New Zealand Herald recently published their list of 20 All Black greats.
The List referred to above are the players that made All Black rugby what it is or who changed the direction or perception on how the game should be played in New Zealand.
Who are the Springbok legends that formed SA rugby; who made Springbok rugby what it is?
Here is my list of 20 Springbok GREATS / LEGENDS. I do think they stack up well against the All Black greats.
- Danie Craven – Mr South African rugby
- Os du Randt – Two RWC gold medals; Coincidence?
- Mof Myburg – When all else fails bring Mof into the pack
- Frik du Preez – Our drop, place and score man or just say Chris Laidlaw
- Mannetjies Roux – genius is as genius does
- Naas Botha – Look at the scoreboard
- Danie Gerber – Maestro of the midfield
- Bennie Osler – Created a Springbok playing style
- Victor Matfield – 110 test caps later and never lost a line-out contest
- Jan Ellis – Fire and brimstone stuff
- Joost van der Westhuizen – try scoring machine
- Joggie Jansen – who will ever forget that tackle that turned a series
- Gysie Pienaar – Sparked a series to life; just say 1980 Lions
- Ray Mordt – Jonu who?
- Japie Krige – Just find me a wing who could stay with him
- HO de Villiers – for changing the way we saw fullback play
- Rob Louw –Mouth-watering midfield linking wing forward
- Hennie Muller – for redefining No8 play
- John Gainsford – A man’s man
- Henry Honiball – for showing that the Springboks can win matches without a flyhalf sitting in the pocket
As I went along constructing this list I realised that ‘greats’ and ‘legends’ are probably not the exact same thing.
Specifically the criteria to qualify for a ‘great’ would probably be slightly different from those for a ‘legend’. Some-one who made a significant impact in one test or a series like Joggie Jansen could be seen as a legend but not necessarily as a great. On the other hand some-one like André Venter who never had a real outstanding legendary moment but who was a stalwart over decades making outstanding contributions to team effort/accomplishments could qualify as a ‘great’ but probably not a ‘legend’.
The New Zealand Herald’s criteria were players who were world-beaters and who dominated their eras. From that perspective players like Daan Retief, Bobby Skinstad, André Venter, André Joubert, Micheal and Carel du Plessis, Louis Moolman, Piet Greyling and maybe Morné du Plessis could probably also be on a list like this.
With only 20 spots looking at players who I would class as legends and greats; who are remembered for their impact on Springbok rugby and world rugby this would be my list.
McLook nice list… Personally wouldn’t have numbered them. Haven’t seen most of the guys play, but have read much about them or have seen highlight footage of them so I wouldn’t feel good making a list well not of all time, maybe of the guys I’ve seen. My dad raves about Danie Gerber (saw a few of his games, but was born in 1986 when he was probably at his prime), Tom van Vollenhoven, Jan Ellis, Mannetjies Roux, Frik du Preez, Gys Pitzer, Uli Schmidt (Saw him play a lot), Syd Nomis, Piet Spiere du Toit, etc.
@ vanStraaten:I started with dot (not numbers) but got tired of counting to see how many I’ve got so I changed the dots to numbers.
The numbers is not a hiearchy in the sense that No1 is a greater great than No20.
Good list, but where are guys like Moaner Van Heerden, Kevin De Klerk, Gerald Bosch, Paul Bayvel, Gerrie Germishuys? We could even include Vleis Visagie. All players that may not have dominated as much as those on McLook’s list, but forced their peers to uptheir game, so also had amarked influence. Gerald Bosch must have been a huge influence on Naas for example.
Ek mis ouens soos James Small en Olie Le Roux ook. Hierdie ouens is seker nie op die vlak as McLook se lys nie, maar dit was lekker om die ouens te sien speel. James het altyd met soveel passie gespeel en was so taai soos n ratel.Hel, hy die magtige Jona platgtrek. Die vent was skoon bang na daai tackle.
Morné du Plessis is probably the unluckiest guy not to be on your list of 20, McLook.
My personal list of South African greats / legends (maybe not in pure Springbok terms), would probably be somewhat different. It would contain guys like Thys Lourens, Moaner van Heerden, Burger Geldenhuys, Andre Venter, Jan Boland Coetzee… and a few others.
@ grootblousmile:
I had Morne in originally but took him out to make place for Honiball.
grootblousmile wrote:
Yes, our preferances are influenced by the teams we support and by the players who played the game when we were young and full of passion for the game. Thys Lourens, Burger Geldenhuys and Moaner van Heerden due to your Blue Bull alliance I would think. Not bad players though. A list of 50 would probaly be more fair. What you think should we make place for John Smit?
6 & 7 @ McLook:
To be fair to Morné du Plessis I would put him above Honiball.
Honiball had a relatively short-lived Bok career, whereas Morné du Plessis was a great Springbok captain at a very turbulent time in our history… he also gave a massive contribution during the 1995 World Cup as an Administrator.. and is still involved in rugby circles.
I think Henry Honiball is a fabulous player and enjoyed him tremendously, but taking it to Legend status and the top 20 all time great Springboks is one step too far for me. He was a deadly tackler and very incisive running flyhalf, but he was an average tactical kicker and an even worse goal kicker.
In addition Rob Louw would not make my list of 20 Springbok greats, specially not above the likes of Piet Greyling, Andre Venter and Burger Geldenhuys as flankers.
Gysie Pienaar also does not stand out as a Springbok great for me…. I would much rather include John Barney Smit in a tally of 20 legends than Gysie… yip, you are reading right! Up and until 2009 John Smit was terrific, then he held on 2 years too long after that, but that does not take away his greatness before that.
@ grootblousmile:
Good points about Morné and I agree with your evaluation of Honiball. It the end is what you use as criteria for legendary status. As I was constructing the list I got confronted with the difference between greats and legends. Legends are players who capture our imagination, who change the way we see the game, who feats keeps on living in our memories and who we talk about around the braaivleis fires.
Smit is a great due to being the most capped test capatin and due to having played more than 100 test matches. Morné is a great as is Venter and Geldenhuys but players like Gysie, Honiball and Rob Louw forced themselves on our memories with oustanding feats and therefore became legends. Honiball for his defence and the way he played flat on the definsive line. Louw and Gysie for those tries they scored in 1980.
A stricter criteruim would be that legends and greats are players who would have made it big time in both the amateur and professional eras. The list will then come down to maybe 10 plyers on which most of us will agree. Pleyers like Hennie Muller, Frik du Preez, Naas Botha, Danie Gerber, Joost van der Westhuizen, Os du Randt and so forth.
Another interesting list would be the one hit wonders. That is players who played in only 1 test for SA.
@ McLook:
This list should have 50 players.
9 @ McLook:
In your definition of “Legend” as opposed to “Greats”, we should then have Francois Pienaar in the legends Department too (for the 1995 World Cup), Jannie de Beer for 4 Drop Goals in the World Cup… and so on and so forth. To me they were not that massive as players though.
Hell, Ricky January should then be a Legend, for his chip-and chase try against the All Blacks, a couple of years ago… eishhhh
To me your Article refers to all-time Springbok greats, which in fact is a combination of “Greats” and “Legends”…. the top 20 Springbok performers of all time, as it were…
Along these lines I made the judgements.
10 @ Lion4ever:
They are not proper Springboks, they are Takbokke… hehehe
Pienaar is definitely a legend, not only for hos role in the 95WC, but for his role in transitioning rugby from an amateur sport into a professional sport. Pity most of the administrators did not follow the players into the professional era.
To me, Francois Pienaar was there, the right man for the right job, at the right time… with the right coach.
To me he was a wonderful orator, inspirational captain… but not a great player… definately not in my 20 top Springboks of all time.
To some extent he was quite divisive with the whole amateur to professional process, yet now he’s inspirational and successful again with regards to his endeavours with the Varsity Cup.
EVERY Lions supporter that I have come accross though, sees him as a messiah of some sorts.
WAAR DE F#K IS JORRIE MULLER……..
16 @ KWAGGA ROBERTSE:
Hy rig nou die Leopards af, as hulpafrigter…. seriaaaaaaas!
Hehehehehe. Nou die aand weer n game gesien waar die sousdrol betrokke was. Magtig hy was darem swak.
Maar in elk geval. Stem saam oor Pienaar. One of the guys that single handedly transformed the meaning of the word ‘leader’ as opposed to captain in SA rugby.
18 @ KWAGGA ROBERTSE:
Hoe de hel het dit gebeur dat hy gekies was vir die Bokke…. want daai ouens wat hom gepick het moes op flokken sterk shit gewees het, pappegaaislaai gerook en geëet het terselfdertyd.
Praat jy nou.
Hel man my gat jik nou dat die ruggas begin. 6N en Varity is soos om by teasers te gaan patat kyk. Verheug die siel maar verneuk die p…
20 @ KWAGGA ROBERTSE:
Hey, kan ek jou bel… wil kar advies vra… mos my BMW afgeskrywe teen ‘n boom
Ja stoot
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