24 August 1976- All Blacks 48 / Transvaal combined Country XV 13

The All Blacks next match was against a combined Transvaal Country XV which included players from three provincial unions –South Eastern Transvaal, Far North and Rhodesia.

This was the first time an All Black touring side did not play against Rhodesia. Both the 1949 and 1960 All Black sides in fact played against two Rhodesian sides namely against a “Southern” Rhodesian and “Northern/Central” Rhodesian side.

The 1949 side played their first match in Bulawayo and lost 8-10. Five days later they played a second match in Salisbury which they drew 3 all.

Rhodesian rugby must have been something in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Rhodesia produced 8 Springboks over the years namely Ryk van Schoor, Salty du Randt, Andy MacDonald (read how Andy fought a lion with his bare hands and survived here), Ronnie Hill, Ian Robertson, Ray Mordt, and David Smith.

The 1960 All Blacks played against a Rhodesian XV in Kitwe and then 4 days later against Rhodesia in Salisbury. They won both matches (13-9 and 29-14). These two touring sides (1949 and 1960) as well as the 1970 side (whose match against Rhodesia can be read here) enjoyed the trip to Rhodesia enormously and Alan Sutherland made a point in his after match speech to mention that the trip to Rhodesia was one of the highlights of the 1970 tour.

The regular match against Rhodesia was no doubt cancelled because of the terrorist activities going on in Rhodesia in 1976.

At the time this match was played I was actually in Rhodesia on a hunting trip with my father and brother. It was my dad’s longstanding dream to shoot a buffalo and in 1976 he realized this dream after rebuilding a Landrover -all on his own with the help of my brother- after work in our backyard in Zeerust.

Pictures of that Landrover and the Buffalo can be seen below. It was a magical experience which I wrote about on another blog relating the tension and fear of terrorist attacks we experienced on the heavily targeted road between Beitbrug and Fort Victoria. We missed the armed convoy and had to drive all the way to Fort Victoria by ourselves armed with only hunting rifles in a stuttering Landrover; we fixed the problem later but on that particular stretch a dirty oil filter produced lots of anxiety.

Top picture shows the Zimbabwe ruins and the bottom picture the Landrover we travelled in.

Picture of my dad, my brother and me with the buffalo my dad shot in Rhodesia.

The Rhodesian Ian Robertson who played in the first and second test (and later in the fourth test) withdrew but the Country team fielded three other Rhodesians namely the fleet-footed winger Danny Delport who made quite an impression, the centre John Harris and the hooker Richard McKenna. Two ex-Springboks namely Polla Fourie and Johan Spies also played for the Transvaal Country XV. Johan Spies of course played in all four tests against the 1970 All Blacks while Polla Fourie –the brother of Ex-Springbok winger Carel Fourie- played in one test against the 1974 British and Irish Lions.

Polla Fourie Ex-Springbok flanker who played for the Transvaal Country XV.

It was a free flowing match in which the All Blacks scored 8 tries. Laurie Mains converted 5 of these tries and slotted two penalty goals for a personal contribution of 16 points; taking his personal aggregate for the tour to 93 points.

The All Blacks forwards were rampant and scored 5 of the seven tries with the other three tries being scored by Purvis (2) and Joe Morgan. Alan Sutherland, the Captain for the day, and Lawrie Knight both scored two tries with Graeme Crossman adding the other forward try.

The All Blacks were ahead 44-9 by 18 minutes of the second half and a score of 60 to 70 a distinct possibility when they lost their impetus. The decline coincided with the departure of Bill Osborne which left the field heavily concussed after tackling a rampaging Polla Fourie.

Kit Fawcett replaced Osborne and went to the left wing with Purvis moving into the centres. Fawcett proceeded to do everything wrong, and fouled up three try scoring opportunities. Kerry Tanner played in only his second match in five weeks after his illness and went through the game scrummaging pretty well.

It was a reasonable good win for the Kiwis against a weak side but some danger signs were starting to pop-up. An Article in the Sunday times by Barry Glasspool entitled “Are the All Blacks Cracking” showed how the All Blacks have declined as a defensive unit as the tour progressed and speculated that the tour is starting to take its toll on the side. Up until the Quaggas game, said the Sunday times article, the All Blacks had conceded only 11 tries in 14 matches. In the last three matches, including the Transvaal Country XV, ten tries had been conceded.  

Laurie Mains was once again sent off with the dirt trackers to Upington a few days later as was Kerry Tanner; both not considered for the third test with the All Black selectors deciding to pick Perry Harris -who arrived just before the game against Natal as replacement for Johnstone who was send home due to injury- in the frontrow and Kit Fawcett on 15. Harris was not even invited to the NZ trials –before the tour started- and was considered the sixth choice loosehead prop in NZ. Harris selection for the third test was a major mistake and Tanner, in general, was not very happy with being overseen for the third test as was Mains who was working hard at his game.

This all contributed to the dirt trackers being polarized into a tight, clannish bunch that weren’t afraid to air their grievances when the road swung to Upington after defeat in the third test. I’ll write about that later but will suffice to say here that it was already clear at this stage from remarks made by team members to Sport Journalists that the All Blacks were starting to feel the heat. Terry McLean explains:

Sutherland, captain of the day, confronted three Kiwi Pressman in the bar of Burgers Park in Pretoria. “The trouble with you jokers (the actual word was less refined), “he said, “is that none of you know anything of what’s really going on out there. You are all just guessers.” A little time later, after “Sully” had departed on more interesting business. Oliver arrived at the same spot. The talk was Rugby. “Off course,” he said, “I haven’t a clue. You Press jokers (the word was jokers) have seen a hell more Rugby than I have. You know it all.”

Picture of Frank Oliver who ended up with some stitches for a cut in his head. Oliver had a particular good game, he won lineout ball, drove superbly and committed himself totally to the rucks and mauls.

Alan Sutherland scoring one of his two tries. Sutherland was again prominent and at least one enthusiastic South African Pressman wrote that Sutherland was now threatening the places of five test players – presumably lock, flank and Number 8.

Neil Purvis who scored two outstanding tries and who played arguably his best game on tour. Here he evades the Transvaal Country XV flyhalf Flip Schoeman who did not have a particular good game.

Joe Morgan scored from a treble scissors from Going to Mitchell to Going to Morgan. It was a dead ringer according to Terry McLean of the famous North Auckland move of the brothers Sid, Brain and Ken Going.  

Teams

* Bill Osborne left the field after 51 minutes replaced by Fawcett

Crowd 16 000 and the referee was Dr Johan Gouws from Eastern Transvaal. Match was played in Witbank.

Run of play

It being Worldcup year I thought this article would provide some entertainment. It was published on June, 26, 1995 in the Guardian and is about Afrikaner arrogance.

Afrikaans arrogance sours Springboks’ taste of victory

21 August 1976 – NTVL 29 / All Blacks 27

Uncle Piet and hypocritical Thys had the All Blacks pretty worked up after the Northern Transvaal game. There were several incidents during and after the game but the cherry on the cake, for the All Blacks, was the way referee Piet Robbertse and NTVL captain Thys Lourens conspired to cheat them out of a victory in extra time.

In the 41^st minute the All Blacks scored a try which looked like the winning one after trailing on the scoreboard for the whole match. Robbertse, however, allowed an extra three line-outs, and running up to the last lineout he conspired with Thys to force the match winning penalty for NTVL by reacting on a remark made by Lourens in Afrikaans: “I am dropping out of the line-out Oom Piet. We are playing a short line-out. Watch them.” Uncle Piet apparently anxious that the All Blacks will notice what was going on penalized the All Blacks even before the lineout had properly formed and then marched another 10 steps closer to the All Black goal line before marking the penalty spot.

There were a number of issues with this line-out. Thys Lourens explained afterwards that NTVL had tried this particular ploy earlier in the game but that it escaped the attention of Robbertse. Lourens therefore went ahead and made sure that the “trick” did not again escape the referee’s notice.

From the All Blacks perspective Robbertse prejudged the line-out. He ignored a couple facts namely that the throw-in by John Trollope wasn’t straight; that it was a quick line-out and that at least one retreating NTVL player wasn’t yet beyond the 10-meter mark and lastly that All Black number 6 Ken Stewart -who was penalised for being the extra man- had just arrived at the line-out and was not allowed the time to assess the situation.

Personally, I have difficulty to see how this sort of gamesmanship is different from taking a quick tap after a penalty and scoring a try alla Zinzan Brook against the Springboks in 1992 or worse alla New Zealand referee Paul Honiss instructing John Smit to talk to his players and then allowing the Irish flyhalf O’Gara to take a quick tap and score the winning try in November 2006 at Landswone road, Dublin.

If you study this picture, especially the crowd beyond the players, you must conclude that someone has scored. Not, obviously, the All Blacks. That’s Northern Transvaal, the place where they manufacture winning penalty goals from remarks in Afrikaans writes Terry McLean about this photograph. 

The All Blacks, however, came out of the game feeling cheated to the extent that one player with a very moderate personality remarked: “If I had walked into the hotel bedroom straight after the final whistle instead of into the dressing room I would have wrecked everything in it. I was so wild at being cheated out of victory.” 

The All Blacks felt they had beaten Northern Transvaal, but that they couldn’t beat “Uncle” Piet Robbertse.

Even worse for some Kiwis was that Thys started his speech at the post match reception with a prayer to thank the creator for the day and for rugby. You can sense the acid dripping reading Terry McLean description of this incident:

The most lenient view of Lourens’ action was that it was snide and shoddy.

When Lourens in his speech at the dinner started by thanking “Our Maker” for this day and for Rugby, the more percipient diners (which is no doubt all the Kiwis) gazed at him in a wild surmise.

Even in Rugby, “Our Maker” might not have approved shoddy tricks as a way of winning matches.

All Black Coach JJ Stewart in typical kiwi style had “no comment” about the referee after the match. However, there were several incidents in the match -in addition to the Oom-Piet-lineout issue- that raised eyebrows in the All Black camp. Robbertse disallowed an outstanding try by Bryan Williams; allowed three tries from NTVL in spite of prior infringements; allowed the NTVL players to lie on the wrong side of the rucks slowing down Kiwi ball; allowed offside play and several forward passes by NTVL, according to the Kiwis.

The general feeling was that NTVL played good rugby while the All Blacks did not fire on all cylinders but that game left a bad taste in the mouth because of the multitude questionable incidents.

Things developed an even more tasteless odour when Professor Fritz Elloff President of NTVL rugby union in breach of proper conduct used a comment by JJ Stewart made during a private conversation. Stewart said after the match to Elloff that “in our lifetime NTVL and the All Blacks would probably not meet again” and Elloff used that remark to illustrate that the All Blacks were so unhappy about the loss that they’ve threatened to never again play against NTVL.

Stewart made the remark in context of political developments and not in context of the match result and said so explicitly to Elloff during the conversation when Elloff asked what you mean. Stewart reproached Elloff for the unsavoury way the later used the comment before leaving the room spending the rest of the evening with the players at the bar. John du Toit of the Transvaler picked-up on this incident and wrote about it after which every other media man jumped on it, quoted it, and used it out of context.

John du Toit was instrumental in another unsavoury issue during the NTVL game via a pre-match article in which he -according to the Kiwis- started a smear campaign against Billy Bush. The article in the Transvaler -which was followed up with a very one sided article in Beeld by Quintes van Rooyen- turned the South African public in no uncertain way very negative towards Billy Bush. Du Toit and Van Rooyen wrote that Bush with his aggressive and obstreperous trouble-seeking behaviour is not only at risk to being sent off by a strict referee such as Piet Robbertse but that the Blue Bulls were not going to tolerate his over-aggressiveness. When Bush was dumped unceremoniously in front of the main stand by local hero Thys Lourens the act was greeted with loud partisan crowd approval. The cheers quickly turned into heckling when Bush revealed his feelings with a two-finger sign.

All these events and happenings distracted from what was really a splendid performance by the bulls. They played typical Northern Transvaal 10-man rugby and were excellent in the set piece as well as the breakdowns being the only SA team on the entire tour (tests included) that actually won the ruck contest against the Kiwi’s. Terry McLean writes:

There is no doubt Northerns were the better team. As holders of the Currie Cup, they fielded a fine, well-organised pack and two halfbacks in Tommy du Plessis and Joos le Roux who were not in the least interested in playing 15-man Rugby –down the field into touch or over the top, in front of the forwards, that was their order of battle.

Thys Lourens the Northern Transvaal captain who made himself very unpopular amongst the All Blacks with the way he conspired with referee Piet Robbertse to force a penalty in the dying seconds of the match. Some SA critics like Quintes van Rooyen were raving about Lourens after the NTVL/AB game and was writing him up as the captain the Springbok team should have. Mclean writes: Many critics led by Quintes van Rooyen, raved about Lourens as the Captain South Africa must have – “I hope they pick him,” said John Stewart. But he was not as good as Louis Muller on the other flank, or of the class of Louis Moolman and Moaner van Heerden at lock. Trollope was skilled, too, and Wynand Claassen roamed relentlessly from Number 8. 

Wynand Claasen on the charge for NTVL against the 1976 All Blacks.

Tommy du Plessis kicking in the match against NTVL. NTVL played typical 10-man rugby and he and Joos le Roux kept the ball on the foot and in front of the pack.

Regarding the All Blacks they were a team in a desperate situation with injury woes to cry from and the general feeling in the camp was that it is a tour that has gone on just too long and that 6 weeks is about long enough for a tour. McLean writes:

The game was not to be catalogued among the greater fixtures. The loss of the All Blacks of Williams with concussion and Johnstone with the ruptured rib cartilage which put him out of the tour was as crippling as the dismal inefficiency of Davis at the heels of a tired and dismal pack and of Fawcett indulging in hair-raising defensive actions which included no fewer than four touches missed off the left foot and a sensational, and utterly crazy, attempt to fly-kick at a ball bouncing in front of fast-moving Northerns forwards.

A sponsoring firm later named Fawcett as the All Blacks man of the match. Because he scored 19 points from an excellent try, three conversations and three penalty goals, he might have seemed entitled to the award; but, in fact, no All Black, Leslie or Bush alone excepted, warranted preference.

They were all fatigued in mind and body. Perhaps Leslie was right in saying that a tour of 6 weeks was quite long enough.

Lyn Davis the All Black No 9 was under extreme pressure behind a struggling pack. The top photo shows how NTVL stormed through the rucks with Joe Morgan in process of getting annihilated by Moaner van Heerden and the second photo shows Davis getting tackled by Tommy du Plessis.

Sure, the All Blacks’ problems were compounded by injuries during the match in particular the rib injury to Brad Johnstone which forced Frank Oliver into emergency duty in the front row for the rest of the game. With the All Black scrum struggling –Bush actually moving to the loosehead on the Kiwi put-ins to try and stabilise the scrum- the kiwis’ were outplayed in the set piece. The All Blacks was also being matched in speed to the loose ball and in rucking and mauling expertise.

The Northern Transvaal big men like Moaner van Heerden, Kresence Swanepoel, Louis Moolman and Louis Muller drove gaping holes in their defences.

It was tough going against NTVL. Here Ian Kirkpatrick is charging into a wall of light blue giants.

The Kiwi tackling was lacking full commitment and not entirely adequate and within the first two minutes of the match Doors van Rooyen scored in the corner after a bulldozing drive started by Moaner van Heerden. Pierre Spies scored twice in the 28^th and 61^st minutes and Trollope scored in the 44^th minute.

When Pierre Spies, a magnificent sprinter, scored his second try, writes Terry McLean, Whiting was observed 40 meter up the field, trotting in the manner of a man utterly revolted by the inefficiencies of the All Blacks’ defence. His attitude was not untypical of the team – they all had it; and they nearly got there because of good old Kiwi pride.

Pierre Spies who scored two tries against the 1976 All Blacks for Northern Transvaal. There was a lot of interest on Spies who forfeited a change of Springbok rugby colours, to concentrate on athletics. Spies popped up on the left from the opposite wing to take a pass and gliding like and antelope showed the defence a clear pair of heels to score a glorious try but that was the extent of approving ticks behind his name. He looked shaky on defence, rusty in most other departments of the game and clearly not yet sharp enough for test rugby and was consequently again overlooked when the test side for the third test was announced.

It was Kit Fawcett who started the All Blacks late charge which almost won them the match. He scored a marvellous solo try coming in to the line bursting through three tackles. His own conversation made the score 23-21 which became 26-21 when Joos le Roux dropped a goal.

There was a minute of official playing time left on the clock when the All Blacks won a lineout in their own 22. The ball went down the line and Fawcett trust through at centre before sending Terry Mitchell away. Fawcett was the last man of a dozen to handle the ball before it went to Bruce Robertson who, cornered against the sideline, lifted a perfect cross kick.

Andy Leslie was one of four All Black forwards who were on the spot to get the lucky bounce and stepping inside Pierre van Zyl he dotted down between the posts. Fawcett converted to make the score 27-26.

The clock showed 41 minutes but Oom Piet allowed three more lineouts before conspiring with Thys Lourens penalising the All Blacks for a man extra in the lineout. Joos le Roux slotted the difficult kick to end the match the All Black almost won but in fairness probably didn’t deserve to win.

These two pictures show Kit Fawcett in action against NTVL. In the top picture he and Bruce Robertson is busy with some skulduggery and on the bottom picture he runs over for his solo try missing one boot.

Teams

* replaced by Neil Purvis after 13 minutes; + replaced by Frank Oliver after 27 minutes

The match official was Piet Robbertse (ETVL); match attendance was 65 000.

Run of play

Le Roux failed with four of six attempts at penalties. Williams failed with one while Fawcett missed three of six attempts. The game lasted 100 minutes becuase of a large number of injuries break-up.

18 August 1976 – Quaggas-Barbarians 31 / All Blacks 32

This was without doubt the most exciting match of the tour. A thriller with some fantastic tries scored right up to injury time. The All Blacks had a shocking start to the match and was trailing 31-9 with 20 minutes of the second half gone when they started their come back. It was probably only due to the spirit in which the game was played which allowed them to come back as the Baabaas never closed down the match. Nevertheless, it was an unbelievable comeback and a match which had the crowd on their feet right up to the final whistle.

Never in All Black history had there been a game such as this, writes Terry McLean in his book “Goodbye to glory”.

In the first minute, Fergus Slattery, the Irish flanker, cut off a shocker of a pass from Lyn Davis to Duncan Robertson and sped to Laurie Mains before putting John Trollope, the hooker, in for a try. Penalty goals by Gavin Cowley followed.

After 17 minutes, Quaggas-Barbarians led by 10 to nil. At the half, they led by 13 to 9; and fortified by a brilliant break by Slattery which put his fellow countryman Tom Grace away for a try nine minutes into the second half, the club’s team turned on such a splurge of scoring that in ten minutes they led by 31 to 9.

There was only 19 minutes of play remaining. It was an impossible for the All Blacks. It was even conceivable that the Quaggas-Barbarians could carry on scoring 50 points, an unimaginable slight of insult to all of the traditions of New Zealand in international rugby.

After being down as a result of a try by Trollope in the first minute and two penalty goals by Gavin Cowley, the All Blacks tightened their forward play and climbed up to 13-9 by half-time and appeared to be in charge of proceedings. But in a sensational 11-minute burst the Baabaas bagged three splendid tries the last one by replacement flanker Corrie Pypers –his third in three matches against the All Blacks.

It was at this stage that Andy Leslie thought it was all over. “I looked at the scoreboard then and thought ‘Hell, perhaps they’ll get to 50!” Leslie said he didn’t know what to say to his players. “I just told them to do their best.”

From the kick-off the All Blacks went to the other side (away from the forwards), the kiwi backline swooped down on the ball and Terry Mitchell scored for Mains to convert (31-15).

Eight minutes later Mains kicked a penalty goal (31-18) and then Mitchell raced downfield and linked-up with his forwards, Alan Sutherland scoring (31-22).

This picture shows Alan Sutherland scoring in the 75^th minute to make the score 31-22 in favor of the Baabaas.

Into injury time the match went and Lyn Davies placed a box kick over the scrum which Ian Roberston dropped. Alan Sutherland latched onto the ball, putting Lawrie Knight over. Mains’ conversion made it 31-28.

Lawrie Knight -with Alan Sutherland next to him- on his way to his try in injury time to bring the score up to 31-28.

Leslie asked the referee how much time was left and Steve Strydom replied 29 seconds. Leslie returned to his team and told them there were three minutes to play.

He hadn’t wanted to panic them, he said later. From the kick off the ball went into touch and from the line-out won by the Baabaas play drove towards the All Black goal line.

Play was swirling so much that Andy Leslie was among the Baabaas backs. Amazingly, a pass was fired straight into his arms. He turned, took off and kicked downfield. Ian Robertson took the ball awkwardly.

The All Blacks were streaking to him. As he sought for balance to kick to touch and end the game Bruce Robertson gunned him down. The ball spilled was picked up by an All Black and taken into a long agonizing ruck, from which the ball strained out.

Davis rolled his pass along the ground; it was picked up and through the hands like a hot potato went the ball to create the overlap for Mitchell to score in the corner.

The big point of contention was whether Leslie was offside when he intercepted. It was a matter of interpretation. If Salty du Randt –who threw the pass which was intercepted by Leslie-was not part of a maul –before passing the ball- because of insufficient number of players bounding onto him then Leslie was not offside. If it was maul then Leslie was offside. TV replay show it was probably not a maul.

There was also doubt about the Sutherland try as it seemed that Bush played the ball off the ground to Sutherland. Interestingly, enough the great Terry McLean had nothing about these probable referee slip-ups in his book but writes:

It was the most shattering, superhuman, sensational comeback which could ever be imagined. In terms of the tour, this could have been a misfortune. It dissipated memories of the stressful and error-ridden moments of earlier play.

The Baabaas had two Irish internationals namely Tom Grace on wing and Fergus Slattery on the flank. It was out of season for the two Irish players and Slattery just returning from a lengthy injury lay-off was short of match fitness but it was he who was instrumental in the home team’s first three tries. McLean writes as follows about Slattery:

Fergus Slattery was playing out of season. He expected to be exhausted in 15 minutes. He was – in ten. Yet in three remarkable moves he directly contributed to the scoring of 16 points.

He performed the duties of a loose forward perfectly by getting position, making ground and building a situation so that the man he passed to was clear of the defence.

This was a most admirable appreciation of the flanker’s duties. Good hands, pace, a clear idea of where to run and when to pass – it was perfect. No All Black loose forward of the tour reached such a standard.

Fergus Slattery here playing for Ireland against South Africa in 1981 was outstanding for the Quagga-Barbarians against the 1976 All Blacks. His intelligent positional play, surging breakaways and constant vigilant defence a demonstration of flank forward play that no South African loose forward were able to emulate during the 1976 All Black tour. The Irish flanker’s run to set-up Grace’s try was a sharp-witted gem; the combined all Irish long-range effort had the Ellis Park crowd on their feet cheering for more. Even the New Zealand critics were moved to applauding the sheer audacity and the swift-telling execution of the try that started when Slattery broke away from a maul five yards inside his own 25 yard line. Slattery said after the match that in his opinion the standard of play in SA have shown no improvement since 1974 when he toured with the undefeated British and Irish Lions. 

Tom Grace, the other Irish international that played for the Baabaas is shown here, trying to tackle Alan Sutherland. Gareth Edwards and JPR Williams were also invited to play for the Baabaas but they couldn’t make it. There were also attempts to fly in Ian Stevens and/or Stewart Cron from New Zealand to play for the Barbarians and to have them then available as standby players for the All Blacks for the rest of the tour as help with the injuries woes in the New Zealand camp. 

One of the features of the second half fight back was the work-rate and effectiveness of Bush and Lambert in the frontrow, the rugged Frank Oliver at lock and the unfussing rucking of Alan Sutherland.

Star of the match was without a doubt Gavin Cowley who tuned in the most convincing all round performance by a flyhalf of the whole 1976 tour. Terry McLean raved about Cowley:

Here was flyhalf play at the highest quality. You could sense that as the ball was coming to Cowley, his eyes were programming all sorts of information into the computer that was his brain.

At the speed of light, the stuff was fed in – All Blacks here, All Blacks there, All Blacks not quite where they ought to be – and at the speed of light it was spewed as controlling guides into his hands and feet.

Thus it was that Cowley, to the All Blacks, was pretty well unreadable. They had not the faintest idea whether he would run, pass, kick or, he did so beautifully, dodge.

This within the confines of one match was the great back display of the tour, friend or foe, and it was an enormous pleasure to watch.

Picture showing Gavin Cowley slipping past Lynn Jaffray. The ultimate tribute towards Cowley came from Duncan Robertson, his direct opponent in this match. “Bosch.” said Robertson, “You know what Gerald will do. No problem. He passes or kicks, that’s all. But Cowley, wow! I had no idea.” Simply, it was beyond understanding, writes Terry McLean, that for the sake of goals –which in this match Cowley kicked with exactitude- the Springbok selectors would neglect this player of so much talent for a humdrum, if efficient, a machine as Bosch.

Teams

* replaced by Corrie Pypers after 18 minutes; * replaced by Bruce Robertson after 60 minutes

The match official was Steve Strydom (OFS); match attendance was 49 000.

Run of play

There were 7 minutes of injury time in each half. Cowley missed one penalty attempt from 33 meters and Ian Robertson one from 47 meters. Williams missed a penalty from 47 meters and Mains missed penalties from 31, 36, 38, and 31 meters.

Gys van Schoor here playing for Maties was playing for SWA in 1976 and was one of the Baabaas centers for this match. His uncle was of course the famous Ryk van Schoor.

Pierre Goosen from Western Province was the other Baabaas centre. Here he plays for an SA invitation XV against the 1975 French side which toured SA.

Joe Coetser from Transvaal played for the Baabaas on the wing.

Corrie Pypers who came on as replacement for Piet Veldsman in the 18^th minute and scored his third try against the 76 AB.

The All Black version of lifting in the lineout with Frank Oliver receiving some help from Kent Lambert.

14 August 1976 – South Africa 9/ New Zealand 15

Test matches is about pressure; the ability to create pressure and to handle pressure. Handling and creating pressure has to do with tactics, key players, and senior players stepping up. This was in essence the difference between NZ and SA in the second test of the 1976 series. NZ had a superior game plan while South Africa’s strategic approach neither created nor alleviated pressure.

The pressure for South Africa started with the team selection as the limitations so obvious in the Springbok team during the first test wasn’t rectified with the selection of the team for the second test. The game plan South Africa evidenced on the field of play neutralized the strengths of their match winners or key players which resulted in them not able to build pressure.

This was a match NZ just had to win as they were heavily criticized for letting the first test get away and it is a shame that neither the Springbok team nor the selectors saw the opportunity clearly. With the right players on the paddock and/or the appropriate tactics South Africa could have dealt the kiwis a psychological blow of mind shattering proportions in Bloemfontein.

The pressure on the kiwis going into this test was so intense that Andy Leslie felt no elation but only relieve after the final whistle had been blown. “I was just relieved,” said Leslie after the match. “That’s all, relieved. To be honest when I got to the dressing room I went into the toilet and vomited. I was too worried about losing to be happy about winning.”

New Zealand pundits reckon it was the senior players, in particular, Going and Whiting who won this test for them which is true but NZ also stepped away from the romantic notion they seem to foster that test matches should be won with total rugby.

The All Black hero’s of the match. On the left Billy Bush who controlled the scrum, in the middle Peter Whiting who controlled the lineout and on the right Joe Morgan who scored the only try of the match.

Noticeably, NZ approached this match with the right tactics namely defend like Trojans, create pressure at set piece and at the breakdowns and play the game in oppositions half of the field. Terry McLean has the following regarding the New Zealand approach towards this test:

To take a step forward in terms of tour results, the All Blacks decided to take a step backward in time. Not today would they embrace the free-running, adventurous game they had proclaimed as their article of faith. What was wanted was the matter of victory, not the manner of it.

Hence the principal clash would be at forward, with possession being directed by Going and Bruce to “The Box”, or over the top of the advancing Springbok defensive line. Always into the areas vacant of Springboks. The plan was to hunt, harass and destroy.

Going was superb on the day; he created both Joe Morgan’s try and the drop kick by Doug Bruce with two splendid reverse passes the one to Bruce between his legs under extreme pressure. Going’s greatest on field contribution was, however, his tactical kicking; he kept the Springboks under pressure with long raking rolling kicks down the touch line and with some splendid aerial punts both of which poor old Dawie Snyman had no idea how to handle. Going’s greatest match winning contribution was, nonetheless, not on the playing field but in what he did before the match. Terry McLean explains:

Not by nature a man who cared to offer opinions before they had been asked for, Sid took to brooding about the state of mind of the New Zealand team. It seemed to him the All Blacks had persuaded themselves that their loss of the first test was the fault of luck and Ian Gourlay. Many South Africans told them this. Easy comfort. But not for Super-Sid. In his opinion, the All Blacks had missed too many important tackles, they had muffed passes and catches, they had chucked away changes. In a word, they had not been unlucky to lose. They had beaten themselves.

Going took his problem to Andy Leslie. He argued his case. Something must be done, he said as a shake-up. Leslie agreed. Steps were taken to get hold of the film of the Durban test. A general meeting was called of the players. The film was shown. The inquesting began. Tackles missed here, balls dropped there – Dinna ye see it, boys.

The boys saw. They argued. They beat their breasts and rent their hair. They began to fire up. On the morning of the test, Gerhard Burger, the charming, capable, courteous correspondent of the Vaderland, walked along the corridor of the hotel floor reserved for the All Blacks. He sensed the mood. “I knew then,” he said, “that there was no way the Springboks were going to win this match.” 

Going was the general behind a dominating All Black pack. He roll kicked (first photo) and aerial punted (second photo); he reverse passed to create deception under pressure such as can be seen in the third photo to put Joe Morgan in space allowing him to score an outstanding try and he back passed a ball between his legs to create space for Doug Bruce to kick the match clinching drop goal.

The test within the test for the All Blacks came, as in Durban, between the 5^th and the 20^th minute of the second half when the Springboks started to stage a bit of a comeback. It was during this stage that South Africa kept on playing the wrong tactics and during which Gerald Bosch as one of the key players in the Springbok team just didn’t step up and exert the control which could have won South Africa the match.

In contrast the All Black senior players stepped up during this period. Going was glorious landing important penalty goals, creating opportunities with innovative play and keeping the pressure on the ‘boks with his tactical kicking. But there was one perilous moment 16 minutes from time when from broken play Boland Coetzee went charging for the corner. The try seemed inevitable when, from nowhere, Peter Whiting emerged, and, with one of test match Rugby’s greatest tackles, drove Coetzee out across the touchline a metre from the corner flag.

There was some other great tackles by Williams on Germishuys, Going on Johan Oosthuizen and Kevin Eveleigh on Morné du Plessis during the match. Grand tackles that created pressure and which prevented South Africa from getting into the match.

Whiting, however, was a colossus and New Zealand’s superstar. He had no right to be playing like he did after his back injury, his rib cartilage injury and a dose of flu just days before the test. “It was only because I was late to the ruck that I saw him,” said Whiting modestly afterwards about the tackle on Boland Coetzee.

It was without a doubt the most decisive tackle of the series and had the All Black supporters swooning after the match but fact is that Whiting was the most commanding forward on the field. He was in total control at the lineouts, he took vital marks from 22-metre dropouts and he lent his weight mightily to scrums which tied the Springbok pack in knots. The All Blacks wheeled magnificently, repeatedly upsetting the scrum on South Africa’s put-in, giving Bayvel only scraps to use.  

Peter “Pole” Whiting did almost everything in this match. Here he torpedo the ball into touch after catching a mark right at the end of the game.

Morné du Plessis admitted that he was concerned about the mental state of the Springboks before the test. The mental state impacted on how the Springboks applied themselves at the tackle area and culminated in the Springboks losing composure and folding under pressure.

No matter how you look at it South Africa was comprehensively outplayed and didn’t deserve to win –Morné du Plessis admitted as much during his post match interview- but the ‘Boks could have sneaked a win if they were able to handle the mental demands. There was a moment in the second half when South Africa could have equalled the score with the potential to then go on and sneak ahead but Paul Bayvel in a moment of madness had a penalty reversed which allowed New Zealand to clear and systematically apply the screws.

The incident was in the 12^th minute of the second half when Sid Going got caught in a ruck near his own 22-metre line. Going tried valiantly to exit but couldn’t and the next instant was penalized for holding on to the ball on the ground. It was a golden opportunity for Bosch to level the scores, but in the next two seconds Paul Bayvel astonishingly charged in and kicked at Going. Referee Gert Bezuidenhout promptly reversed his decision and New Zealand cleared.

It was the pressure that was getting to the Springboks. New Zealand won the pressure battle on three accounts; firstly in the set piece (scrum and lineout); secondly with a better game plan; thirdly, at the breakdowns or tackle area.

South Africa’s problems started in the tight five. They were given another jolly good hiding with the All Black pack dominating early lineouts, controlling their own scrummage balls, rucks and effectively wheeling the Springbok scrum to establish a stranglehold on the match which the Springboks never looked like prising loose.

Until the entry of Transvaal’s massive Kevin de Klerk in the 22^nd minute after John Williams had to leave the field with a broken nose it didn’t look like the Springboks were going to get any sort of quality ball. So comprehensive was the All Black dominance up front that De Klerk’s arrival on the field was welcomed with an appreciative roar by the 71 000 strong Bloemfontein crowd.

Immediately De Klerk soared high, rocklike and immovable, providing the first and thereafter only consistent source of clean possession for the home team. Tragically for the Springboks the backline had by that stage been reduced to rubble; so jittery and shattered in their confidence that the All Blacks didn’t even need to apply pressure to force mistakes.

John Williams left the field in the 22^nd minute with a broken nose. Early reports said the wound was accidental, Williams had somehow run into MacDonald’s elbow. Further bulletins did not support this encouraging account.   

The arrival of Kevin de Klerk as a replacement for John Williams was greeted with a roar of approval by the 71 000 spectators. De Klerk immediately made an impression by soaring high in the lineout to take his ball. This picture is of course undisputable evidence for the Kiwis that De Klerk was lifted in the line-outs –something which was against the rules in 1976.

The Springboks game plan and the inability Gerald Bosch to take the game by the scruff of the neck and enforce his will on it has to get the blame for the backlines appalling performance and lack of structure. Bosch was disappointing; he was only a pale shadow of the Bosch of old. Gone were those demanding and deep raking tactical kicks to the corner which drove the opposition back and which kept his own pack on the front foot, bristling with vigour and confidence.

Bosch kept on running the ball along the backs at every opportunity, no matter how poor the ball received and how organised and menacing the kiwi midfield defence charging at them. Kevin Eveleigh, that relentless fleet of feet pursuer, fed on the Springbok backline trying to run with back foot ball and spread destruction and tackled the Springbok midfield into an untidy, jittery jumble.  

Gerald Bosch who kept the Springboks in the run with three penalty goals. Bosch was however at fault for not taking the match by the scruff of the neck in the second half and stamping his will firmly on matters. It is unclear whether Bosch played under instruction or whether he allowed himself to fall into the trap of trying to play the running game. South Africa scored two splendid tries with their wings in the first test. The one by Germishuys a truelly astonishing effort by the whole backline and the Springboks were afterwards heavily criticized for not using their backline more. Maybe Bosch and the team were just responding on that criticism but irrespective of the reason Bosch read the game poorly as there were opportinities within the test for a player of his talent to stear and steal the match away from the Kiwis.    

The importance of winning the battle at the breakdowns was apparently totally oblivious to the Springboks. The lesson that you can’t win test matches if you don’t go forward at the breakdowns was still foreign to the South African mindset as is evident in the match statistics of all the tour matches as well as the stats of the test matches.

Not in one single match did a South African team won the ruck contest and that is only one way to look at it. Winning the ball at the tackle area is only half the battle of the breakdowns; the real challenge is to ensure quality ball for yourself and poor ball for your opponents by forcing the opposition back at the collisions whether defending or carrying the ball. This is by far the final result determining factor in most matches.

Frankly, establishing forward momentum at the breakdowns is something that South Africans teams and coaches, for that matter, have only recently began to grasp and even though they now seems so understand the importance of it they are still in terms of execution way behind the rest of the big rugby playing nations like New Zealand, Australia, England, Wales and Ireland.

Peter Whipp’s playmaking ability was badly missed as the backline spluttered and strained unable to get the ball down the line with the back foot ball they were receiving; all the while getting demolished and forced back at the tackle area.

Worse, on the two occasions that New Zealand did ran the ball in orthodox fashion the soft-underbelly of the Springbok’s midfield defence was exposed. Joe Morgan sliced through without a hand being laid on him on one of these occasions after a fabulous reverse pass by Going which had Stofberg and Bayvel running in the wrong direction close to the scrum.

The try resulted from a scrum on the Springbok 22; Going moved right then threw a reverse pass to the left which put Joe Morgan bearing in the opposite direction in space. Going’s intitial move to the right pulled Bayvel and Stofberg in the wrong direction and Morgan after receiving the reverse pass chopped of his left foot to burst inside Ian Robertson and Morné du Plessis. He chopped again slightly infield and seeing it all opened up in front of him sped past Boland Coetzee to score the only try of the match.

I can still remember the Afrikaans radio commentator Gerhard Viviers baffled voice and words: “Hy hardloop eenvoudig deur! Die manne wou nog aan hom vat, toe vat niemand aan hom nie. Hy sien, maar hier is ‘n gaping so groot soos ‘n waenhuis deur voor my, en daar trek hy en hy loop druk hom. En hier staan die manne nou agter die doelpale, kop onderstebo. Daardie drie het hulle nou werklik weggegee”.

Series of pictures illustrating the Joe Morgan try. In the top picture Morgan slips inside Ian Robertson. The second picture shows him passing Morné du Plessis while the third picture shows Morgan running away from Boland Coetzee. In the last picture he slides over for his try just left of the uprights.

Terry McLean summarised the match well with this paragraph:

By and large, the Springboks were overpowered in most phases. They suffered great unhappiness in the partnership of Ian Robertson and Johan Oosthuizen in the centres and, try as he might, Dawie Snyman made no impression as an international fullback.

Their backline attack was disjointed.

For all the vast weight supplied by the new boy Theuns Stofberg, John Williams, Moaner van Heerden, Rampie Stander, Derek van den Berg and, the later de Klerk, who among them aggregated more than 100 stones (635 kg), the forward attack wanted in authority. It was notably deficient in pace to the ball and power of tackle.

The ignominy of Dawie Snyman seemed to have no end. He was kicked to pieces by the unerring left boot of Doug Bruce and by those rolling tactical kicks and aerial punts of Sid Going that found Snyman out of position every time. The result was that Snyman (as these two pictures indicate) was caught in possession almost every time by the time he got to the ball.  

It was a hard and intense match in which no quarter was asked or given. The picture shows Bryan Williams being boxed in by Boland Coetzee and Theuns Stofberg. Williams was carefully watched and didn’t score his usual try but did contribute with a massive try saving tackle on Ian Robertson resulting in Robertson’s pass -intended for Germishuys- pitching behind the long legged South African flyer waiting in the open.

Teams

* replaced Kevin de Klerk after 22 minutes. * Batty replaced by Bill Osborne after 54 minutes

The match official was Gert Bezuidenhout (Transvaal); Match attendance was 71 000.

In the All Black team Joe Morgan replaced Jaffray at inside centre, and Kit Fawcett (photo above) moved into the fullback spot in place of Duncan Robertson who didn’t produce a convincing performance as a No15 in the first test.

Two new caps Kevin Eveleigh and Brad Johnstone came into the forwards; Johnstone replaced Terry Tanner who the coaches was tentative to play on test level after losing 14 kg due to influenza; Eveleigh replaced Stewart who got injured in the match against the SA University team.

The Springbok team who played in this test. A now fit Dawie Snyman regainded the full-back berth with Ian Robertson returning to the centre position. Chris Pope took over from Edrich Krantz who had a shocker for the Universities team. In the forwards Theuns Stofberg replaced 33 year old Jan Ellis who was denied the opportunity of breaking the South African record of 38 tests he shared with Frik du Preez. The criticism against this team was extreme and particular the fact that the chosen front row was overshadowed by the All Blacks in the first test. The omission of Peter Whipp from the test side was also hotly debated and there was talk that one of the selectors was so unhappy about it that he threatened to resign.

The story of the second test; the South African inside backs getting slaughtered while trying to run with the ball. This picture shows Ian Robertson getting tackled in process of slinging a wild pass to his outside backs. The Rhodesian was not able to reproduce his form of the first test. The backline looked unorganized and Robertson was nowhere when Morgan ran through for his try. It was therefore no surprise when he lost his place for the third test. What was a surprise is the fact that Dawie Snyman was kept in the team as fullback after a shocking performance while Robertson had an excellent game in that position in the first test.  

Run of play

Bosch missed penalty shots from 52 and 27 meters. Going, in the second half, missed penalties from 42 and 36 meters. Bruce missed his first attempt at a drop goal in the first half.  

I started this blog in February 2010 and the views just crossed the 100 000 mark this week.

That will be one hundredth thousand views in one year. Sure sign that South Africans love their rugby as this blog is almost exclusively about the history of the rivalry between SA and NZ.

As the revolving map indicate the viewers are from all over the world. Most of them probably expats but I’ll be keen to hear how many are actually not South Africans.

For the late comers I’ve covered the 1965 tour and for reading convenience here is all the post on that tour in order.

Session 1: The 1965 Springbok tour to New Zealand – the team and some preliminary thoughts; 

Session 2: 65 Springboks in New Zealand – Arrival and first three tour matches; 

Session 3: The 1965 Springboks on tour – matches 4, 5 and 6; 

Session 4: 65 Springboks on tour – Southland, Canterbury and Buller; 

Session 5: 1965 tour – First test, July 31, 1965; 

Session 6: 65 Springboks – Reaction on the first test; Wanganui and Waikato; 

Session 7: 65 Springboks – North Auckland, Auckland and Nelson / Marlborough / Golden Bay-Motueka; 

Session 8: 21 August 1965 – Second Test – Carisbrook, Dunedin; 

Session 9: 1965 Springboks –reaction on the 2nd test – Canterbury/Otago combined, Maori’s and Wairarapa-Bush; 

Session 10: Third test; 4 September 1965 – Lancaster Park; 

Session 11: 1965 Springboks – last three tour matches; 

Session 12: 18 September 1965 – Fourth test – Eden Park, Auckland;

Session 13: The 1965 tour some final thoughts.

I’ve also done the 1970 tour and here are all the posts on that tour in order:

Session1: New Zealand perspectives on the 1970 All Black tour to South Africa;

Session 2: 1970 All Black tour – Ne Exeat Regno;

Session 3: 1970 All Black tour – Arrival and first three tour matches;

Session 4: 1970 All Blacks – From Upington to Windhoek;

Session 5: 1970 All Blacks in the Transvaal;

Session 6: 1970 All Blacks versus OFS and Rhodesia;

Session 7: 1970 All Blacks – First Test, July 25, 1970;

Session 8: Reaction on the first test; AB against Boland and EP;

Session 9: Second Test, August 8, 1970;

Session 10: 1970 All Black tour: reaction on the second test;

Session 11: SWD and WP against the 1970 All Blacks;

Session 12: 1970 All Blacks against South African Country districts, Natal and Southern Universities;

Session 13: Critical third test, August 29, 1970;

Session 14: 1970 All Blacks – last three tour matches;

Session 15: Fourth Test, 11 September 1970;

Session 16: Reaction on the 1970 tour and some final remarks;

I am currently busy with the 1976 tour and the post on the second test of that series will be posted later today.

10 August 1976 – OFS country XV 6 / All Blacks 31

Frankly, if Springs was bad, this match took the gold cup for agonizing rugby. The All Blacks played excruciating poor rugby against a bunch of terribly ordinary footballers whose only virtue was that they could tackle. Terry McLean in his book “Goodbye to Glory” writes:

If you care for defence as a legitimate part of the game, this was a remarkable demonstration of grit. Sound technique, too. No head and shoulders stuff, here. All Blacks were struck amidships by the equivalent of 15-inch shells.

Country was never smashed. Grobbelaar at flyhalf, the centres Harris and Bezuidenhout and, as necessary, the wings, Greef and Steyn, tackled and tackled and tackled. Now and again when the All Blacks tried some fancy move like a crisscross or something similar, the man motoring with the ball in a move intended to confuse, totally, the best-laid defence, ran into two, if not three, of these Free Staters.

All this concentration on defence did admit of the reasonable criticism that the object all sublime of Country was not to score themselves but simply to stop the All Blacks from scoring. But this was hypercriticism. That they held the All Blacks to five tries by, in order, Knight, Osborne, Seear, Purvis and Fawcett, was, all things considered, an excellent performance.

It was not until the 53^rd minute of actual play or, counting much time taken for injuries which all removed two of Country team and Purvis from the field, that the defence was breached. After this, the dam of defence developed a leak or two.

The All Blacks problems started with the forwards feeding Sid Going untidy ball. Going under pressure started throwing erratic passes. Seldom in his career has the little halfback sprayed his service in such dilatory fashion, which spoke wonders of Doug Bruce at flyhalf that he picked up most without so much as checking his stride. However, with poor ball and poor service coming from the forwards and Going, respectively, pretty soon everyone joined in, either passing badly, or like Sid throwing the ball where someone wasn’t.

The mishandling affected the forwards too and Knight put down three passes in about five minutes, Oliver, Seear, Eveleigh and Bush all dropping at least one pass.

OFS countries spend most of the match in their own 22 but were able to hold the All Blacks out for most of the match apart from 18 minutes in the second half –between the 53^rd and 71^st minutes- when they leaked 22 points via four tries by Osborne, Seear, Purvis and Fawcett with some useful place kicking from Going.

The All Blacks played two locks namely Seear (on No 8) and Lawrie Knight (on No6) in the loose trio and that could have contributed to the lack of normal outstanding structure at the breakdowns and therefore the untidy ball Going and the backline received. Seear had a useful game at No 8, operating with great zest but in rugby structure is the result of combinations working like clockwork. Playing locks in the loose trio together with lack of motivation -for a relatively unimportant match- and the relative unfriendly playing conditions –warm dry dusty weather and hard field- and the committed defence culminated in an uninspiring performance and some very ordinary rugby.

Truth is that this was just another match the All Blacks had to tick off as they were mentally starting to psych themselves up for the second test.

It was a match that provided the Kiwis the opportunity to assess their injury woes especially with regard to Kerry Tanner who haven’t played since the first test. Lambert and Johnstone the other two props were also struggling with injuries placing quite a high demand on Billy Bush who seemed to thrive on the challenge and who was of all the All Blacks probably the keenest to respond on the physical challenge posed by the South Africans.

Tanner having lost almost a stone (14 kilogram) in weight was on the brink of being sent home and this was a make or break game for him with the All Black management being concerned as to whether the lighter Tanner would be able to handle the pressures in the front row. In conditions of extreme dust and heat on a hard playing surface Tanner proved his physical resilience. He was going as well at the end as at the start of the match and coach JJ Stewart could hardly conceal his delight after the match.

The news on Peter Whiting wasn’t quite so encouraging. Apart from his bruised rib cartilage Whiting had gone down with the flu and their just seems no earthly way in which the tall lock could be ready for the second test match.

Whiting, however, showed resilience, resistance against pain, commitment and a desire to play of heroic proportions. In the evening gloom after the match Whiting was seen pounding up and down the touchline –flu or no flu- determined to be ready for the all important second test. Whiting was resolute that if his rib could take the pounding then he will be cardiovascularly fit enough to take his place.

Leslie could have played in Welkom. His cracked jaw had healed to such an extent that he could chew a steak with no discomfort. It was decided to not risk him three days away from the second test.

Teams

* replaced by Frik Campher after 43 minutes; + replaced by Joe Breytenbach after 50 minutes. * Purvis replaced by Mitchell in the 79^th minute

The match official was Schubel O’Reilly (NTVL); match attendance was 13 000.

Run of play

Swanepoel missed with three penalties. Going and Williams both missed with two penalties and Seear with a drop goal attempt from the 45 meter mark.

Bill Osborne going round Bryce Harris (on the ground). Osborne scored 1 try and had a 40 meter run to put Purvis over for his try but did not do enough to earn a place in the team for the second test. Joe Morgan was the surprise inclusion in the All Back team for the Bloemfontein test.

7 August 1976 – Eastern Transvaal 12 / All Blacks 26

It was dreary, negative and mediocre; it was the 12^th match of the tour, halfway anyway you look at it, and the presumptions was that this All Black side was “gatvol” (had their guts ful) playing dreary, negative and mediocre rugby against a team with a knack for bringing opposition down to their own dreary, negative and mediocre way of playing.

The destructive, spoiling and robust tactics Eastern Transvaal employed resulted in an error-ridden, fumbling performance by the All Blacks whose main concern was to prevent serious injury –like in 1970 when Meads broke his arm and Alan Sutherland his nose- to key players (read about that match here).

Kirkpatrick –in all likelihood determined to get to them before they get to us- started the match by making a shocking late charge to Deon van Rensburg and conceded a penalty that was converted into points by Willie de Bruin. That sort of set the tone for the match; it was atavistic cave-man stuff for the rest of the match by both teams.

The red devils showed –as is/was their style- a single-minded ferocity in their tackling while playing offside most of the time according to the Kiwi journalist. Deon van Rensburg on flyhalf; Jannie Els on centre; Kleinboet Fourie and Wilhelm Boshoff on the flanks severely embarrassed the All Blacks as they poured with kamikaze obligation into anything wearing a black jersey, whether or not the arms in that jersey were holding the ball or not.

Hans Coetzer tackling Lynn Jaffray. This match was characterized by the ferocious and committed tackling of the “red devils” and the inability of the All Blacks to come up with an alternative game plan against a flat flying defensive line-up of a team more intent on spoiling than playing constructive rugby.

Duncan Robertson played himself out of the test side by reducing his outside backs to cannon fodder; constantly feeding them the ball against a flat lying backline of a team dedicated to a destructive and not a constructive game.

It took the kiwis 38 minutes to inch into the lead via Duncan Robertson -doing what he should have done more often- slashing right through to dive over for a try next to the posts. “I could have slashed through or kicked all day,” confessed Robertson later. “But, hell, we were winning and the other guys like to be in the game, so I fed on.”

Unfortunately, for him JJ Stewart didn’t see it that way. In his opinion the outside backs were operating in chaotic conditions because Duncan Robertson failed to read the game and to take control. Lambert, Norton and Johnstone were having great games and were heaving the ETVL scrum back at every put-in and New Zealand was clearly in control in the loose. Some chip kicks, “Garry Owens” by Robertson or passing to angled forwards taking the ball up was what was required and Duncan Robertson did himself and the team no good failing to vary his game. The naïve tactics in the face of constant offside tactics and tigerish defence took its toll on the injury ridden kiwi side and transpired in them losing Kent Lambert and Bruce Robertson –both test men- in the 65^th and 67^th minute of the game.

Some hard words fell during halftime and there was some improvement in terms of better ball control at the tackle area culminating in the All Blacks scoring three more tries by Bruce Robertson –before he left the field- Grant Batty and Lyn Davis in the second half.

Lyn Davis stole his try from right under the nose of Piet Grobler –the home team scrumhalf- as ETVL heeled from a scrum on the try line.

The hapless Grobler had been under all sorts of trouble throughout the match, and to concede a try like that was to rub in the ignominy. As irony will have it an outstanding action photo of Grobler (see below) was taken by photographer John Rubython and send all over the world as a permanent reminder for the little halfback of a day he most probably wants to forget.

Rugby photographer John Rubython took this fine action shot of Eastern Transvaal scrumhalf Piet Grobler.

Herman van Coller scored a try for ETVL when the referee wouldn’t allow a legitimate mark near the posts by Terry Mitchell who was swamped and robbed of the ball.

The most exhilarating feature of a drab day was the cries raised in the highest pitched voice imaginable by a pintsize boy, down in front of the grand stand, of “Come on Laurie Mains” throughout the game. The New Zealand supporters –who had swelled to about 300 at this stage- got a great kick out of this and later adopted it as their battle-chant. Terry McLean writes about this little boy and his support for Laurie Mains:

Every so often, whether Laurie was involved or not, the scream would sound. There were maybe 18 000 spectators at the match and they raised a good deal of hullaboloo from time to time, especially in the first half when Eastern Transvaal had the All Blacks running around like headless hens.

But the small boy beat the lot. “Come on Laurie Mains”….. The screams sounded across the field and up to the press bench, the kiwi inhabitants which afterwards adopted the cry as their battle-chant.

In truth, Laurie Mains did come on. He kicked 10 points from two penalty goals and two conversions of the four tries which were run in by Batty, Lyn Davis, and Bruce and Duncan Robertson and he made some useful insertions into the backline. They helped him to build his aggregate of 132 points from only 11 games, an effort which put him way up there among the stars of fullback-points-scorers who had toured South Africa.

Modest though his play always looked especially with that goalkick which, whatever its length, seemed never to do more than sneak over the bar, Mains effort in becoming the centurion of the tour was almost certainly a good deal better than was appreciated. Except by the small boy: “Come on, Laurie Mains!” It was almost worth the hour-long hike from Pretoria to Springs and back to hear the cry.

In contrast Ian Kirkpatrick the All Black superstar flanker despaired after the match whether he would ever score another try for his country. “I just can’t seem to get across the goalline,” said Kirkie who four times went close to scoring. Kirkpatrick started the tour with 47 tries two short of Jimmy Hunter’s record –since 1908- for the most tries scored by an All Black forward and one fewer than Bryan Williams. After Springs, his seventh match Kirkpatrick still sat on 47 tries while Williams has added 8 tries to his tally.

Kirkie frustration increased 10 fold when John Pace came on in the 76^th minute and gave him a “how’s-your-father-clip”. This set old Kirkie on the chase for the rest of the match succeeding Lambert and Billy Bush who were already casting about with vim and vigour after they’ve lost their cool with the cave-man hacking and spoiling tactics of the rugged Eastern Transvalers.

Alan Sutherland had another good game for the kiwis and made spearing punts while holding his own against Eastern Transvaal’s only Springbok, Mike Jennings.

Mike Jennings Eastern Transvaal’s only Springbok on the day. Jennings played for Boland against the 1970 All Blacks (read more about that match here) and was a Springbok tourist during the 1969 EOYT to the UK.

Lawrie Knight on the charge with Alan Sutherland and Ian Kirkpatrick in the background.

Teams

* replaced by Andre Strydom after 82 minutes; + replaced by John Pace after 76 minutes. * replaced by Bill Osborne after 65 minutes; + replaced by Billy Bush after 67 minutes.

The match official was Jimmy Smith-Belton from Eastern province; match attendance was 18 000.

Run of play

Existing gloom over the stuttery performance at Springs lifted later that night to be replaced by an air of relief in the All Blacks’ camp at the announcement of the Springbok team for the Bloemfontein test. Surprise bordering on disbelief was the first reaction at the news that not a single member of the magnificent Transvaal pack had made the side; then utter stupefication at Peter Whipp’s omission plus the switching of Ian Robertson from fullback to centre in his place.

The outrage and indignation in the wake of this team could be measured in the frenzied letter writing to the various newspapers. Hardly a day went by from the time the team was announced until the Saturday without angry letters. The selections didn’t make sense and one can only wonder what went on in the minds of these selectors (if anything) and who the hell appoints the Springbok selectors. Since these 1976 selectors took over as a quintet in 1972, South African rugby fans have been inflicted with some mindboggling combinations such as was the case in the selections of the team that played John Pullen English team in 1972 and the frantic selections during the 1974 British Lions tour.

The country buzzed with speculation when an Afrikaans daily newspaper published the story that one of the selectors had threatened to resign because of the dropping of Whipp.