South Africa and Ireland provided six of the nine rugby greats inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame on Tuesday at a ceremony at Rugby School.
The South African triumvirate were Barry Heatlie, Benjamin Osler and Frederick (Frik) du Preez while the Irish trio were Sir Anthony O'Reilly, Willie John McBride and former IRB president Dr Syd Millar.
In a year which saw a British and Irish Lions series in South Africa - won 2-1 by the World champions - the first man to captain a Lions side, Scotland's William Maclagan (in South Africa in 1891) was also among the list, along with fellow Scott Ian McGeechan and Cliff Morgan (Wales).
Continues Below ↓
Heatlie is credited with being the inspiration for the South Africans' green jersey - making its first appearance in the final Test against the Lions in 1903, which was also his last appearance for his country.
Osler has been described as the "greatest individual match winner and tactical master that South African rugby has ever produced" - he played 17 consecutive Tests for the Springboks and captained them on their 1931/32 Grand Slam tour of the British Isles.
Versatile lock forward Frik du Preez was named South African rugby player of the century.
O'Reilly holds the record for tries for the Lions having scored 37 on two tours for them, his first aged just 19 in 1955 against the Springboks. - Sapa-AFP
-
This article was originally published on page 24 of Cape Argus on October 28, 2009
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
