Let’s journey back to November 1906, when the newly-named Springboks played their first Test match under their iconic name at Hampden Park, Glasgow, against Scotland.
Comment by Morgan Bolton
Hampden Park, Glasgow, was the stage as South African rugby made a bit of history and created a legacy that would define the sport and the country – for ill and for good – for generations to come.
The year was 1906, November 17, and having arrived on the SS Gascon – sans a few deckchairs that had been thrown overboard by the exuberance of the 30 young men in the touring squad during the crossing – the newly named Springboks, wearing the now official green jersey, arrived in Glasgow at the famous old ground to a sodden field.
More than a month earlier, as the democratically elected captain of the side, Paul Roos, had stepped off the ship in Southampton, he declared to the “Daily Mail” that the name of the South African senior men’s rugby team was the Springboks, and it would be in the now most populous Scottish city close to a century ago, that they would play their first Test under that moniker.
Heavy rain prior to the match, and bitterly cold conditions on the day, conspired against the newly termed Springboks, as they lost 6-0 to their hosts – one of only five losses suffered to the Scots in 29 matches.
Strange as it might seem today, the Boks were described as having “smallish” forwards, and were dominated by a heavier pack that understood how to approach the waterlogged pitch and master the drenched conditions.
Much like the current game-plan under coach Rassie Erasmus and Co, the Boks attempted to play a more expansive style of rugby.
They certainly had the players to do so: the legendary ‘Thin Red Line’ of centres Bob Loubser, Japie Krige and wings Boy de Villiers and Anton Stegmann – all from Maties – complemented the great fullback Arthur Marsberg.
By this time, Australian author AG Hales had taken a liking to the South Africans.
By all accounts, the Scots employed a territorial game, while the Boks attempted to distribute their possession in the treacherous setting while “working hands and arms like deaf mutes signalling for a fire escape,” as described by Hales.
The conditions nullified the Boks dangerous backline, while Marsberg left the field seriously injured, carried off unconscious after a particularly brutal phase of Scottish attack by their forwards.
Marsberg would miss the following Test a week later against Ireland, won 15-12 by the Boks, but would return to the starting XV against one of the greatest Test teams at the time, Wales.
Marsberg would become one of many fine No.15s the country would produce. Of him, Hales wrote after a tour match: “He made himself pretty near football famous this day.
“Once, when his goal was in danger, he went for the ball in a lightning-like rush, snapped it up and was off like a wild steer into the bush. He fairly flew for a few yards and then they came at him.
“He put all his great strength into the task and went through them like wind through a wheat field … One got his shoulder, another the outstretched arm and hand; round one, he dodged like a Johannesburg debtor doubling around corners, over the next he bounded, making straight for the English goal-line like a wilful woman for the divorce court.
“… ‘Stop him’, yelled the crowd again. They might as well have yelled to a politician to practice what he preaches or a lawyer not to lie. It was a splendid rush, and stamped the player as a crackerjack in any company in any country.”
On Sunday, Willie le Roux or Aphelele Fassi will hope to emulate such praise at fullback, while hoping that their forwards will carry the day at Murrayfield …
First Springbok XV
AFW Marsberg, AC Stegmann, HA de Villiers, JD Kriege, JA Loubser, HW Carolin (captain), FJ Dobbin, WAG Burger, HJ Daneel, DJ Brink, D Brooks, JWE Raaff, AF Burdett, WS Morkel, DS Maré
