BeeGee and the Iceman

A seldom recognised feature of international sport is that it teaches kids geography.

The recent soccer World Cup has, for instance, brought to youngsters an awareness of places in Japan and South Korea that they probably had no idea existed - rather like the first time I ever heard of Samoa.

The year was 1970 and I was embarking on a career in journalism when Brian Lochore’s All Blacks arrived for their controversial tour of South Africa.

It’s embarrassing now to think about it, but the big news story of the time was that, for the first time, the All Blacks would include “coloured” players – a magnanimous gesture to rugby by the National Party under John Vorster.

One of these players was a wonderful wing three-quarter by the name of Bryan Williams.

Possessed of powerful legs, great pace and a devastating swerve “BeeGee” Williams, after his initials, was one of the most exhilarating runners with the ball the game has ever seen.

He was described as the “Samoan Express” and, having worked out that this distinguished him from being a native-born New Zealand Maori, I took the trouble to find pin-point Samoa on an atlas.

The return of the Samoans to these shores hopefully signals a thawing of relations between South Africa and the passionate rugby players from the chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean.

As part of the IRB’s plan for the major nations to provide sustenance to the minnows the match was originally meant to have been played in Apia but was moved to Pretoria because of the greater funding possibilities that exist in South Africa… in a way a pity because a full Springbok side has never visited the islands of Samoa, Fiji and Tonga.

. In the years after re-admission in 1992 the Western Samoans were regular visitors to these shores. They took part in the Nite Series at Ellis Park and were also part of the original Super 10 competition.

As part of the Springboks’ build-up to the 1995 Rugby World Cup, we played our first official test against the islanders at Ellis Park shortly before the start of the tournament; winning 60-8.

The came that quarter-final in the tournament itself.

Always known for their somewhat violent tackling the Samoans went head-hunting to such an extent that I was moved to describe them as the “Axemen.”

In today’s sanitised game there would almost certainly have been some red cards handed out – although let’s not forget the referee was Jim Fleming! – as a succession of Springboks were hacked down.

The biggest casualty was Bok fullback André Joubert and the main culprit was Samoa’s fullback Mike Umaga – a brother of All Black Tana.

Joubert broke his hand in three places; setting up days of tension and writing a chapter of exceptional bravery into the annals of Springbok rugby as he spent hours in a decompression chamber before playing in both the semi-final and final with his hand protected by a glove used in the Irish stick-and-ball game of hurling.

Tempers and emotions were running high after the quarter-final – won 42-14 by the Boks with Chester Williams getting a record four tries – and the atmosphere was sullied even more when Samoa’s captain Pat Lam accused the Springboks of having resorted to racial insults during the match.

That was in June 1995 and it is significant that since then there has been no other contact with the Samoans.

The burying of the hatchets is long overdue. The Samoans love the game as much as we do and, given that we have more rugby players than they have population, play the game extremely well – as the Welsh will attest!

It is apt that they will have among them one of the icons of their rugby – Michael Jones the great flanker who wore the All Black jersey of New Zealand with such distinction.

Known as the “Iceman” for his cool, unemotional approach and ability to “ice” opponents, Jones holds the distinction of having scored the first try ever in World Cup rugby, in 1987, and then also getting the first try in the 1991 tournament.

Strong Vaiga Tuigamala, “Inga the Winga,” was another Samoan player South Africans took to their hearts and hopefully the Loftus test will not only restore cordial relations but also produce the kind of rugby that moved a famous All Black, a farmer, to remark that Polynesian islanders “were genetically created to play rugby."