
With the crowd already applauding a try, the ball popped out of the
rightwings hand and the chance had gone.
But, bold as the fightback was, the Springboks could have no real
quibble about the All Blacks victory in a momentous one-off match
which marked South Africas return to international competition.
Speculation that the All Blacks would reveal special tactics proved
unfounded as they stuck to the tried and tested pattern which has
been the hallmark of their rugby solid, low-slung driving, control of
possession and massing numbers around the ball.
What the All Blacks did do was raise the tempo and intensity of their
game and the Springboks took a long time to adapt to the higher pace
maintained by a team tempered in eight Tests leading up to yesterdays
match.
The All Black pack, with Michael Jones a dynamo at the centre of
all the action, deserves credit for laying the foundations of what will
be seen as a historic win the first time ever that the visiting team has
been able to win the opening Test, even though this is not a series, in
the history of the classic contests between the two great rivals of the
southern hemisphere.
For the first time on their short tour the All Blacks had the look of
sleek thoroughbreds as they dominated the lineouts and provided ball
from the loose as if on a conveyor belt.
Experience, concentration and alertness proved to be critical and
the All Blacks first try was a pertinent demonstration of taking ones
chances. After a sustained period of attack the All Blacks were awarded
a penalty near the Boks line and Brooke quickly tapped the ball on
himself and charged over before the Springboks had mustered their
defensive line.
It was probably too much to expect of the Springboks to take on
and beat one of the worlds most powerful rugby nations without any
preparation. That they came as close as they did is a tribute to their
collective brave spirit and refusal to accept defeat.
In the end the home sides chances were sacrificed on the altar of
political expediency the intervention by Mluleki George some months
ago which led to cancellation of a tour which had been arranged to
Romania.
In an atmosphere crackling with electricity the match got off to
a pulsating start when Sean Fitzpatrick, the New Zealand captain,
cynically punched Naas Botha the first time he got anywhere near him.
Bothas maturity was evident, though, as he refused to allow this
piece of blatant provocation and another tussle some time later to upset
him.
Fox, painstakingly and deliberate, put the All Blacks on the board as
the teams sparred for ascendancy. It was not until the 34th minute that
Brooke got the first try, a score which was a just reward as the All Blacks
had methodically outplayed the Springbok forwards.
The home team, frustrated by referee MacNeills lineout
interpretations and on the receiving end of some dubious decisions,

had two great opportunities to score on either side of halftime.
Gerber, cocking a snook at Western Province selectors who this
season ignored his enduring talents, seemed to have scored the righthand corner but MacNeill ruled that he had lost the ball.
Soon after the restart Pieter Muller ran strongly on the blindside but
instead of trying to power his way over spoilt his pass to Gerber.
The killer try against the Springboks came directly as a result of two
indiscretions by Robert du Preez. The big scrumhalf, who experienced
an indecisive and unhappy debut, went off-side at a scrum to allow the
All Blacks to relieve pressure on their line.
Then he missed an attempted touch-kick from which the solid
Tuigamala launched a spirited counter attack. Bunce exposed Naas
Bothas Achilles heel by running hard at the flyhalf, broke through
between the Bok skipper and Pieter Muller, and with the Bok line in
disarray Kirwan cut back to score at the posts.
A clever piece of interplay between Jannie Breedt and Theo van
Rensburg when they launched an attack by throwing the ball in quickly
from touch as the Boks hit hard, with both Botha and Pieter Hendriks
slotting in out of position to put Gerber away.
The All Blacks impressive ability to immediately raise the level of
their play was again in evidence as they scored their third try right after
this setback.
Driving in waves up the middle to expose again frail Springbok
tackling, the Black juggernaut sucked in Springbok loose forwards to
make space for fullback John Timu along the righthand touchline.
The All Blacks were well served by their loose forwards Jones,
Brooke and Jamie Joseph who ensured that they were able to corkscrew
the ball effectively to keep the Springboks on their heels.
Both Jones and Brooke consistently beat the Boks to the draw at the
back of the lineout.
Robin Brookes competitiveness at the front of the lineout, where he
and Ian Jones vigorously contested every Springbok put-in, denied the
Boks control in an area of the game in which they thought they might
have a platform for attack.
HARSH LESSON FOR BOKS

Dan Retief
23 August 1992
South Africa 3
Australia 26
SOUTH AFRICAN rugby learnt a painful lesson
about the World Cup at a gloomy Newlands yesterday.
You cannot win one until youve played in one.
Australias all conquering Wallabies came to
South Africa more than willing to put their world
champions status on the line and yesterday they
impressively defended their honour.
The experienced and well-knit Wallaby team won
the respect of the Springboks and exacted a good
wallop of humility from over-confident fans some
of whom, by their behavior, seem determined to
drive the Springbok into the dark age of isolation.
The Wallabies 23-point margin of victory
represents the biggest defeat in the history of
Springbok rugby, surpassing a 28-9 margin against
the 1974 British Lions and a 20-3 result against the
All Black in 1965.
A cold shroud lay over Table Mountain at
daybreak and squalls of bitterly cold rain driven in
off the Atlantic transformed the Newlands field into a
sticky, clinging quagmire.
Confidence that the conditions were a good
augury for the Springboks, as the wet weather would
suit Naas Botha, proved to be unfounded as a superb
Wallaby pack clamped a vice-like grip on possession
from the lineouts and the loose.
Denied the ball, Botha was unable to dictate the
pattern of play with his boot and ended up turning a
performance as dreary as the weather.
In the end the Newlands crowds sporting
applause was reserved for a superb Wallaby team
able to remain cool in the crisis and imbued with the
confidence which comes from experience.
Inspired by a towering John Eales, the Wallabies
revealed the great depth of skills and allround ability
which has won them the No 1 position in world rugby.
At a pre-match Press conference, coach Bob
Dwyer had emphatically replied there are no weak
links in this team in answer to a question, and
yesterday his team clearly underscored their coachs
estimation of them.
The long and difficult road which awaits Springbok

rugby was revealed more in the range and variation
of the Wallabies play than in spectacular innovation.
Test matches are meant to be won and it takes
concentration, determination and the will to eliminate
mistakes the latter quality finally representing the
critical difference between the two teams.
The cruel reality of international rugby was the
fact that with 12 minutes to go the Springboks, playing
on guts and spirit, were trailing by only five points (38) and had done enough to take the Wallabies down
to the wire.
Frustratingly, they had missed three chances
to score points which might have transferred the
pressure to the Wallabies. Botha who, like Michael
Lynagh, the other kickers and the lineout throwers,
had struggled to come to terms with the new latex
ball, duck-hooked a penalty attempt and then the
Boks best chance of scoring a try went astray.
Danie Gerber hurled himself after a Robert du
Preez up-and-under and seemed to have knocked the
ball back for Uli Schmidt to go over. Referee David
Bishop of New Zealand ruled that the ball had gone
forward and, when Botha moments later missed the
fourth of his five penalty attempts, panic seemed to
settle on Springbok ranks.
Adri Geldenhuys, who had been South Africas
best lineout forward, left the field suffering from a
broken nose and was replaced by Drikus Hattingh,
the former field athlete thus earning his first cap.
In a period of frenetic action Hattingh, possibly
seeking retribution on behalf of Geldenhuys, was
spoken to by the referee for punching and conceded
the penalty which signalled the beginning of the end.
Unforgivingly, the Wallabies had been able to
ensconce themselves in the Springbok line when
Botha tried a tapped dropout to Danie Gerber and
the centre had been unable to collect the ball.
Lynagh kicked the goal to make it 11-3 to boost
a team already gaining in confidence, and sparked a
joyous finale for the Wallabies as they scored 18 points
in the last 12 minutes including David Campeses

50th try in international rugby.
Campo had a solo masterpiece from centre Tim
Horan to thank for his significant try. Horan fielded
a kick ahead a by Theo van Rensburg and launched
a darting counter-attack before kicking ahead into
no-mans-land behind the Bok backline where he
dumped Gerber to make the ball available.
Always quicker to the breakdown, the Wallabies
arrived in numbers and the ever-alert Farr-Jones,
playing in what may well have been his last Test, divepassed the ball to Campese who, as so often in his
career, had positioned himself in space.
Lynagh kicked another penalty (193) and then
a dispirited Springbok side gave away the kind of try
which one does not expect to see in a Test and which
brought up the margin which will make it memorable.
Put in possession on the blindside Paul Carozza,
who had in the 35th minute hurtled in for the
Wallabies first try, grubbered the ball along the touchline before outstripping the sluggish Bok defence to
skid the ball home.
South Africas lack of experience was again a
telling factor. They seemed tentative in the lineouts
because of the fear of being blown for lifting and
far too many of their own put-ins ended up being
spoiled. The Boks struggled to counter the Aussies
tactics of moving their jumpers round and were just
not able to match the magnificent Eales a man who,
at the tender age of 21, is already considered to be
one of the great forwards.
Control of the loose ball and the retention of
possession was another area in which the Wallabies
were markedly superior. The Wallabies low body
positions and ability to form into scrimmaging
formations to drive kept the pressure on the Boks and
enabled them to say in control. In the end a loose
possession count of 27-2 in favour of the visitors
confirmed the extent of their domination.
Hooker Phil Kearns turned in a rousing performance and he and Willie Ofahengaue constantly stood
off to drive close to the fringes, thus committing the

Bok loose forwards and pulling the backline out of
formation.
The Springboks, by contrast, lacked cohesion on
the drive and invariably lost the ball in the first tackle.
The old Transvaal partnership of Jannie Breedt and
Wahl Bartmann failed to function after the referee
penalised Breedt for obstruction early on.
South Africa may well also consider a switch to the
world-wide practice of deploying specialist open and
blindside flankers; David Wilson yesterday showing
the desirability of this tactic by consistently being first
to break-downs.
Although the scoreline is hard to stomach, the
Springboks were not disgraced. Many of the caps
considerably raised the level of their play in the week
which separated the two Tests and it is unlikely that
Botha will ever again strike a similar trough.
Pieter Muller was one man who clearly made
the step up to international status and Theo van
Rensburg, given the doubts which surrounded his
selection, performed admirably in the most testing of
conditions. The Springbok backline clearly has the
potential to devastate the best of defences.
Others such as Johan Styger and Lood Muller,
who gave the South African scrummage a solidity
many thought it would not have, and Geldenhuys
and Ian Macdonald will continue to improve now
that they have been blooded.
Hopefully the SA Rugby Football Union has
learnt from the bitter and ill-advised experience of
trying to take on the worlds two best rugby nations
without preparation, and will give John Williams
everything he asks for to prepare the touring team
who leave at the end of the next month for France
and England provided, of course, that those who
chose rugby to make a political statement have not
scuppered the trip.
GLORY BOKS STORM BACK

Dan Retief
12 June 1994
South Africa 27
England 9
THE SCORELINE confirmed the satisfaction of a stunning
Springbok riposte to the debacle of Loftus Versfeld and ripped
England jerseys were a stark reminder of the unbending will which
made it possible.
Where was this team in Pretoria? The commitment? The pace?
The confidence? The skill and the implacable resolve? Somewhere
in the pain and humiliation Francious Pienaars Springboks found
the will to score not only an astounding upset but also South Africas
first victory on home soil since the end of isolation.
Although it will be the exploits of two backs, Hennie le Roux
and Andre Joubert, who scored all the points between them, which
will be remembered the longest this was a victory which belonged to
South Africas forwards.
Mark Andrews and Steve Atherton provided the conduit of
lineout possession which had been missing at Loftus Versfeld, there
was scrumming solidity from the re-modelled frontrow and Pienaar.
Ian Macdonald and Adriaan Richter stretched muscle, sinew and
bone to breaking point to blunt the threat of Englands charging
battering rams.
This was a red-blooded victory for hard men formed in the crucible
of many Currie Cup clashes and the most obvious manifestation of
a simmering new determination was the rips in the jerseys of Jason
Leonard, Dewi Morris, Brian Moore and Steve Ojomoh.
In an excellent prelude to the tour of New Zealand the team leave
next Sunday the Springboks discovered the low body positions and
collective presence to ruck out of the way any Englishman obscuring
the ball. In this change of approach, as much as any of the other
inversions of form and attitude, lay the kernel of the Springboks
victory.
Having been led to the slaughter at Loftus, the Boks found a way
to compete successfully and that, finally, is the sign of a good team. In
the end a victory margin of 18 points will give the Boks the immense
satisfaction that they shaded their opponents by a single point over
the two Tests. Seldom has one point England had won by 17 points
in Pretoria represented such a moral victory.
And if the Springboks could last night bask in the warm glow
of having cocked a snook at their many critics, the much maligned

selectors, or whoever had provided the wisdom for the team changes,
could indulge in some righteous satisfaction.
Although it had seemed an unnecessary risk to make so many
changes after the Test, yesterdays team had tried-and-tested
combinations.
The Transvaal props Balie Swart and Johan le Roux in their
correct format, a pair of Natal locks in Atherton and the impressive
Andrews lineout ball being provided by their provincial hooker
John Allan the Transvaal flankers in Pienaar and Macdonald,
the Transvaal halfbacks in Johan Roux and Le Roux and Brendan
Venter and Pieter Muller being allowed to get back to profitable old
habits.
In a strong team effort there was an exceptional performance of
inspiring leadership by Pienaar. His was an immense presence as
he often drove the vital wedge by being the first man to step over
the ball, thus setting up a positive ruck, and he kept his team of upcountry players coldly focused in front of what could have been a
hostile crowd.
Andrews and Atherton edged the formidable English lineout
and Macdonald showed that, if he were to be thrown the ball more
regularly, he could learn to control the back of the lineout.
Richter, left out of the tour to Argentina and unforgivingly
deprived of Northern Transvaal captaincy after the tour to Australia,
re-affirmed the reputation for reliability he had built up as the captain
of South Africas Wednesday side Down Under.
His cunning back-pass to Pienaar to set up Le Rouxs crucial try
was an act of pure legerdemain and it seems that at last SA has found
its best combination of loose forwards.
Johan Roux was understandably nervous at the start but by the
end was as confident as he is in the Transvaal jersey driving the
ball down the touchlines, probing for the quick counter and mixing
up the options.
Le Roux seemed to revel having his provincial partner in the
trenches with him and turned in his best match yet in the Springbok
jersey. The flyhalf made judicious use of the possession which came
his way and cleverly directed the momentum won by his brave
forwards.
By taking over the goal-kicking a role he does not even perform
regularly for Transvaal and succeeding, he said reams about the
fortitude of his temperament.
Andre Joubert finally managed to produce his imaginative and
dangerous running in a Springbok jersey, while the likes of Brendan
Venter, Pieter Muller, James Small and Joost van der Westhuizen
showed that given parity in the forwards the Springboks can play
irresistible attacking rugby.
Victory is sweet and satisfying but for the Springboks there was
also the heartening realisation that they had prevailed in a match
which could quite easily have slipped away.
In a strong opening spell the Boks had stayed on attack for 20
heart-stopping minutes without a reward on the scoreboard. Joubert
had missed his kicks and Chester Williams, later to be replaced by
Van der Westhuizen after he had been concussed trying to tackle
Tony Underwood, had choked on the pass which would have set the
Danie Craven Stand alive.
Running towards the terraces where as a boy he had stood with
his father and dreamt of being a Springbok, Williams dropped the
ball when it seemed he needed only to make the catch.
It seemed the green-and-gold tempest might have blown itself out
when England got the first points soon after this but yesterday the
Springboks tenacity was not to be denied.
Le Roux got the point rolling and when England started being
pressurised into making mistakes after the re-start it was the Boks
who became stronger even as Andrew slowly gnawed away at their
12-3 lead.
Le Rouxs try was a fine piece of inventiveness and when, at
the end, Roux, Van der Westhuizen and Joubert carried the ball
gloriously upfield, after Venter had dispossessed of all people Tim
Rodber, it was the final, glorious victory roll.
The foundation has been set now for New Zealand.
THE GREATEST SPRINGBOK WIN

Dan Retief
28 May 1995
South Africa 27
Australia 18
IT WAS a day, oh what a day it was. With the eyes of the world on
South Africa, Rugby World Cup 95 got off to a start as emotional as it
was spectacular, as memorable as it was important and finally joyously,
vibrantly and colourfully African.
The dominant colours were green-and-gold, South Africas greenand-gold and not the reverse combination of Australia. The weather
was perfect, the opening ceremony showed off the rainbow people to
the best effect, the mood was happy and the crowd chanted Nelson!
Nelson! Nelson with genuine affection when the president arrived.
The only thing which could spoil so perfect an occasion would have
been defeat for the Springboks. But how the team responded to the
exhortations of a nation sitting to attention in front of thousands of
television set on Thursday afternoon.
Mark the day down. May 25, 1995. It will be remembered not only
as one of the great moments in the embryonic history of our new
democracy but as arguably the best victory in the annals of South
African rugby. If ever there was a reason for one country to feel proud
to be associated with one team this was it; an occasion of such good
humour and such goodwill that it could only be surpassed by something
equally spectacular at Ellis Park on June 24.
The Springboks overturned pre-match conceptions as well as
the reality of the match itself as they strode to victory in spite of a
dearth of possession. They might not have seen too much of the ball,
particularly from the lineout, but let no-one doubt that this team has
the balls to push, push, push, as one.
By all logic the Springboks should not have won. It is seldom that
a team can be so comprehensively outplayed in the lineouts, the new
springboard of the game, and still manage to emerge victorious.
That they did is a tribute to their preparation, the strategies of
coach Kitch Cristie, incredible determination, collective confidence
and self-belief and players about whom there had been doubts of their
ability to rise to the occasion.
In the latter category Balie Swart and James Dalton can take great
satisfaction. There were doubts about South Africas scrummage, but
once the Boks had gained the ascendancy at the very first two set pieces
it was Australia who were on the defensive.
Dalton, although struggling to find his first lineout jumpers,

repaid Christies faith in him with an utterly disciplined and focused
performance and got through a mountain of work keeping the pressure
on George Gregan and contributing to the defensive effort. He might
also have had a deserved try had referee Derek Bevan not ruled that he
had lost the ball when driven over the line after a freekick.
In the other crucial area of doubt midfield defence Hennie
le Roux and Japie Mulder, in the destructive mode of Pieter Mulder,
blunted the threat of Jason Little and Daniel Herbert, causing the
latter to become so frustrated that he played into South Africas hands
by persistently trying to batter his way through instead of releasing the
ball to support players.
And if the Newlands crowd made amends for the ribbing they gave
Francois Pienaar recently the captain responded by turning in one of
his finest games in the green jersey. Pienaar set the example with his
ferocious tackling and with the likes of Ruben Kruger, Rudolf Straeuli,
Os du Randt and Hannes Strydom taking his cue the Boks rattled the
complacent and over-confident Australians.
Although cleaned out in the lineouts, South Africas loose forwards
ensured that almost every ball which was dropped or dislodged in the
tackle went to the Springboks way and it was the possession which
enabled the home team to remain competitive throughout the game.
Pieter Hendriks, the man who should not have been there, scored a
gem of a try thanks to an excellent skip pass from Mulder and the fact
that James Smalls anticipation had carried him to a good position on
the left after he had been part of the build-up on the right.
Andre Joubert, regally aloof, exuded confidence and played the
tactics perfectly by pinning the Wallabies back with long kicks while
Joel Stransky, with his second 22-point haul in eight Tests, played
with the authority and variation South Africa has been searching for.
Although his goal-kicks were not in difficult positions the pressure,
which seemed to affect Michael Lynagh, was immense and Stransky
passed the examination.
The flyhalf s vital dropped goal, which took the Springboks into a
20-13 lead, was the first scored by South Africa since the retirement
of Naas Botha.
Of all the Springboks, however, the most valuable contribution

came from Joost van der Westhuizen. Now that the scrumhalf has
honed his passing and kicking skills he has matured into a decisive
taker of options and is now a player of genuine world class.
Van der Westhuizen is so explosive off the mark that defences
are constantly uneasy and committed to guarding against his breaks
while his defensive work, particularly the pressure he put on Gregan
and Lynagh, was critical in the gradual breakdown of Australias
confidence.
In the euphoria of victory, however, South Africa must not be
blinded by the deficiencies revealed in the lineout. The count was 21-9
against with the Wallabies poaching six of South Africas throws and
six others being spoilt through technical errors and much work lies
ahead on the understanding between Dalton and Mark Andrews. John
Eales, who won more than half of the clean balls taken by Australia,
was a towering figure and South Africa will have to find a way to counter
this kind of forward. Given the clarification of lineout interpretation
provided to coaches before the start of the tournament Christie will
almost certainly use the matches against Romania and Canada to see
whether Kobus Wiese and Robbie Brink can provide more possession.
In the end fortune favoured the bold Boks. A drop attempt by
Stransky hit an Australian hand and provided the 5m scrum platform
for the flyhalf s match-clinching try and the south-easter which came
up subtly during the second half provided an unexpected difficulty for
the struggling Wallabies.
This might have accounted for the Wallabies being unable to get
away from their goalline for the greater part of the second half and for
Lynagh making uncharacteristic mistakes such as fluffing a drop-out.
Ironically, too, the Wallabies thorough preparation might have led
them to expect a backrow move, involving a backflip between Straeuli
and Pienaar, when Van der Westhuizen made the space for Stransky
to punch through a gaping hole. Finally as former All Black Laurie
Knight summed up, the match was won by the smaller pack with the
larger heart.
MUDDY MARVELLOUS!
Clinton Van Der Berg
18 June 1995
South Africa 19
France 15
FRANCOIS PIENAARS brave Springboks brushed
aside treacherous weather and a vaunted French
team, at Durbans Kings Park Stadium yesterday on
their way to a first ever place in the Rugby World Cup
final.
France came within centimetres of scoring and
winning in the dying seconds of the game when
flanker Abdel Benazzi was held back by desperate
South African defenders just short of the tryline.
Although the French were unhappy with Derek
Bevans decision not to award the try, a television
replay confirmed the referee was correct.
Despite driving rain and a muddy underfoot, the
Boks showed their character and won 19-15.
To put our achievement into words would be
futile, said an emotional Pienaar afterwards.
It was the same to see our President (Nelson
Mandela) wearing a Springbok cap in a township on
Friday. Its just so good for the whole country.
Not a lot of people gave us a chance. But we
scored the points when we had the opportunity. They
guys kept their cool and showed good discipline out
there.
The only try of the match was scored by South
African flanker Ruben Kruger, who crossed over
in the 25th minute from a rolling maul close to the
French tryline.
Flyhalf Joel Stransky was again the hero. Although
he missed three penalty kicks, his 14 pints were
probably the most valuable he has kicked. South
Africa now meet the winner of todays other semifinal
in Cape Town between New Zealand and England.
The gamble with fullback Andre Joubert, whose

left hand was heavily strapped after he broke a bone
last week, paid off handsomely as he turned in a solid
display of handling and kicking.
The other gamble of playing lock Mark Andrews at
eighthman was not entirely successful, although coach
Kitch Christie, who took his record to a remarkable
10 wins from 10 Tests, said he was satisfied.
Scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen left the field
early in the second half with a rib injury, but manager
Morne du Plessis said it was a pinched nerve and that
he would be fit for Saturdays final.
The Springboks played a great game, said
French captain Philippe Saint-Andre. But we missed
a try in the second half which cost us.
The match started 90 minutes after the scheduled
kick-off because the conditions were considered
dangerous by Bevan.
Durban was drenched in showers in the hours
preceding the match, which gave rise to the possibility
that the game may have been postponed to today.
The greatest fear among the Springboks was that if
Bevan abandoned the match in the first half because
conditions had become unplayable, they would lose
on a technicality because of their poorer disciplinary
record.
The late start was a clear concession to fears of
injury with players not only at risk from the wet
underfoot but, according to the Welsh referee, the
possibility of front row players drowning in the
event of a collapsed scrum.
JUST 80 MORE MINUTES TO GLORY!

18 June 1995
Dan Retief
South Africa 19
France 15
Miracles do happen for the rainbow team of South Africa. With
France threatening to snatch victory and the clock already into
injury time Hennie le Roux and Joel Stransky made the most
important tackle of their lives to send the Springboks into the
final of Rugby World Cup 1995.
With time seemingly having come to a standstill, South Africa,
leading 19-15, had moments earlier been given a miraculous letoff as Abdel Benazzi swept up a ball dropped by Andre Joubert
and dived for the line.
But the big flanker came down short and France were awarded
a scrimmage right on the Springbok lime. It seemed a brave
Springbok effort in appalling conditions might be frustrated as
the scrum set. France were going for the pushover at Kings Park
went silent.
The formation collapsed. Excruciating seconds ticked by.
Then the scrum wheeled through 90 degrees and had to be set
again. Down it went for a third time and with the Springboks
straining every sinew and somehow getting purchase on the
soggy field France realized there was so way through the straining
green barricade.
Out came the ball. Centre Thierry Lacroix came crashing
back diagonally only to be taken by Le Roux, low down, and
Stransky round his waist. The ball was held and the Springbok
forwards surged into the tackle to gain a vital turnover.
Referee Derek Bevan signalled a scrum to South Africa. A few
more agonizing moments as the first effort collapsed and then
the second heel was good. Johan Roux, who had replaced Joost
van der Westhuizen, sending the ball spinning to Stransky. Clean

catch, kick and to the utter relief of the sodden, bedraggled
Durban crowd the ball sailed into touch.
Seldom has a final whistle sounded sweeter. Hands aloft. It
was over. South Africa will be one of the teams at Ellis Park
on Saturday to make their bid to win the William Webb Ellis
Trophy at their first attempt.
The match started 90 minutes late at 4:30pm after Welsh
referee Derek Bevan decided that the safety of players would be
endangered because of large pools of water which had formed in
an area in front of the south posts after the unseasonal downpour
which hit Durban.
The delay was particularly nerve-wracking to the Springboks
as the possibility of the match being abandoned after it had
started could have brought the sending off of James Dalton into
the reckoning and put them out of the tournament.
As ground staff made a feeble effort to sweep some of the
water off the field with brooms assistant coach Gysie Pienaar
summed up the tension in the Springbok camp: What more
can go wrong for our team? he pleaded.
Kitch Christie paced up and down and snapped: This has
put another 10 years on my life.
But when the game started, with South Africa playing with the
wind and rain at their backs, the gloom lifted almost immediately
as the Boks smashed in after the kick-off, Andrews won the ball
at the front of the lineout, and the subsequent drive set Stransky
up for the first of his four penalties.
France had won the toss and decided to face the wind and
showers of rain being driven in from the south. It was vital for
the Springboks to gain ascendancy and keep the French under
pressure, and the breakthrough came thanks to Joost van der
Westhuizens exceptional pace off the mark.
The scrumhalf charged down an attempted clearance by
Jean-Luc Sadourny as the fullback tried to splash his way out
of trouble and the Boks forced a lineout close to the French line.
France were unable to control their own throw and it was again
Van der Westhuizen who ducked into the drive. Help came from
Kobus Wiese and Francois Pienaar and then Kruger, affirming
his special skill, grabbed the ball to be driven over the line.
At 10-0 the Boks could have put the game out of reach of
the Tricolores but a loss of concentration by Wiese and Van der
Westhuizen, whose chirping caused a penalty to be advanced,
allowed the deadly Thierry Lacroix to kick two vital penalties.
With the help of the weather in the second half France must
have been confident of victory, especially as their formidable
pack with Laurent Cabannes and Benazzi in colossal form,
seemed to be getting on top.
But they reckoned without the indomitable spirit of Francois
Pienaar and his brave Boks as the home side repulsed wave
upon wave of French attacks as Stranskys three crucial penalties
cancelled out those hit by Lacroix.
Veteran Natal players could not remember ever having played
in conditions quite as bad, but it did not matter, A rainbow hung
over Kings Park last night. Vive le Francois!
RAINBOW CHAMPIONS!
Clinton van der Berg
25 June 1995
BLACK AND white South Africans erupted in a united fever of
celebration yesterday after the Springboks beat New Zealand 15-15 to
become world rugby champions.
In Johannesburg, crowds toyi-toyied through the Carlton Centre to
celebrate the victory, singing the rugby anthem, Shosholoza.
Hooters blared through the city centre, mingling with the jubilant
singing of happy fans.
We knew from the beginning we would win. We are the world
champions now and nobody can beat us, a man said.
It was flyhalf Joel Stransky who sealed the Springbok victory when
he scored a magnificent drop-goal eight minutes before the end of the
match.
Joel Stransky, you beaut, said his elated captain Francois Pienaar.
Its been the greatest six weeks of my life, said an emotional Pienaar
afterwards. it was very tough. The All Blacks played brilliant rugby.
It had taken fully 100 minutes before Pienaar held the coveted William
Webb Ellis Trophy aloft before 65000 passionate supporters after the
teams deadlocked 9-9 at fulltime.
President Nelson Mandela arrived at Ellis Park stadium wearing
a Springbok jersey with No 6 on the back to lend his support to the
Springboks.
His cavalcade was met by a huge roar from the crowd as it pulled in
an hour before the kickoff.
The atmosphere inside Ellis Park was electric with colours reflecting
the Rainbow Nation of the new South Africa.
The countrys new multi-coloured flag was very much in evidence,
whereas there was very little sign of All Black support.
This victory will surely be remembered as the greatest day in South
African sporting history.
SUPER, SUPER STRANSKY

Dan Retief
25 June 1995
South Africa 15
New Zealand 12
OLE! OLE! OLE! Now finally we ARE the rugby champions of
the world!
In an atmosphere of excruciating tension South Africa won
the Rugby World Cup for 1995 after the match had been forced
into extra time with the teams deadlocked at 9-9 at the end of 80
minutes.
On an afternoon that a jampacked Ellis Park crowd were
almost too nervous to cheer, the Springboks three times fell
behind a more imaginative All Black team and each time clawed
their way back to provide a platform within range of the posts for
the boot of Joel Stransky.
It was Stransky, the man inexplicably discarded for last years
tour to New Zealand, who triggered an explosion of sound and
clinched the Springboks victory with his second dropkick of the
match in the 92nd minute the 12th of the two periods of 10
minutes extra time each way.
It was the Western Province pivots second drop of the match
and it gave him the distinction of having scored all his teams
pints in the Final. Fittingly the winning kick took Stranskys career
total in Tests to 132 points surpassing Pier Visagie to now be
the second most prolific scorer, after Naas Botha, in Springbok
history.
In the end victory in the World Cup was a tribute to South
Africas committed tackling and their dauntless spirit of resolution.
With the All Blacks sinuous lock Ian Jones giving an exceptional
performance in the lineouts, South Africa were always under
pressure as the ball spun down the Kiwi line.
With the All Blacks playing with more rhythm it seemed for
long periods that the black panthers would have success either
in creating space for the dreadnought on the left, Jonah Lomu, or
by exploiting the extra attention the Springboks were paying to
New Zealands lethal weapon.
But on the day the Springboks revealed the determination
and sheer bloody-mindedness to hole the big cruiser below the

water line whenever he threatened. Francios Pienaar and Mark
Andrews brought off a big hit on the youngster early on and a
thumping tackle by Japie Mulder had the effect of galvanising
a Springbok team who seemed to fading midway through the
second half.
With the Boks applying the tactic of positioning James Small
wider, in the tramlines, Lomu was often forced inside or unable to
get into his stride. And the moment the crowd had feared, when
Lomu was finally given a run on the outside, was snuffed out by
Mulder.
With the big prize of the William Webb Ellis Trophy beckoning
at the end of their first Wold Cup, the Springboks seemed more
tense than the All Blacks and seldom moved the ball on the open
side, preferring to work the short side or kick the ball into the
corners or into touch.
It was a tactic which could have backfired as the All Blacks
had an exceptionally high number of throw-ins and Hines was
always up to the task even though the powerful punting of both
Stransky and Andre Joubert were a feature of the match. In the
circumstances it was puzzling that the Springboks did not five
Mark Andrews the hob of attaching himself to the All Blacks
danger man.
In spite of the All Blacks greater fluency the fact that the
Springboks had the best chance of scoring a try gave them a moral
edge. Pieter du Randt, Hannes Strydom and Ruben Kruger will
go to their graves convinced that the loosehead prop had been
driven over the line after a scrum on the All Blacks goal line.
Moments later referee Ed Morrison might have erred in not
allowing the Boks a bit more time when they again had momentum
and a pushover try was a possibility. Instead the referee awarded
a penalty which Stransky goaled to make the score 6-6 after 20
minutes.
Stranskys first drop made it 9-6 after 31 minutes and in the

second half, with first one side and then the other threatening a
solitary drop by the All Blacks slick little flyhalf Mehrtens in the
54th minute deadlocked the score at 9-all.
The Springboks feared the draw, which might have made the
sending-off of James Dalton in Port Elizabeth a cruel decider if
the teams could not be separated on score or tries, but it was the
All Blacks who held the territorial ascendancy.
Over 60000 hearts stopped beating when Mehrtens was put
in an ideal dropping position 35 metres in front of the posts, but
fortunately for the Boks the kicked slewed off to the right.
The All Blacks gained a psychological boost when the All
Blacks were given a penalty near the centre spot with in seconds
of the two periods of extra time starting Mehrtens, with an
incredible kick, raised the flags to put. New Zealand 12-9 up.
An up-and-under by Stransky and a spirited chase saw the
Boks force a maul just before the changeover and it was Swan
Fitzpatrick who was called up for diving over the top. Stranskys
nerve held, the kick from 35m went over, and it was 12-12.
With no tried and the score deadlocked the Springboks knew
they had to score. A draw would have brought the discipline clause
into play and the Cup would have gone back to New Zealand.
And then came the sequence which made the Springboks the
world champions. Rudolf Straeuli won a 22m drop-out after
Andre Joubert had put the ball deep. The Bok packed forced a
scrum, a wheel, re-set and then Joost van der Westhuizen sending
the ball spinning to Stransky. Catch, drop, foot swinging through
and Ellis Park erupted.
South Africas musketeer spirit of all for one, and one for all
held for all of the 104 minutes it took to decide a winner, and
the epic journey which started against the same traditional and
respected opponents at Ellis Park in August 1992 ended with the
Springboks back on top of the world.
20 years go
by in a moment,
so we wont waste a
moment of yours.
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TRANSFORMATION IN SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY

SINCE ITS disputed unity, the South African Rugby Union (Saru) can
be credited with achieving a lot of things in its young democracy.
In spite of only returning from isolation in 1992, SA has won two
Rugby World Cups, which, along with New Zealand and Australia,
is the most by any country. Saru has seen its way through such
embarrassments as Geogate and Kamp Staaldraad, and even managed
to drag itself, kicking and screaming, into the professional era.
But the thing it hasnt been able to successfully deal with is the
thing that supposedly got it the nod to return to the international
rugby community: the promise to transform local rugby to reflect a
democratic South Africa.
The attempts to grapple with a grey area many mistakenly see as
a black and white issue have been misguided, self-serving, patronising,
half-hearted and downright comical at times, with Saru often opting
for the worst option throwing money at the problem.
The 23 years since unity have been marked by confusion about

which approach efficiently accommodates affirmative action, an overeagerness to be seen to be doing the right thing as opposed to actually
doing it, disingenuity in dealing with black stakeholders in the game
and, incredibly, arguments on degrees of blackness.
This is why millions have been sunk on a project which barely looks
to have moved an inch in over two decades and once every World Cup
year anonymous political parties can make a name for themselves by
hitching a ride on the transformation bandwagon. Its a transparent
attempt at gaining 15 minutes of fame, but Saru can never point that
out, because even more transparent is the fact that rugby has not
fundamentally transformed.
Trying to attain equality in rugby has been such a foreign concept
that even the words used for affirmative action dont mean the same
thing in the English/Afrikaans dictionary. Transformation actually
means revolutionary change, as opposed to chucking a few blacks
into the set-up, while the word quota has never been defined as two
black wings.
For the umpteenth time, Saru has produced a transformation
document which claims the Springboks will be 50% black, this time by
in 2019 which unwittingly gives away the fact that it thinks this is a
numbers problem as opposed to one that needs a shift in mindset by a
particularly conservative bunch.
The Sunday Times clippings in this chapter take you through the
millions thrown at the problem; the many pet names given to the failed
projects; the spectacular fallouts; the machinations behind the scenes
to pull the wool over the eyes of the majority of this country; and a
general sense of how the goodwill engendered by Nelson Mandela at
the 1995 Rugby World Cup has been frittered away.
by Simnikiwe Xabanisa
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LETS DO IT, NOT WAIT TO BE TOLD

Naas Botha
5 July 1992
These are unsettling times for all South Africans and the best course of action in
almost any situation is to keep calm. But, for rugby, its also a time when we must
decide where were going, establish goals and then set all our efforts to attain them.
As the sport comes under increasing pressure from what were once called nonestablishment sectors, it is important for us to set out own agency and to follow it
because we believe it is right not because some political body tells us it is right. Then
we can justify our autonomy.
Among other priorities, this must involve the creation of a modern, realist
development scheme which offers opportunities in rugby to a greater number of
South Africans. Much work has already been done in this regard, but I would think
a plan must be publicised and a national director should be appointed.
This should be done because it is right, not because anyone tells rugby that they
must do it. Let us take charge of our destiny.

By prevarcating and allowing plans to become bogged down in committees, we
present gift-wrapped chances to those people who, for reasons which go far beyond
sport, appear eager to criticise and single out rugby.
A prime example might be the debate which arose this week about the wearing
of peace and democracy armbands at yesterdays Currie Cup matches. I have
supported those ideas all my life, but agree with my unions that we should not allow
ourselves to be used as political billboards.
Of course, sport is involved with politics. We all now and accept that. But rugby,
could better protect itself from the interference of politicians if it went about the
business of putting its house in order more vigorously.
Time is precious
make every advantage count.
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MILLIONS ON WAY TO BEST KEPT SECRET

Dan Retief
7 March 1993
A GROUPING of former vociferous opponents is set to
launch a multi-million rand project this week which could
dramatically change the face of rugby.
Rugbys wealth is to be applied to a development programme
which could far exceed the laudable programmes in cricket.
Rugbys development drive will be headed by a man
who used to propound the creed of no normal sport in an
abnormal society and a former ANC detainee, operating
within a sport denigrated for its rightwing conservatism.
Sas Bailey, a key figure in the unification talks between the
SA Rugby Board and SA Rugby Union, has been appointed
as ARFUs General Manager of Development to direct a
R6.2-million programme of upliftment and to correct social
imbalances which have made rugby the target of organisations
such as the NSC.
Bailey will be assisted by Ngconde Balfour, a man once
incarcerated on Robben Island, who has played a key role in
identifying areas of need and bringing together mistrusting
groupings.
The pillars of unification in development, says Bailey who
for many years was a key figure at the University of the Western
Capes rugby club as well as general secretary of SARU under
Ebrahim Patel. He acknowledges that rugby draws support
from extreme groupings in the political spectrum.
Bailey has spent the past few months designing a model for
what he terms sustainable development. He wishes to avoid
the impression of window dressing, as well as a notion of
SARFU was willing to dispense money to buy tours.
On Thursday Bailey will reveal details of SARFUs
proposed expenditure; including the appointment of officers,
whose salaries SARFU will subsidise in areas where there
are a significant number of underprivileged players: Boland,

Border, Eastern Province, Griqualand West, North West Cape,
South Western Districts and Transkei.
Funds for development have been raised from the first
year of SA Breweries sponsorship of the Springboks, grants
from the Department of Education and the British Embassy,
proceeds from the Lion Cup with by far the greatest amount
R1 797 077 being generated by the tours by New Zealand
and Australia and that of the national team to France and
England.
Bailey, who for years as a representative of a SACOSaffiliated organisation vehemently opposed international
contact, concedes that tours will be vital to underpin rugbys
development drive. It may sound as though we have a lot
of money, but I already have requests for financial assistance
which run to R12-million for 1993 alone.
Bailey points out that even though rugby has been under
pressure to prove its commitment to development a great deal
has already been accomplished.
Bigger unions such as Western Province, Eastern Province
and Transvaal have provided facilities, while areas such as
Northern Transvaal, South Eastern Transvaal and Northern
Free State have been actively involved in taking rugby to a
new constituency. It would not be wrong to say that rugbys
development work is the best kept secret in the country.
Dr Louis Luyt, chairman of SARFUs Finance Committee,
estimates that additional expenditure of provinces on
development puts rugbys entire commitment at close to R12million. We have just not sought publicity as actively as some
other organisations, he commented.
NEW RUGBY RACE ROW

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
16 January 2005
A TOP official has rocked South African rugby with claims
that the sports boss, Brian van Rooyen, was in the pocket of
Afrikaners and more of a bully than Louis Luyt.
SA Rugby vice-president Mike Stofile made the claims in an
interview with the Sunday Times.
Stofile, the brother of Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, said:
Ive never worked with [former Sarfu president] Louis Luyt, but
Brians biggest problem is that he is more of a bully than Luyt
because he acts as an executive president. He wants to control
everything.
Stofile further called Van Rooyen a liar who said one thing
today and changed his story the next. He also accused Van
Rooyen of being in the pocket of Afrikaners through his close
association with his deputy, Andr Markgraaff.
He said an SA Rugby investigation of a recent crash involving a
rented minibus in which he was a passenger was a smokescreen
to get him out because of a critical letter he had written.
Stofile wrote to Van Rooyen, Markgraaff and board chairman
Theunie Lategan in December.
The letter, which was leaked to the Sunday Times, will be
discussed at Thursdays Presidents Council, which will be
attended by all 14 rugby union presidents in Johannesburg.
In the letter, Stofile, who was recently relieved of his post as
chairman of SA Rugby s transformation committee, raised the
following issues:
His alleged sidelining;
A lack of will and commitment in promoting the participation
of Africans in the entire operations of SA Rugby; and
Interference by Van Rooyen and Markgraaff in the provincial
unions.
squad but also management.

When the team was announced, about a third of its members
were Africans. But throughout the four games that were played
during the tour, not more than four Africans appeared on the
field, the letter said.
Out of 12 members of the management team, six are white,
five are coloureds and one (who happens to be the kit steward) is
black.
Stofile also accused SA Rugby of being opaque in its business
dealings.
Van Rooyen could not be reached for comment, but spokesman
Andr Bester said: Brians not going to be drawn into that.
According to Stofile, the tensions at SA Rugby began when
Markgraaff who quit as Springbok coach in disgrace nine years
ago after calling black administrators kaffirs was elevated to
the second most powerful post in rugby .
Markgraaff is seen to have pulled strings with the smaller
provinces to get Van Rooyen the post of president, his own
elevation being the payback.
The discontent has escalated with Stofiles alleged sidelining
as vice-president in favour of Markgraaff, and the proposed
retrenchment of four senior staff members this week.
Mveleli Ncula (the chief executive officer), Freek Burger
(general manager of refereeing), Christo Ferreira (general manager
of legal affairs) and Anthony Mackaiser (general manager of
communications) have all been offered retrenchment packages.
After being informed, Minister Stofile warned SA Rugby not
to do anything that resembles racial cleansing.
His spokesman Bongani Majola explained that when the new
regime at SA Rugby was appointed, there were two senior black
officials. One of them, Songezo Nayo, resigned last year, and now
Stofile said he did not want to be part of an organisation that Ncula was being asked to leave.
lies to the public and did not transform itself. He raised concerns
about black representation in not only the Springboks last touring
WHITE AND BLACK AND GREEN AND GOLD

13 August 2006
The SA Rugby Union (Saru) recently commissioned a bunch of
learned gentlemen to come up with a transformation charter. Its
intention was to provide ground rules to transform rugby and use
it as a template for coaches, players, administrators and whathave-you to work from.
Its a lovely document full of words (1639 to be precise) and
embroidered language, but unless Im missing a paragraph or
three, theres a gaping hole among those 1639 words.
There are coy terms all over the thing positively impact
the image; expanding and accelerating the identification,
incubation and development of the available unexplored human
resource base (honest!); redesign the generic architecture
of Saru but nowhere does it explain in clear English what
Springbok coach Jake White must do and how he must choose.
As it stands, White must simply interpret this document and
act accordingly never mind that the charter is as clear as mud.
Broadly, what it suggests is that White (and other coaches)
should understand the SA situation and select teams that are fully
representative. In other words, he must buy into the new South
Africa and not do anything stupid like select 15 white blokes.
White is an avowed new South African and his record as such
cannot be faulted. Less clear are his selections. Hes routinely
selected white-dominant squads with a smattering of black and
coloured players, whose total number (20, nine of them debutants)
is, nonetheless, more than any coach before him.
I make the distinction only because this is the language
increasingly winding its way into discussions about transformation.
Its racial engineering gone mad: coloureds, it seems, are seen to
be not quite black enough, hence the use of unfortunate terms
such as ethnic blacks.
Granted, it was White who unwittingly introduced the term
into popular rugby lexicon (in an originally private letter to his

superior), but only in response to an order he insists he received
from HQ. And what do HQ say about this?
Predictably, they do as always deny, deny, deny.
So theres poor White setting the transformation noose around
his neck, unable to nail his bosses for exposing him because thats
the sort of thing liable to get him a DCM (Dont Come Monday)
note.
Coach White has been down this road before. In December
2004 he selected a Bok team to play England. Breyton Paulse was
not in the starting XV. Word leaked out and a call was made by
the ANC Youth Leagues Zizi Kodwa to then-president Brian van
Rooyen, who in turn phoned Arthob Petersen, the team manager
at the time.
Under no circumstances were the Boks to take the field with
just one black player [Eddie Andrews], was the unequivocal
message.
This, however, was denied by Petersen, who made a hash of
spinning it. The media had a field day.
The bigger Jaque Fourie, selected on the wing to counter
Englands cross-kicks, was summarily dropped and Paulse
reinstated. Both players were deeply embarrassed.
White explained it thus: They all know we live in a unique
environment. Its not always about the individual, but about the
bigger picture as well. Every Springbok who is here understands
that. As they say, life isnt fair, is it?
Tactless, perhaps, but it quickly cut to the chase.
You would think that the suits, the so-called guardians of the
game who fly around the world watching the Springboks, would
at least give White a leg-up in this regard.
Fat chance.
Instead, you have White fronting up at overseas press

conferences without a manager (thats a story for another day),
having to fudge the rationale behind his selections. The reality
is that theres a racial imperative behind every selection, yet its
sugar-coated in bulldust and bluster that does no one any favours.
Jake can pick anyone, but he has to be extremely sensitive about
transformation and make sure the team reflects the demographics
of the country, says SA Rugby MD Johan Prinsloo, seemingly
blind to the contradiction of this statement. What tosh.
Fact is, there is a quota system, just no one is sure what it
is, thanks to SA Rugbys soft-shoe shuffle. The transformation
charter is a noble idea, but its vagueness and ambiguity leaves
White up the creek.
Quotas are inherently insulting to black players, who can never
be sure whether they are there on merit or not, but SA Rugby has
to take out the nudge-nudge, wink-wink element they introduced.
Stop mucking about, give White a fixed number of selections
(as Cricket SA has done, expecting Mickey Arthur to have at least
seven black players in his 15-man World Cup squad) and let him
get on with it.
And if he is ever forced to defend his selections, White can
correctly explain that South Africa is a unique country with
unique challenges. The rules are different for us because they
have to be.
This message must be shoved down the throats of sniggering
overseas hacks and anyone else who naively thinks Whites job
doesnt extend beyond mere rugby .
Then again, he could remind us of the time he started a Test
against Australia last year with nine of his 22 players black. The
Boks won 33-20.
No one mentioned colour that day.
RUGBY, NOT SKIN COLOUR, MUST BE CURRENCY

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
25 February 2007
During the Lions recent Super 14 launch, the media were given
a glimpse of what the South African rugby community thinks of
its black players.
Given a list with all the squad members of Eugene Eloffs side,
the names of the players of colour as the euphemism goes
were highlighted.
When asked what this was about, the reply was that it was a
directive from the South African Rugby Union (Saru) that all five
franchises put in bold the names of the mandatory eight black
players in a squad of 30 to make it clear they were complying
with that minimum number in their teams.
Without discussing whatever merits Saru may have had to
label these players, the response neatly encapsulates just about
everything that is wrong with how the rugby community is dealing
with the thorny transformation issue.
A full 14 years after the so-called unity of 1992, the message
is clear.
Black players are different from their white counterparts; black
players are a special, if not charity, case in SA rugby; selecting
black players is a chore that needs ticking off before coaches can
do what they do best; black players are second-class citizens in
rugby because when their names are highlighted it is not due to
them being crucial to the cause, it is because they are black.
True to form, most of the franchises selected just the eight
players they were ordered to select, giving the impression they
had to push it to get that far in the first place.
If Saru, their provinces and their coaches think thats harsh,
they need to consider the message they send not only to their
players black and white but also the man on the street.
Take a recent website blog bemoaning the Bulls run of injuries.
A punters two-cents worth was that wing Akona Ndungane and
centre Wynand Olivier were both off-form. He then named his
ideal team to play the Chiefs yesterday. Ndungane was dropped
but Olivier was not.
This suggests white players have more of a birthright to play

the game than black players, that white players are more worthy
of being given a second chance because they are more likely to
use it.
It was hardly surprising, then, that Parliaments Sport Portfolio
Committee was at it again this week. I say again because we
can almost set our clocks by that committee putting pressure on
Saru for not playing enough black players, be it at Super 14 or
Springbok level.
At the risk of giving credence to a group so ill-informed they
asked after a non-existent player named Os Snyman last year,
they have a point in asking Saru about their transformation
process.
For starters, transformation is not Willie Bassons document
he drew up the SA Rugby Transformation Charter. It is a case
of changing mindsets. I remember talking to a union president
about a black player of his who just happened to be the best in
his position in the country at the time.
He asked me if I knew that the player in question was in
the team on merit. After responding in the affirmative, he then
tried to emphasise his claim by saying: Hes there on merit, like
a white player. I might have made much more of a meal of
that throwaway remark had I not been hit by the bewildering
realisation that in his world, merit was equal to whiteness.
This is what Saru are faced with, yet they hope things will
change one day, despite all 14 unions continuing to have the same
faces for presidents and chief executives. In the same way that
affirmative action in the workplace suggests that if you have two
employees of similar ability you choose the black employee, in
rugby the opposite is true.
Buy-in is also crucial to transformation, something Saru are
struggling to get from their provinces and coaches. Too often,
rugby institutions do the bare minimum when a new gentlemens
agreement over numbers is reached.
Crucially, transformation should not be measured in numbers.

Everyone in SA rugby is obsessed with what the numbers say,
however misleading they have proved to be over the past few
years.
Government officials will tell you how many black players they
would like to see in a team, but they ignore one critical factor: in
the same way that there are more white players at a high level
of the game and a smaller percentage who make it to the top,
the fewer black players participating at that level means a smaller
proportion become Springboks.
Not every black player has what it takes to be a Springbok. Also,
you cannot build a house from the roof down. That said, Sarus
new transformation strategy cannot have helped put a foundation
in place hence the absurdity of players being developed at
national level.
The numbers game is played by everyone, even Jake White.
He is widely recognised to have picked more black players than
any Bok coach during his tenure, the real question is how many
of them played a critical role in winning the Tri-Nations and
high-pressure Tests?
Not to cast White in the role of villain getting the numbers
wrong would cost him his job but the country would have more
respect for him were he to put his foot down about not picking
players he doesnt believe in: the Jongi Nokwes, the Tim Dlulanes,
the Ndunganes and even the Lawrence Sephakas of this world.
Whites willingness to play along with ludicrous suggestions
from government or Saru has been disappointing. Take his
selection of Chiliboy Ralepelle for the national team last year.
Anyone with half a rugby brain knows Ralepelle is one of the
most talented young rugby players in the world. Everyone also
knows he is not yet Springbok standard.
Yet Ralepelle was picked ahead of Gary Botha, who was
rightly ahead of him at the Bulls. White went further in appeasing
the politicians by picking Ralepelle as the first black Springbok
captain (against the World XV during last years end-of-year tour).

Captains must have the respect of the dressing room how had
Ralepelle earned that?
The same politicians complaining about Ralepelle not playing
now (I doubt any of them know hes injured) commended White
when anyone with a smidgen of rugby knowledge thought it was
a bad move.
As White loves to say, weve seen this movie before; Hanyani
Shimange being the case in point. People forget that before
Shimange became Splinters (so-named because he does plenty
of bench duty) he was a competent player who, while with the
Cheetahs, earned his place in Rudolf Straeulis Bok side. But when
he was picked with no specific plan other than to have him on the
bench, his form and his confidence plummeted to the point where
he now plays for lowly Boland.
Even when well-intentioned, Saru manage to ram down the
black players throats that they are different. Take the elite black
players squad designed to help them with all their needs. Black
players are already different in rugby . Saru now highlight this
by having them train in their own private club to get them ready to
compete on equal footing with their white counterparts.
Is this an admission that provincial structures are ill-equipped to
produce a competent black player? If so, why does a white player
flourish under circumstances in which a black player cannot? The
currency needs to be rugby , not skin colour.
Too many people believe a players skin colour dictates whether
he will sink or swim when thrown in at the deep end.
As for the players themselves, how responsible are they for their
careers? Stories abound of Sephaka needing yet another intense
six-week training programme to get into shape because he has
turned up in bad condition. White players do it too, but is that the
merit the black players should be aspiring to?
If youre going to pick a player for the Bok squad because he
is the last black man standing, why should he bother trying to
make the team on the field? The day rugby becomes the currency
for dealing with transformation in SA might be the day we make
tangible steps towards solving the problem.
Chiliboy Ralepelle
GENERATION OF BLACK PLAYERS SHAFTED BY RUGBY BOSSES

15 April 2007
THERE is much that is predictable in South African sport the
Proteas will always talk a good game (but not actually back it up),
the Bafana coach will get it in the neck and rugby will be lashed
for its failure to get to grips with transformation.
Like clockwork, Butana Komphela will rattle his spear in
Parliament and threaten hell and damnation on rugbys bosses.
Rugbys bosses, in turn, will cower and offer mealy-mouthed
responses.
Ultimately, nothing changes and we will go through it all again
in a few months. Blah, blah, blah.
I dont particularly like Komphela his grand-standing is
irritating, his rugby knowledge is questionable and he shoots from
the hip but looking past the personality, much of what he says
is right.
SA Rugby has a Transformation Charter, a black president
and even recently bestowed the Bok captaincy on a black African,
but you dont have to scratch very hard to expose the myth of
transformation. SA Rugbys commitment to transforming the
game, to truly embracing the black rugby community, is nonsense.
And rugby has got away with it because of its schizophrenic
nature. Administrators point to the numbers of black players, the
clinics and schools as proof that black rugby is flourishing. This
is true.
Go to any schoolboy festival, pick any Eastern Cape school
or watch the under-19 Baby Boks. There are black players
everywhere. Like the white kids, there are many good ones and
some not so good.

But the more you move up the ladder, the fewer black players
there are. Its almost as if theres a filter system in place where
the swart gevaar get weeded out as they ascend through the age
groups, to Vodacom Cup, Currie Cup, Super 14 and finally the
Springboks.
And this is where it gets messy for Jake White. He can only
select players who are presented to him during the Super 14
and, as this season has showed, not more than a handful of black
players have been consistently selected (only 10 of the 60 who
started this weekend were black). And none have exploded out
of nowhere into our consciousness, although the one who comes
closest (Brian Mujati) turns out to be Zimbabwean.
The racist nutters who vent their anger on rugby blogs and
websites claim there are few top-class black players, happy to
ignore under-performing white players.
The reason rugby hasnt sorted its house out is because the
administration is pap. Oregan Hoskins, the president of SA
Rugby, favours sweet talk over hard talk. The consequence is that
transformation is an abstract, immeasurable thing (a study of the
vague Transformation Charter is an exercise in frustration). And
this is what gives smug chief executives and coaches their excuse:
things are so hazy, how can they be expected to meet targets?
Rugby has mucked about for too long. The World Cup
triumph of a dozen years ago should have been the trigger for
transformation but the opportunity was frittered away. Rugby
cocked it up on a grand scale and a generation of fine black

players have since been patronised and screwed around.
Rugby can trumpet the numbers all it likes, but the fact that
just three black players have gained more than 20 caps for the
national team is a miserable indictment on Hoskins and his
predecessors.
Theres now a low-level debate about who should succeed
White post-World Cup. There shouldnt be.
Eric Sauls should be appointed. He is much like those black
players whove hit rugby s glass ceiling. Hes paid his dues
White once worked under him when they teamed up to win the
Under-21 World Cup eight years ago but he has been unable
to crack a major coaching job. Lesser-skilled white blokes, among
them a Bok coach or two in the last decade, have somehow landed
better jobs than he.
Its a bit like the black winger syndrome: typically, black coaches
are stuck out of the way, appointed as assistants. The unspoken
belief is that this way theyre unlikely to do too much damage.
Chester Williams remains the only black to have coached a Super
rugby team.
At least with Sauls in charge you would get a man steeped in
passion for the game.
You also get someone who sees a black face in the mirror every
day, a man who knows the challenges, frustrations, habits and
expectations of being a black man in what stubbornly remains a
white mans game.
BOK SQUAD GETS CAUTIOUS NOD FROM MINISTER

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
22 July 2007
FOR all the Parliamentary Portfolio Committees sable-rattling
before the announcement of South Africas World Cup team,
the Sports Ministrys reception of the squad was surprisingly
sanguine last night.
Springbok coach Jake Whites squad of 30 with only six
players of colour, including one Black African in wing Akona
Ndungane did not bowl over Sports Minister Makhenkesi
Stofile on the transformation front.
I want to congratulate the boys whove been selected, said
the minister. Its always a great honour to be selected for your
country, let alone the World Cup. But Im disappointed it doesnt
represent South Africa as a new country.
Stofile said the final squad, announced in Cape Town yesterday
evening, was proof that rugby was stuck in the past. That we
cant be happy with.
But he quashed the popular theory doing the rounds that
the Bok side could be changed before departure for France on
September 3.
No law can give us the power to do anything like that, he
said. Besides, I dont think its desirable to do that. The World
Cup is less than two months away and we dont want to demoralise
the team.
Stofile lay the blame for a team no better transformed than the
one that went to the 2003 World Cup at the door of the South
African Rugby Union.
They should have intervened earlier and given the coach
and his selectors material so that they could be coached to the
required standard to make this years team, he said.
At the team announcement, Saru president Oregan Hoskins
also pronounced himself unhappy with the transformation of the
squad . Quite frankly, I think weve made very little progress.
We agree the work has to be done, but from the bottom up

and not the way weve been doing it. We need to change that and
make the job easier for the coach and his selectors because its our
fault, not theirs.
The squad announcement was a South African rarity in that
it was predictable without being controversial unlike in 1995,
when the World Cup-winning team was rocked by the omission
of Western Province captain Tiaan Strauss; in 1999, when Nick
Malletts side suffered by the inclusion of Bob Skinstad and the
axing of captain Gary Teichmann; and, in 2003, when Rudolf
Straeulis squad was notably without Quinton Davids and Geo
Cronj after their part in the Geogate scandal.
With the possible exception of the risk taken on injured flyhalf
Andr Pretorius, the names read out were largely as expected.
Pretorius, who is struggling to shake a hamstring strain high on
his leg, has been included despite having last played competitive
rugby on May 5.
The injury is so serious that he is leaving for Germany next
Sunday for specialist treatment until August 4.
I know that theres a lot of criticism going around that I
havent played in a long time, Pretorius said yesterday. Its a
valid criticism and the only way I can silence it is if I go out and
play.
The one notable omission was Western Province captain
Luke Watson, especially since Hoskins had kicked up a stink by
insisting he be included in the training group named by White in
May. As the intervention was made to give Watson every chance
of making the World Cup squad, the easy acceptance of a squad
without his name makes one wonder what all the fuss was about.
In pure rugby terms, however, only three players are unlucky
not to have been chosen. Bulls loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg
has been penalised for the abundance of talent in the province.

Centre Waylon Murray may have felt he did more to enhance
his claims than did Wynand Olivier on the Boks recent jaunt
Down Under on Tri-Nations duty. Another who may feel harddone-by is 1999 World Cup squad member Wayne Julies, who
only got a match against Samoa to press his claim.
Among the fortunate ones are veteran prop Os du Randt, lock
Albert van den Berg, and winger Ashwin Willemse. Du Randt,
34, who has a 1995 winners medal, will pack for Paris on the
strength of his experience. Van den Berg has been picked for his
all-round usefulness.
Willemses inclusion is a promise White has kept to the player.
The 2003 SA Player of the Year has only recently returned
to top rugby after four years of battling serious knee and ankle
injuries.
While the rest of us may be tempted to be cynical, spare a
thought for the man who at some stage of his injury must have
thought hed never play again.
This was the ending I had in the back of my mind, said a
beaming Willemse yesterday.
But the biggest loss for the Boks may well be in the coaching
department, where they look certain to miss the services of
consultant Rassie Erasmus.
It was announced on Friday by the Stormers that Erasmus
would coach their Super 14 team next year. He is to start on
August 1.
Should he stay on as technical adviser with the Boks he will
only realistically start his new job on October 24.
Saru and Western Province will deliberate on his availability
on Tuesday.
MEET THE NEW SWART GEVAAR

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
11 November 2007
THE prospect of Michael Linda Stofile becoming president of
the South African Rugby Union next year has been touted as the
second coming of the Swart Gevaar .
A prime example was the response to a story on a rugby blog
site, keo.co.za, titled: Get ready for Mad Mike.
Most punters were unanimous on the possibility of a Stofileled Saru it is something to be terrified of.
Bring back Lion King Luyt!
Where have the good days gone?
Bananas, anyone?
Let the rot begin!
The end of Bok rugby!
These were the cries against the potential leadership of a man
recently elevated to rugbys public enemy No1.
The hysteria around him has been such that he and many
close to him refused to comment on this story. Others did so on
condition of anonymity.
The Saru deputy president has steadily earned the ire of the
rugby public this year for, among other things, shooting from the
hip on his radical thoughts on transformation; his involvement
in the forced inclusion of Luke Watson to the Springbok squad
earlier this season; and his pointed refusal to congratulate
Springbok coach Jake White on the World Cup victory.
While this kind of reception to his candidacy if he does
challenge incumbent Oregan Hoskins early next year would
distress any other campaigner, the confrontational Stofile will be
right at home in this hostile environment.
In the 1980s Stofile shared a cell with his brother, Makhenkesi
(now the sports minister), both having been jailed by the apartheid
government for political activism.
Being seen as the Swart Gevaar once more should have the
Eastern Cape businessman, a board member of at least 10
businesses, back in familiar territory.
His supporters, though, regard him as an incorruptible man
of his word, who wont change his stance even if the whole world
is against him.
This has certainly been the case in Stofiles running feud with
White, and his constant criticism of Sarus handling of an issue
he has obsessed with: transformation.
White fell foul of Stofile when the latter accused him of trying
to campaign on behalf of former Saru president, Brian van
Rooyen, while he was doing his utmost to get rid of him.
The 49-year-olds detractors paint a picture of a Machiavellian
politician content with exploiting the political connections
afforded him by his ties to the sports minister to get what he wants
out of rugby. Because of his fixation with transformation, Stofile
is seen as a one-dimensional leader, his sole idea of taking rugby
forward viewed as merely being to darken the rugby horizon.
One particularly scathing assessment on his leadership
aspirations was that if you were to choose the best from a rotten
bunch of rotten apples, then Mike would be it. I dont think he
has the intellectual capacity to lead an organisation as big as Saru
because when he is criticised he says he is not the president. I
wouldnt be surprised if he were elected and didnt deliver.
Stofiles relationships in rugby have been as fractious as they
have been contradictory.
His four years at Saru were marked by fallouts with former MD
Songezo Nayo, Van Rooyen, Hoskins and White, who represent
a wide cross-section of views and personalities.
The contradiction comes from his surprising rapport with the
disgraced former Bok coach Andr Markgraaff and the presidents
from the small platteland provincial unions.
Stofile and Markgraaff who was chased out of rugby 11
years ago for calling black administrators kaffirs first teamed
up during Van Rooyens tenure.
Between the two, they have been able to shaft, or advance,
presidential candidates prospects. Indeed, it was them who
played a major role in getting rid of Van Rooyen and installing
Hoskins to power.
Explaining the odd couple, a Stofile supporter bluntly said that
the two were using each other for mutual benefit: Markgraaffs
connections will deliver Stofile to the summit, and Stofile will
bring Markgraaff back.
The platteland presidents have followed suit, which may well
translate into votes when the Saru Presidents Council meets to
discuss its new leader. Also, the relationship between the sports
minister and Stofile is not a cut and dried case of the younger
brother riding on his siblings coat tails.
The two almost always seem to disagree on approach.
The most recent example is the ministers declaration this
week that quotas will be scrapped.
Its not the kind of thing his brother would stand for.
But blood being what it is, the bond between the two might
well be the reason why rugby, constantly under the cosh from
government, may vote the sports ministers little brother in as
president.
Despite his reputation as a gun-slinger, Stofiles tenure as
Borders president in 2004 was seen by their current president,
Cliff Pringle, as a unifying one.
He managed to get the people behind him and it was a pity
that he was only there for eight months, said Pringle.
That said, even his most ardent supporters are uncertain about
his credentials for the top job.
He might have to control his forcefulness because one of the
difficulties he can have as president is pushing transformation
above all else.
He would need to take his strong views and make them
marketable, and not have transformation be the ogre it is in
rugby.
Stofiles detractors are convinced he is not fit for the job.
One said: Hes the only one the black people look up to but
he does not strike me as a dynamic leader. Yes, hes committed
to transformation but he does not see things through. Fort Hare
University rugby, which used to be an Eastern Cape stronghold,
is struggling, and it is right on his doorstep in Alice.
MEYER OFFERED HANDS-OFF JOB TO DROP OUT OF BOK RACE

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
13 January 2008
HEYNEKE Meyer was asked this week to withdraw his
application for the Springbok coaching vacancy in exchange
for an offer to occupy an as-yet non-existent post at the South
African Rugby Union (Saru).
A source close to Saru said Meyer, who was favourite to
get the job until Peter de Villierss surprise appointment, was
asked after the interviewing process to withdraw so he could
be offered the job of director of coaching.
[Coaching committee member] Jannie Ferreira called
him on Wednesday, the official said. He told him while he
was by far the best candidate, he would not get the job but
was being offered the director of coaching spot.
Heyneke refused, saying he wanted to work directly with
the players.
The source confirmed what Saru president Oregan
Hoskins said in announcing De Villierss appointment that
coaching ability was not the only criteria for a successful
application.
[Coaching committee chairman and Saru deputy
president] Mike Stofile and [Saru board chairman
Mpumelelo] Tshume played the transformation card, saying
if they didnt appoint a black coach they would face severe
criticism from the Presidents Council.
The committee, none of whom could comment as they
signed a confidentiality clause, had De Villiers beating Meyer
by a single vote, before recommending their decision to the
Council.
Meyer, the first South African coach to win the Super
14, had widely been expected to be named the new mentor
of the world champions, and had been voted the players
choice in a poll run by the South African Rugby Players

Association (Sarpa). He is said to be bitterly disappointed at
the decision and has retreated to his farm outside Pretoria.
Meyer, who sensationally pulled out of the shortlist that
ended up with World Cup-winning coach Jake Whites
appointment four years ago, apparently took a lot of
convincing to apply for the Bok coaching vacancy in the first
place.
He has yet to speak to the media regarding the matter,
and it is unclear where he is likely to go from here as he is no
longer contracted to the Bulls.
Sarus move has put former Bulls and Springbok lock
Victor Matfield in a quandary.
The former Bulls captain has a clause in his contract with
French second division side Toulon that he be released after
only six months if Meyer was appointed Bok coach.
That no longer being the case, Matfield might find his
French employers calling his contractual bluff by asking him
to stay on for longer.
For his part, De Villiers said it would be inappropriate
for him to discuss one player when asked about Matfields
obvious allegiance to his chief rival for the Bok job.
Players have their fears and their expectations, so it
would be unfair to discuss one player, he said. But if he
said that then well speak.
De Villiers also denied reports suggesting that former Bok
coach Carel du Plessis, and Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske
were in the running to assist him.
We havent spoken about that yet.
BOK COACH KEEPS SUNNY SIDE UP

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
4 May 2008
WHEN he turns up for the interview, Bok coach Peter de Villiers
response to inquiry after his well-being is: Even the bad days are
good.
Its a line he always uses and when pressed to explain why, he
says its a song from his youth.
I cant remember who sang it, he says, breaking into an
impromptu rendition. But it was before your time.
The exchange is instructive about two things when it comes to
the first black Bok coach.
Positivity is his default attitude, but he is not immune to making
the same assumptions others make of him.
Those two qualities should serve him well in the job because
when the going predictably gets tough, he needs to maintain his
bounce and a healthy scepticism about all his critics.
Never has a Bok coachs appointment been met with such
doubt. The rugby public, the SA Rugby Union (Saru) and the
media have been united in their scepticism of De Villiers since he
pipped the favourite, Heyneke Meyer, to the post.
The public have an unhealthy obsession with his blackness.
Saru slighted him in the contractual negotiations and the media
have done what theyve always done use what he has said
against him.
As a result, his four months in charge have taught him to
take the sentiments of all three parties with a pinch of salt.
There are a lot of perceptions out there, he says of the
publics response to him. People have their perceptions, but their
mistake is thinking their perceptions are the only ones.
Im not here to judge people and I dont want to know what
they feel about me. The one thing I know is Im in this job to
make a success of it, and thats what Im going to do.
The stand-off with Saru over his contract, he says, was about
principles: As soon as you become materialistic you dont make
rational decisions because money determines what kind of
decisions you make.
Ive been appointed Springbok coach because Im good. The
terms I fought for were based on principles and I would never
budge on those. I was prepared to walk away if necessary. I wont

be anybodys puppet.
With the media having played a significant role in the demise
of many a Bok coach, De Villiers was almost contemptuous of
what he had learnt of them in his four months on the job.
The local media thrive on negativity. They have nothing
good to say about their country, he says, If there is something
bad about this country the local media will break a leg to be the
first to write about it.
Theyre a bunch of negative people who live in a world of
their own, and are merely there to earn a living and not make SA
a better place. My approach to that is if you cant live with them
and cant join them, leave them alone. We need the media, but
the medias not my life.
My life is about showing a positive message to SA, he says.
If a guy like me, who came through the apartheid years and was
down many times in his life, can stand up, still be positive and
make it to the top, then everyone can make it.
In-between scanning for speed bumps and pot-holes to his
progress, he has already done some good things. The best was his
retention of John Smit as Bok captain.
We quickly forget how good people are or were for this
country, says De Villiers. Its something that happens with our
role models and I think the media has something to do with that
by painting a negative picture of personalities.
De Villierss picture of Jake Whites captain is positively rosy:
John Smit is the most respected rugby captain in the world at
the moment. Wherever you go, people outside SA talk about him
with a lot of respect.
Hes a World Cup-winning captain, hes got a lot of intellectual
properties, hes a motivator by nature, hes a true ambassador for
this country and a very honest man. Even if he doesnt start every
Test, hell bring a lot to the team by just being there.
Given his attitude to Smit, his private chat with Victor Matfield
at George Airport and Sarus relaxation of the restrictions on
the selection of overseas Boks, many expected De Villiers to lean
more on the expatriate internationals than before.

Yet his views on the matter are almost contrary: When you
look at the Stormers, the Sharks and some of the other players
from the other teams, I dont think we have a shortage of great
players in our country. If you decide to leave this country its your
decision.
Well respect it, but please dont expect to have your bread
buttered on both sides. If you play outside the borders of SA you
have to be very, very good. Otherwise you wont make it.
De Villiers will find that the biggest test of his tenure will be
his transformation record.
With Saru president Oregan Hoskins having all but labelled
his appointment an affirmative- action one, he will be expected to
have a solution to a problem that has proved impossible to solve
in the 16 years since rugby unity.
Encouragingly, he doesnt talk numbers when asked about his
approach: A rugby player is not a brick, hes got feelings. When
hes good, hes good, and when hes not hes not.
You need to be honest and tell him what you expect of him,
what hes doing wrong and how he can improve.
De Villiers moment of reckoning, when all the speculative
talk around him gives way to debate about his actual coaching,
comes in a months time.
By coincidence, his first game is against Six Nations champions
Wales, a nation he supported in the early 1990s because he did all
his coaching courses there.
I learned a lot there, he says. They place a premium on
skills. I also learned that you cant teach someone skills.
You can improve them, but you cant teach them because
when the going gets tough, a guy goes back to what he knows.
Its an approach he will try to instill in the Boks, moving away
from the ultra-physical approach favoured by White.
No one way is the right way to play. I just hope the difference
is good for the country.
So do the public, Saru and possibly even the media.
IF YOURE BLACK AND POOR ITS NOW HARDER TO BECOME A BOK

Liam del Carme
4 November 2014
IT HAS been 21 years since rugbys disparate forces forged
unification in Kimberley.
It is to the men of that epoch and their successors eternal shame
that transformation in the sport is still passed around like a red-hot
rugby ball. That hastily arranged unity is at the root of what divides
the sport to this day.
The South African Rugby Union (Saru), or the various guises
under which it operated, have since elected six presidents whose
ham-fisted attempts to transform the sport have felt like nothing so
much as Groundhog Day. Always more of the same perpetual lip
service, hand-wringing and prevarication.
In many ways, the country has achieved greater levels of
integration than the sport, which those who yield to the power of
perception regard as the white mans domain. Perhaps, by calling it
a transformation process from the outset, rugby bosses had set the
bar too high.
This week Saru, along with the Department of Sport, held an
indaba. Transformation, they declared with fist-thumping authority,
would be tackled head-on. Or so we were led to believe.
Rugbys governing body sagely noted in their post-talk-shop
promotional bumf that they had now devised a scorecard by which
their progress in transforming the sport can be accurately measured.
Its like having an accurate breakdown of the latest crime figures
without efficient law enforcement.
Saru believes the areas where they fall short can now be quickly
identified, but they have been furtive about how events are likely to
unfold if they or their affiliates are not in full embrace of the process.
It has already been suggested, although not officially, of course,
that the sports failure to comply as affiliates of the South African
Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) could mean
expulsion from international participation.
Saru will ultimately be held accountable, but how they keep
their affiliates in line with the process is yet to be determined.
Their provincial unions prefer to set their own agendas, and the
machinations of the sport are such that Sarus president and his two
immediate subordinates at election time are susceptible to the whims
of the provinces, not the other way around.
The senior office-bearers cannot be seen to be too prescriptive
and yet they made assurances to the government that they would call
their members to order.
Will they, for instance, have the political will to withhold funds or
subtract log points from provinces who don't measure up on their
transformation scorecard?
How do they, for instance, call into line the EP Kings, who look
set to include just seven black players in their squad of 30 for their
inaugural participation in Super Rugby next year? The Kings,
after all, owe their Super Rugby existence to the fact that they are
supposed to be a bastion of hope for aspiring black players from the
region and beyond.
It is, however, fervently hoped that Sarus latest indaba will
amount to something and not fall through the cracks, as did their
Vision 2000 project of 13 years, which set out guide and time-lines
for the transformation of the sport.
It does please me that they are trying something, but those things
should have been in place years ago, said former Springbok wing
McNeil Hendricks.
I dont know what is going to make this different in terms of
implementation, because, in the past, provincial unions werent
really bothered.
Hendricks was one of the poster boys of what Vision 2000 was
supposed to represent in the new millennium, but he and what was
contained in that document soon faded into obscurity.
Teams are simply too white. You cant tell me, almost 20 years
after we got democracy, that six, seven, eight black players cant make
a starting line-up. Having three players isnt good enough. You cant
call that transformation, said Hendricks, one of the black players
who actually made it to the top, even if only briefly.

Remember Quinton Davids, the coloured player whose skirmish
with his fellow lock, white Afrikaner Geo Cronje, attracted
unwelcome headlines for the Springboks on the cusp of their 2003
World Cup misadventure? Rugby, or those who pull the strings in it,
have taught him to bite his lip.
I dont want to comment on this. The problem is if I were to
open my mouth, it will spoil my future prospects. Things dont work
out for me. It is my experience that if you open your mouth, youll
get shut out later, said Davids.
Owen Nkumane, a Springbok in 1998, didnt bite his lip. I
think theyve been bullshitting us for years, said the usually urbane
Nkumane.
I dont know who theyve consulted, he said about what
transpired at last weeks indaba. What makes this better than the
previous plan? Im really disappointed in the whole management at
Saru. Where are the black coaches and managers? And what is the
SA Rugby Players Associations take on this? They know how black
players are treated.
Dale Santon, a firebrand hooker who was selected for the 2003
World Cup squad, has lost none of his spark.
They should deduct points from provinces who dont play
ball, or fine them, he said. Black players are tired of being called
development or quota players. What will they call them next? It is
preposterous to still refer to players like Bryan Habana, Juan de
Jongh and Beast Mtawarira as development players.
Provinces must be interrogated about their development
programmes. Its easy for the Bulls to go to Craven Week and buy
three black players. They must stop talking about transformation.
That is a form of fronting, and we are tired of it.
I think if youre black and poor, it is more difficult to become a
Springbok now than it was 10 or so years ago.
We can only hope the same isnt said a decade from now.
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SEASONS OF SCANDALS: 1996-2005

THE SPRINGBOKS soon found that World Cup glory could
be fleeting. A year after defeating the All Blacks in the 1995 final
at Ellis Park, the Springboks lost a home series to the All Blacks
for the first time. It had taken the All Blacks almost 60 years to
avenge the stigma of 1937, when a Springbok team had won a
series in New Zealand. Ever since it had been a burning ambition
of All Black teams to even that score. Three official tours 1949,
1960 and 1970, plus the unofficial one of 1986 had all failed.
The 1949 team had lost all four tests.
Losing to the All Blacks at home was a disappointment for the
Springboks and their supporters, but worse was to follow. South
African rugby became embroiled in a series of scandals, at the
centre of which was the question of race and transformation.
It began with the appointment of a new coach to succeed
Kitch Christie, who had long battled with leukemia and had
decided to resign in March 1996. Andre Markgraaff, an astute
political operator, inveigled his way into the Bok coaching job.
Markgraaff, who had been an outstanding lock forward during
his playing days with the great Western Province team that had
won five successive Currie Cups between 1982 and 1986, was a
confidante and close ally of autocratic SA Rugby Football Union
president Louis Luyt. He controlled the important Griqualand
West rugby constituency and his influence in rugby officialdom
had helped Luyt ascend to, and retain, the presidency. But
Markgraaff was a dour man and unloved by the rugby public.
They were especially unforgiving when he sacked the popular
Bok captain Francois Pienaar just five test matches into his tenure
as coach. Pienaar was axed after the Springboks first defeat in
the series against the All Blacks and Gary Teichmann appointed
in his place.
It wasnt his indifferent coaching record of 1996 (played
13, won 8 and lost 5) that brought him down, however, but a
phone call. Markgraaff, believing he was speaking confidentially
to one of his former Griqua acolytes, was secretly taped. In the

conversation, he blurted out obscenities and racial slurs referring
to black South African rugby administrators. When the taped
conversation was made public, Markgraaff was doomed. Even
a grovelling apology to black and white South Africans for
causing them embarrassment could not save him. He resigned
in February 1997, opening the way for Carel du Plessis, one of
South Africas finest players from the recent past, to step into the
job.
The Markgraaff tape was to have repercussions in South
Africa beyond just rugby. There had been suspicions that unity
in the sport had been achieved without much commitment from
the white officials towards transforming the game. The ANC said
Markgraaffs outburst on the tape had reinforced the perception
that conservative elements within SARFU are resisting the
transformation of the union into a non-racial society. It hadnt
helped Markgraaffs cause that in his 13 test matches in charge of
the Bok team, he had never selected a black player. His successor
did not do any better. In the eight tests as coach, Du Plessis also
failed to pick a single black player. At boardroom level, South
African rugby appeared transformed, but black officialdom was
failing to have much influence on Springbok selections. Privately,
black officials admitted that the white selectors and coaches were
unfamiliar with black talent, which had been developing in a
media void before unity.
It wasnt any lack of transformation that cost Du Plessis his
job, but his failure to win a series against the visiting British and
Irish Lions. The humiliation for South African rugby especially
for those from the old white traditions to lose in successive years
to the All Blacks and the Lions was too hard to bear. This was
unprecedented, and someone had to pay. Du Plessis was fired,
ironically after the Springboks had scored a record 61-22 win
over Australia. It was the first time that the Boks put more than 50
points past one of the top rugby nations. His successor was Nick
Mallett, a man unafraid to speak his mind, a former Springbok
No8 and a Rhodes scholar who had coached in France, in
the Currie Cup and who had been an assistant to Markgraaff.
Mallett was different in many ways from any previous Bok
coach. He was seen as a man of the world who would embrace
the new South Africa by insisting on more black players in the
team. In that sense, he disappointed. It took him seven tests
before selecting a black player, then only as a reserve. He named
McNeil Hendricks, who had been in Malletts Boland squad, on
the bench for a test against Ireland in June 1998. Hendricks was
back on the bench for the next test, a 96-13 rout of Wales, and
Chester Williams, recovered from injury, returned to warm the
bench in the successive tests against Australia and New Zealand.
As for Hendricks, he was never heard of again in test rugby.
The slow pace of transformation in rugby was beginning
to annoy black South Africans, especially sports minister Steve
Tshwete, who had gone out on a limb to facilitate unity. Tshwete
had decided on a commission of inquiry into rugby, specifically
to investigate alleged racism, graft and nepotism. When Mandela
endorsed the decision it led to an acrimonious court battle in
which the president poured out his frustrations with a game he
had graced just three years before at a Rugby World Cup final,
wearing a Springbok jersey and rallying the fans behind the Boks.
The appearance by a sitting state president in court on a
civil matter was unheard of and it shocked many legal experts.
Mandela had been summoned as a witness by a High Court
judge, on the insistence of Luyt, who had brought an action
to stop Tshwetes commission. Luyt claimed the president had
not properly considered the arguments for a commission but
simply rubber-stamped Tshwetes decision. Mandelas lawyers
offered an affidavit denying Luyts claims, but Judge William de
Villiers ordered the president to appear in person. The decision
to summons Mandela implied that the president had lied in his

affidavit. Mandela turned his anger on the judge and Luyt.
I would never have imagined that Louis would be so
insensitive, ungrateful and disrespectful to say when I gave my
affidavit I was lying, said Mandela. Just a few feet away from
him, Luyt sat stone-faced.
The president said he was attending out of respect for
the administration of justice and it was clear he was keen to
demonstrate openness. But why, he asked Judge De Villiers, was
Luyt resisting transparency. It gives the message he is hiding
something, said Mandela.
The judge found in favour of Luyt, but a year later the
Constitutional Court not only threw out the judgment, but also
excoriated the judge. The court concluded that Judge De Villiers
had erred in finding that Mandela had failed to apply his own
mind when appointing the commission in September 1997 and
that the judge had no right to take the unprecedented step of
compelling Mandela to testify. Luyt, who withdrew from the case,
had lost the confidence of the SA Rugby Football Union. He
resigned soon afterwards.
Before the cases final outcome, the Springboks had been on a
roll. They had achieved a stunning victory against the All Blacks
in New Zealand, captured the Tri-Nations for the first time and
won 17 test matches in a row by November 28, when defeating
Ireland 27-13 in Dublin. Sixteen of those had been with Mallett
as coach. Transformation, however, was still sluggish even though
the coach and selectors made sure that there was at least one
black player in any test team, most of the time on the wing. The
only time Mallett deviated from this was in the 1999 World Cup
against Spain, when he picked Wayne Julies at centre and Breyton
Paulse at fullback. He also named Kaya Malotana, a centre, on
the left wing for the players only test cap.
By the time Mallett was sacked as coach (over his outspokenness),
he had used only six black players McNeil Hendricks, Breyton
Paulse, Chester Williams, Deon Kayser, Wayne Julies and Kaya
Malotana. His successor, Harry Viljoen, picked seven black
players before losing his nerve for the job. Viljoen also had a poor
record in 2001, his last season as coach, losing five of the 11 tests
and drawing one. The Boks finished last in the Tri-Nations. At
least Viljoen made a breakthrough by selecting the first black
forwards, props Etienne Fynn and Lawrence Sephaka, along with
Williams, Paulse and Kayser and two other newcomers, fullback

Conrad Jantjes and centre Adi Jacobs.
Rudolf Straeuli, a member of the 1995 World Cup team,
was quickly summoned by SA rugby from his job as the Sharks
coach to take over. His reign was to be the most controversial of
any Springbok coach. There is, however, no doubting Straeulis
sincerity in attempting to promote transformation. He looked
beyond the players with whom he was familiar, and he gave caps
to scrumhalves Bolla Conradie and Norman Jordaan, fullback
Ricardo Loubscher and Western Province lock Quinton Davids.
More often than not he named at least three black players in
his match squads and in four of his first five tests as Springbok
coach he picked as many as five black players in the squad. If
these seem like small steps, they were bigger and braver than
what had gone before. His playing record, however, was average
and, by expected Bok standards, poor. It was certainly nowhere
near Malletts 27 wins out of 38, not to mention Christies 100%.
Straeulis Springbok teams finished last in both Tri-Nations
tournaments while he was at the helm, and in 23 tests he won
only 12.
It wasnt, however, his poor record as coach that brought
about his downfall, but an ill-conceived bonding exercise in
the bushveld near Thabazimbi before the Springbok teams
departure for the 2003 World Cup.
The Boks had done well in defending their 1995 title when
the 1999 World Cup was hosted by Wales, although South Africa
would play in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paris and London before
finally reaching the principality to beat their old nemesis, New
Zealand, in the third-place play-off in Cardiff. The Springbok
preparations had been dogged by a controversy minor by
comparison with the others in the 1996-2005 decade over the
selection of the World Cup captain. Mallett had become obsessed
with the outrageously talented Bobby Skinstad of Western
Province and the World Cup marketers had built part of their
campaign around the player. As a result, Gary Teichmann was
unceremoniously dumped by Mallett, an act for which the coach
apologised to the player many years later. Before the tournament,
however, Skinstad was injured in circumstances that have never
been made clear. Nevertheless, Mallett needed to find a new
captain and quickly. He settled on Joost van der Westhuizen,
but there was widespread regret that the popular Teichmann was
not recalled.
Despite the loss of Skinstad and the absence of Teichmann,
the Boks reached the quarterfinals by beating England 44-21 in
a sensational goal-kicking performance by flyhalf Jannie de Beer,
ironically Malletts second choice in the position. De Beer came
into the side after an injury to first-choice Henry Honiball and
slotted five drop-goals and five penalties. In the semifinal against
Australia, De Beer was again on target with the boot, kicking six
penalty goals and a drop-goal. But, in a game where all the points
came from kicks, the Wallabies went two better. Matthew Burke
kicked eight penalties and Stephen Larkham a monstrous dropgoal to give the Australians the edge. The Larkham goal and
Burkes final penalty came in the last six minutes of the game,
giving Australia a 27-21 win at Twickenham and the title in the
next game.
So, despite an indifferent season leading up the 2003 World
Cup, Straeuli and his Springboks could feel confident that they
could lift their game for the tournament. Except that an incident
at their training camp in Pretoria upset some plans. Geo Cronje,
a Blue Bulls lock from a conservative background, had been
assigned to share a room with Quinton Davids, a lock forward
from Bellville South, an area that had been designated coloured
under apartheid. Cronje, according to Davids, refused. Cronje
has never spoken about it, leaving the issue murky: did he prefer
to share with a Blue Bulls teammate or did he object to sharing
with a black player? He has never felt obliged to clear up the
uncertainty.
When the story got out, the racial overtones turned it into a
sensation. South African rugby had to scramble to spin its way out
of the controversy, but failed dismally, especially after Straeulis
media man, Mark Keohane, had quit the team in disgust. Davids
and Cronje were summarily dropped from the World Cup squad.
Straeuli and the Springbok team management decided to deal
with the issue in a different manner. The coach had for a while
been in thrall to the teams security adviser, an ex-policeman
named Adriaan Heijns, who had special-forces pretentions. Heijns
persuaded Straeuli to allow him to take the team to a remote
bushveld farm that the police occasionally used for military-type
training. Team manager Gideon Sam (now president of South
Africas Olympic Committee) agreed and Rian Oberholzer, the
chief executive of the SA Rugby Football Union, signed off on
the plan.
The training camp turned out to be anything but a bonding
exercise. The Springbok players were thoroughly humiliated.
At some point in the exercise, Heijnss accomplices forced them
to strip naked and get into a muddy dam where the water was
close to freezing. Live ammunition was fired over their heads in
another training exercise. Players were paired up and made to
fight one another with boxing gloves. It was a classic military boot
camp where recruits could be broken down; it was as far removed
from a team-building exercise as Heijns was from reality. The
camp was kept secret until the Boks returned from the World
Cup, having been twice humiliated there, first by England the
eventual winners who beat them 25-6 in Perth and then by New
Zealand, who eliminated them 29-9 in the quarter-finals.
Once home, the story of the notorious Kamp Staaldraad, as
it was called, began to leak. It was spoken of openly in some

rugby circles and there were veiled threats to newspapermen
about reporting on it. While there was official silence, Heijns was
provoked into admitting all of it and Sam confirmed it although
he denied live ammunition was used (subsequently found to be
untrue) Sunday Times sports editor Clinton van den Berg spoke to
three players who had been part of the humiliation. The reports
on Kamp Staaldraad drew the expected indignation, but there
was little reaction from SARFU until photographs appeared
showing the full extent of the Springbok players humiliation.
Straeuli was forced to resign as Bok coach and Oberholzer soon
afterwards quit as chief executive of SARFU.
From the twin low points of Nelson Mandela being forced into
court and the Springboks being forced into a muddy, ice-cold dam,
things could only improve. And they did. Jake White, who had
always been on the fringes of the Bok team most successfully as

the Baby Boks coach took over from Straeuli in 2004. In his first
year as coach, the Boks won the Tri-Nations for a second time
and in 2005 they came close to winning it again, losing 31-27 to
the All Blacks in the decider in Dunedin. White also improved
on a transformation level, picking six players of colour in his
third game in charge, a 53-18 defeat of Wales. The following
year, 2005, he named eight in the squad for a Tri-Nations match
against Australia. Overall, he used 15 black players in his first two
years as coach. More importantly, he was building a team from
the ruins of 2003 that would recapture the World Cup in 2007.
by Archie Henderson
JUST 80 MORE MINUTES TO GLORY!

Dan Retief
4 August 1996
South Africa 25
Australia 19
IN A result which scarcely reflected the run to play, the Springboks
somehow managed to hang on to beat a surging and determined
Australia at the Free State Stadium here yesterday.
The Wallabies played most of the good rugby as they
dominated every phase of the forward exchanges whole applying
far more imagination and inventiveness in the backline.
When the final whistle went on a stop-start, injury-ridden
match in which Irish referee Brian Stirling allowed three minutes
of extra time in each half, the courageous Wallabies must have
felt as flat as the Boks did in Sydney recently when they also lost
a match they should have won.
It was perhaps fitting that in a thoroughly unsatisfactory
performance that Springbok hero turned out to be a man who
went from World Cup icon to the reserves bench flyhalf Joel
Stransky.
After relinquishing his place to Henry Honiball for the first
of the Tri-Nations Tests in Sydney and then coming on as a
late replacement in Christchurch, Stransky was poised and
unflappable as he scored all his teams points; a contribution which
left him just three points short of Gavin Johnsons individual Test
scoring record.
Resisting the fear of failure which has stalked him all season,
Stransky nonchalantly goaled seven of his eight kicks at goal six
penalties and a conversion and hit an upright with the only one
he missed.
It was also Stransky who put the finishing touches to a
magnificent run by Justin Swart as the Boks fashioned a try
against the tide.
After just about the first concerted drive of the match by the
Boks in the 20th minute, Johnny Roux flicked the ball up for
Swart a man single-handedly keeping alive Western Provinces

tenuous links to the green-and-gold.
The Stellenbosch winger accelerated down the right-hand
touchline, swerved inside Matthew Burke and, as he was cut
down in the cross defence, turned to look for support. It arrived
in the shape of Stransky who scooped up the ball on the run to
dive over the line.
Although there were extenuating circumstances because of
the loss of key playmaker Andre Joubert and tough scrummager
Marius Hurter before the start, plus the further disruption of
Johan Ackermann and Balie Swart having to leave the field
injured, this was not a Springbok performance to write home
about.
The Wallabies negated the Springbok scrum and were superior
in their ability to win the ball in the lineout and on the ground.
Although the Boks could complain about referee Stirlings
laxness in pulling up the Wallabies for hitting mauls on the side
and then getting over the ball, it is worrying that the Springboks
seem to have forgotten how to use the ball.
So much of their play seems to revolve around Andre Joubert
while much of backline direction seems to come from Hennie le
Roux a man whose contribution was not appreciated until he
was absent.
The Boks won yesterday by exploiting counter-attack and
defending resolutely, but their lack of structure and vision might
not be good enough against a team attacking continuously and
scoring points.
The Wallabies may have given the All Blacks, who play the
Boks on a fearful quartet of Saturdays, a pointer on how to take
on Pienaar and his men for it is a worry that the performance of
South Africas forwards seems to be in a downward spiral, rather

than on the ascendancy.
Apart from Stransky, Justin Swart could feel satisfied with
his first run-on appearance, Japie Mulder seemed to have rediscovered his enthusiasm and James Small was all heart in
defending the last outpost.
Gary Teichman is growing in stature, Os du Randt is a worldbeater, Johan Ackermann was his combative self while he was on
the field and Mark Andrews leapt high in spite of the cramp in
his gut.
But on a scale of one to 10 the Springboks overall performance
as a six.
Although it seemed Australia might miss Matthew Burke when
he left the fray, Joe Roff confirmed South African surprise by his
omission when he began to punch large hole by simply running
hard at a South African back division lining up shallow. Brendan
Venter, in particular, was exposed for getting out of alignment as
the slick touches of Pat Howard at inside centre embarrassed the
Bok defensive system.
The feisty Michael Brial, whose spot of stamping added to
his growing reputation for being a hit-man, was nevertheless a
constant agent of pressure on the Boks while John Eales, apart
from taking over the goal-kicking with a 100 percent record, was,
as always, a towering presence in a pack who gradually gained
the upper hand.
In Test match rugby there is only one judgement: a win is a
win. But this was not a vintage performance and more will be
required to stave off the ambitious All Blacks.t
FINALLY, BOKS SHOW TRUE GRIT

Dan Retief
1 September 1996
South Africa 32
New Zealand 22
A BRAVE Springbok team played with guts and determination
to salvage their pride with a memorable victory over the All Black
yesterday.
Although two late tries cost the Springboks a record margin of
victory, they had the satisfaction of running up their highest total against
New Zealand. Man of the match Andre Joubert scored a wonderful
long-range try as well as kicking three penalties for a contribution of
14 points.
Although the Springboks managed to prevent a whitewash the New
Zealanders flew home early this morning to a tickettape welcome in
Auckland, having become the first New Zealand team to win a series
in South Africa.
South Africas tactic to bombard the All Blacks with high kicks paid
early dividends as they kept the All Blacks on the defence. The first kick
deep to Zinzan Brooke had the desired effect when the No 8 missed
touch with his clearance and the Springboks were able to threaten the
All Blacks line.
In the fourth minute Josh Kronfeld was penalised for joining a maul
on the wrong side and Henry Honiball, who had been entrusted with
the goal-kicking, raised the flag from 38m to put the Boks 3-0 in front.
When the All Blacks gradually regained their composure and hoots
of derision turned to a hushed silence as Andrew Mehrtens landed
an enormous penalty with ease from 8m inside his own half, the ball
having carried fully 60m on the angle. Minutes later Mehrtens just
missed from slightly closer in a game that was shaping as a war of
attrition between the forwards.
The fury of the Springboks forward assaults was rattling the
All Blacks, however, and in the 24th minute the Boks finally drew
inspiration from Andre Joubert which had been missing from the series.
After a period of concerted driving with all the forwards prominent
at various stages the Springbok fashioned a wonderful try. Scrumhalf
Joost van der Westhuizen sent the ball to the left and Honiball slickly
gave it to the centres Danie van Schalkwyk and Japie Mulder.
Ruben Kruger was waiting in the line and his little pop-up pass was
gratefully accepted by Joubert who scythed clean through and then
veered towards the post. He tried to find Pieter Hendricks, cutting
back on his inside, and the wing fortunately juggled the ball backwards
before the ever-alert Van der Westhuizen snapped it up and ran under
the post for his second try of the series.
Honiball kicked the conversion to put the Boks in an impressive
13-3 lead after 24 minutes. The All Blacks battled to fight back but
Mehrtens was again off target from inside his own half and then hit the
upright from closer range.
In what was turning into a test match of nerver and passion the
All Blacks took the fight to the Springboks as they tried to bring their
backline into play.
Mulder made a vital knockdown in the line to halt a dangerous
move and then it was the big left boot of Joubert which got the Boks
away from their goalline.
Kronfelds tendency to go off his feet in trying to claim a loose ball
in a maul again proved expensive as he was penalised. Skipper Gary
Teichman called Joubert up to take the penalty attempt from the 42
m out and 5 m in from touch and the mercurial fullback raised a huge
roar as he moved his team into a lead of 16-3.
With the All Blacks forwards appearing weary and not as quick to
the loose ball as in the previous Tests, it seemed the determination of
the Boks might win the day.
But as ever the All Blacks were at their most dangerous just when
it seemed they were down as Mehrtens, slipping through a gap, before
putting Jeff Wilson away.
Christian Cullen was up in support and it took a great tackle by
Van der Westhuizen to push the flying fullback into tough right on the
Springboks corner flag. The danger, however, had not been averted
as the All Blacks had the lineout throw. The impressive Ian Jones rose
impossibly high and just managed to tap the ball down to his captain,
Sean Fitzpatrick, who gratefully accepted the try right on the stroke of
halftime.
Mehrtens missed the conversion and the All Blacks trailed 16-8
at the turnover. There was a bad augury for the All Blacks when
Mehrtens put the kickoff straight into touch to give the Boks a scrum
on the centre spot.
The Boks had been forced to replace Mark Andrews with Fritz van
Heerden and the collectively hurled everything at a rattled All Black
team. In the 45th minute Joubert was again called up to take a long-
range shot at goal from near touch and this time he raised the flags
from 45m to give his team 19-8 cushion.
After the restart Van der Westhuizen launched what appeared to
be a poor up-and-under but Joel Stransky, who seconds earlier had
replaced Japie Mulder, anticipated the bounce and immediately
launched a counter-attack before finding Andre Venter in support. The
flanker fed Joubert on the 10m line and the fullback, running at full
pace for the first time in the series, raced away to the right hand corner
for a wonderful try. Although Joubert missed his own conversion the
Boks led 24-8.
Then Dalton was nearly driven over the line and when the All Blacks
tried kill the ball, Van der Westhuizen quickly tapped it to himself and
dived over the line again. The conversion was missed.
The celebrations became even happier moments later when Joubert
kicked his third penalty to make it 32-8.
The All Blacks were not in the mood to capitalise, however, and
they launched one spirited attack after another into a wall of voracious
Springbok tackling.
The All Blacks forced a succession of scrums in front of the
Springboks post a huge cheer erupted when a reverse pass clearance
by Marshall went awry and Van Schalkwyk pounced on the ball before
sending Stransky racing away. The flyhalf did not have the pace to
outflank Cullen and his attempted cross kick was ruled a foul with the
fullback judged marginally ahead of the ball as he tried to gallop with
a fourth try looming.
With the forwards beginning to lie around in tired little heaps the
pace of an exceptional Test match was clearly beginning to tell and it
was the All Blacks who showed their bravery of spirit as they tried to
salvage what must have a appeared a lost cause.
The pressure had to tell on a Springbok team who had played
themselves to a virtual standstill and it was Mehrtens who spotted a
big gap behind the South Africans shallow backline and chipped into
space.
The ball cam off Van der Westhuizen and into the post before
Walter Little made a fantastic pickup to score under the post. Mehrtens
kicked the conversion to make it 32-15
TEICHMANNS MEN REBOUND WITH EIGHT-TRY RAMPAGE

Dan Retief
24 August 1997
South Africa 61
Australia 22
IN THIS struggle of the embattled coaches the Springboks probably
saved the neck of Carel du Plessis while signing the dismissal notice of
Australias Greg Smith here yesterday.
Some of the credit for South Africas record-setting victory, both in
total and in the margin, will doubtless accrue to Du Plessis, but in such
a bizarre match it is difficult to assess just what had been the coachs
role.
Certainly, in my experience, I have not known such an international;
especially between two of the countries considered to be among the
best in the world.
The Springboks made a cracking start to lead 13-0 after 16 minutes,
but then found themselves utterly mesmerised by the flickering passes
of Wallaby flyhalf David Knox to trail 15-13 after 40 minutes.
But, because of the great deal of added-on time required to
complete both halves, the was more time left to complete the opening
session and the Springboks went on the rampage to register their most
emphatic victory over Australia.
Where the crowd had sat hushed for most of the latter part of the
first half, the Loftus roar built to a crescendo in the second as one
stunning green-and-gold try followed another.
The statistics confirm South Africas amazing turnabout. Trailing
13-15 after 40 minutes, they proceeded to score a staggering 48 points
in the next 51 minutes as they breached the 60-point barrier. In this
period of play their dominance amounted to a staggering score of
48-7 over a Wallaby team who seemed to become utterly demoralized.
The rush of points led to flyhalf Jannie de Beer contributing 26 on
his own (one try, six conversions, three penalties) and giving him an
exceptional total of 79 points in his first five Tests.
Claims will doubtless be made that this jolly celebration represents
the vision of Du Plessis that one has heard so much about but, in
reality, it was a victory for the resolve and determination of the players
themselves.
After the dreadful humiliation of their recent trip to Australia and
New Zealand, Gary Teichmann said his men owed themselves and
their fans a victory and their success belonged to experienced players
providing the kind of play which inspired the younger men around
them.
Ironically it might well have been a piece of foul play which enabled
the Springboks to tighten the reins on the waltzing Wallabies, slow
them down and then finally run them off their feet.
In the 40th minute Os du Randt earned himself a yellow card for a
late shoulder charge on Knox but, in the context of the game, the big
props indiscretion proved to be crucial.
Up to that moment the Boks had seemed almost hypnotized by the
ACT pivots sleight of hand and seemingly endless option in changing
direction and bringing different runners charging onto the ball.
They had conceded their early lead, Joost van der Westhuizen had
been yellow-carded for foolishly trying to leg-trip Joe Roff as the winger
scored Australias second try and there was genuine concern that the
Springboks would not be able to plug all the gaps.
Knox picked himself up to kick the penalty which gave the
Wallabies the lead for the first and only time in the game, but after that
his influence waned and finally flickered out.
Significantly, it also took a piece of magic by a man scorned by Du
Plessis to spark the Springboks surge to victory. Andre Joubert fielded
an innocuous looking cross-kick by Knox and, in his inimitable way,
transformed dreary defence into flashing attack.
Joubert sped down the right-hand touchline, fed Percy Montgomery
and the centre in turn gave the ball to Jannie de Beer as the tryline
loomed ever closer. It seemed the flyhalf might have been bumped into
touch but, with a clever piece of legerdemain, he had flicked the ball
back inside where the ubiquitous James Dalton was on hand to score
the try which turned the game on its head.
The Wallabies, who had eschewed one or two chances to kick
penalties in favour of more risky attacking choices, threatened briefly
at the start of the second half but then became increasingly more
bewildered and disorganized as the game was snatched away from
them.
Montgomery, playing with fervour of one who has felt the cutting
edge of harsh criticism, was put into the gap in midfield and even
though Pieter Rossouw, on for Andre Snyman, was heavily tackled, the
ball was recycled to the right where James Small crammed on his pace
to get around the outside before setting Mark Andrews away on his
inside for a try at the posts.
With the Springboks rediscovering their appetite for crushing
tackles and their forwards, with Teichmann, Johan Erasmus and
Warren Brosnihan particularly impressive, it seemed as though the
field might have been tilted towards Johannesburg, so strongly did the
green tide flow in that direction.
The farcical sending off of James Holbeck, for knocking down
Rossouw after the Springbok had dotted the ball down ingoal, was
in keeping with the strange atmosphere of a match which needed a
total of 92 minutes and 28 seconds to complete (because of injuries
to Andre Snyman and Troy Coker, neither of which turned out to be
serious), but the Springboks hardly paused for breath.
Their sixth try was pure Markgraaff/Mallett as Andrews took the
ball deep in a lineout to drag open the blind side so that Teichmann
could charge into the space to crate a debut try for Brosnihan. And
two more would follow as Joubert caught the Wallabies napping with
a long lineout throw into centre-field to set Montgomery away on a
70m run to the tryline and De Beer rounded off the pressure play of
the pack.
With the ball being spun about almost recklessly it was inevitable
that the Wallabies might get an intercept try it fell to Jason Little
but this provided scant consolidation for what turned out to be their
complete capitulation.
The victory plus a bonus point, meant the Springboks were able to
sneak into second place on the Tri Nations log, a staggering 11 points
adrift of the All Blacks, and both they and Australia must reflect they
are flattered to be ranked alongside the magnificent New Zealanders
in a southern hemisphere triumvirate.
The truth is that there is the All Blacks and then, a good way back,
all the rest.
TRICOLORES ARE SWAMPED BY RECORD MARGIN

Dan Retief
23 November 1997
South Africa 52
France 10
IN WHAT was meant to be a famous day of red-white-and blue
celebration, it was instead the Springboks who annihilated France
with probably their best performance since re-emergence in 1992.
It was not so much the records, of which there were plenty, but the
manner of the Springboks destruction of one of the great nations
of rugby which made his victory so special.
The victory margin of 42 points surpassed a 38-5 win in Bordeaux
which has stood since 1913, while the seven tries scored by the Boks
also represented a record number against France. The margin was
matched by Wales in pre-war years, but 52 points is also the greatest
number yet conceded by the Tricolores.
It could not have occurred on a worse day for the French. This
was to be rugbys farewell to the emotional home of French rugby,
the Parc des Princes, before moving to the new Stade du France but
it will, instead, be remembered as a green-and-gold letter occasion
of the Springboks.
And, among people with a sentimental attachment to melodrama,
it was not lost on a stunned crowd and media contingent that the
guillotine had been most forcefully brought to bear by a young man
of French Huguenot extraction.
Pieter Rossouw, who hails from the Boland winelands left as
a heritage by those pilgrims of old, scored four tries, in a haul of
seven, to match the individual record set by Chester Williams.
The tall winger, whose rugby has undergone a transformation
since being moved by Harry Viljoen from fullback where his
exploits were a source of joy and exasperation in equal proportions
to Western Province fans was playing in the No11 Jersey vacated
by Williams and there is little doubt that his quartet is markedly
superior to that of the former record set against Western Samoa at
Ellis Park.
In a match which will live memory as a startling kaleidoscope
of flashing green jerseys it would be difficult to pick the best try
from many outstanding movements. But it will be the last, by Henry
Honniball, which will find a place in the lore of Springbok rugby.
As to be expected in a match of breathtaking pace and constant

movement, play had become disorganized and untidy as the French
tried to regain some pride and the Springboks struggled to maintain
their concentration when the ball was suddenly turned over to
Werner Swanepoel.
The little man, who filled the big shoes of Joost van der Westhuizen
with a display of verve, pace and accurate passing, was quick to
counter as he sent the ball out to his left deep within his 22m area.
Dick Muir ran it out, delayed his pass to draw the defence,
and then sent Percy Montgomery, Jannie de Beer (Rossouws
replacement), Andre Snyman, and Henry Honniball swirling away
like whirlwind down the lefthand touchline.
And, as the ball flicked back and forth like in a game of touch,
there was the amazing experience of the French crowd shouting
Allez! Allez! (or was it ol ol?) every time the ball changed
hands, before Honiball burst over the line.
As a finale to a magnificent shot it was just perfect and one
almost expected the Gauls to start shouting for an encore as they
awarded the Boks a standing ovation.
But, in extolling a wonderful display of total rugby, one must not
forget the groundwork which made it possible and the biggest praise
must go the new coach Nick Mallett.
Mallett and his team have been utterly professional in their
preparation but, most of all, the empathetic coach has created a
culture in which players are permitted to express their talents.
Confidence could be Malletts middle name but the positive attitude
he has engendered would be nothing had not also instilled a style of
play aimed utterly at scoring tries.
This passion and belief in attack resulted in Andre Snyman
stunning the highly charged French with a try in the opening minute
before Rassie Erasmus sparked what was probably the crucial
counter when he intercepted the ball in the 15th minute.
Up to then the French seemed set to overwhelm the Boks as they
kept the ball moving but, when Erasmus sparked what was probably
the crucial counter when he intercepted the ball in the 15th minute.
Up to then the French seemed set to overwhelm the Boks as
they kept the ball moving but, when Erasmus ran the ball right up
to Frances 22m line before sending Rossouw away on his inside
for a try at the posts, one could sense the fight draining out of the
devastated Tricolores.
It was this sequence, one left, which signalled the new mood
among the Springboks because not too long ago a flanker finding
himself in Erasmuss situation might simply have hoofed the ball as
far away from his goalline as possible.
It must also not be forgotten that yesterdays illustrious victory
was achieved by a Springbok team minus such world-rated players
as Andre Joubert, Japie Mulder, Ruben Kruger and Joost van der
Westhuizen.
The tries will live in memory but the core of the win lies not in
quick legs and hands, but in the solid work done by the forwards in
winning and retaining the ball, as well as in South Africas enduring
qualities as the most ferocious tacklers in world rugby.
The Springboks took the quality of their scrummage up a few
notches, especially on their opponents put-in, and speed and
numbers to the breakdown meant that many promising French
movements were snuffed out at crucial moments.
It would be an aimless exercise to single out individuals in such
a performance. Suffice to say that every one of the Boks played a
role and that relative newcomers such as Rossouw, Montgomery,
Snyman, Swanepoel, Erasmus and Otto have shown that with the
right encouragement and methods, there is no need for South Africa
to stand back for the current standard bearers of world rugby, New
Zealand.
On can indeed start talking of a renaissance with the Springboks,
after rare back-to-back series victory against France, in France,
now boasting a tour Test record of three straight victories having
scored 150 points to the 73 of their opponents. Impressively, and
significantly, they have run up a try tally of 21 to seven.
JUBILEE-ACTION FOR BOKS!

26 July 1998
South Africa 13
New Zealand 3
ALL THE heart-thumping passion and tradition fostered in 49
previous Tests between these proud rugby nations came to bear
in the 50th jubilee encounter yesrerday when South Africa beat
their greatest rivals in a march of vivid intensity.
Remarkably, in a half-dozen visits to New Zealand dating
back 17 years, the Springboks had been unable to triumph; but
yesterday they repeated the heroix of the 1981 teams trip to
Athletic Park with a result that now makes them compelling
favourites for the Tri-Nations crown.
To win away is rare enough but to do so against a team of
New Zealands stature is doubly significant. The All Blacks
hadnt been beaten at home in four seasons, they hadnt scored
three points or fewer since losing to France in 1986, and they
were, by general consensus, the best team in the world.
The unusually soft wind and dry conditions should have suited
them, but it was the Boks day. Their reputation as the games
best defenders was underscored for the first 60 minutes and,
for the rest, their confidence and attacking flair shone through
with Pieter Rossouws steaming try in the 74 minute effectively
putting a seal on the result.
South Africas success also struck a psychological hammerblow
in their 77-year rivalry with New Zealand. Although the All
Blacks now just hold a one-game advantage in the head-tohead stakes, the Springboks yesterday regained their lead in
accumulated points, reeling in the men in black to take a 661657 advantage.
It was closely fought from beginning to end but all of New
Zealand will point to flyhalf Carlos Spencers despairing attempts
at goal as their major undoing. Five penalty misses from as many
attempts were a cruel return and proved critical.
Spencer was yanked off in the second half but replacement

Andrew Mehrtens class didnt produce the desire result as the
Bok forwards hit overdrive and the backs stuck to the gameplan
of attacking more in the latter stages.
Magically, the Boks prospered off scraps of possessions, but
were undoubtedly aided in their ambitions by a jittery All Black
backline given poor service from Justin Marshall.
This was only partly remedied by Junior Tonuus later
inclusion at scrumhalf. Added to the utterly inept midfield and
an uncommon lack of continuity, their loss of purpose and polish
was glaringly evident.
Jonah Lomu on the wing, however, proved to be their best
player with a number of damaging runs. Also, for once, he was
outstanding on defence.
New Zealands early ploy of involving their wings and
fullback in attacking forays from long range seemed an obvious
enough strategy, but the Bok defensive wall was as solid as ever
with Rossouw, in particular, showing winger Jeff Wilson little or
no respect.
Golden Boy was well shut out of the match by Rossouw,
who tied him up in tackles and simply refused to allow him the
space to crack on the pace.
Bar one deep kick by New Zealand that cruelly eluded him,
fullback Percy Montgomery was spot-on with his positional play
and ran hard at the All Blacks to emphatically disprove their
theory that he might prove a weakness. There was little wrong
with his tackling either, and in heroic instance he dragged Taine
Randell down when the All Black captain looked certain to score.
For all New Zealands advantage in possession and territory
in the first half, their option-taking and handling was woeful and
the Boks were quick to pounce on the smallest errors.

The narrow halftime score in favour of the Boks was indicative
of the firm all-round defence, especially in South Africas midfield
where Pieter Muller cut everything down.
South Africa, though, were fortunate that a poor late clearance
by Joost van der Westhuizen wasnt punished. Wilson initially
seemed to score after the scrumhalf s mishit hoist, but the ball
appeared to scrape the deadball line when he grounded it.
South Africa surrendered Snyman to injury at halftime
and Mark Andrews and Robbie Kempson followed soon after,
although their absence only served to strengthen the teams
resolve.
Krynauw Otto was fabulous in the lineouts where SA
poached three opposition balls and the tight-loose contribution
of forwards James Dalton, Adrian Garvey and Andre Venter
revealed the steely inner Bok spirit.
New Zealand werent without their heroes. With players like
Lomu, Josh Kronfeld and Michael Jones putting in some terrific
hits on the likes of Van Der Westhuizen, Terblanche and Muller,
the odds on a try-free match must have been good.
But the Boks proved their masters late in the match when
Honiball signalled a move involving a double swivel pass. Van
der Westhuizen made the pass off scrumball and ran the decoy.
Honiballs dummy called the Kiwis bluff, the second proper
pass giving Rossouw space outside his shoulder to score beneath
the woodwork for 16th try in just 17 Tests.
I knew then that the game was in the bag, said an ecstatic
Rossouw in the warm afterglow of a historic victory that will be
talked about even after these two teams have added another 50
Tests to their epic rivalry.
ALL BLACKS STUNED BY LAST-GASP TRY

Dan Retief
6 August 1998
South Africa 24
New Zealand 23
THE RECORD is square again. South Africas stunning fight
back in the final 15 minutes of a dramatic rugby Test yesterday
means the tally between the Springboks and the All Blacks is tied
at 24 victories apiece, with three drawn.
After the unhappy winters of 1996 and 1997, the Springboks
consigned the All Blacks on their fourth successive defeat as, for
the first time since 1976, they registered back-to-back victories
over their old rivals.
Few of the 51 Test matches between them, however, could have
been as exciting as this pulsating game which, for 65 agonising
minutes, seemed a lost cause.
Fittingly, it was Gary Teichmann, a captain who has had a
long struggle to gain national respect, who provided the heroic
example which galvanised the side to change to the victory which
will be burnished in the minds of the 52 000 sellout crowd.
For Teichmann, playing in his 33rd consecutive international
and with 28, closing in on Francois Pienaars record 29 as South
Africas most capped skipper, it was his first victory at his home
ground.
The match also provided a happy anniversary for Mark
Andrews. Although the big lock forward left the action in the
72nd minute after turning in his best performance of the year,
he watched as his record 48th Test appearance ended in victory.
It was as unlikely to win as one will ever experience. After 65
minutes, when Andrew Mehrtens kicked his third penalty to
stretch the All Blacks lead to 23-5. It seemed the desperation of
an embattled team would carry the day.
The visitors had responded with grit and determination to
the setback of Stephan Terblanche scoring a try after just two
minutes as first Percy Montgomery sent Eroni Clarke flying in
the tackle before the Bok winger burst through Christian Cullens
enveloping arms.
The All Blacks riposte was ominous. setting a pattern which
would persist for most of the match, they dispossessed the
Springboks and quickly swung the ball to Jonah Lomu on the left,
There is no more awesome sight than the big Tongan in full
flight. He brushed passed Terblanche, was slowed up just enough
by Montgomerys brave attempted tackle to be stopped by Rassie
Erasmus and Andre Venter, but not before he had flung the ball
to the inside where Justin Marshall controlled the ball soccer-style
and ran it down to score,
Mehrtens kicked the conversion and the All Blacks grew in
confidence. Their recycling was quick and confident.
The Springboks were making too many errors and when the
All Blacks scored their second try in the 23rd minute, it had a
touch of inevitably. Eighthman Isotolo Maka took a 22m dropout, drove it up himself and then stood out to crash through
before feeding his captain Randell for the run-in-to the posts.
One sensed the Boks might be left with too much to do if
the All Blacks could mount another try before the changeover,
but the best they could do was a penalty by Mehrtens to go to
halftime 17-5 to the good.
The Springboks had the advantage to the wind but the second
half got off to the demoralising start when once too often, the
home forwards failed to deal with a kick-off, were forced into
committing a foul to try to stop the turnover and Mehrtens
stretched the lead to 20-5.
The match seemed to be sliding away. The penalty kicked to
the corner failed to provide a try and Mehrtens kicked another
penalty to make the gap a seemingly insurmountable 18 points.
Imperceptibly at first and then more definitely, the tide was
turning. The Springboks ball retention improved dramatically
and coach Nick Malletts substitutions started to pay off.

Bobby Skinstad had come on for Krynauw Otto at halftime
and in the 53rd minute, Ollie le Roux was sent on to relieve
Adrian Garvey of the torrid working over he was taking from
Carl Hoerft.
Rob Kempson went to tight-head. Le Roux to loose, Andre
Venter settle in at lock. Things were looking up. Sixty-six minutes
and Franco Smith was on for Andre Snyman and Andrew Aitken
took over from Erasmus. Mallett had played the winning cards.
Teichmann instructed Montgomery to once again kick a
penalty to the corner and the captain himself rose to take the ball
and set up a rolling maul. James Dalton appeared on the side and
cleverly, instead of putting his head down and driving, he slipped
the ball to Joost van der Westhuizen, who burst through to score
at the posts.
Suddenly, the Boks were holding their passes, instead of their
hit-ups looking like dodgem cars the ball was being slipped away,
switches were taking place and it was staying with the team.
The next try was the kind scored only by a confident team.
With Skinstad, the scorer, and Aitken prominent, the ball was
taken through seven phases.
And how the All Blacks fought to halt and inexplicable run
of defeats. But the Sprinboks were showing the hard-nosed
determination and solidity in the scrum which will be necessary
against the Wallabies.
When Terblanche was late-tackled by Lomu, Teichmann
called up Henry Honiball to set up a bridgehead near the corner.
Otto rose to take the ball and, as the forwards massed for the
shove, it was the terrier-like Dalton who forced the touchdown to
clinch a famous victory.
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SPRINGBOKS FALL AT THE FINAL HURDLE

Dan Retief
6 December 1998
England 13
South Africa 7
FOR THREE successive Saturdays the warning lights had been
flashing and yesterday Twickenham proved a bridge too far for the
Springboks as they lost the chance of claiming a unique record by
going down to England.
Historically there has never been much to separate South Africa
and New Zealand and yesterdays result means the Springboks will
have to be satisfied with sharing with the All Blacks the world mark
of 17 consecutive victories ... just as they are tied at 24 victories
apiece, with three draws, since they first began hostilities in 1921.
But yesterdays test was not about the All Blacks. It was about
England, a committed, rugged, focussed England who thoroughly
deserved to emerge victorious in a game which resembled rugby
of a few years ago when scores were low and forwards won Test
matches.
The Springbok pack had appeared vulnerable in each of the
three Tests on the road to Twickenham and Englands forwards took
advantage emphatically. They were technically superior in the set
phases, stronger in the mauls and exercised such a grip on the ball
that the Springboks this time were unable to do their Houdini act.
It would be churlish to allow the disappointment of defeat to sour
a wonderful achievement by the Boks in settling an unprecedented
run of victories, but the impression remains that coach Nick Mallett
might have erred in not reinforcing his pack when especially Wales,
Scotland and Ireland daubed foreboding messages on the walls of
Wembley, Murrayfield and Lansdowne Road.
Without ascendancy in the forwards, South Africas glittering
array of attacking backs were rendered pedestrian taking the ball
standing still, lacking momentum in the hit-up and struggling to
cross the advantage line.
It might have been better to rejig the Boks front row by using Toks
van der Linde as loosehead from the start, with Robbie Kempson
in the No 3 jersey, while yesterday might have been the time to start
with Andre Venter in Mark Andrews No 5 jersey. Certainly, the
contribution made by Tim Rodber for England would have given
Venter an example of just what can be achieved in a lower number.

If the team were finally unable to rise above the continued
tendency of the Springbok forwards to fail to impose themselves,
another tactic that of eschewing kickable penalties also cost the
Boks dearly.
Gary Teichmann chose to either kick to the corner, scrum or
run five penalties which might, to greater profit, have been aimed
at the posts. When Percy Montgomery was finally instructed to go
for a three-pointer it came in the 77th minute when the match was
slipping away and the pressure was intense although he should not
have missed this particular effort.
England were superbly marshalled by Lawrence Dallaglio while
his fellow Lions, Martin Johnson, Richard Hill and Neil Back,
revelled once again in putting one over the Boks.
This, too, was true of Jeremy Guscott, a man who seems to
reserve his best for when he plays against South Africa.
He constantly troubled a Bok back line too eager to make big
hits and his try, after supporting Dan Luger as the winger leapt to
gain control of a cleverly weighted corner kick by Mike Catt, will sit
nicely in the trophy cabinet alongside the dropped goal with which
he helped the Lions to win the series in Durban.
In another match in which the Springboks conceded far too
many penalties (21-14 to England), the statistics revealed Englands
comprehensive dominance. They were well up as regards ball
retention with impressive mauling, at one stage rumbling along for
20 metres with the Boks helpless (other than by conceding a penalty)
to stop them.
Against a team as well versed in the art of scrimmaging and
slowing down the call you cannot trail 21-12 in the scrum count and
expect to remain competitive. That England managed to win by so
small a margin in denying the Boks a Grand Slam was down to a
mostly ordinary set of backs (with fullback Nick Beal a particular
culprit) unable to really trouble the Boks cover.
In fact, how Dallaglio and company must long to have runners
such as Van der Westhuizen, Snyman, Rossouw and Montgomery

behind them.
This probably accounts for why the home skipper briefly went
and stood at centre during a spate of second-half substitutions. It
was almost as if he was trying to say to his men: See, this is how it
is done.
Until the England forwards managed to apply their strangle-hold
it had seemed quite promising for the Springboks in spite of the
fact that Joost van der Westhuizen, in his 50th Test, made the kind of
handling errors which were a characteristic of the start of all three
the other internationals.
Sparked by Catt missing touch, Van der Westhuizen spun a long
pass into centre-field to Bobby Skinstad. The flanker sublimely
moved the ball on to Pieter Rossouw and the big left wing made the
hapless Beal appear to be rooted to the spot as he sped in from 40
metres to score his 18th try in 23 Tests.
It all seemed so simple. Perhaps too simple, for it seemed the
Springboks, along with their many fans, were lulled into the belief
that the English would be an easy touch.
Unfortunately, the men in white did not subscribe to this
impression. They knuckled down to the task of denying the
Springboks the ball and Guscotts try seven minutes later was the
result of a compelling period of sustained pressure, sparked by the
centre himself as he slipped through a gap.
Having clearly spotted the Springboks tendency to defend very
flat, Catts kick onto Terblanche was a beauty. The South African
wing elected to go for the tackle and not the ball and Luger made an
excellent catch before unloading to Guscott looping around.
These were to be the only tries of a match which settled into a
war of attrition between the forwards and, try as they might, the
Boks could just not get good enough ball enough of the time to write
their names in history.
VIVE LES BOKS
Bonny Schoonakker and Dan Retief

24 October 1999
BOK MAGIC has overwhelmed Paris, the setting today for
arguably the most important clash between England and
South Africa since the Boer War.
Encouraged by a surge in support both from supporters
back home and in France, Bok captain Joost van der
Westhuizen yesterday recalled South Africas warlike past
when considering his teams chances against the English.
South Africa is a very competitive country everyone had
had to fight to come out on top, he told a press conference.
In a similar mood is coach Clive Woodwards determined
English side, who arrived in Paris on Thursday with many
of them licking their wounds from their ferocious play-off
against Fiji.
But Paris clearly prefers les Boks, and baffled officials at the
French Rugby Federation have been overwhelmed by a late
surge in demand from Parisians for tickets to the quarterfinal.
According to Cecile Durand, a spokesman for the Ligue
Nationalse de Rugby, the federations ticket-selling subsidiary,
all tickets for the game at the 77836-seat Stade de France
have been sold out mostly to French rugby supporters.
Earlier in the week, the federation had complained
that there appeared to be little support in France for the
tournament, partly as a result of Frances lack-lustre
performance.
However, the Bok presence in Paris this week has helped
to change all that, and Durand said about half the tickets for
the match had been sold to French supporters by the end of
the week. The remainder have been taken up by English and
South African fans, some of them paying up to five times the
cover price of 250 to 600 francs (about R250 to R600).
With Five Nations rivalries ensuring French fans will
support South Africa rather then England, the Springboks
can look forward to being cheered on by almost threequarters of the crowd in the vast stadium a boost not lost
on Van der Westhuizen.
People have been coming up to us in the street and telling
us to go fo it, to beat the English, he said.
In addition to the French backing, the Bok teams morale
had also been lifted by their supporters back in South Africa,
where, it had been felt by the team, support had tailed off
following their disappointing performances earlier in the
tournament.
Van der Westhuizen thanked fans at home for their
belated support. Ive received about 500 e-mails and faxes
alone, said the Bok skipper.
Van der Westhuizen said their traditional disciplinary
hearing in Glasgow turned into one of the best, most
honest meetings I have attended, and confirmed that an
important gathering took place in Paris on Monday during
which some straight talking was done with coach Nick
Mallett about team tactics.
Its been a time for us to look in the mirror and take
responsibility. It was not a question of unhappiness, just
a communication gap probably caused by our various
languages.
Van der Westhuizen described this afternoons game as
the most important of my career. Weve worked for two or
three years to get here and were not going to let it slip now.
Since weve been in Paris and started to feel a part of the
World Cup, our attitude has changes.
The scrumhalf, who is his countrys second most-capped
player and holds the record of 28 tries scored, said he
believed the game against England will be won or lost by the
forwards.
BRAVE BOKS DROP OUT

Dan Retief
31 October 1999
South Africa 21
Australia 27
AMID SCENES uncannily reminiscent of the 1995 final, the
Springboks fought for their lives in the Rugby World Cup here
yesterday.
It was a semifinal, and the rain began to pour down. The
match was forced into extra time with the albatross of a sendingoff wheeling over the heads of the South Africans. The score even
hovered on 15-12 for a while and then there was a dropped goal.
Only this time we werent in fantasy land. The points were
scored by the other team and it was the Wallabies who knocked
the Sprinboks out of the tournament.
And let it be said right up front. the better team won. The
Australians were always a touch more composed, their handling
markedly more secured, their play more inventive, their occupation
of field position more dominant and the weighting of their chipand-grubber-kicks more telling.
So it will be the Wallabies, by emulating their countrys
cricketers feat of prevailing in an extraordinary World Cup
semifinal at Edbaston, who will be at the Millennium Stadium in
Cardiff on Saturday waiting to play the winners of this afternoons
other semifinal between New Zealand and France.
The Springboks will also be going to Cardiff but not to be part
of the closing ceremony. On Thursday night the now-completed
stadium where their year started to go sour when, in June, they lost
for the first time ever to Wales, they will take on the losers of todays
game to decide third and fourth positions in the tournament.
Thus they will not be able to relax. Although IRB officials
appear to make up the rules as they go, final placings could have a
vital bearing on seedings for the 2003 World Cup when it is held
in Australia and New Zealand.
Yesterday the commitment of the Springboks could not be
questioned as they strove to become the first team to retain the
Webb Ellis Cup. What could be faulted was their approach.
The fear one had after that freakish quarterfinal in Paris was
that the Springboks would be lulled into believing that they had
found a winning formula that they would not only try for too
many drops, but that they would instruct De Beer to kick the
dimple pattern off the ball.
And, in language this extremely religious group of men will
understand it came to pass. There were long periods of the game
that the Bok forwards were in the ascendancy but behind the
forwards they lacked neither the gumption nor the vision to do
anything beyond the crash, the pass back or the long kick, although
Joost van der Westhuizen did at times cleverly manipulate the
oppositions fear of the drop kick.
But this was Australia, not England. Whereas the English
played into the hands of the Springboks by simply kicking the ball
back, the Wallabies had runners such as Matthew Burke and Joe
Rolf who could run it back or seek out support.
The Aussies, too, brought their admirable handling skills to
bear when it mattered. Their changes of direction or angle often
troubled the Boks, they concentrated on not giving away too many
scrummages even though their front row stood up unexpectedly
well and in Tim Horan they had the games supreme craftsman.
Horan has written the manual on inside-centre play and he
often had the Springboks at sixes-and-sevens with his powerful
cut-backs often changing the angle of putting himself inside the
tackler even before he received the ball.
If the Australians deserved to win it was down to one awesome
passage of play during which they re-cycled the ball an astonishing
18 times before Van der Westhuizen and Pieter Rossouw stopped
George Gregan just short of the line.
Although this move ended with Gregan being penalised for
holding on, this concerted build-up, in essence, was the difference
between the two teams. Whereas the Boks lacked the patience,
or the confidence, to take the ball through multiple phases, the
Aussies retention was superb, and often, resulted in the South
Africans having to concede penalties.
It is a measure of the Wallabies territorial ascendancy that the
longest of Burkes eight penalties was from 42 metres with five

kicks being taken from inside the 22m line. Too much of the game
was played in front of the Springbok posts with the Wallabies
creating many more potentially try-scoring opportunities.
In retrospect the game slipped inexorably away from South
Africa during a crucial 10 minutes of the second half . In the
59th, De Beer dropped away a ball which simply had to be moved
(yesterday his record was one out of five attempts). Ollie le Roux
gave away a turnover under the Wallaby posts in the 63rd, Van der
Westhuizen just could not link up after Fleck had wriggled clear
in the 65th, Naka Drotske committed a crooked lineout throw
in 66th, Pieter Rossouw tried to run, and was caught instead of
passing infield to Montgomy in the 67th and in the 69th Burke
gave his team back the lead at 15-12.
Errors win matches for the other side.
No one tried harder than Andre Venter, South Africas most
consistent, most reliable and most respected player, with Mark
Andrew, Krynauw Otto, Os du Randt, Van der Westhuizen, Pieter
Muller and Percy Montgomery (how well he has played in difficult
conditions) not far behind.
It has to be said that Malletts grand obsession with Bob
Skinstad was a failure.
The young No 8 had big shoes to fill in the specific role to play
but the nature of World Cup rugby coupled to the style the coach
was forced to adopt just did not suit him.
In the end the killer blow came in the third minute of the
second spell of extra time when Stephen Larkam, who had been
quoted during the week as saying that a drop-kick seems an
unsatisfactory way to win a match slotted one from 41 metres
to make imperative to South Africa to score a try. The rules of
the tournament prescribe that if the teams could not be separated
through tries Brendan Venters sending-off against Uruguay would
come in to play.
As it is written, you live by the sword, you die by the sword.
HEROES TO THE LAST DROP

Bonny Schoonakker and Clinton van der Berg
31 October 1999
South Africa 21
Australia 27
AFTER ANOTHER day of excruciating tension, the
Springbok rugby team fell agonisingly short of winning
through to the Wold Cup final, losing 27-21 to Australia at
a rain-soaked Twickenham yesterday.
A last-gasp drop goal in extra time by Stephen Larkham
gave the Wallabies the edge, only for them to rub salt into
the wounds with a late penalty before 73000 supporters,
among them Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sport Minister
Ngconde Balfour.
The difference, said Nick Mallett, was that they
kicked a 40-yard drop goal when we wanted to. The mood
in the change room is one of disappointment, but it was a
fantastic game. The team, didnt let themselves down, they
have nothing to be ashamed of.
The Boks were gracious losers and took a post-game jog
around the field to thank the thousands of South Africans
who had come out to support them.
We are always humble in victory, now we must be
humble in defeat, said captain Joost van der Westhuizen,
whose darting breaks threatened to unhinge the Australian
defence.
Asked about Larkhams dramatic gamebreaker, Mallett
admitted he had been surprised by the drop kick. The irony
is that Larkhams response during the week to a question
about South Africas quarterfinal defeat of England was
that there are more satisfying ways to win a game an
undisguised snipe at Jannie de Beers five-kick sweep.

Proof of the drama is reflected in the scoresheet. Neither
team was able to scare a try.
We cant blame anybody for this result, said Van der
Westhuizen, maybe just the bounce of the ball...
SA fans were dejected as dreams of recapturing the
magic of 1995 were drowned out by cries of Ozzie, Ozzie,
Ozzie from the minority of Australian supporters who
watched the game at Twickenham.
There was no game plan, said former Springbok
James Dalton, also in the dejected throngs heading for the
stadiums exit after the game. Even the ever self-assured
politician Bantu Holomisa, one of many recognisable
South Africans in the crowd, looked dejected.
An estimated 8 500 fans flew to London this week in
time for yesterdays game, many of whom already have in
their hands a ticket to Saturdays final in Cardiff.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the mood among SA
supporters had been elated, with shouts of Bokke, Bokke
resonating across Heathrows Terminal 1 as six plane-loads
of SA fans over-whelmed the arrivals hall.
SA Airways cabin crew helped their rugby-bound
passengers reach the festive heights by wearing green-andgold rugby jerseys with the word crew emblazoned on
their backs.
SPRINGBOKS ARE BACK WITH A VENGEANCE

Clinton Van Den Berg
20 August 2000
South Africa 46
New Zealand 40
FORGET THE beer. This left a taste that will stand the test of
time.
In a match that could have been pulled from the theatre of
the bizarre, Nick Malletts maligned Springboks first toyed with
the All Blacks and then threatened to give the game away before
holding on to snatch a 10-try thriller that ranks with their greatest
feats ever.
Australia and New Zealand had set the standard with two epic
contests earlier in the Tri-Nations and finally it was South Africa
who crashed the party with a memorable contribution that has
taken the series onto another plane.
Amid a febrile atmosphere, the Boks responded magnificently
to end a four-match losing streak by scoring more points in a Test
against New Zealand than any team in history.
Mallett will undoubtedly feel vindicated, but he cannot
dispute that this victory was bulit on the old-fashioned tenets of
unremitting forward play, a blood-and-guts defence and a high
retention count. This was old Bok rugby with a bit on the new
mixed in.
New Zealand had arrived at the Ellis Park bearpit with
everything in their favour, but South Africa played as only they
can when their back are up against the wall.
They knocked the All Blacks over with big tackles and cleaned
them out, they defended nearly perfectly and they cleared the
rucks with the touch of a scalpel. And they scored a half-dozen
tries after having been unable to manage one in 218 minutes
previously.
The result may yet save Malletts hide, but there were aslo
others who deserved to feel smug last night. Robbie Fleck, who
has endured a moth of hell, was a revelation at inside centre. He
was the perfect executioner, either ripping through the All Black
backs or laying up the ball for his teammates to run off.
Johan Erasmus, back from injury, was magnificent, as was
Werner Swanepoel. But if you had to award a prize for honest
endeavour, to someone who exemplified the very heart of the
Springboks effort, it was that grandmaster Mark Andrews.
For all this, this was less a match about individuals than it was
a collective triumph. Andre Vos had spoken effusively about their
passion for their jersey and his words finally rung true last night.
The All Blacks are a fine team and they may still win the TriNations but they failed because they were not able to kill of the
Springboks resilience.
Twice they took the lead in the second-half and twice they
allowed the Boks to find a way back in. Unusually for a New
Zealand side, they lacked the imagination to vary their play when
two raids on the South African line yielded nothing in the second
half.
There was some dodgy ball handling and in one memorable
instance, a terrific turnover when Swanepoels tackle on Justin
Marshall dislodged the ball. Ollie le Roux took it up and Fleck
broke through Taine Randells grasp for his second try in the
opening half.
It was an extraordinary first 40 minutes. Chester Williams got
the ball rolling with a try constructed from first-phase; Fleck cut
in between Mehrtens and Pita Alatini after two big Bok hit-ups
for his start: he managed another from a turn-over.
But they were not done, Corne Krige charged upfield and set
Breyton Paulse off before the bruisers arrived to set up the ruck
and sent Swanepoel on his way.
Thinus Delport then gave the scoreline a surreal edge with his
try, taking it to 33-13.
A measure of the potential All Black danger was provided by
the fact that although they played the worst half-hour of rugby
they have all year, they arrived at half-time only six points adrift.
Tana Umaga and Christian Cullen each ran in late tries to put
the early South African celebratory beers on ice.
The gods, or at least referee Andrew Cole, seemed determined
to deny South Africa, however, when early in the second half
Paulse was adjudged to have knocked on when replayes showed
he had not.
The All Blacks won the ensuing scrum before Cullen got
outside Fleck and beat Delport to the line. There were still two
points down, but then Mehrtens penalty in the 55th minute gave
them the lead for the first time.
The drama was not over, Braam van Straaten regained the
lead with a second penalty only for it to be cancelled out by a
Mehrtens drop-goal. The tension was unbearable.
Somehow the Boks maintained their composure in a final,
desperate surge that saw Swanepoel get the matchwinner after
replacement John Smit had driven it up.
There was thunder in the air and pride in our hearts. The
Boks are back.
BOKS BOUNCE BACK

29 July 2001
South Africa 20
Australia 15
A DEFIANT Springbok team yesterday turned the established
order upside down with a pugnacious performance against the
world champion Wallabies. Driven on by a heroic set of forwards
in their 99th Test since readmission, South Africa outmuscled
and outplayed the Australians to the point where their ambitions
were almost completely stifled. Helped in no small measure
by the elegant place-kicking of Braam van Straaten, the Boks
established a solid lead and then held on grimly as the Australians
fought their way back into the match.
With Loftus bathed in a sea of green, a mood of expectancy
hung heavily in the air. The Boks were not to disappoint. They hit
hard in the first scrum and thereafter they harried the Aussies all
day, deeply aware throughout of the visitors ability to fight back.
Australias rhythm was unhinged in the early stages and their
long-held virtue of patience wasnt on show yesterday. In the worst
such example, David Giffin rammed home an elbow into Robbie
Flecks face with all the subtlety of a sledge-hammer. Last night,
the Australian lock was cited by the independent commissioner
for this wanton act of violence.
The Boks played the percentages well and held sway in the
forward exchanges. However, much of the Australian play was
execrable. They have dropped miles down from the high of the
Lions series, although perhaps we should not have been surprised:
the Tri-Nations is played so frequently it cant compare in status
or import to a top-level series. But this wasnt South Africas fault.
All they could do was play the team before them. Australia have
only ever won a single game on the highveld dating back to 1933,
but allied to this apparent psychological block was their decision
to arrive in South Africa only late on Tuesday. They adopted
any number of scientific methods to help them acclimatise and
prepare for the alien conditions, but this had no marked effect for
they looked sluggish and lacked their usual edge. They initially got
the ball quickly through the hands and it seemed only a matter of
time before they would crack the Boks open. Fat chance.
The Bok defence was superior to last week even and players like
Van Straaten, Conrad Jantjes, Andr Vos and Robbie Fleck got
through a remarkably high number of tackles. The Boks enjoyed
majority possession and with the Bok forwards plundering their
way onwards and upwards, holes began to appear in the normally
rock-solid Aussie defensive line.
The Boks had a tantalising early chance when Breyton
Paulse broke out from deep and linked with Bob Skinstad and
Joost van der Westhuizen, but hopes were dashed when the
movement eventually broke down at Van Straaten. Van Straatens
disappointment was etched all over his face, but minutes earlier he
had geed up the crowd with a sweetly-struck penalty, awarded for
Australian lineout interference. It wasnt the most difficult of kicks,
but in the context of South Africas recent experiences, it came as
a massive fillip. South Africa had many heroes yesterday. Jantjes
had a big game. He gave a stirring demonstration of assertiveness
at the back and his kicking out of hand was masterful.
Van Straaten may play like Mister Plod, but he, too, did his job
by kicking his goals and making his tackles. And Skinstad more
than atoned for last weeks fumbles with an exquisite try and a
command performance in the lineouts that included seven clear
wins and a poach off the opposition. Van der Westhuizen had
the kind of game that first made him famous all those years ago
at his beloved Loftus. And again, Lukas van Biljon brought his
unique brand of chainsaw to the party by chopping down a few
okes. SA were perhaps fortunate to have a nine-point advantage
heading towards halftime, what with Matt Burke having missed

two penalties and Toutai Kefu having been mowed down near
the line.
Having hit the ball up repeatedly, South Africa established a
ruck on the Australian 22m line just before halftime. The ball
spewed out to Van der Westhuizen and he popped it up for
Skinstad, racing in at full pace. Australia were left for dead and
South Africas captain had made the critical breakthrough for his
team.
Much of the second half was a battle of wits. The Aussies
came out firing and soon had their first points through a pair
of penalties by Burke. With the Boks winning the physical
battle, their penchant for self-destruction seemed only a remote
possibility. Indeed, the Australians didnt play very smartly and
promptly gave the game away by conceding penalties in their
half. Not very clever with Van Straaten having honed his kicking
game at this very stadium.
The Wallabies narrowed the gap to five points with a couple
more penalties, but their attempts at scoring a try were snuffed
out as the Boks tore into them. They never quite found the halfgap and too often the attacking players were too isolated to make
it count. SA could really have stuck it to them had Jantjess chip
n chase resulted in something more spectacular than Butch
James fluffing his good intentions by punting. Van Straatens fifth
penalty effectively made the game safe.
The Boks now take a break, notwithstanding a bizarre request
by their provinces for them to play Currie Cup next weekend.
Only in South Africa.
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FINALLY, PAY-DAY FOR SPRINGBOKS

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
18 August 2002
South Africa 33
Australia 31
WERNER GREEFF will probably play many more tests in what
should be an assured future on the international stage, but never will
he involve himself in something as heart-stopping as this.
Pressed into sometime service, he and Brent Russell alternated
roles in the flyhalf role made vacant by Andr Pretorius injury on
Friday night. Greeff just shaded the entire Springbok team for the
headlines when he scored at the death of South Africa and Australias
Tri-Nations closing match.
The Stormers utility back ferociously hit the gap close to the
Australians line, way after the hooter, to score the game-equalling
try, before calmly dusting himself off to make the matchwinning
conversion to lead the Boks to an unimagined 33-31 victory.
Greeffs injury-time showstopper was a fitting end to a match
which found itself a place in the all-time classics archives. The game
had it all: passionate defence, outrageously slick attack, a sending off,
and above all, the refusal to give up by both teams.
Ellis Park, isnt it always, was again treated to the real thing as
South Africa squeaked into a game they seemed to have thrown
away with a listless second-half performance. In the end, the home
teams scoring five tries to three finally gave them a victory which
had to date cruelly eluded them.
The four-game whitewash was avoided, and most importantly,
Rudolf Straeulis reign as an international coach began officially
with a victory over one of the rugby powers, the world champions
no less.
What will have pleased Straeuli, a man hell-bent on the ideal of
teamwork, is the astounding contributions of every single one of his
player towards yesterdays famous victory. But he should also thank
the Australians, kings at the last-chance saloon stuff, for making his
team earn the victory, leaving the indelible mark of what it is they
should strive for.
The Boks gameplan seemed simple enough: engineer forward
momentum by interspersing the backs with Willie Meyer, AJ Venter
and Jannes Labuschagne.
The untimely loss of regular flyhalf Andr Pretorius, who injured
his knee in the teams last practice, necessitated the tactic of playing
fullback Werner Greeff in the defensive role when the opposition

were on attack, with Brent Russell the preferred armoury when the
Springboks had the ball in hand.
While at times exploitable by the Wallabies probing kicks at
times due to its looseness, the negatives were by far outweighed by
the positives as the Boks kept the visitors in check with unyielding
defence and had an upper hand in the primary phases.
While it was the visitors who drew first blood through three Matt
Burke penalties due to infringements in the rucks, one always had
the impression that the weight of threat in the exchanges belonged
to the home team.
This was indeed rewarded by two fine converted tries by Breyton
Paulse and Brent Russell to give the Boks a 14-9 lead going into
the changing rooms, their first half-time lead in the Tri-Nations
competition this year.
As excellent as the tries were Paulses confirmed he was back and
Russells emphasised the arrival first intimated by his performance in
Brisbane a few weeks back the real drama was reserved for the
theatre that became Ellis Park in the second half.
First there had seemed no letting up from the Boks in the
beginning of the half as Paulse cantered in with a three-man overlap
outside him in the 42nd minute. The try was again courtesy of the
Springboks stringing together phases, with Lawrence Sephaka and
Labuschagne most prominent in the driving department, to suck in
the much-vaunted Aussie defence.
This stung Gregans charges into the kind of proactive play
lacking in their first half display as they then upped their urgency to
camp in the Boks half for the remainder of the next quarter.
The crucial moment came a few minutes later in the 47th
minute, when Wallaby eighthman Toutai Kefu was adjudged by the
television official to have simultaneously dislodged the corner flag in
attempting to ground the ball, robbing the Aussies of an opportunity
to gain swift results for their first signs of inflicting pressure.
As cruel as that sequence of events was the Springboks ultimate
response must have been even more gut-wrenching as Joe van
Niekerk ended the siege with a scintillating try in the 61st minute.
The Boks had found themselves with an overlap deep inside their
own half, moving the ball through the hands with lightning speed,
leaving acting captain Bob Skinstad to make the final pass to Van
Niekerk, who put on the afterburners down the left wing for the
unconverted try.
With the score an imposing 26-9 with just a quarter of play
remaining that should have been Eddie Jones charges for the day,
but theres always more to these Aussies, isnt there?
First it was Chris Lathams substitute Mat Rogers who struck
back with a converted try for the visitors three minutes later, with
Kefu following suit just five minutes later. Where the Boks were solid
in the scrum, unstinting in defence in the first half, they were now
positively shirking those virtuous duties with the Aussies coming at
them with everything in their tank.
Another shift in the balance of power was the Boks inability to
get their hands on the ball with anything close to the efficiency of the
first half due to captain Corn Kriges having been taken off early in
the half due to injury.
Indeed where the Australian substitutions seemed to be yielding
the desired impetus, the Boks merely looked to have disrupted the
rhythm.
Sensing the disarray within the enemy camp, Gregan used referee
Paddy OBriens call for advantage to tie the scores at 26-all with a
cheeky drop-kick. OBrien soon engineered the games next dramatic
moment by ordering centre Marius Joubert off the field (red card)
for a high tackle on Rogers from the restart with just 10 minutes
remaining.
While the home team were still reeling from that, George Smith
twisted the knife further by gathering an overshot Bok line-out at the
back and going on a weaving 40-metre run, with substitute hooker
Brendan Cannon on hand to finish the move for what seemed an
inevitable five-point lead.
But then came Greeff to usher in the next act of the Green and
Gold and save them from the uncomfortable jaws of ignominy.
SA SIDE A FLAT, PASSIVE AND HESITANT LETDOWN
Simnikiwe Xabanisa
9 November 2003
New Zealand 29
South Africa 9
IN THE end, the Springboks Rugby World Cup can be judged

on failing to pull off the ones that mattered as they surrendered
a proud tournament record by losing to New Zealand in a game
that promised so much and delivered so little.
With the hugely billed revenge pool game against England
eventually comfortably lost, the Boks followed suit in their next
crucial match by exiting the World Cup at the quarterfinals
stage for the first time since they were invited back into the
international fold eight years ago. Perhaps the fear of losing grew
with the magnitude of the moment, but it did not even look to
be survival the Boks were playing for under the covered Telstra
Dome Stadium in a dreary game marred by mistakes on both
sides.
So much for the biggest quarterfinal game. The 40000 who
eventually turned up had been promised the raw passion, power
and intensity of South Africa against the All Blacks unchained
guile, pace and showmanship.
What a letdown.
To win this game, South Africa had to dominate the New
Zealand pack, frustrate their gifted runners with unnerving
defence, take their opportunities and, most importantly, maintain
patience when the tide predictably went against them.
Instead of blasting out of the blocks, the Boks froze under
the searching glare of the stadium floodlights. The in-your-face
intensity was not evident as they appeared two paces slower than
the opposition. Suddenly, the most passionate team in the world
was flat, passive and hesitant.
The immediate result was that the New Zealand scrum
dominated what had been the most feared pack in the
tournaments first round. That done, the defence (they missed

38 tackles in the end) buckled as they frequently missed first-time
tackles or fell off them.
Believe it or not, opportunities did come, but Joost van der
Westhuizen and Ashwin Willemse got in each others way on the
stroke of half time. In the second half, Jorrie Muller chose to die
with the ball instead of feeding a clear Van der Westhuizen inside
him, and prop Christo Bezuidenhout was bundled into touch by
backline players Justin Marshall and Joe Rokocoko just inches
from the All Black tryline.
With the bread and butter aspects of their play rocked to their
foundations, patience, with the All Blacks wave upon swift wave
of attacks coming their way, was always going to be a difficult
character trait to summon, especially for such an inexperienced
lot.
When the Boks did seem red-blooded in their actions and
intent (basically in the second half), an error, which almost always
ended up with points inthe wrong direction, allowed the All
Blacks respite.
Aaron Maugers drop-goal to take the score to 16-6 in the
second half came from Mullers failure to put Van der Westhuizen
away, while hooker Keven Mealamus try in the 58th minute was
courtesy of the Boks surging upfield only to lose the ball. And so
on and so on.
Flyhalf Derick Hougaard, cast unfairly in the role of saviour
for the Boks, showed his youth as, confronting his idol Carlos
Spencer, he missed tackles, took wrong options, and found the
most dangerous back three on the planet every time he attempted
a touchfinder.
Players who could hold their heads up high from this game are
lock Bakkies Botha and fullback Jaco van der Westhuyzen.
Botha was tireless in his attempts to turn a tide that had long
turned against his side, filching the only stolen lineout ball on the
night.
Van der Westhuyzen was the onlyone who got angry at how
his teammates lay down for the All Blacks, taking dangerously
placed up-and-unders and trying to spark those outside him with
spirited counter-attacks.
For the All Blacks, the pack, given a hard edge by the return
of lock Chris Jack, was monumental. If the opposition had
devoured the other packs, they did not make an impression on
the All Blacks.
In the loose, Mealamu was a tower of strength, bowling the
bigger Bok forwards over with his low centre of gravity on the
run. Eighthman Jerry Collins had a stormer, engineering goforward ball almost at will against a defence that flinched when
he approached.
Spencer capitalised on the carnage up front to reveal his
full bag of tricks, breaking the line frequently and outrageously
throwing a pass through his legs that put Rokocoko away for his
16th try in 10 internationals.
And there were plenty of points the All Blacks left on the table
through final passes going astray.
In the end, winger Thinus Delport spoke for the whole Bok
team when asked what it felt like to be flattened by Collins. I felt
like I ran into a brick s**t house! he said.
Jaco van der Westhuyzen on the left and Bakkies Botha
BOKS TRAINED AT GUNPOINT

Clinton Van Der Berg and Edwin Lombard
16 November 2003
SPRINGBOK PLAYERS were forced to strip and were ordered
around at gunpoint in a bizarre effort to prepare them for the
Rugby World Cup.
Despite being sworn to secrecy, two players have talked about
the three-day Camp Staaldraad (Camp Steel Wire) that took
place at a location some two hours drive north of Pretoria in
September.
It was the brainchild of team security consultant Adriaan
Heijns, who owns a company that provides VIP bodyguards and
other security services.
SA Rugby has confirmed that his firm was paid R120 000 for
the three-day camp that started the evening the World Cup squad
was announced.
On arrival, the squad was met by former SA Police Services
Task Force members recruited by Heijns. The players were made
to strip naked and leopard-crawl across gravel before getting
dressed and repeating the exercise.
According to one Springbok, they were then taken into the
bush where, between 11.30pm and 6am, they did physical labour,
carrying tyres, poles and bags all branded with England and
New Zealand flags. Only those who excelled were allowed food
the next morning .
Later, the players were ordered naked into a freezing lake to
pump up rugby balls underwater.
Players who tried to get out, among them captain Corn
Krige, were allegedly pointed back at gunpoint.
Without divulging any details, Krige said in Cape Town on
Friday that there were certain parts of the camp that he would
recommend not be included in any future rugby training.
It was trial and error. You go through certain things and

decide these are good and these maybe arent that good. Most of
the stuff was really good for team spirit, he said.
That night, players were dropped off individually in the bush
to spend the night on their own. They were each given a chicken,
an egg and half a match with which to prepare a meal, which
they were told not to eat.
The next morning the eggs were broken on players heads to
test if they were cooked.
The players were paired off to box against each other,
apparently to earn respect.
Players were then given a chance to sleep, but were woken by
gunfire every 15 minutes.
The exercise in the water was repeated several times.
The players were later told to strip naked and climb into a
hole. There was little room for movement and recordings of the
English anthem and New Zealand haka played for hours. The
cover on the hole was periodically lifted and ice water thrown on
the men. They eventually burst into song, countering the haka
and English anthem with the SA anthem.
They spent the rest of the camp carrying out special task force
survival stunts like jumping into the lake from a helicopter.
Upon the teams return from the World Cup on Monday,
coach Rudolf Straeuli responded to a report by former team
media officer Mark Keohane about the camp: He wasnt there,
go and ask the players, it had great value. He [Keohane] does not
know much about scientific training.
Krige said: Some of the stuff you should never reveal. We
were put through mental and physical stuff but without each
other there was no way you could make it through that. And that
is what you need. That is the situation you want because then it
doesnt matter . . . the colour or the religion, nothing. You just
need your brother next to you to help you through that situation.
AND NOW FOR THE AUSSIES

15 August 2004
South Africa 40
New Zealand 26
AT LAST! The spell is broken. It has taken nine games over four
years, but the Springboks finally destroyed the old enemy with a
magnificent display at fortress Ellis Park yesterday.
Gone were the old fears and bogeys and in their place a mean
resolution that began the minute Jake White picked up the rotting
carcass of Springbok rugby in March.
The coach has done a mighty job, but his trick going into
this Test match was for fulfillment to match massive public
expectation. There had been progress before yesterday, but what
was required was a tangible result against a rugby giant. It came
yesterday, against the worlds best team no less, and keeps the TriNations alive. The match against Australia in Durban will thus be
on a grand scale with it all to play for.
The match was a raw, rousing affair full of drama and incident
and a splendid denouement. Twice the All Blacks came back to
reclaim the lead in the second half, but unlike in the recent past,
the Boks found it in themselves to fight their way back and win
with a flourish.
The Boks have played with spirit and cussedness all year, but
yesterday they allied to this self-belief and a refusal to be cowed
by the All Black legend. Often awed by the deep black jersey,
Springbok teams have tended to implode.
But not yesterday. Despite a jittery kicking performance by
Percy Montgomery and a wobbly scrum, their five tries were
enough to seal it. That in itself is an astonishing statistic how
many teams get to cross the New Zealand tryline five times? It is
a massive monkey off the Boks backs and they now have every
chance of capturing the Tri-Nations crown for the first time since
1998.
The last time the Boks beat the All Blacks also came at Ellis
Park and the hero that day was centre Robbie Fleck. Yesterday, it
was another midfielder who proved the matchwinner in Marius
Joubert. Playing as if he had a block of ice embedded in his
temperament, Joubert carved up the opposition with three tries
and also found himself playing a crucial role in Jean de Villiers
score.
Joubert proved a menace every time he had the ball, but
midfield partner De Wet Barry also punched big holes in the All
Black defence.
New Zealands tactics were strange. Although Andrew
Mehrtens kicked well for position, there was an unusual reluctance
on their part to mix it with the Bok forwards.
Too often they opted for 50-50 passes in favour of taking
contact and setting up phase play, with the consequence that
South Africa had more ball to play with than they could ever
have expected.
Trouble is, New Zealand were duped by the ease with which
Mils Muliaina jinked his way through for the opening try. This
may have established their early strategy, but it also forced the
Boks to get a grip. There would be no more easy pickings for the
All Blacks.
Indeed, minutes after referee Nigel Williams had to be
replaced due to a hamstring injury, the Boks set up a series of
rucks, recycles and scrums that sapped the All Blacks of their
energy. Joubert whizzed through a tiring Umaga and the Boks
were on the board.
Even though they were guilty of committing fouls in the tackleball situation, they never backed off. Their rush defence and fierce
cleaning out was a strong feature of their play yesterday and this
told when Mils Muliaina turned the ball over for Bolla Conradie
and Montgomery to attack off, allowing Breyton Paulse the third
SA score before halftime.
Expectations that the All Blacks might be more deadly in their
first day-time Test of the year appeared to come true as they
took the lead for the first time in the 52nd minute, a searing Joe
Rokocoko try being added to another Mehrtens penalty.
The Boks may have cancelled this out altogether had Jaco van
der Westhuyzen not dropped a sitter of a pass from Barry. Instead,
the All Blacks hit back with a penalty to delay any thoughts of
early celebration.
But then an extraordinary thing happened: the Boks got
stronger and the All Blacks wilted. A pass down the blindside
found a determined Joubert, who superbly kept the ball alive
for De Villiers to run onto. Mose Tuiali got under him, but the
tellyref was satisfied that the ball had been grounded. The Boks
were back in front, a lead they were never to surrender again.
A run of penalties in their favour buoyed their confidence,
while the poor All Blacks were making mistakes by the dozen,
none worse than the one by Doug Howlett who spilled a
regulation pass five metres from his line. Scrum and advantage
to the Boks.
They didnt need a second invitation. Replacement No 8
Jacques Cronje broke wide for who else but Joubert to end the
match with a magnificent hat-trick.
You better believe it, the Boks are back!
SPRINGBOKS SCALE THE TRI-NATIONS MOUNTAIN

22 August 2004
South Africa 23
Australia 19
THE SPRINGBOKS scaled their own Mount Olympus yesterday
to capture the Tri-Nations championship for the second time in
six years.
Mark the day, too, for it was the day South African rugby
finally got its act together after years of disrepair and derision.
As the noise cascaded down the stands and the celebrations
started, the players embraced and jubilant coach Jake White
congratulated them one after the other before captain John Smit
hoisted the gleaming trophy aloft. It was a magnificent moment
and, before long, the party was in full swing.
Make no mistake, this was a huge win. It was only Whites
eighth Test and his side were up against a street-wise team,
including 13 men who competed in the World Cup Final less
than a year ago.
Australia were slick and professional, but the Boks were better,
hammering them both physically and psychologically.
For sheer get-up-and-shout excitement, it was hard to match.
Somehow the Boks survived a nightmarish first half pock-marked
with uncertainty and clumsiness to pull things together in the
second by playing more smartly. Typically, the Aussies came at
them hard with a couple of late tries, but their nerve ultimately
failed them and their chance was gone.
On the face of it, a 10-minute period preceding the hour-mark
when Australias game fragmented before our eyes and the Boks
lifted their game was the turning point. But the foundation for
the triumph was laid much earlier. It came because the Boks were
able to suck up a ton of pressure in the first half, rethink their
strategy at halftime and come out with greater resolve.
They made so many mistakes in the first 40 minutes that they

should have been buried. But all the Wallabies had to show was a
single try to Lote Tuqiri; hardly just reward for their efforts, but a
reflection of the Springboks scrambling defence.
The games big players were Victor Matfield and Breyton
Paulse.
Matfield reached his zenith here through an extraordinary
game in the loose, the lineout and on defence, while Paulse again
demonstrated his magical ability to pop up in the right places at
the right time. For a small man, his defence was colossal too.
Much of the game turned on the brutal battle at the breakdown,
but Aussie loose forwards George Smith and Phil Waugh were
closely monitored by eagle-eyed referee Paddy OBrien, who laid
down the law early.
Anyway, AJ Venter and Schalk Burger did more damage here
and took it hard to the Aussies. The visitors, in turn, just couldnt
manufacture sufficiently quick ball from second and third-phase
play.
The scrums started badly for SA with both Smit and Os du
Randt pinged for infringing, but in an amazing turnaround the
Wallaby scrum gradually dissolved until it was no more than a
desperate holding force in the second half.
The Aussies will be disappointed they didnt make more of a
largely dominant first half, when their ball control and running
was more precise, apart from a couple of appalling errors by
Clyde Rathbone, who bumbled through the first 20 minutes
before laying through the inch-perfect kick for Tuqiri to pounce
on.
SA took charge after the turn and Matfields try, which came
after Paulse hit back his own high kick into the locks hands, was
the spur the Boks needed. Soon after, Du Randt was denied a try
by the tellyref. Rather than be disheartened, SA cracked on the
pace and the phases, recycling the ball eight times from a freekick for Joe van Niekerks try.
We werent to know it at the time, but Montgomerys
subsequent pair of penalties were hugely important, providing a
valuable buffer. The Boks were in wondrous form and Australia
were woeful. They made a litany of mistakes Brendan Cannon
was nailed a third time for time-wasting at the lineout, Chris
Latham dropped a hoisted kick by Fourie du Preez, who replaced
the injured Bolla Conradie, and their scrum had the stability of a
fat woman on stilettos.
Twice they opted for scrums from penalties, yielding nothing,
but their re-entry into the contest came when Montgomery was
yellow-carded for a perilous tackle on Latham. The Wallabies
immediately pounced and Stirling Mortlock carved his way
through.
As the tension rose, so did the Australian game. SAs response
was to play it mean and the consequence was Paulse being carded
for a professional foul, which was fair enough. Smith, who has
turned niggling at the breakdown into an exact science, peeled off
a maul to score and give the Wallabies a whiff of a chance.
But their luck had run out and so had time. When OBrien
blew his whistle, the Boks were champions of the southern
hemisphere, against all early-season expectations.
For a change, last night the beer tasted good again.
Your team loses

in the final.
Get counselling
with our Trauma
Assist benefit.
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WORLD CUPS WON AND LOST: 2006-2015

THE THIRD year of Jake Whites tenure as Bok coach was a
miserable one, but there was light at the end of the tunnel
and it wasnt just the floodlights of Twickenham on November
25 2006. After seven successive defeats against England, the
Springboks turned their fortunes around in their final match of
their centenary year.
The 25-14 victory was a real turning point for the Boks, who
that year had lost successively to France, and twice to Australia
and New Zealand. Considering the natural impatience of South
African rugby fans, there was a clamour for the coachs head,
but he had a brief stay of execution with home victories over
New Zealand (by one point and in Rustenburg of all places) and
Australia. The clamour resumed, however, when the Springboks
lost against Ireland and England during the first two matches of
the November tour to Europe.
The significance of that turnaround win in the second tour
match against England on November 25 cannot be overestimated.
It was the Springboks first win at Twickenham in nine years, it
was enough to save Whites skin and it gave the Springboks a vital
psychological hold over England for the next four games that
would culminate in a World Cup triumph. While White survived
to help the Boks to recover fully and win the World Cup the next
year, his England opposite number, Andy Robinson, got the sack
four weeks later. Englands defeat had been Robinsons 13th in 22
matches and Englands eighth in nine tests. It was an important
scalp because the English would go to the 2007 with a new coach,
and uncertainty in the minds of their players.
In the year of the World Cup, Brian Ashton took over from
Robinson and his first overseas tour was in May-June to South
Africa. He brought a woefully under-strength team and lost the
first test 58-10 in Bloemfontein, Englands second worst defeat to
any side. The second test was only a little better; they lost 55-22.
With Englands defeats, Springbok confidence rose and it would

count greatly in their favour later in the year when the English
were the only real threats to the Springboks marching to a second
World Cup after New Zealand and Australia had been eliminated
in shock and controversial outcomes.
After the England series the Springboks took on Samoa in
their third test of the year, a match significant for only two things:
the return to the green-and-gold for former golden boy Bobby
Skinstad and the foisting of controversial flanker Luke Watson on
coach White. White had long resisted Watsons claims for a Bok
place. But Watsons father, Cheeky, was an influential member
of South Africas rugby hierarchy and had won respect in the
apartheid era for turning his back on possible Springbok selection
to play for the non-racial Kwaru team in the old SA Rugby Union.
A year later, Watson told an audience at the University of Cape
Town that he had been nauseated about playing for White and
the Springboks and had felt like vomiting on the jersey. He also
claimed that South African rugby was untransformed because it
was controlled by Dutchmen. Five years later he apologised for
the remarks, but he returned to the Bok team once White had
left, and he played in another nine tests in 2008 to add to the
single cap from the year before.
Skinstads history with the World Cup had been nothing short
of tragic. Having missed out through injury in 1999, he was hurt
while playing a club match for UCT shortly before the 2003
tournament and again it cost him the chance. White brought him
back into the squad for 2007, but Skinstad was 31 by that time
and nearing the end of his career. His last test would be on the
bench against Argentina in the World Cup semifinal.
Encouraged by three successive victories over England and
the defeat of Samoa, the Springboks went on eventually to beat
Australia at Newlands 22-19, a narrow victory but an epic one,
according to Sunday Times sports editor Clinton van den Berg,

who covered the game. The match had followed successive
defeats against New Zealand in Durban, Australia in Sydney and
New Zealand in Christchurch. But their luck was about to turn;
they did not meet either of their southern-hemisphere rivals for
another year and set off on a winning streak that would last 13
matches and include the 2007 Rugby World Cup final against
England on October 20.
In a World Cup year, every game is regarded as important,
so matches against Namibia, Tonga and the US were taken as
seriously as any test against the top rugby nations. South Africa
were drawn in a fairly comfortable group for the World Cup,
with only England as a real contender for top place. Having
dispatched Samoa 59-7 in the opener, Bok confidence was high,
but even they were surprised by the margin of victory in the
next match, against England in Paris. The 36-0 scoreline was
Englands heaviest World Cup defeat and suitable revenge for
losing to them in the 2003 tournament. Lawrence Dallaglio, the
former England captain, described it as a knife to the heart.
England held a crisis meeting after this match where players
insisted on radical changes to the game plan. The coach, Brian
Ashton, conceded to player power and the Boks would meet a
very different England in the final. Before their next meeting,
England showed immediate signs of revival, winning the rest of
their group matches against Samoa and Tonga comfortably
before delivering one of the two big shocks of the tournament: a
quarter-final win over Australia. In another quarter-final, France
stunned the All Blacks 20-18 followed by accusations from New
Zealanders that the referee had missed a forward pass which
led to Frances winning try.
Nevertheless, two of South Africas chief rivals were out and
when England beat France in the semifinals, and South Africa
comfortably eliminated Argentina 37-13, it meant a replay of an

earlier cup game where the Boks had been vastly superior. The
scoring in the final was made up of goal-kicks, with Springbok
Frans Steyn booting one of the longest penalties ever seen. It
was however, in the lineout and in defence were the Springboks
ruled supreme. Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Juan Smith
stole seven of Englands lineout throws and the Bok defence was
insurmountable for the entire 80 minutes. The closest either side
got to scoring a try was when Englands Mark Cueto was ruled
to be in touch by the video ref as he made for the Bok line
two minutes into the second half. The defending champions were
left to rue a missed chance while the Boks lifted the trophy for the
second time in 12 years.
In a World Cup year, as in 2015, the coachs approach to
transformation was ambivalent. White blooded only two new caps
a white prop, Jannie du Plessis, who would endure, and a black
centre, Waylon Murray, who wouldnt. Of the 12 black players
he had fielded before announcing his World Cup squad, he chose
only five Ricky Januarie, Bryan Habana, Gurthro Steenkamp,
Akona Ndungane and JP Pietersen and added Wayne Julies,
whom he had not played earlier in the year. In the final, only
Habana and Pietersen would feature. But by the end of the year,
Whites term had run out and even though he had been voted
international rugby coach of the year for a second time, the SA
Rugby Football Union found a loophole to get rid of him. The
union said he needed to re-apply for the job as his contract would
run out on December 31 2007. White regarded this as affront and
did not apply. Whites departure would open the door for the first
black coach of the Springboks, the irrepressible Peter de Villiers,
whose often outrageous statements would endear him to some
but alienate others. And despite scepticism among some rugby
supporters, De Villiers came with solid coaching credentials and
he ended with 31 victories from his 48 tests in charge and he
won the Tri-Nations in 2009, just a year after taking over from
White. He also won a series against the Lions in 2009, which was
a rare accomplishment, since the Lions had won two out of the
previous three series against the Springboks.
In his first year as coach, De Villiers picked 12 black players,
four of whom were new caps: Brian Mujati, Tendai Beast
Mtawarira, Odwa Ndungane (twin brother of Akona, who had

played his last test in 2007) and Jongi Nokwe. Throughout his
term, De Villiers would use 20 black players, 11 of whom were
debutants. He brought back Chilliboy Ralepelle, giving him his
first and only start in 22 test matches.
De Villiers took nine black players to the 2011 World Cup, four
of them to whom he had given first caps: Mtawarira, Aplon, De
Jongh and Zane Kirchner. He gave first caps to 17 white players,
among them Pat Lambie, Willem Alberts, Francois Hougaard,
Heinrich Brussow, Adriaan Strauss and Morne Steyn, who made
the winning kick in the second test which clinched the series
against the 2009 Lions.
At the World Cup, South Africas most difficult match in the
group stage was always going to be against Wales and so it proved.
The Springboks won it 17-16, having overhauled Waless 16-10
lead near the end with a try by Francois Hougaard, converted by
Morne Steyn. But the Welsh claimed afterwards that a penalty by
James Hook that had been ruled a miss by the touch judges, was
actually over. At the time South Africa led 10-3. Welsh captain
Sam Warburton had asked referee Wayne Barnes to refer it to
the TV official, but he refused. TV evidence afterwards was
inconclusive. Wales would suffer another one-point defeat, a
heartbreak 9-8 reverse against France in the semi-finals.
If the referee was unsympathetic to the Welsh in the game
against the Boks, he certainly was not kind towards the Boks in
the quarterfinal against Australia. The Springboks won their next
two group games comfortably against Fiji (49-3) and Namibia
(87-0), struggled a bit against Samoa (13-5) then came up against
the Wallabies. The referee in this case was New Zealander Bryce
Lawrence. His bizarre decisions, especially at the breakdown,
mystified the Boks and many others. One dispassionate observer,
Mark Reason of the Daily Telegraph, said Lawrence made a
complete hash of the game. Even partisan Australian rugby
writer Greg Growden conceded that the Boks had been better
than the Wallabies. But as Boy Louw, a Springbok front-row
legend from the 1930s, used to say: Looks at the scoreboard.
And it reflected an Australian win by 11-9. De Villiers and his
Boks had come close, but there would be no cigar.
The World Cup was always going to decide De Villierss fate.
Liam del Carme, reporting on the tournament for the Sunday

Times and writing on the day of the match, predicted that the
outcome would mean the end for one of two coaches: Pieter de
Villiers or Robbie Deans of the Wallabies. Defeat today will in
all likelihood mean the end of the road for De Villiers, who has
had, for want of a better word, a colourful tenure as Springbok
coach, wrote Del Carme.
And so it turned out to be. De Villiers or P Divvy or
even Snor, as he was affectionately referred to was often
controversial, but seldom dull. He defended flanker Schalk
Burger for foul play against the 2009 Lions when the Springbok
received a six-week ban, accused the All Blacks of cheating, often
came across as self-pitying and was renowned for his bizarre
interpretations of the Bible. But there was no denying that he
pursued the twin goals of transformation and performance with
some success. Thirty wins six of them against New Zealand
and Australia out of 48 matches is a decent record for a Bok
coach.
The jury is still out on Heyneke Meyer, who was appointed
in 2012, having missed out in 2008. His record so far looks good
until you measure him against the All Blacks, where he has
won just a single test and lost five. On the transformation scale
he does not impress. In four years he has given first caps to only
seven black players while awarding these to 31 white players.
Admittedly, some of those white players have rewarded him with
good performances, among them Handre Pollard, who was a
match-winner for Meyer in his only victory so far over the All
Blacks, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, Lood de Jager, Eben
Etzebeth, Marcell Coetzee, Duane Vermeulen and Willie Roux.
That leaves out another 25, of whom a player like Warren Whitely
has not been given much of a chance and Lions scrumhalf
Faf de Klerk, while picked for a training squad, has not been
included in a match squad. To win the World Cup, Meyers Boks
will have to win consistently against top teams like New Zealand,
Australia and England. So far they havent managed to do that.
by Archie Henderson
BAFOKENG BRILLIANT BOKS!

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
3 September 2006
South Africa 21
New Zealand 20
ITS TEMPTING to echo the stadium announcer in suggesting
the Springboks are back, but this was only the first of many dicey
steps to the World Cup for Jake White and his side.
If this sounds harsh given the Boks atrocious record this
season, consider that New Zealand only played in spurts in
this Vodacom Tri-Nations fixture, yet the victory margin was a
solitary point.
All Black coach Graham Henry had the difference between
the sides about right in his post-match assessment: People have
to realise that when youve gone through the pain theyve gone
through, youre absolutely desperate. Weve gone through 15 out
of 15, and we werent absolutely desperate, we werent on the
edge of the edge, and they were.
So the All Blacks are human after all, as the one-foot-on-theplane syndrome and the burden of being within sight of the
world record of successive Test victories took their toll. The main
lesson for ex-schoolmaster Jake White is that attack is the name
of the game in modern rugby, and a desperate Bok performance
proved that yesterday.
The countrys most celebrated and for most of this season
reviled former schoolteacher learned a few things about the
way forward for his Boks.
The first was that their pattern of play still works on its day.
The Boks place great emphasis on dominating the scrums, the
lineouts, and the collisions. Yesterday, desperately trying to avoid
a sixth successive loss, they had the edge in all three departments.
Veteran prop Os du Randt held the scrum together, lock Victor

Matfield and company continued to torment their All Black
counterparts in the lineouts, while the loose trio of AJ Venter,
Pedrie Wannenburg, and Pierre Spies bullied their opponents at
the breakdown.
White would also have noted that when his trusted seniors
perform well, as they all did for the first time this season, they
glue the team together.
Du Randt used every trick in the book, legal and otherwise, to
nullify the sheer power of Carl Hayman in the scrums, tackled
himself to a standstill, and provided the impetus of a Schalk
Burger in his cleaning up at the rucks.
Captain John Smit, playing in his old home town, was the
bullocking runner of old and unerring with his lineout throwing.
Matfield almost toyed with Chris Jack and Ali Williams, whose
idea of contesting the lineouts was pulling down their Bok
counterparts.
Flyhalf Andr Pretorius again proved that, when healthy, he is
best able to set the Bok backline off and, most importantly, has the
tactical kicking nous to hold the game-plan together by kicking
with either foot. Out wide, wing Bryan Habana rediscovered
his eye for the intercept try, and added an appetite for work in
defence, attack, and cross covering.
Another thing White may have learned is that the rush defence
perhaps needs to be tempered with the sliding defence. The high
risk/high reward nature of the defence was shown in the All
Blacks try by Daniel Carter and Habanas intercept try.

The extent to which the All Blacks have learned to counter
it was shown in Jack breaking the line in the buildup to Carters
try. Yet its value was shown in the pressure created that allowed
Habana in among the All Blacks for the intercept.
That said, it is too dependent on dominant hits which can be
disastrous when they dont come off. Perhaps the Boks should use
it in first phase, but not in subsequent phases.
The injection of new blood into the side was justified as superquick flanker Pierre Spies came of age in only his third Test, and
scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar performed steadily from the base of the
scrum when he came on for Fourie du Preez.
Spies has long been compared with Bobby Skinstad and
Joe van Niekerk and was named man of the match. On this
performance, he might be a combination of both and then some
in that he does not go missing when the going gets tough.
But the best way forward for the Boks is to attack when the
pattern fails as it has most of this season. Despite dominating
the lineout, it took them eons to work out that if they played for
field position they would have a reasonable crack at the All Black
line.
When they did, the Boks duly stole the ball and Pedrie
Wannenburg crashed over.
The beer will have tasted good for the Boks last night, but the
work towards the World Cup begins now.
SWEET REVENGE FOR BOKS

10 September 2006
South Africa 24
Australia 16
REVENGE IS a dish best served cold. Yesterday, the Boks gave
it to the Wallabies in spades, five weeks after the Battering of
Brisbane.
The curtain now comes down on an extraordinary Tri-Nations
in which we saw the best and worst of the Springboks. Little of it
was memorable and even yesterday the evidence indicated that
this was a tournament two games too long.
The first half was downright forgettable; the second a
demonstration of SAs ability to pull things together when they
have the resolve. They shadow-boxed for 40 minutes before
turning up the heat to deny the Australians their first win on the
Highveld in over 40 years. If the Boks are dodgy travellers, the
Wallabies are positively awful.
The match meant little in the overall scheme of things, but
it happily proved that SA possess a core of quality players to
develop for the World Cup a year away this week and a
bloody-mindedness theyll need to retain.
Jake White will head to the beaches of Mauritius at the end
of the month safe in the knowledge that the vultures wont be
waiting for him on his return. Hell think a lot about whats gone
before and, so long as he absorbs the lessons, the Boks will be in
decent shape come RWC 2007.
There was little to recommend from a tedious first half. Neither
team appeared particularly hungry and things frequently broke
down in the mad scramble for possession.
Early Aussie tactics centred on Stephen Larkham pumping
the ball onto SAs youthful back three, whose response was top
class. They fielded the high ball superbly and JP Pietersen,
especially, made an assured debut.
Try-scoring chances, such as they were, belonged to the Boks.
They made two good breaks into Wallaby territory, with the
outstanding Pierre Spies showing a predatory instinct in the first
attack that saw Jean de Villiers come close to breaching the line.
The second time, only a ferocious final tackle by Clyde Rathbone
denied Wynand Olivier a score.
Two telling moments amplified the spirit of South Africa in
the second half. The first was the introduction of Breyton Paulse
for Akona Ndungane after halftime. So much for being long in
the tooth Paulse was pure dynamite.
Australia took the lead after Victor Matfield had turned over
the ball. Showing a keen appetite for the counter-attack, they
recycled the ball again and again before Larkham finally broke
through.
The next telling moment and surely the turning point
came when Andr Pretorius banged home a drop goal in the 52nd
minute. The strike not only gave the Boks the lead, but served to
boost them. Suddenly it appeared as if they were running faster,
holding the ball better and tackling twice as much.
At the subsequent kickoff, Spies received the ball and
thundered along the touchline, to the amazement of the 48
000-strong crowd. Despite being tackled, the exciting cameo
energised his teammates, who threw themselves into the action.
The Aussies didnt quite fall off at this point, but they were
deprived of the ball and their scrum was hobbled by the ferocity
of the Bok front five. Poor Rodney Blake was reduced to jelly by
Os du Randt. A visit to the chiropractor is now surely in order
for the young Aussie.
At this point, the play-making derived almost exclusively
from the Boks: Spies used his fabulous pace and instinct to stake
a commanding presence; Matfield stayed busy and suitably
violent; Fourie du Preez ran hard and kept the Aussies guessing;
and Pretorius was cool and sussed.
If the Boks kept the pressure up, the Aussies concentration
waned. Indeed, when SA won a penalty for the Aussies pulling
down the maul, Du Preez sneaked the quick-tap and made a
mess of the half-asleep defences. He had the presence of mind
to go quickly and to hold on when the door appeared firmly shut.
The Aussies slowly chipped away, Stirling Mortlock getting
two penalties, but their error count was too high and they never
threatened the line with any certainty.
SA, in contrast, stayed calm, playing it safe in the Wallabies
half. When another chance came, however, they went for the
jugular. Matfield drove the ball up, forming a wedge with
Pietersen and Du Preez before Paulse, the ultimate try-scavenger,
rammed home the advantage with another try.
The famine has become a feast we can all smile again.
SWEET REVENGE FOR SPRINGBOKS

26 November 2006
South Africa 25
England 14
HALLELUJAH! AFTER almost 10 years of trekking to
London and being walloped, the Springboks finally left
their own scorch marks on the Twickenham turf yesterday.
Before an intimidating and boisterous crowd of 82 000
yesterday, South Africa found the resolution to conclude a
disappointing year on a high.
Andr Pretorius was the days hero, his four drop goals
giving a proud Bok display real gloss. Disastrous England
could only look on as they produced a horror show.
There were any number of sub-plots yesterday, but the
most compelling of these was the teams vivid demonstration
of support for coach Jake White. Hes been putting out fires
all week and remains in the job only by the skin of his teeth.
The look of sheer relief on his face and his fist-pumping
at the final whistle told its own story as SA won for the first
time here in nine seasons.
White may have lost the support of his employers, but
crucially the same isnt true of his players. They finally
repaid his loyalty with a redeeming performance that could
yet force a rethink on the part of SA Rugby.
The worst thing SA Rugby can do is fire Jake, said
captain John Smit, himself under pressure. What he does
best is deal with people and coach rugby, but this year theres
been so much more. Its incredibly sad and, as captain, I
feel partly responsible. We all feel terrible for Jake. The first
guy to cop it is the coach, but we are the guys doing it out
there on the park.
He endorsed Whites decision to make this an
experimental tour, saying the trip had been incredibly
positive for the youngsters brought in.
Jake turned the darkness of 2003 into light. We owe
him so much. I know it hasnt been easy, but not once did he
let on to us the pressure hes been under. Im sure he hasnt

been sleeping at night. All I can plead is not to fire him
which other coach has beaten New Zealand, Australia and
England in a single year?
The match swung this way and that, but the turning
point came in a dramatic seven minutes before the first half.
First, Irish referee Alan Lewis erred by awarding Mark
Cueto a highly dodgy try. Lewis never even bothered to
refer to the tellyref, but replays showed the England wing
had dropped the ball after being hit in the tackle by Danie
Rossouw. It was a lousy call, and Smit told Lewis so.
Moments later, Jean de Villiers was adjudged to have
been held up in his charge for the line, again the decision
going against SA. At worst it was a 50-50 call that ought to
have swung SAs way.
Just as Lewiss errors threatened to disfigure the match,
CJ van der Linde barrelled over seconds before halftime to
level the scores. From there, the Boks were never headed,
Pretorius turning metronome with three drop goals in the
second half to add to one in the first.
England bumbled their way through the second half,
but SA were more dynamic, more determined, driving
onwards and upwards in search of a rare London victory.
They were maddeningly frantic, but the collective
excellence of Ricky Januarie, the magnificent Juan Smith
and Danie Rossouw, and the magical boot of Pretorius
combined to secure the win.
Their defence held spectacularly England never scored
a point in the second half and for once they were able to
shut down a game in style.
The reverberations will run and run.
BRAINY BOKS SEND WARNING

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
16 September 2007
South Africa 36
England 0
WHILE THE Springboks resounding win over England
confirmed their billing as Rugby World Cup contenders, more
frightening for those who may yet encounter them was the
manner in which it was achieved.
South African teams have never been short of passion and
commitment, but they have never been big on tactical awareness
or application. Friday nights 36-0 whitewash of the world
champions was the proverbial brains-beats-brawn performance,
and would have sent chills down the spine of any opposition
coach.
Former Bok captain Bob Skinstad ever ready with a oneliner had it right when he said: When the team won the TriNations [in 2004] they were just teenagers, now theyre grown
men.
Myriad snapshots from the game support Skinstads
observation about the maturity of Jake Whites team.
Immediately after the sides emerged from the change rooms
before the game, England captain Martin Corry got his side in a
huddle for a last-minute pep-talk or, given their fortunes during
the week, prayer.
By contrast, Bok skipper John Smit had nothing to say, the
South Africans fidgeting while they waited for the national
anthems. The message was clear: they were ready, their opponents
were not.
From the start, the Boks slowed things down as though to work
the adrenalin out of their systems so that they could focus on the
demands of their game plan.
A moment in the 15th minute revealed that the Boks were the
thinking side. In fielding an attempted touch-finder by fullback
Jason Robinson, flyhalf Butch James, who was just outside the
Bok 22m line, deliberately put his foot in touch so that the lineout
could be taken from where it had been kicked just outside the
England 22.
The irony was that James was the player the English felt was
most likely to react to provocation.
Instead, he was the epitome of calmness and lucidity
throughout, which may have been more disconcerting to the
opposition than his trademark blockbuster hits in defence.
Halfback partner Fourie du Preez also took the pressure off
James by mixing common sense with inspiration at the base of
the scrum, box-kicking and breaking to devastating effect.
That the Boks were thinking on their feet was evident when
Du Preez cleverly provoked a foul from Englands SA-born prop
Matt Stevens. Du Preez charged at Stevens from a distance while
the latter was guarding a ruck, and Stevens stupidly tried to clean
him out.
Stressing the Boks potential opponents just as much would
have been demonstrations of the many ways the they can destroy
the opposition. These included the pick and drive, pressure kicks,
turning defence into attack, and the backs new-found ability to
run defences ragged.
The team leaders, as Bryan Habana called them after the
game (Smit, Victor Matfield, Du Preez and Percy Montgomery),
played their role in a performance that never wavered.
When criticised at the press conference for opting to kick for

poles at 33-0 instead of going for the bonus-points win, Whites
response was: It isnt a Super 14 competition, you first have to
win the Test.
The reality was we wanted to get the result first, which in any
event probably means were in the quarterfinals.
Asked to rate the performance, White said it was one of the
biggest. Smit was probably closer to the truth when he reckoned
it was one of the more clinical games in which the Springboks
had been involved.
To further underline the unforgiving winners mentality, Smit
said he was prouder of the fact that there was a zero at the other
end of the scoreline.
We didnt want to give them a sniff.
Looking ahead to Tonga, White said he was undecided how
he would approach the fixture.
Ive got an idea in my mind but I first want to have a good
think and see what Tonga have to offer.
Ill probably rest some of the senior guys but well try and
find a blend and not be ridiculous.
Man-of-the-match Du Preezs shoulder injury, which again
flared up and led to his substitution, was deemed to be not too
serious.
With the next two games against Tonga and the United States,
he should have plenty of time to recover.
GOLDENBOOT
Simnikiwe Xabanisa
21 October 2007
South Africa 15
England 6
PERCY, YOU beauty! Springbok fullback Percy Montgomery
destroyed England last night with a flawless kicking display to lay
the foundation for South Africas epic win in the World Cup final.
Under incredible pressure, he kicked 12 of the 15 points, was
assured in defence and set a supreme example for the younger
players around him.
Four years ago, John Smit walked wearily off the pitch after
being beaten by England in their World Cup group match in
Australia.
In the aftermath of victory last night, Smit said that when Jake
White told him in 2004 that he would go on to win the World
Cup, he thought he was mad.
White wasnt mad. He was quite right. The coach had been
saying before this match that defence and kicks at goal would win
it, and so it proved as Montys four penalties and a long-range
effort from Frans Steyn, the youngest man in the final, clinched
a nervy match that did not live up to its billing as the game to
decide the best side in the world.
In the end, the most experienced SA Test side yet held their
nerve better than England, who came into the game with half
of their squad of 22 having played in a World Cup final, to
effectively shut the match down from as early as the third quarter.
The motto of the tournament was: Twenty Nations, one
trophy. For the Boks, it was effectively Four years, one game
as Whites efforts to build a side experienced enough to handle
the occasion succeeded.

And the crowning of Whites Class of 2007 means we have
more to talk about than the victory in 1995. That triumph was
about igniting the countrys capabilities to unite and grow as a
new member of the global community.
This victory was purely about rugby. South Africa are back
where weve arrogantly claimed to belong all along.
Both sides will be grateful that theres no column for how it
looked in the history books because it was an ugly game.
The basic game plan for both sides was to kick until someone
blinked and dropped the ball in their 22m area, giving the kickers
opportunities. And so, like in an endless rally at Roland Garros,
each side got the ball, kicked and chased.
It would seem they both decided to go for the unambitious
option. And as a result, given both sides experience, anyone with
less than 20 caps found himself the hunted.
England centre Mathew Tait, 21, was first to feel it when he
was penalised for holding on after attempting to run from his
22-metre line instead of kicking the ball away.
Paul Sackey and JP Pietersen found themselves constantly
singled out for special high-ball treatment, while Steyn was hit so
hard by Wilkinson in midfield he lost the ball in contact.
It was one of those games where the adage that a team is
only as strong as its weakest player held particularly true, with
everyone holding on to see which of the rookies would crack first.
Time and again England kicked for Montgomery, and time

and again he went up and put his body on the line what a
colossus.
The initial impression was that the battle lines would be drawn
around England wrecking the Bok scrum, Bakkies Botha and
Victor Matfield picking apart the English lineout, and Schalk
Burger and company bossing the breakdown.
But both sides recovered from initial lapses. Although their
first scrum back-pedalled alarmingly, the Boks used their heads
instead of brute strength to solve the problem by crabbing and
swivelling their way to parity.
In the lineouts, England looked to big lock Simon Shaw to be
their go-to guy, and suddenly there was no problem. It was the
most contentious area in the game the breakdown that was
most contested, with both teams not giving an inch.
It was England who sought to go with the ball in hand when
the second half began. It nearly paid dividends as Mark Cueto,
on the back of a Tait run, nearly scored in the 43rd minute.
Had it not been for the intervention of Danie Rossouw, the
complexion of the game would have taken on a distinctly redand-white hue. Desperately diving, he pushed Cuetos legs onto
the line a split-second before he dotted.
It was this poise under tremendous pressure, with the defence
and the tactical kicking of Butch James in particular, and Steyn
and Fourie du Preez, that saw South Africa usher in a new era.
BOKS REIGN IN HOUSE OF PAIN

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
13 July 2008
South Africa 30
New Zealand 28
THIS WAS well worth the wait. In their bid to settle the oldest
argument in the game whos the boss? the two best sides in
world rugby delivered a cliffhanger for the ages.
For most of the second Test yesterday the two points that
separated the bitter rivals was the only bit of daylight between
SA and New Zealand.
Seconds before the final whistle, watching the All Blacks
prepare to launch yet another attack and the Springboks yet
another defensive effort was like seeing two exhausted boxers late
in a fight throwing punches because they had to.
Both sides simply refused to contemplate the implications of
defeat.
As a result, they not only infused life into the Tri-Nations, they
put sexy back into Test rugby.
And we will no longer have to listen to the All Blacks bragging
about a world-record winning streak of 30 games at home.
Nor hear about the Springboks not winning in New Zealand
for a decade, or SA not winning a Test in Dunedin in 87 years of
trying.
Never, never, never again.
Despite both sides having put so much into a clash that shook
the world, the credit for this modern-day classic belongs to Peter
de Villierss visitors.
Having walked into the Westpac Stadium in Wellington as
world champions and emerged as chumps, the Boks delivered
when few of their countrymen gave them a chance.
The miraculous turnaround of last weekends meek surrender

was built on many things. The Springboks had a plan and executed
it well; they rectified the ills of last weekends performance; and
defended as though their massive reputations depended on it.
The plan was simple: kick for the corners and use the best
lineout in the world to put the squeeze on the hosts, with the
pressure designed to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
The back-pedalling scrum, ill-conceived kicking and at times
shoddy defence of the first Test all belonged to the past. In fact, a
particularly good scrum led to their first try, by JP Pietersen.
Eighthman Joe van Niekerk could have scored it himself, but
he was so surprised at the time and space in which he found
himself that he shovelled the ball out to the right wing.
Defence has always been a great yardstick of a Bok team on
song, and so it was yesterday.
They had to make a whopping 205 tackles to the All Blacks
89, but whether they were sliding, rushing, or scrambling, they
were warriors to a man. Of course, there was also the small
matter of an inspired performance by scrumhalf Ricky Januarie.
He might not be everyones cup of tea, but the Abrasive One
was on the money with his box kicking, asked plenty of questions
with his darts around the rucks, and he did a crucial mop-up job
by retrieving half-gathered balls from his teammates.
And then there was the wonderful solo effort that saw him break
from an unguarded ruck and exquisitely chip Leon MacDonald
for the winning try.
Unwittingly, the All Blacks gave the Boks a leg up in the game,
first by resting tighthead prop Greg Somerville for John Afoa,
who only has a handful of caps. This indicated their scant respect
for the Bok scrum.
They also missed suspended lock Brad Thorn, who was
responsible for them fighting fire with fire in the physical
exchanges last week.
This left Ali Williams with perhaps a little too much to do by
having to mastermind the lineout and be the enforcer. When he
limped off before the first half was over, the Bok engine room
was never going to be physically overwhelmed by greenhorns
Anthony Boric and Kevin ONeill.
From a neutral perspective, the conditions the Boks are
streaky in the wet and it didnt rain yesterday and referee Matt
Goddard, were also a great help.
Goddard blew a technical game, his closeness to the letter of
the law making the match a little stop-start in the beginning. This
prevented the hosts building up their rhythm by running at their
opposition.
But the biggest factor was the Boks experience as a team.
Three years ago they lost their last game in Dunedin with four
minutes remaining.
Having put themselves in exactly the same position, the
difference yesterday was that they were experienced enough to
close it out, even with 14 men after captain Victor Matfield was
sin-binned for a high tackle.
WHAT A BOKLASH!
Simnikiwe Xabanisa
31 Augusts 2008
South Africa 53
Australia 8
THE TEMPTATION to announce the world champions return
to the top is great, but the sobering thought is they produced this
performance only when it no longer mattered.
By the time Ellis Park was treated to the bells and whistles of
what the Springboks are capable of, the Vodacom Tri-Nations
had long bolted.
In a tournament that promised so much with the world
champions (SA) the Tri-Nations champions (New Zealand) and
the resurgent Australians squaring up SA didnt play their part.
And as the Boks powered to an eight-tries-to-one victory over
the Wallabies in this Barbarian-style Tri-Nations fixture, one was
left in two minds about how it was achieved.
How much of it was due to their much-vaunted new game
plan, and how much was down to Australia being abysmal
on the day? The answer is a bit of both. Either way, it was a
dumbfounding result.
For the record, Peter de Villierss men put 53 points on the side
who made them look like amateurs just a week ago. The Boks
improved the margin of victory over the Aussies to 45 (it was 39
when Carel du Plessiss Boks beat them 61-22 at Loftus in 1997)
and winger Jongi Nokwe became the first SA player to score four
tries in a match against the Wallabies and the first to score that
many in a Tri-Nations game.
Rounding off the feeling that alls well that ends well was
veteran fullback Percy Montgomerys announcement that he was
leaving the international stage, 11 years and 102 Test matches
after his debut against the British and Irish Lions.
Given how little the visitors contributed to this match, its best
to deal with them first. Out to break a 45-year-old hoodoo at

Ellis Park, the Aussies will be hard pressed to remember a worse
performance.
The rot started with coach Robbie Deanss selection of
Timana Tahu a league convert still learning the rugby union
game in the play-making inside centre role.
The Wallabies took their cue from that error and made mistake
after mistake.
After fluffing an early scoring opportunity, a lax attitude to
clearing the lines by two of the most senior Wallabies, Stirling
Mortlock and Matt Giteau, led to lock Andries Bekkers first try
for the Boks. Winger Lote Tuqiri then dropped the ball with the
tryline at his mercy.
It was that kind of day for the Aussies, and the only thing they
could take out of the game was that they can still win the TriNations.
As for the Boks , they finally clicked. They turned up the
heat in the scrums and at the breakdown, with the passing and
handling out wide sublime at times.
Led by Beast Mtawarira, the scrum by far the most improved
facet of the Boks play this season rode roughshod over their
counterparts.
The Boks were also more urgent and protective of the ball
at the breakdown, with scrumhalf Fourie du Preez particularly
adept at clearing quickly from the rucks. In open play, flyhalf
Butch James and fullback Conrad Jantjess kicking out of hand
gave the Boks territorial advantage.
But most impressive was the Boks ability to finish what they
created something that had been sorely lacking throughout the

tournament.
After having just five tries to show for their new game plan,
their eight tries yesterday saw their tally in the tournament shoot
up to 13. Nokwe scored his tries from the six times he touched the
ball during Bok moves.
Typically in an effort like this, a lot of players made great
contributions.
With everything starting and ending with the forwards, the
tight five were sensational, allowing the loosies and backs to play
on the front foot.
Out wide, James had one of his better games, and centres Jean
de Villiers and Adrian Jacobs continued to show that telepathy
can be learnt.
This was demonstrated by Jacobss sensational try in the
second half. Playing off De Villierss shoulder, he latched onto a
sublime off-load and rounded the last man in defence.
The back three of Nokwe, Jantjes and Odwa Ndungane were
safe under the high ball and strong on attack.
De Villiers told the media this week that when his game plan
took off somebody was going to get a hiding.
Did the plan take off yesterday? Too soon to tell but someone
certainly got a hiding.
Given the patchy nature of the opposition, and the fact that
the Boks achieved it when it didnt matter, the jury has to be out
on that one.
BOKS SAVE BEST FOR LAST

23 November 2008
South Africa 42
England 6
THIS WAS rugby of the volcanic kind: blazing, furious and a
sight to behold. The world champions came to London with
something to prove and tonight they leave this great city having
laid waste to their best. England werent beaten, they were
humiliated.
Not only was this the highest score ever conceded at
Twickenham, the 36-point margin was the greatest. England
had spoken up their chances, but yesterday they made a passable
impression of a car wreck.
We were killed, said England manager Martin Johnson
through gritted teeth.
That was putting it mildly. Ten times the Boks visited the
England 22m area 36 points were accrued.
They played with precision, intensity and a stunning sense of
spirit and freedom yesterday. The northern hemisphere may be
in thrall to the All Blacks, but not many teams would have lived
with a Bok team that was on a mission to destroy.
The Boks had been quietly disappointed with their form on
tour and were determined to end the season with a flourish. The
only surprise was that they cut loose to such an extent, which is in
itself frustrating: why dont they take off the shackles more often?
Claims of fatigue were made to look foolish. The way Bakkies
Botha, John Smit, Schalk Burger and Beast Mtawarira threw
themselves about, they looked supercharged.
Other than the first 10 minutes, when SA were out of sorts,
they controlled every minute of the Test. Even when England
carried the ball, there was supreme conviction in the way the
Boks defended. They tackled furiously and refused to be cowed,
either by referee Nigel Owenss busy whistle or Englands frantic
efforts.
Englands only consolation was having the Boks measure up
front, although the visitors scrapped hard and sought to overcome
referees strict application of the laws.
SA scored five tries to none. The foundation was laid in a
thrilling first half where Ricky Januaries clever box-kicks put the
England back three under pressure. There were other vital areas:
Englands players had the life squeezed from them on attack, the
Boks hitting them hard and quickly. And they were blasted to
smithereens in the tackle.
Undeterred by Owens nailing them at the tackle point, the
Boks re-directed their attack. Danie Rossouw scored first through
a fierce demonstration of power as he smashed through a phalanx
of defenders.
Then Ruan Pienaar burst onto a Danny Cipriani clearance,
picked up the rebound and stormed in. At 17-3, the Boks were
sitting pretty. More importantly, Pienaar had ripped the heart
from England, who played with little imagination or thrust.
There were blazing tries and attacking forays by the Boks, but
quite the best illustration of their vigour and intent was produced
by Bakkies Botha. For two mesmerising tackles alone, he was
demonstrably my man of the match. First, he reeled in Delon
Armitage to save a try with a stupendous tackle in the corner that
had a tranquillising effect on England. In the second half, he got

his mitts on Danny Care, just when he seemed about to break
Englands duck.
SA had nervy moments, not least at the start of the second half
when England launched several sorties. They came palpitatingly
close to scoring, but the Boks stayed resolute.
This was the theme even when they separately had two players
binned. Mtawarira was carded for going off his feet, while Conrad
Jantjes earned his rest after a dangerous block that probably saved
a try.
That SA never conceded a point during their absence was
testament to their collective will. If anything, they got better.
England made a couple of early substitutions, but they had
negligible effect: while they were stuck in first gear, the Boks were
in fifth.
SA confirmed their authority just before the hour when the
Boks won a lineout and shot the ball wide, Adi Jacobs cutting in
after JP Pietersen had drawn in the defenders.
By now, the many Bok supporters among the 81000-strong
crowd were in full voice. Good days at Twickenham are rare for
Bok supporters, great days such as this even rarer.
Replacement Jaque Fourie scored a sumptuous try as
England were willing the time away and so did Bryan Habana,
finally breaking his scoring drought to put the seal on the most
remarkable of wins.
STEYNS LONG BOMB LETS BOKS ESCAPE TO VICTORY

Liam Del Carme
28 June 2009
South Africa 28
British & Irish Lions 25
THE SPRINGBOKS spent an inordinate amount of time fluffing their
lines here yesterday before Bryan Habana, Jaque Fourie and Morne Steyn
found an escape route.
Steyns 53m penalty on full time got the Springboks over the line but the
tries of Habana and Fourie gave them the impetus when all looked lost.
The Boks looked jaded for large chunks of this match but their collective
will earned them the series-clinching victory.
When they evaluate their performance, the Boks should note that the
Lions ran out of steam in the closing stages as the suffocating effects of the
altitude took full toll.
The Lions, were heavily disrupted after the break when they lost both
props within two minutes.
First Gethin Jenkins left the field with a gash across his right brow,
while Adam Jones departed the scene rather gingerly after Bakkies Botha
cleaned him out at a ruck.
Those who expected the Boks to turn it on after going one-nil up in
Durban got it horribly wrong.
South Africa were disjointed and failed to impose themselves in the tight
exchanges, and the tourists sensed their opportunity.
The Boks also squandered point-scoring opportunities and would not
have had their backs to the wall in the final quarter had flyhalf Ruan
Pienaar not missed three pots at goal.
If that wasnt enough, they also displayed the kind of discipline normally
reserved for the school playground. The yellow card offence that resulted in
Schalk Burger being ordered off the field in the second minute had a touch
of madness about it.
His fingers were in rather close proximity to Luke Fitzgeralds eyes when
the two wrestled on the ground and he was lucky not to be red-carded.
The start was tempestuous and it was the off-the-ball stuff that the Boks
weighed into with gusto.
The Lions, on the other hand, played with the poise and purpose of a
team for which failure was not an option.
The Boks were simply frazzled in the opening exchanges. They were
even absent-minded at times as if the Lions needed any help advancing
their cause.
The Lions were clearly up for this match. If they stood accused of
selection blunders in the first Test, they are not in the dock this morning.
When Tendai Beast Mtawarira popped out of the scrum for the
second consecutive time it was clear that Jones was rather under-utilised in
Durban.
Another masterstroke was the inclusion of the towering Simon Shaw in
the second row.
Shaws inclusion gave them the mongrel they lacked in Durban and the
nuisance, if not a little menace, he brought to the second row was just what
was required.
At fullback, Rob Kearney was again a shining light but the Boks brought
him into the game as often as possible.
At flyhalf, Stephen Jones delivered a composed display and his 20-point
contribution was almost a match-winning one.
The Lions cause was also aided by some poor decision-making and the
Boks taking a tap penalty when three points seemed a logical conclusion,
was at best ill-advised.
The Boks clearly have some soul searching to do before next weeks final
Test in Johannesburg. Their coaching staff in particular will have to explain
why a player of Jacque Fouries calibre is only employed off the bench.
There are other selection issues to be dealt with and next week they have
to get the balance of the side right.
The Boks Tri-Nations matches are unlikely to provide them with the
belated exit route that got them off the hook yesterday
BOKS STAY CALM

Luke Alfred
26 July 2009
South Africa 28
New Zealand 19
THE PROVERBIAL game of two halves resulted in a narrow
Bok victory in Bloemfontein yesterday.
There was no shortage of intensity in the opening
exchanges. An innocuous early dust-up featuring Victor
Matfield added to the apparent needle between the two packs
as early penalties were exchanged, Stephen Donald opening
the scoring for the All Blacks, Frans Steyn coolly slotting home
from long range for the Boks.
With the score locked at 3-3, the men in green began to hit
their straps. Their forays forward came either from drives off
the base of their lineout Matfield was at his imperious best
or from up and unders launched by Fourie du Preez onto
the visitors back three.
While the Boks were ascendant, they were also profligate.
Two successive penalties from Pienaar hit the upright only to
be hacked to safety, as Pienaar eventually succeeded with his
third attempt much to the relief of a crowd dressed warmly
in the winter cold to give the Boks a three-point cushion.
With the Springboks gaining in confidence and the All
Blacks forced to soak up an inordinate amount of pressure,
the home side finally made their territorial superiority count.
They chipped away at the All Blacks blindside, setting up
camp close to the line before intelligently switching the angle
of play; a quick re-cycle close to the line saw the ball swung
out to Jean de Villiers. He was half-tackled but managed to
keep his composure sufficiently to pop up a pass to Ruan
Pienaar racing past. Pienaar spotted space close to the corner
flag and dotted down without the defence managing to lay
a hand on him. In keeping with one of the minor themes
of the afternoon, Pienaar missed the conversion as the Boks
marched into an 11-3 lead.
With the Boks playing fast, direct and immensely powerful

rugby, their best of the winter, so Steyn was on hand to pot
another penalty close to halftime. It gave them a handy
11-point advantage, although they could happily have played
for another 10 minutes in the half, so shellshocked did the All
Blacks look.
The Boks started the second half without Pienaar, Morne
Steyn slotting into the flyhalf berth. He made his presence felt
early with a long-range effort 17-3 to the Boks as the home
side persisted with their earlier trick of hoisting high onto the
All Blacks at virtually every opportunity.
The visitors, though, were beginning to rumble. Maa
Nonu almost split the line; Donald went close and Jimmy
Cowan sniped around the edges. It was Conrad Smith who
converted promise into points, dotting down after a slippery
run that saw several weak tackles from the Boks. Donald
scored the conversion and a subsequent penalty from out
wide to set up real jitters in the Boks.
Although the Boks looked spooked, they ground back the
initiative, a straightforward Steyn penalty re-establishing a
decent lead. Bismarck du Plessis made a barrelling run after
the subsequent kickoff and although it didnt result in points,
the Boks appeared to be regaining their composure.
The impression was false. De Villiers came off for Wynand
Olivier, with the Boks looking increasingly ragged.
But good fortune was on its way.
A Pierre Spies hack through after the All Blacks fluffed
their lines in midfield found its way through to Jaque Fourie
as he hared down the wing, outstripping the defenders. It was
the crucial score.
Frans Steyn
MORNE IS THE MAN

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
2 August 2009
South Africa 31
New Zealand 19
IF THIS game achieved anything other than putting South
Africa on a decent footing to win the Tri-Nations it settled the
debate around who should start at flyhalf.
There will be days when Peter de Villiers, engaging in a bit
of coach-speak, adopts a horses-for-courses approach and plays
Ruan Pienaar, but Morne Steyn is the flyhalf best suited to
capitalise on the Boks talents.
John Smits team have forwards who apply immense pressure,
and Steyns goal-kicking enables them to take advantage of the
slew of penalties that come with the heat the pack bring to a
match.
Steyn, who has still missed only two attempts at goal since his
Bok career started in June, yesterday showed just how crucial he
is to the cause by scoring all the points in a special victory over
the old enemy.
The Bulls flyhalf nailed eight penalties, one conversion
and scored a try to record the most points by a player in the
tournaments history.
To gain further insight into just how pivotal he was, consider
that the Boks butchered several try-scoring opportunities.
Yet they still emerged 12 points to the good.
And so it came to pass that the Boks, a side seemingly intent
on being referred to in mythical terms in future, went clear at the
top of the Tri-Nations table, thanks to back-to-back victories over
the All Blacks.
In the process, they became the first Bok side to record wins on
successive weekends against the Kiwis since 1976.
They also made Smits milestone as the most capped captain

in Test rugby, and Jean de Villierss and Bryan Habanas 50th
caps, achievements to savour.
What also emerged from the game was just how good this
Springbok side is.
Few teams bring as much intensity and physicality to a game.
Coupled with their incredible experience, you have a side who
give the impression they are never beaten in a match.
Yesterday, they dealt not only with a smarting All Black side
keen on making amends for the Bloemfontein debacle, but also
with a persistent drizzle and a swirling wind.
With the game demanding basic Test rugby good tactical
kicking and the old pick and drive the Boks delivered while the
All Blacks inexplicably shunned these age-old virtues.
Sure, the Boks often back-pedalled in the scrums and even
treated the Durban crowd to the rare sight of them losing a
lineout to the opposition,.
But their intensity at the contact points, and grimly determined
defence, proved too much for the visitors.
They also played the big points well two heels against the
head late in the first half yielding 10 points via a penalty and
Steyns converted try.
The Steyn vs the All Blacks scoreline suggests it was a oneman show, but far from it.
For starters, Steyn should have bought the blokes named Beast,
Bismarck, John, Bakkies, Victor, Heinrich, Juan and Pierre a dop
with some of his man-of-the-match money.
It was their collective grunt that gave him the nearest thing to
a cushy ride in Test rugby.
In the backline, scrumhalf Fourie du Preez directed traffic
with aplomb, while Jaque Fourie had an outstanding game.
The outside centre, having daftly declared himself the best in
his position last week, played like a man possessed, taking kick-offs,
chasing lost-cause loose-balls, mopping up after his teammates
and tackling as if the visitors were making off with his wallet.
Frans Steyns howitzer boot was a relief in times of strife at the
back. With Habana and JP Pietersen chasing as well as they did
all day, it was an attacking option at times.
As for the All Blacks, coach Graham Henry is finding out that
new habits die as hard as their old cousins do. Despite a better
start and the best try of the match when Isaac Ross rounded
off a sweeping move that began with a quick lineout on their
tryline the All Blacks committed the same errors that buried
them last week.
They were skittish under pressure, too often tried to run the
ball from their tryline, and gave up penalties in dangerous areas
of the field.
Henry defended the way his team played and their conceding
so many penalties:
We tried to play the right type of football against this particular
team. It is a bit high-risk, but not having the ball meant we were
chasing our tails. We didnt execute as well as wed hoped, which
is a sign of pressure. Its frustrating when you dont have the ball,
you try and get it in other ways.
THE BEST BOKS EVER

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
13 September 2009
South Africa 32
New Zealand 29
IF THIS Springbok team is not the best ever to wear the Green
and Gold, theyre doing a helluva job pretending to be.
Adding the Tri-Nations trophy to a creaking cabinet at the
SA Rugby Union offices yesterday was another in a long line
of tangible achievements by surely the most decorated team in
Springbok history.
Peter de Villierss men now hold the World Cup, the Unity Cup
for beating the British & Irish Lions, and their third Tri-Nations,
which is pretty much all the bling there is to win internationally
with the exception of the Six Nations.
Those inclined to vote against their claims to greatness might
point to their not winning games they should like Kitch Christies
1995 world champions, or the lack of world record-equalling
winning streak as was the case with Nick Malletts 1997/8 squad.
But there were elements of greatness in the manner in which
the Boks snuffed the life out of the Tri-Nations with one game
remaining, reducing the meeting between the All Blacks and
Australia on Saturday to a dead Bledisloe Cup rubber. The win
was achieved in a must-win game if they were to avoid claiming
the trophy from their sofas at home.
It was also played in New Zealand, where the Boks had won
just one game in the past decade. Yet by the time they were done
with the All Blacks, all manner of post-isolation records lay in
tatters.
The Boks won five of their six Tri-Nations games, one more
than Malletts 1998 side; achieved the rarity of back-to-back
victories over New Zealand at home; and beat Graham Henrys
side for the third successive time in one season.

Further displaying their resolve was how they dealt with the
set-back of losing hard man Juan Smith to a lower back injury
just before kick-off.
The start to the game was hardly promising, with referee
Nigel Owens awarding a penalty against them just nine seconds
into a match that would see the All Blacks get a penalty virtually
every time they entered enemy territory.
But Frans Steyn galvanised them with the bulletproof
confidence that has characterised his career as a Bok.
The fullback, who was playing his last game for the Boks
before taking up his contract with French club Racing Metro,
reeled off three of the biggest goal-kicks anyone had ever seen in
Don The Boot Clarkes back yard. The first was a 60m effort,
which was quickly followed by two easier efforts from 58m
and the halfway line.
By chance I was hanging around after the captains run
yesterday, said Smit. He was kicking them from even further
back than he did today. When I spoke to him earlier today I told
him hes moving to France so he must have a memorable game
to make everyone miss him.
We didnt even spend time in the All Black half, but we got
nine points out of it.
By merely playing his usual blockbuster game, Steyn
encouraged the rest of the Boks to do what they do best.
And before you knew it, it was raining high-balls and the
green wall was making tackle after tackle.
Four things did the job for the Boks the lineout, the muchmaligned scrum, sensational goalkicking, and taking their
chances when they came.
The frailties of the hosts lineout were laid bare by a pathetic
sequence that saw them erroneously awarded a lineout, not throw
the ball in straight, and still have it poached by Victor Matfield.
It was a misdirected lineout, stolen by little Heinrich Brussow,
that led to the Boks first try, by Fourie du Preez.
But the greatest irony was that even when the All Blacks got
it right, the result was a trademark intercept try by the Irelandbound Jean de Villiers.
The scrums saw the Boks go from getting penalised for
collapsing their first one, holding their own, to producing the big
one when they needed it.
The rucks were refereed rather technically by Owens, with a
shrill blast of the whistle inevitably following a player going to
ground.
Ironically, such a stop-start affair was always going to suit the
Boks. When the whistling ceased and the hosts built up a head of
steam, the Boks were under pressure and conceded two typically
slick tries.
But, by then, the South Africans had taken every chance
that came their way via every goalkick they took, tries and the
obligatory drop goal from their other Steyn, Morne.
To Henry, that was the difference: We played well in the last
20 minutes, but we didnt in the first 60. Thats where we lost the
game.
BOKS BATTLE TO BEAT WALES

Simnikiwe Xabanisa
14 November 2010
South Africa 29
Wales 25
THERE WERE hints of the old world champions in the way the
Springboks came back from the dead to record what has to be their
most famous win over Wales.
Peter de Villierss men took their supporters and their fans through
purgatory in narrowly keeping their Grand Slam hopes alive, with
Scotland up next on Saturday.
In a trip on which the whole touring group seem to be playing for
their World Cup lives, the Boks showed the necessary desperation in
turning around a match in which Wales had run rings around them.
The visitors also managed to set a psychological marker against their
group opponents in New Zealand, who appear to lack the knock-out
punch against them when they have their tails up.
Ironically, what made this such a compelling game of rugby were
three things that are often maligned in SA rugby: the kick and chase, the
pick and drive, and De Villierss substitutions, with the defence securing
the win as the Welsh predictably struck back in desperation.
The visitors best passage of play in the first half was from the kickoff, which was turned over by Welsh No 8 Jonathan Thomas and ended
up in Morne Steyn opening the scoring with a penalty.
What happened next was about a performance so dominant by the
hosts that one could only remember New Zealand being that on top of
the Boks this year.
The forwards, who were the cornerstone of that unexpected win
over Ireland, found themselves to be no match for a fired-up local pack.
Despite that, the hosts came hard at the Boks , starting with the very
first scrum of the game. The visiting scrum simply disintegrated at the
sheer power of the Wales scrum, setting the tone for a half in which
Victor Matfield and Co would be on their heels.
The second of Wales two tries during that period was from a
creaking Bok scrum from the edge of the visiting 22, which saw the
under-pressure Morne Steyn fail to kick out.
The Welsh Jonah Lomu George North, who had already capped
a dream debut with the first of his two tries, started a counter-attack
which was given impetus by fellow winger Shane Williams and rounded
off by James Hook.
The Bok scrum was struggling so much in the first half that one felt
that referee Steve Walsh an old nemesis of the world champions was
deliberately awarding them the 50/50 knock-on calls just to see them
smashed.
Victor Matfield, in becoming the most capped Springbok of all time,
manned the lineout well, but the Welsh defence of the rolling maul
meant that was hardly a platform to replace the back-pedalling scrum.
At the rucks, one got the impression that even with the inexplicably
pedestrian Mike Phillips at scrumhalf the hosts were the less-harassed
of the two sides at the breakdown.
The 29th minute provided the perfect snap-shot of the disarray the
Boks found themselves in. Bjorn Basson had chased well at kick-off and
tipped the ball back to the Boks , who set up a ruck.
Beast Mtawarira and Pierre Spies, the intended recipients of Frans
Steyns ankle pass from there, chose not to gather the bobbing ball, with
Bismarck du Plessis knocking it on when he tried to for yet another eyewatering scrum.
The penalties were mounting for the under-the-cosh Boks. It was time
for problem-solving rugby. Curiously, this came via the old pick and go;
the kick and chase; whatever effing and blinding the Bok coaches must
have done at half time; and their often-maligned substitutions.
The introduction of big Willem Alberts and Flip van der Merwe lent
the toiling Bismarck du Plessis and Pierre Spies the help to generate goforward ball, with Alberts carrying Chris Czekaj over the tryline.
The desperate last quarter saw Wales score to set up squeaky bum
time, but the Boks remembered what made them world champions in
the first place to quell the resistance.
THATS THE WAY, BOKS

Luke Alfred
21 August 2011
South Africa 18
New Zealand 5
A FREE-flowing, sometimes frantic contest in Port Elizabeth
yesterday ended with a hard-earned victory for the home side.
They will fly to New Zealand in two weeks time relieved men,
knowing that anything is now possible in a World Cup that loomed
as an almost insurmountable challenge only a week ago.
That they played against a largely second-string All Black outfit
yesterday wont have dampened the joy of victory one jot. They
are a side who have won again and victory will have been sweet.
The Springboks started nervously, with All Black Israel Dagg
slicing through Fourie du Preez and JP Pietersen before Bryan
Habana made a vital try-saving covering tackle on Jimmy Cowan.
The NZ breakout signalled their early intent. They ran from
all positions on the field and from all angles. There was clearly an
attempt to move the Boks around the paddock, so it was slightly
surprising when the home side went 6-0 up within the opening 10
minutes, courtesy of two Morne Steyn penalties.
With points on the board, the Boks suffered the setback of
losing Heinrich Brussow, who gashed his nose against the studs
of Habanas boot. He went to the blood bin and was replaced by
Ashley Johnson.
Despite their early lead consolidated with a third Steyn
penalty the Boks were being pressed back in their half, although
they didnt concede any points in the period, Colin Slade missing a
penalty for New Zealand.
They were forced into further re-jigging, Pat Lambie going off.
He was replaced by Francois Hougaard, with JP Pietersen slotting
into fullback.
Luckily for the home side, the visitors werent able to take
advantage of any Bok confusion. Indeed, it was Steyn, reliability
personified, who further extended the lead with his fourth penalty,
the lead by now more than useful.
As the half progressed there was a noticeable snap in the Boks

step. Habana was playing some of his best rugby in years, while
Steyn was his usual metronomic self, adding a drop-goal to his four
penalties and dominating in a manner Butch James was unable to
do against the Wallabies last week.
The closing stages of the half brought the best passage of play
a classic first-phase try to centre Richard Kahui, after an All Black
lineout was shuttled down the line with good work from Dagg and
Sonny Bill Williams.
Dagg, who played a fine game, continued where the All Blacks
left off at the end of the first half, charging out of defence before
slipping a pass to Cowan up in support. The try was scored but
adjudged forward in the replays a possible turning point, with the
Boks maintaining their 10-point lead.
With changes aplenty on both sides, the game settled into a
strange stalemate. The Boks were territiorially in the ascendant
but couldnt add to their halftime score; the All Blacks looked
dangerous but didnt have same amount of possession as the home
side.
Steyn widened the gap with his fifth penalty midway through
the half, opening up a significant 13-point margin between the
teams.
Somehow the match seem to have spent itself as it lurched into
the final quarter. Both teams made mistakes and the referee spent
more time blowing his whistle than he might have liked.
There was more to come for the home side, though, with the
effervescent Brussow, his cut still bleeding, managing to steal a
turnover close to the Boks line. It was priceless piece of vintage
fetcher opportunism. The Boks cant do without him in New
Zealand and a nation, whose expectation is growing by the day,
absolutely knows it.
JP Pietersen
SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY

Liam Del Carme
10 October 2011
Australia 11
South Africa 9
THE SPRINGBOKS dug deep and delivered a brave but
ultimately futile performance as they relinquished their World
Cup crown in the quarter-finals yesterday.
Nerves jangled amid unbearable tension in the last quarter as
the Springboks shot into the lead but Braam van Straaten protg
James OConnor, the Wallabies fresh-faced assassin, slotted the
match-winning penalty with seven minutes to go.
As heartbreaking as the defeat was, Bok fans would be keen to
know why coach Peter de Villiers did not play Bismarck du Plessis
from the start and why he persisted with the palpably out-of-form
Bryan Habana, while Francois Hougaard provides a potential
game breaking alternative. Both made it onto the field, but only
in the 50th minute.
Springboks dominated much of the match, getting the better
of their crafty opponents in the battle for possession and territory
but the Wallabies ability to influence the game without the ball
proved decisive.
The Springboks had to do without Heinrich Brussow, who
departed the scene in the 20th minute with a suspected rib
injury, allowing the Wallabies dynamic flank David Pocock the
opportunity to ply his trade with less interference at the ruck.
The Springboks had hoped referee Bryce Lawrence would
interfere on their behalf when Pocock made his presence felt on
their ruck ball but their pleas went largely unanswered.
That was the only real talking point, said Bok captain
John Smit. I didnt get the message through [to referee Bryce
Lawrence].
Under Bryces interpretation he [Pocock] was [legal]. He had
plenty of opportunity to slow our ball down. Usually the attacking
side gets the benefit. Smit, who retired from test rugby yesterday,
sighed.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers for once drew the sting out
of a bone of contention. This is not the place to discuss the
referee and his performance, the coach said.
He instead lamented his teams inability to take advantage of
56 percent of possession and a staggering 76 percent of territory.
You take our chances in the knockout matches. We didnt take
ours, he said before describing the mood in the change rooms as
three notches lower than a funeral.
The Springboks displayed admirable endeavour but their
game lacked the requisite continuity to put the Wallabies under
tryline breaching real pressure.
They would take the ball through the phases but would come
unstuck through the Wallabies ability to get numbers to the
breakdown or falling foul of poor ball presentation.
Breaking down defences is not an area the current coaches
have advanced.
The Boks did get over the tryline but Jean de Villiers pass to
Pat Lambie was deemed to have gone forward.
Victor Matfield, in his last match as a Springbok, soared higher
than everyone else, helping the Boks win five of the Wallabies
line-out feeds. Wallabies skipper James Horwill called him the
best line-out jumper in the world.
The stats, however, become redundant if the team that is
supposed to benefit from them dont apply themselves or get the
rub of the green at the ruck. The Wallabies had Pocock and the
Boks for an hour didnt have Brussow.
That was the most experienced team against the least
experienced team. The boys came of age the way they stood up
to that challenge, Deans reflected.
MEYER S BAPTISM OF FIRE

Liam Del Carme
10 June 2012
South Africa 22
England 17
THE SPRINGBOKS took a while to assert their dominance
yesterday but once they did, the odds on English success in this
series lengthened with each passing minute.
Given their superiority, you could argue they might have won
by a greater margin had they been more adventurous.
But they didnt need to be.
It would be churlish to suggest they displayed limited ambition
in Heyneke Meyer s first test, for they achieved what they set out
to do against well-organised England.
They ticked most of the coachs boxes, even if at times they
ticked off the crowd.
They were exemplary in the primary phases with lineout
and scrum looking sufficiently greased but they clearly need to
develop their game on the ball. That will come in time.
The Springboks held a marginal edge in the first half but
England did splendidly containing what was thrown at them.
Chris Robshaw and his team stood up in the tackle and if
they needed to apply a nefarious hand at the bottom of the
ruck, they did so with unobtrusive guile. Their backs looked
dangerous with the little ball that came their way, in particular
the blockbusting Manu Tuilagi
Given the greasy conditions, Meyer must have been relieved
that he had assembled a side that could catch, kick and chase.
No eyebrow was raised when the Springboks did just that, most
notably through Francois Hougaard and Zane Kirchner. When
they didn't kick in the first half they looked ponderous.
Though the Springboks generally nudged over the advantage
line, the ensuing ruck ball in the first half emerged slowly as the
result of some determined and effective England counter-shoving.
On other occasions, and much to the chagrin of the Kings Park
crowd, the ball was left to stew at the hindmost feet.

Things brightened up in the second half as the Bok pack
increasingly firmed their grip.
Alberts, who was named man of the match, burst out of the
heavy traffic on a couple of occasions, Marcell Coetzee did as
well as you could reasonably expect from a debutant, but Pierre
Spies was cut off at the knees when he laid his hands on the
ball. It is a combination that needs revisiting, but coach Meyer
declared himself satisfied with their performance.
He also gave his stamp of approval to his debutant locks,
Eben Etzebeth and Juandre Kruger.
I thought they were brilliant. Eben is big and physical while
Juandre was calm and in charge. Im very happy with the lineout
and with the scrums because we knew they were going to target
that, said Meyer .
England started the second half with renewed vigour and
purpose but were repelled by the Boks. The introduction of
Coenie Oosthuizen at tighthead and Ruan Pienaar at scrumhalf
reaffirmed the Boks momentum.
Their brief dominance was rewarded when Morne Steyn lost
his marker and scored near the right-hand flag. The try came
after England failed to find touch and Frans Steyn delivered a
deft pass to a speeding Bryan Habana, who made steady progress
before being apprehended inside the England 22. From the
ensuing ruck ball the Boks had a potential overlap and Kruger
and JP Pietersen played their part in putting Jean de Villiers into
space.
With a defender close to the line to beat, De Villiers soared
and so too the Springboks prospects for the remainder of the
series.
Willem Alberts
LUCKY BOKS CLING TO VICTORY

Craig Ray
25 November 2012
England 15
South Africa 16
ENGLAND AIDED the Boks with numerous handling errors, poor

tactical kicking and their lineout wilted in the face of the pressure
applied by Eben Etzebeth in particular.
Flyhalf Pat Lambie contributed 11 points from three penalties and
a conversion, enjoying his most complete performance in the No10
jersey, and Jean de Villiers was heroic.
It was never going to be a pretty match when the rain started in
London hours before kick-off, but this was trench warfare of immense
magnitude.
The Boks havent strung 80 minutes together this season and it
continued yesterday. On tour theyve been good enough to win despite
their inability to be consistent for the entire match, which is a positive
sign.
But coach Heyneke Meyer will spend the off-season pondering and
plotting why his side cant carry momentum through a match and he
will have to find a solution soon.
In the first half the Boks were massacred at the scrum due to a
combination of struggling with the new engagement sequence and
referee Nigel Owens inconsistent handling of the set piece. Early
engagements werent punished on either side and England loosehead
Alex Corbisiero looked to scrum inwards on several occasions but still
won penalties.
But the Boks bossed the lineout, which led to the first try of the
match for Willem Alberts. After winning a five-metre lineout Juandre
Kruger lost the ball backwards in the next phase, but a hack ahead
ricocheted off JP Pietersens legs towards the England tryline where the
ball was knocked on into Alberts huge arms.

It was a moment of fortune but it lit the Boks fuse and lifted them
to find the resolve to win, that by rights they shouldnt have achieved.
Fortunately England flyhalf Toby Flood landed only two of four
first-half shots, which kept the Boks in touch even though they were
second best in almost every facet of the game.
The visitors did everything in their power to ensure scrums were
kept to a minimum and werent afraid to kick to touch and contest
Englands lineouts.
Etzebeth and flank Willem Alberts both won ball on Tom Youngs
throw in the first half to undermine Englands confidence in that area
of the game. Youngs missed targets and couldnt throw straight.
The Boks couldnt get any momentum and Ruan Pienaars indecisive
display was at the heart of much that went wrong for the Boks . He was
charged down clearing a ruck in the first minute of the game and from
there he failed to stamp his authority on the game.
They were aided by Englands inability to finish coupled with
several poor options when they had the Boks on the rack. You shudder
to think what the All Blacks might have done with the chances England
created.
Englands best scoring chance came late in the first half after a
break by fullback Alex Goode. It looked as if he would have a clear run
to the line but Bok skipper Jean de Villiers cut him down metres short.
Flood should have done better with the recycled ball but chose
to put the ball to boot for wing Chris Ashton to chase with the Bok
defence in tatters. Floods touch was too heavy and the ball rolled dead.
SPRINGBOKS END FRENCH WINNING STREAK

Liam Del Carme
24 November 2013
France 10
South Africa 19
MAGNIFIQUE. THAT sums up the performance of the
Springboks, who shut out France in front of a raucous
crowd here last night.
They were never truly dominant, but didnt need to be
against a disjointed French side who won just two of their
11 tests this year.
It was a workmanlike performance by the Boks, playing
in the last test of an exhausting year, and if there were
questions about their energy levels in late November, they
quickly allayed them.
They had to box smart against a French side hoping
to preserve a proud winning record against the Boks on
French soil that stretched back to 1997. It would have
been folly to try and make all the running and the Boks
executed their kicking game with precision. It caused all
kinds of consternation among the French back three.
Even more disheartening for the hosts was the Boks
defence, which was as unremitting as it was in the second
half against Scotland a week ago. In that department,
Willem Alberts set himself apart.
At the back, Willie le Roux stood as tall as the Eiffel
Tower, collecting anything in his vicinity with poise and
precision.
Ruan Pienaar has his detractors, who point lethargy
in his service, but his passing was as crisp as the Paris air
here last night.
The Boks could barely believe Frances generosity
when JP Pietersen charged down an attempted clearance
kick to score in the second minute.
It wasnt the only time the French looked shaky at the
back. It only emboldened the Boks strategy of hoofing

the ball down-field and, increasingly, their hope turned to
expectation.
Although France made most of the running in the first
half, the Boks could have been further ahead had they
capitalised on all the opportunities that came their way.
Le Roux, who grows in confidence with each passing
week, broke left, slipped through a tackle and needed a
precision pass to set Bryan Habana down the touchline
for a potential try. It was a pass made under pressure and
Habana received it high, and his first touch betrayed him.
For the second week running, captain Jean de Villiers
put himself into a handy position for an intercept try.
But, again, his initial contact with the ball was that of a
blacksmith when that of a surgeon would have been more
appropriate.
Things eventually settled in the scrum but, as the frontrankers hinged on each other, it swung like a rope bridge.
The Boks scrummed with greater confidence as the
first half wore on and earned a penalty, which Morne
Steyn converted.
By the start of the second half, the Bok scrum was in
the ascendancy and a heel against the head in the 43rd
minute served as a springboard to get Jaque Fourie over
the tryline. But the touchdown was disallowed because of
a midfield fumble.
Later Francois Louw was denied by the TMO. Another
faux pas in the French back division opened the door for
Louw to get his hand to the bouncing ball, but the ruling
went against the Boks .
ALL BLACKS BEATEN BY LAMBIES WONDER KICK

Liam Del Carme
5 October 2014
South Africa 27
New Zealand 25
REPLACEMENT FLYHALF Pat Lambie landed a 52m penalty with two
minutes to go as the Boks ended New Zealands 22-game unbeaten run with
a victory in their final Rugby Championship clash yesterday.
They were vanquished at their own game, too, as the Boks lasted the
distance in a rousing display. That the All Blacks came back in this match
is testament to their standing as world champions. When they fell, they did
so charging.
It was a passionate display by the Boks , desperate to deliver a first win
for coach Heyneke Meyer over the old foe. I always wanted to know what
it is like to beat the All Blacks, said Meyer afterwards.
The Bok forwards were pertinacious setting the stage and it is from that
elevated platform that Handre Pollard announced himself as the new starlet
of Springbok rugby.
The 20-year-old delivered a complete performance yesterday. What
Pollard gives the Boks is the sheer force with which he attacks the gain line.
He prises open defences, maybe not the first time but he keeps coming.
His kicking game has the requisite accuracy and distance, while few of
his opposite numbers will habitually run down his channel with ball in hand.
When Pollard departed the scene with 17 minutes remaining, the Boks
were leading by 11 points but, more to the point, the All Blacks looked a
beaten side.
Meyer was spared questions about why he withdrew Pollard from the
action while he seemingly still had so much to give when replacement Pat
Lambie landed the kick to seal victory. In a wider context it was an important
kick for Lambie. His goal kicking has invited criticism of late.
Pollards gainline busting exploits were, of course, made possible by
the honest toil of the Bok forwards. The Bok scrum was a beast, while
the advantage line was run onto with brio. Here, Bismarck du Plessis
was a colossus, Eben Etzebeth stood tall, while man-of-the-match Duane
Vermeulen needs a medal for valour.
The lead up to this test was dominated by speculation over whether
Vermeulen would overcome the rib injury he sustained against the Wallabies.
In Schalk Burger, the Boks had a substitute who rolled back the years and
the Wallabies a week ago, and he played his part here after Oupa Mohoje
contributed richly.
The Boks firmly took the game to the All Blacks and built a buffer the
visitors were left to lament. They played at a high tempo and although
Meyer believes the All Blacks are fitter, there was only one way to find out.
The hosts first try, however, didnt come from steady application of
pressure.
Inside the Boks 22, Hougaard heard Willie le Rouxs impassioned
plea for the ball as the fullback had spotted space available to his right.
He put Pollard in possession and the flyhalf went through a gap, the Boks
recycled before Jean de Villiers little grubber found Cornal Hendricks. He
transferred to Jan Serfontein who, in turn, sent Hougaard on his way. Ellis
Park was in delirium.
The roof was again tested 17 minutes later when Bryan Habana lost his
initial marker before Barretts omnipresent cover defence caught up with
him. But the Boks were in full frenzy and from the recycled ball, Pollard ran
hard and straight to score under the posts.
He scored again on the stroke on half time, an activity at which the All
Blacks are all too adept.
Play oscillated wildly in the second half and while the All Blacks profited
most in that period, it was the Boks who held on gamely to the end.
The All Blacks seemed to have snatched it when replacement Dane Coles
crashed over for a try with a few minutes to go, but the Boks summoned
their last bit of energy and courage to lay siege to the All Black half.
Their cause looked lost, but De Villiers insistence that a foul play incident
on Burger be reviewed drew a positive response from referee Wayne Barnes.
I have no problem with Barnesy giving the penalty, said All Blacks
coach Steve Hansen. Things like that happen in rugby. The Boks were
overdue a win.
Thankfully, Lambie duly delivered the coup de grce.
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50 YEARS OF SOUTH AFRICAN TEST RUGBY

1965
1970
10 April: SA 6 Ireland 9 (Lansdowne Road)

17 April: SA 5 Scotland 8 (Murrayfield)
19 June: SA 11 Australia 18 (SCG)
26 June: SA 8 Australia 12 (Suncorp, Brisbane)
31 July: SA 3 NZ 6 (Athletic Park, Wellington)
21 Aug: SA 0 NZ 13 (Carisbrook, Dunedin)
4 Sep: SA 19 NZ 16 (Lancaster park, Christchurch)
10 Jan: SA 8 Ireland 8 (Lansdowne Road, Dublin) DRAW

24 Jan: SA 6 Wales 6 (Arms Park, Cardiff) DRAW
25 July: SA 17 NZ 6 (Loftus)
8 Aug: SA 8 NZ 9 (Newlands)
29 Aug: SA 14 NZ 3 (Boet Erasmus, PE)
12 Sep: SA 20 NZ 17 (Ellis Park)
18 Sep: SA 3 NZ 20 (Eden Park, Auckland)
1966 No tours
1967
15 July: SA 26 France 3 (Kings Park)
22 July: SA 16 France 3 (Bloemfontein)
29 July: SA 14 France 19 (Ellis Park)
12 Aug: SA 6 France 6 (Newlands) DRAW
1971
12 June: SA 22 France 9 (Bloemfontein)
19 June: SA 8 France 8 (Kings Park, Durban) DRAW
17 July: SA 19 Australia 11 (SCG)
31 July: SA 14 Australia 6 (Brisbane Exhibition Ground)
7 Aug: SA 18 Australia 6 (SCG)
1972
3 June: SA 9 England 18 (Ellis Park)
1968
1973
8 June: SA 25 Lions 20 (Loftus)

22 June: SA 6 Lions 6 (Boet Erasmus, PE) DRAW
13 July: SA 11 Lions 6 (Newlands)
27 July: SA 19 Lions 6 (Ellis Park)
9 Nov: SA 12 France 9 (Bordeaux)
16 Nov: SA 16 France 11 (Stade Olympique, Paris)
No tours
1969
2 Aug: SA 30 Australia 11 (Ellis Park)
16 Aug: SA 16 Australia 9 (Kings Park)
6 Sep: SA 11 Australia 3 (Newlands)
20 Sep: SA 19 Australia 8 (Bloemfontein)
6 Dec: SA 3 Scotland 6 (Murrayfield, Edinburgh)
20 Dec: SA 8 England 11 (Twickenham, London)
South African victories in bold
1974
8 June: SA 3 Lions 12 (Newlands)
22 June: SA 9 Lions 28 (Loftus)
13 July: SA 9 Lions 26 (Bloemfontein)
27 July: SA 13 Lions 13 (Ellis Park) DRAW
23 Nov: SA 13 France 4 (Toulouse)
30 Nov: SA 10 France 8 (Parc des Princes, Paris)
1975
21 June: SA 38 France 25 (Bloemfontein)
28 June: SA 33 France 18 (Loftus)
1976
24 July: SA 16 NZ 7 (Kings Park)
14 Aug: SA 9 NZ 15 (Bloemfontein)
4 Sep: SA 15 NZ 10 (Newlands)
18 Sep: SA 15 NZ 14 (Ellis Park)
1977
27 Aug: SA 45 World XV 24 (Loftus)
1978-79 no tours
1980
26 April: SA 24 South America 9 (Wanderers)
3 May: SA 18 South America 9 (Kings Park)
31 May: SA 26 Lions 22 (Newlands)
14 June: SA 26 Lions 19 (Bloemfontein)
28 June: SA 12 Lions 10 (Boet Erasmus, PE)
12 July: SA 13 Lions 17 (Loftus)
18 Oct: SA 22 South America 13 (Montevideo)
25 Oct: SA 30 South America 16 (Santiago)
8 Nov: SA 37 France 15 (Loftus)
1981
30 May: SA 23 Ireland 15 (Newlands)
6 June: SA 12 Ireland 10 (Kings Park)
15 Aug: SA 9 NZ 14 (Lancaster Park, Christchurch)
29 Aug: SA 24 NZ 12 (Athletic Park, Wellington)
12 Sep: SA 22 NZ 25 (Eden Park, Auckland)
20 Sep: SA 38 USA 7 (Own Creek Polo Ground,
Glenville, New York)
1982
27 March: SA 50 South America 18 (Loftus)
3 April: SA 12 South American 21 (Bloemfontein)
1983 no tours
1984
1994
1997
3 April: SA 33 England 15 (Boet Erasmus)

9 June: SA 35 England 9 (Ellis Park)
20 Oct: SA 32 South America 15 (Loftus)
27 Oct: SA 22 South American 13 (Newlands)
4 June: SA 15 England 32 (Loftus)

11 June: SA 27 England 9 (Newlands)
9 July: SA 14 NZ 22 (Dunedin)
23 July: SA 9 NZ 13 (Wellington)
6 Aug: SA 18 NZ 18 (Auckland) DRAW
8 Oct: SA 42 Argentina 22 (Boet Erasmus, PE)
15 Oct: SA 46 Argentina 26 (Ellis Park)
19 Nov: SA 34 Scotland 10 (Murrayfield)
26 Nov: SA 20 Wales 12 (Arms Park)
10 June: SA 74 Tonga 10 (Cape Town)

21 June: SA 16 Lions 25 (Cape Town)
28 June: SAZ 15 Lions 18 (Durban)
5 July: SA 35 Lions 16 (Johannesburg)
19 July: SA 32 NZ 35 (Johannesburg)
2 Aug: SA 20 Australia 32 (Brisbane)
9 Aug: SA 35 NZ 55 (Auckland)
23 Aug: SA 61 Australia 22 (Pretoria)
8 Nov: SA 62 Italy 31 (Bologna)
15 Nov: SA 36 France 32 (Lyon)
22 Nov: SA 52 France 10 (Paris)
1985 No tours
1986
10 May: SA 21 NZ Cavaliers 15 (Newlands)
17 May: SA 18 NZ Cavaliers 19 (Kings Park)
24 May: SA 33 NZ Cavaliers 18 (Loftus)
31 May: SA 24 NZ Cavaliers 10 (Ellis Park)
1987-1988 No tours
1989
26 Aug: SA 20 World XV 19 (Newlands)
2 Sep: SA 22 World XV 16 (Ellis Park)
1990-1991 No tours
1992
15 Aug: SA 24 NZ 27 (Ellis Park)
22 Aug: SA 3 Australia 26 (Newlands)
17 Oct: SA 20 France 15 (Lyon)
24 Oct: SA 16 France 29 (Parc de Princes, Paris)
14 Nov: SA 16 England 33 (Twickenham)
1993
26 June: SA 20 France 20 (Kings Park) DRAW
3 July: SA 17 France 19 (Ellis Park)
31 July: SA 19 Australia 12 (SFG, Sydney)
14 Aug: SA 20 Australia 28 (Ballymore, Brisbane)
21 Aug: SA 12 Australia 19 (SFG, Sydney)
6 Nov: SA 29 Argentina 26 (Buenos Aires)
1995
13 April: SA 60 Samoa 8 (Ellis Park)
25 May: SA 27 Australia 18 (Newlands) WORLD CUP
30 May: SA 21 Romania 8 (Newlands) WORLD CUP
3 June: SA 20 Canada 0 (Boet Erasmus, PE) WORLD CUP
10 June: SA 42 Samoa 14 (Ellis Park) WORLD CUP
17 June: SA 19 France 15 (Kings Park) WORLD CUP
24 June: SA 15 NZ 12 (Ellis Park) WORLD CUP FINAL
2 Sep: SA 40 Wales 11 (Ellis Park)
12 Nov: SA 40 Italy 21 (Rome)
18 Nov: SA 24 England 14 (Twickenham)
1996
2 July: SA 43 Fiji 18 (Pretoria)
13 July: SA 16 Australia 21 (Sydney)
20 July: SA 11 New Zealand 15 (Christchurch)
3 Aug: SA 25 Australia 19 (Bloemfontein)
10 Aug: SA 18 NZ 29 (Cape Town)
17 Aug: SA 19 NZ 23 (Durban)
24 Aug: SA 26 NZ 33 (Pretoria)
31 Aug: SA 32 NZ 22 (Johannesburg)
30 Nov: SA 22 France 12 (Bordeaux)
7 Dec: SA 13 France 12 (Paris)
15 Dec: 37 Wales 20 (Cardiff)
29 Nov: SA 29 England 11 (London)

6 Dec: SA 68 Scotland 10 (Edinburgh)
1998
13 June: SA 37 Ireland 13 (Bloemfontein)
20 June: SA 33 Ireland 0 (Pretoria)
27 June: SA 96 Wales 13 (Pretoria)
4 July: SA 18 England 0 (Newlands)
18 July: SA 14 Australia 13 (Perth)
22 Aug: SA 29 Australia 15 (Johannesburg)
14 Nov: SA 28 Wales 20 (London)
21 Nov: SA 35 Scotland 10 (Edinburgh)
28 Nov: SA 27 Ireland 13 (Dublin)
5 Dec: SA 7 England 13 (London)
1999
12 June: SA 74 Italy 3 (Port Elizabeth)
19 June: SA 101 Italy 0 (Durban)
26 June: SA 19 Wales 29 (Cardiff)
17 July: SA 6 Australia 32 (Brisbane)
14 Aug: SA 10 Australia 9 (Cape Town)
3 Oct: SA 46 Scotland 29 (Edinburgh) World Cup
10 Oct: SA 47 Spain 3 (Edinburgh) World Cup

15 Oct: SA 39 Uruguay 3 (Glasgow) World Cup
24 Oct: SA 44 England 21 (Paris) World Cup, quarterfinal
30 Oct: SA 21 Australia 27 (London) World Cup, semifinal
4 Nov: SA 22 NZ 18 (Cardiff) World Cup third-plac e
play-off
2000
10 June: SA 51 Canada 18 (East London)
17 June: SA 18 England 13 (Pretoria)
24 June: SA 22 England 27 (Bloemfontein)
8 July: SA 23 Australia 44 (Melbourne)
22 July: SA 12 NZ 25 (Christchurch)
26 Aug: SA 18 Australia 19 (Durban)
26 Nov: SA 23 Wales 13 (Cardiff)
2 Dec: SA 17 England 25 (London)
2001
16 June: SA 23 France 32 (Johannesburg)
23 June: SA 20 France 15 (Durban)
30 June: SA 60 Italy 14 (Port Elizabeth)
21 July: SA 3 NZ 12 (Cape Town)
28 July: SA 20 Australia 15 (Pretoria)
18 Aug: SA 14 Australia 14 (Perth) DRAW
25 Aug: SA 15 NZ 26 (Auckland)
17 Nov: SA 54 Italy 26 (Genoa)
1 Dec: SA 43 USA 20 (Houston)
2002
8 June: SA 34 Wales 19 (Bloemfontein)
15 June: SA 19 Wales 8 (Cape Town)
22 June: SA 49 Argentina 29 (Springs)

6 July: SA 60 Samoa 18 (Pretoria)
9 Nov: SA 10 France 30 (Marseilles)
23 Nov: SA 3 England 53
2003
7 June: SA 29 Scotland 25 (Durban)
14 June: SA 28 Scotland 19 (Johannesburg)
28 June: SA 26 Argentina 25 (Port Elizabeth)
12 July: SA 26 Australia 22 (Cape Town)
19 July: SA 16 NZ 52 (Pretoria)
2 Aug: SA 9 Australia 29 (Brisbane)
9 Aug: SA 11 NZ 19 (Dunedin)
11 Oct: SA 72 Uruguay 6 (Perth) World Cup
18 Oct: SA 6 England 25 (Perth) World Cup
24 Oct: SA 46 Georgia 19 (Sydney) World Cup
1 Nov: SA 60 Samoa 10 (Brisbane) World Cup
8 Nov: SA 9 NZ 29 (Melbourne) World Cup, quarterfinal
2004
12 June: SA 31 Ireland 17 (Bloemfontein)
19 June: SA 26 Ireland 17 (Cape Town)
17 July: SA 38 Pacific Islanders 24 (Gosford, New
Zealand)
4 Dec: SA 39 Argentina 7 (Buenos Aires)
2005
11 June: SA 134 Uruguay 3 (East London)
18 June: SA 30 France 30 (Durban) DRAW
25 June: SA 27 France 13 (Port Elizabeth)
23 July: SA 33 Australia 20 (Johannesburg)
30 July: SA 22 Australia 18 (Pretoria)
20 Aug: SA 22 Australia 19 (Perth)
27 Aug: SA 27 NZ 31 (Dunedin)
2006
10 June: SA 36 Scotland 16 (Durban)
17 June: SA 29 Scotland 15 (Port Elizabeth)
24 June: SA 26 France 36 (Cape Town)
5 Aug: SA 18 Australia 20 (Sydney)
2 Sep: SA 21 NZ 20 (Rustenburg)
9 Sep: SA 24 Australia 16 (Johannesburg)
2007
26 May: SA 58 England 10 (Bloemfontein)
2 June: SAZ 55 England 22 (Pretoria)
9 June: SA 35 Samoa 8 (Johannesburg)
16 June: SA 22 Australia 19 (Cape Town)
23 June: SA 21 NZ 26 (Durban)
15 Aug: SA 105 Namibia 13 (Cape Town)
25 Aug: SA 27 Scotland 3 (Edinburgh)
9 Sep: SA 59 Samoa 7 (Paris) World Cup
14 Sep: SA 36 England 0 (Paris) World Cup

22 Sep: SA 30 Tonga 25 (Lens) World Cup
30 Sep: SA 64 USA 15 (Montpellier) World Cup
7 Oct: SA 37 Fiji 20 (Marseilles) World Cup, quarterfinal
14 Oct: SA 37 Argentina 13 (Paris) World Cup, semifinal
20 Oct: SA 15 England 6 (Paris) World Cup final
2008
7 June: SA 43 Wales 17 (Bloemfontein)
21 June: SA 26 Italy 0 (Cape Town)
9 Aug: SA 63 Argentina 9 (Johannesburg)
2009
20 June: SA 26 Lions 21 (Durban)
27 June: SA 28 Lions 25 (Pretoria)
4 July: SA 9 Lions 28 (Johannesburg)
25 July: SA 28 NZ 19 (Bloemfontein)
8 Aug: 29 Australia 17 (Cape Town)
29 Aug: SA 32 Australia 25 (Perth)
5 Sep: SA 6 Australia 21 (Brisbane)
12 Sep: SA 32 NZ 29 (Hamilton)
13 Nov: SA 13 France 20 (Toulouse)
21 Nov: SA 32 Italy 10 (Udine)
2010
5 June: SA 34 Wales 31 (Cardiff)
12 June: SA 42 France 17 (Cape Town)
19 June: SA 29 Italy 13 (Witbank)
26 June: SA 55 Italy 11 (East London)
10 July: SA 12 NZ 32 (Auckland)
28 Aug: SAZ 44 Australia 31 (Pretoria)
4 Sep: SA 39 Australia 41 (Bloemfontein)
2011
13 Aug: SA 9 Australia 14
20 Aug: SA 18 NZ 5 (Port Elizabeth)
11 Sep: SA 17 Wales 16 (Wellington) World Cup
17 Sep: SA 49 Fiji 3 (Wellington) World Cup
22 Sep: SA 87 Namibia 0 (North Shore City) World
Cup
30 Sep: SA 13 Samoa 5 (North Shore City) World Cup
9 Oct: SA 9 Australia 11 (Wellington) World Cup,
quarter-final
2012
9 June: SA 22 England 17 (Durban)
16 June: SA 36 England 27 (Johannesburg)
23 June: SA 14 England 14 (Port Elizabeth) DRAW
18 Aug: SA 27 Argentina 6 (Cape Town)
25 Aug: SA 16 Argentina 16 (Mendoza) DRAW
8 Sep: SA 19 Australia 26 (Perth)
15 Sep: SA 11 NZ 21 (Dunedin)
29 Sep: SA 31 Australia 8 (Pretoria)
6 Oct: SA 16 NZ 32 (Johannesburg)
2013
8 June: SA 44 Italy 10 (Durban)
15 June: SA 30 Scotland 17 (Nelspruit)
22 June: SA 56 Samoa 23 (Pretoria)
17 Aug: SAZ 73 Argentina 13 (Johannesburg)
24 Aug: SA 22 Argentina 17 (Mendoza)
7 Sep: SA 38 Australia 12 (Brisbane)
14 Sep: SA 15 NZ 29 (Auckland)
28 Sep: SA 28 Australia 8 (Cape Town)
17 Nov: SAZ 28 Scotland 0 (Edinburgh)
2014
14 June: SA 38 Wales 16 (Durban)
21 June: SAS 31 Wales 30 (Nelspruit)
28 June: SA 55 Scotland 6 (Port Elizabeth)
16 Aug: SA 13 Argentina 6 (Pretoria)
23 Aug: SA 33 Argentina 31 (Salta)
6 Sep: SA 23 Australia 24 (Perth)
13 Sep: SA 10 NZ 14 (Wellington)
27 Sep: SA 28 Australia 10 (Cape Town)
22 Nov: SA 22 Italy 6 (Padua)
2015
12 July: SA 46 World XV 10 (Newlands)
25 July: SA 20 NZ 27 (Johannesburg)
8 Aug: SA 25 Argentina 37 (Kings Park)
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50 YEARS OF

SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY

We make insurance easy,

2 50 Years of South African Rugby

Copyright Times Media (Pty) Ltd 2015

ISBN 978-1-928216-90-2 (ePDF)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other

3 50 Years of South African Rugby

RUGBY WORLD CUP 2015 FACTS:

Most points in RWC history (Percy Montgomery, 1999-2007)

Most points in a single RWC tournament (Percy Montgomery,

Most points by an individual in a single match (Jannie de

Most tries in RWC history (Bryan Habana, 2007-2011)

Most tries in a single RWC tournament (Bryan Habana, SA,

Most penalties by an individual in a single match (Jannie de

Most conversions by an individual in a single match (Jannie

Most drop-goals by an individual in a single match (Jannie

Most tries by an individual in a single match (Bryan Habana

Staging of Rugby World Cup

competing nations in the finals

scrum machines deployed

visiting fans expected from over 100 countries

match day tickets sold

expected global TV audience

projected income for Britain in Rand value

PREVIOUS HOST COUNTRIES:

New Zealand and Australia

England (with games across Britain and Ireland)

South Africa (first RWC where all games were played in

Wales (games played in Britain, Ireland and France)

France (with games played in Britain)

GENERAL RUGBY WORLD CUP FACTS:

4 50 Years of South African Rugby

Number of winners from the northern hemisphere

The number of titles New Zealand, Australia and South

The number of times France have been runners-up (1987,

Most points by an individual in a single match (Simon

The number of Pool matches NZ have won. The only team

Most conversions by an individual in a single match (Simon

Most number of tries scored by one team in a single

Most tries in RWC history (Jonah Lomu, NZ, 1995-1999)

Most tries in a single RWC tournament (Jonah Lomu, NZ,

Most penalties by an individual in a single match (Gavin

Average number of points NZ have scored in every one of

Most points in RWC history (Jonny Wilkinson, England, 19992011)

Largest winning margin (Australia 142 Namibia 0 in 2003)

Most points scored by a team in a match (NZ vs. Japan in

Most aggregate points in a match (NZ 145 Japan 17 in

Most tries by an individual in a single match (Mark Ellis, NZ,

Most drop-goals by an individual in a single match (Jannie

Total tries scored by NZ in RWC history

2012 Most points by a team in RWC history (NZ)

DID YOU KNOW?

The number of World Cup winners medals Du Randt won

Du Randts winning percentage at RWC. He played 16 games and SA won 15.

The number of games the Springboks have lost in RWC history

The number of RWC tournaments the Springboks have played in

5 50 Years of South African Rugby

Tackle claims easily

SOUTH AFRICAS WORLD CUP 2015 TEAM

Lwazi Mvovo Wing

Bismarck du Plessis Hooker