South Africa: and Preparation Then and Now

South Africa……No doubt England RU fans would have been looking forward to their team’s clash with the Springboks during June’s five match mini tour of South Africa. An interesting three match Test series in prospect and a stern challenge for coach Stuart Lancaster’s squad, at least if my experience of South African rugby is of  any relevance. For, at all levels, whether touring the country with a Cowley School team, playing against the Springboks, or playing alongside or against many of South Africa’s greatest players in rugby league, they have always been, and still are, a force to be reckoned with.

But, oh, how different the approach from coach Stuart Lancaster and his management team to that of a match in my playing days. I well recall receiving a postcard way back in 1960 informing me that I had been selected to play for the North West Counties in the second row against the touring Springboks at Maine Road, the old home of Manchester City FC. The postcard asked me to meet with the team at 1.00pm at the ground before a 3.00pm kick off!  

At 20 years of age I was set to line up against then some of the best players in world rugby union – Doug Hopwood, John Gainsford, Johan Claassen, Ian Kirkpatrick and co. – and, apart from my good friend and former St.Helens and England RU backrower, Alan Ashcroft, I had never met a single member of our pack. Having been introduced to most of the players, I met M.R.M.Evans (Wilmslow) with whom I was to form a second row partnership. At around 2.30pm we discussed on which side of the scrum each of us would pack down and where we would stand in the line outs. We were then ready to tackle the might of South Africa! It says much for the heroics in defence of our midfield backs Bev Risman, Malcom Phillips, and Bill Patterson, and our back row, that we only lost the game by 11pts to nil!

Whatever our amateur pre match preparations I apparently did enough to satisfy the many rugby league scouts watching from their seats among the 15,000 crowd at Maine Road. And, while playing with St.Helens and later with Widnes in rugby league, over the following ten seasons I had the pleasure of playing with or against some of the greatest ever Sprngboks. At St.Helens, the name of Tom Van Vollenhoven,the scorer of over 392 tries on the wing is a legendary one, while Len Killeen, a Lance Todd Trophy man of the match winner in Saints Challenge Cup Final win over Wigan in 1966, performed his own try and goal scoring feats on the other wing. The likes of former South African RU greats Wilf Rosenberg, Alan Skene, and Tommy Gentles linked up with Leeds, Wakefield Trinity, and Wigan and many more tried their hand at “the other code”.

Yes, if my experience of the Springboks is any yardstick, England would have had to have been at their best to return home with any success. But at least a little better prepared for battle than in my day.  

Ray French – June 2012