16 July 2021
Watch: People were left bloodied and bruised, friendships ended and civil unrest hammered our nation during the Springboks 1981 tour. Video / Chris Tarpey, Merata Mita, NZ On Screen, Getty
A book reveals that just hours after the Springboks claimed a crucial and highly physical win over All Blacks, the two teams almost had a bar-room brawl.
A Springbok legend tells of how he feared he was going to be killed by the rampant All Blacks at Carisbrook, and his feeling of “hate” towards opponents in a black jersey.
Fears of a plot in the 1981 anti-tour protest movement to “kidnap” a Springbok player are revealed.
Fresh claims are made over payments to the 1986 Cavaliers, calculated at being worth $250,000 in the current economy.
There’s been no lack of rugby brutality and bloodshed during the All Blacks’ 103-year history of taking on the Springboks.
And the uncompromising rivalry between the two teams – which at times has spilt over into sucker punches, kicking and even an All Blacks captain being bitten – was also the catalyst for a bar in the world-famous and luxurious Sun City resort almost being the scene of a brawl between the sides.
A book written by award-winning South African journalist Mike Greenaway – The Fireside Springbok: The Untold Stories That Make the Boks Great – profiles some of the greatest and previously most secretive moments of the Springboks, as well as some of the players who have proudly worn green-and-gold jerseys.
One of the wins profiled in the book is the Boks’ 21-20 triumph over the All Blacks in 2006 at Rustenburg’s Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
Greenaway writes in a chapter titled Rising From the Ashes of how the stakes were high ahead of the test, leading to a physical showdown on the field and almost off it.
The All Blacks had won the previous week at Loftus Versfeld – the Pretoria ground is regarded as a fortress for the Springboks – and Boks coach Jake White was expected to be sacked if his team lost in successive weeks.
The John Smit-captained team managed a one-point win after a penalty in the dying minutes.
“The relief among the Boks resulted in steam being blown off that night at Sun City,” Greenaway writes in The Fireside Springbok.
“The spanner in the works was that the All Blacks were also in the building, so to speak, and the two teams squared up to each other in the Traders Bar.
“A combustible atmosphere prevailed.
“The All Blacks hate losing and the Boks were in the mood to rub it in their faces. A remark by Butch James to assistant coach Steve Hansen had rugged lock Ali Williams clenching his fists.
A comment directed to then All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen (pictured) by Butch James almost started a bar brawl between the Springboks and All Blacks in 2006. Photo / Photosport
“Smit decided that discretion would be the better part of valour and took his team out of the bar.”
Greenaway said that at one stage of the evening there was an atmosphere of “battle lust”.
In the lead-up to the test, the mood of the South African rugby public was “ugly”, Greenaway writes.
Smit took aim at his players and said they “didn’t give a damn anymore”.
The challenge was laid for the Boks to front up in what turned out to be a physical showdown.
Springbok captain John Smit challenged his players to front up strongly against the All Blacks in 2006, with the team room taking on a war-room vibe. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“Before kick-off, there was a declaration of war in the change room and the Boks ran out and played with the desperation of condemned men,” Greenaway wrote.
“The All Blacks, who had won 15 tests in a row, responded in kind and the match turned into a street fight.
“I have a vivid memory of a crazed Carl Hayman rising from a scrum in which he had been given a ‘Welcome to Rustenburg’ and chasing Os du Randt to a ruck. He split open Os’ forehead with a punch.”
Threat to kidnap a Springbok in New Zealand – a rugby tour like never before
Three things were a prominent feature wherever they went: protests growing in size and violence, match venues that had been surrounded in barbed wire by soldiers, and the highly-trained police Red Squad unit – decked out in riot gear – for their personal protection.
That included the fear someone was planning to kidnap a Springbok.
Crowds at anti-tour protests in 1981 got bigger, more vocal and more physical as the tour went on. Photo / NZ Herald
“From the early days of the tour, the anti-tour organisers had threatened to kidnap a Springbok and for that reason they had their own elite police guard called the Red Squad,” he writes.
“On their way to New Zealand via Honolulu, they encountered their first Kiwi protester,” Greenaway writes in The Fireside Springbok.
“A lady had seized her opportunity and on the back of a Scrabble board she scribbled ‘Shame’ and paraded herself up and down the aisle of the aircraft until the flight crew threatened to have her arrested.”
Much bigger protests awaited them in New Zealand.
Determined members of the protest movement tear down the fence surrounding Hamilton's Rugby Park before storming the playing surface. Photo / NZ Herald
The night before their opening game against Poverty Bay, a farm vehicle was driven through the gates of Gisborne’s Rugby Park.
The scheduled second match against Waikato had to be cancelled after hundreds of anti-tour protests stormed the field and dropped glass and nails on the playing surface.
Despite his skills ensuring he was selected for the tour on merit and not the colour of his skin, he was to be targeted by both pro- and anti-tour sections for only being sent on the tour as an effort to pacify those opposing it. Greenway also wrote of the treatment both the family of Tobias and his great mate and fellow Springbok Rob Louw received back home.
Utility back Errol Tobias (middle row, right) was the only non-white player in the Springboks squad that toured New Zealand in 1981. Photo / Supplied
Greenaway writes that “many black people felt that in choosing to play for the Springboks, [Tobias] was an ‘Uncle Tom’ (a black man who is overeager to please whites) as in the famous anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harrier Beecher Stowe”.
“The tour wasn’t easy for us,” Louw later recalled. “Letters and phone calls were received by the players warning us that our wives and children would be raped and killed.
“These messages were more threatening for Errol, who had been branded a ‘sell-out’ by opponents for his participation in the tour. It was believed that the threatening messages same from the two in while Errol lived.”
In the middle of the tour, Tobias considered returning home.
He lasted the distance of the tour, with Greenaway writing “the Springboks had braved an unsettling environment that would make the modern professional implode”.
How the unsanctioned Cavaliers were named and more claims on how much they were paid
Four years after the tour which divided our nation, the All Blacks were scheduled to travel to South Africa.
A 30-strong touring party was named for the planned 1985 contest, but shortly before the All Blacks were scheduled to depart, the tour was called off after a successful court injunction.
Twenty-eight of the squad would eventually tour South Africa in 1986 as part of the Cavaliers, with John Kirwan and David Kirk refusing to be involved in the team, which was not sanctioned by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union.
The side was still regarded as a national team of New Zealand, with Springboks receiving test caps.
The Fireside Springbok reveals that given the subterfuge of getting the players out of New Zealand to avoid protests, they headed to South Africa without a formal name.
The great Sir Colin Meads in action during the All Blacks' 1970 tour of South Africa. He would return in 1986 as coach of the Cavaliers. Photo / NZ Herald
“The secret recruitment of the All Blacks was breathtaking in its daring and masterful in its execution.
“On the flight over, the Kiwis decided they would be called the Cavaliers. Back in New Zealand they became known as the rebel All Blacks.
“None of the matches were televised in New Zealand and for running commentary they needed to tune in to South African radio.”
While there was no live coverage of the series in New Zealand, VHS videos of the tests were later sold.
And the Cavaliers – who each faced two-test bans on their return – were also treated well in South Africa, including what they are alleged to have each been paid to tour.
The issue around what each Cavalier received has always been murky, with responses including they weren’t paid, or they were recompensed for the value of the time away from their jobs, and even claims some were given diamonds.
But Greenaway writes: “Cocooned in their luxury hotels, the Cavaliers were largely oblivious to the state of emergency in South Africa.
Springbok first five Maas Botha (left) and No 8 Jannie Breedt try to prevent Murray Mexted from scoring for the Cavaliers in the second clash between the sides. Photo / NZ Herald
“With coach Meads cracking the whip, the focus was on beating the Boks.
“They also happened to be extremely well paid. It later emerged that each player was paid US$50,000 [$82,000], a fortune in 1986.”
With inflation, that amount is the equivalent of $235,522 in 2024.
The brutality of previous All Blacks contests with the Springboks or South African provincial teams was also on show throughout the Cavaliers tour.
That included captain Andy Dalton having his jaw broken in two places against Northern Transvaal - just the second match of the tour - when he was punched from behind by Burger Geldenhuys.
“[South African rugby boss Danie] Craven was outraged and insisted that Geldenhuys would never again play for the Springboks. He never did,” Greenaway wrote.
“Craven was moved to say, ‘There is no room in my vocabulary for an incident like that – no room and no mercy’.”
The Springboks and Cavaliers played four matches, with the Boks winning the series 3-1.
Andy Dalton, whose jaw was broken in two places during the Cavaliers tour, faces a frosty reception on the team's arrival back in New Zealand. Photo / NZ Herald
Frustration around officiating after the Springboks won the final match 24-10 saw one player “shoulder nudge” Welsh referee Kein Rowlands.
When Dalton later criticised the officiating in the after-match function, Springbok first five Naas Botha responded: “Now you know how we felt in 1981″.
The All Blacks had won the 1981 series 2-1 after a late penalty in the decider, a decision that still riles surviving Springbok tourists.
‘It felt like the All Blacks were trying to kill me’
Mark Andrews was an uncompromising forward – who played at both lock and No 8 - for the Springboks in the last days of amateur rugby from the mid-1990s through to 2002.
His uncompromising reputation is highlighted by the name of the chapter on him in The Fireside Springbok, A Lock Made of Steel.
And Andrews’ on-field nature – which he said made the All Blacks think of him as a “psycho” - had its beginning at Carisbrook when he came up against the side in the first test of the 1994 series, according to The Fireside Springbok.
“Rugby was harder then because you were allowed to ruck with your boots, and the Kiwis were the best ruckers in the world,” Andrews is quoted as saying.
The All Blacks do battle with the Springboks during the Boks' 1994 tour of New Zealand.
“The All Blacks pack bristled with tough guys – Richard Loe, Sean Fitzpatrick, the Brooke brothers Zinzan and Robin – and I was about to find out why Carisbrook Stadium is called the ‘House of Pain’.
“Early in the game, I got stuck in a ruck and these guys rucked the hell out of me. I felt I was going to die. There were holes in my socks, in my jersey and my shorts were torn.”
Andrews said the rucking drew blood, adding it was his “welcome” to playing the All Blacks.
“I tell my kids that there is no shame in feeling scared and I use that moment as an example. I was terrified. My body was on fire and in that cold, the steel of the studs was deadly.
“It felt like the All Blacks were trying to kill me.”
“I flew into one ruck and tore into him. I told him he didn’t deserve his jersey. He just laughed.”
In The Fireside Springbok, Andrews said his first-up treatment from the All Blacks meant he wanted to “hurt those guys” whenever they played.
And it also sparked an attitude where Andrews would never mix with his opponents post-match.
Zinzan Brooke takes off down the field during the All Blacks' 1994 test series against the Springboks. Photo / Photosport
“I guess I was a psycho on the field because I decided that was the best way to be successful in test rugby was to hate the opposition,” he said.
“Even at cocktail parties I never mingled with the opposition like other guys. I’d just give them the death stare.
“My reason was simple. If I spoke to [All Black] Robin Brooke, my direct opponent in so many test matches, I might have found he was a nice guy. I didn’t want that. I wanted to feel the need to hurt him whenever we played.”
The Fireside Springbok – published by I-Go-Books - was first released as a coffee table book in South Africa in late 2023. It has now been released electronically in New Zealand and other countries.
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.
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