Remember the double Springboks

Archie Henderson: Some of us old enough to remember got the discussion going when Gary Kirsten's grim countenance appeared on the screen during the Kolkata Test.

Were Gary and his brothers, Peter and Andy, among the last of the all-rounders? someone asked.

Everyone immediately knew we were talking about cricket and rugby. Gary and Andy were outstanding scrumhalves for UCT and Villagers, yet still found time to don the pads in summer.

Had it not been for a bad injury, Peter could have been faced with the classic dilemma: Test cricket or Test rugby?

He was a brilliant flyhalf at SACS and for Western Province under-19. Droves of parents watching their darlings play on vast Stellenbosch rugby fields, in the days before the place was built up, would desert their offspring during a Craven Week match to watch Province, but especially Kirsten. He had star appeal, even then.

Since then seasons have changed, the two sports have become more demanding and the cricket-rugby all-rounder is all but extinct. But, while the subject was being aired, there was a hectic competition to name the Springbok rugby players who wore the colours in Test cricket too.

Everyone could guess Tony Harris and Jimmy Sinclair, the most famous of South Africa's double internationals. Harris was a fabulous flyhalf before the Second World War, and played three cricket Tests after it. Sinclair played one rugby Test - a 10-all draw against the British at the Wanderers in 1903 - but is more famous for his cricket exploits. He was the first South African to make a Test century - 106 against England at Newlands in 1899. In the same match, he took 6/26 bowling leg-breaks.

Less easy to recall, unless you have been a member of the Olympics since the war, are John "Biddy" Anderson and Percy Twentyman-Jones, two team-mates from Western Province who each played in three rugby Tests - including South Africa's first win (they were not yet Springboks) - and one cricket Test. Twentyman-Jones got a pair against Australia at Newlands, so it's no wonder he had only the one Test cap.

Two others were Bertie Powell and Alf Richards. Powell played one cricket Test in 1899 and a single rugby one at centre in his home town of Kimberley against the British Isles (not yet Lions). Richards got a cricket Test in 1896 against England on his home ground, Newlands, and three rugby Tests against Britain in the 1891 series.

There were those who played cricket for South Africa and rugby for England, as people did in those days of easy switching of allegiances with the "home country". Among the best known were Reggie Schwarz, Harold "Tuppy" Owen-Smith and Clive van Ryneveld.

Schwarz was part of South Africa's leg-spin match-winning trio of Schwarz, Bert Vogler and Aubrey Faulkner. They were especially devastating on matting wickets. Before emigrating to South Africa, Schwarz played three rugby Tests for England as a centre. He survived fighting in the First World War, only to die from the Spanish Flu a week after the armistice.

What is less well remembered is that Morne du Plessis, the great Springbok rugby captain of the 1980s, and manager of the World Cup winners of 1995, played cricket for Western Province on a few occasions. He was a medium-pace bowler who, in one over against Barry Richards, conceded 28 runs. It prompted a wag to remark that Morne was in the team only to counter Vince van der Bijl at the back of the lineout!