I remember it quite well...I was only a kid...at boarding school in Pietermaritzburg...Merchiston Preparatory. The Springboks were playing in Durban against a great Wales side.
We went down by train from PMBurg station. The siding was right next door to the rugby ground.We watched the game as little kids, with these huge big heros...Alan Pask, Haydn Morgan , Frik Du Preez, Keith Oxlee and a few other great names...SA won 24-3...I remember it well. We kids had to congregate outside the platform next to stadium...the Boks changeroom in those days was outside the stadium near the railway platform...I was collecting autographs...we waited outside the changerooms hoping for heros to come out and sign...I'll never forget Mr Frik Du Preez came out, hair wet after a shower, bare foot carrying his gear....Hayden a mate of mine and me ran up to him and stopped him in his tracks presenting the rugby programs and begging him to sign...typical of young boys confronted with a rugby legend...but typical of Frik a simple decent man stopped in his tracks and signed our programs. It was intimindating because we put out our little hands to this giant of a man...still the biggest hands I've ever seen. Spoke to Pieter Muller,many years later who was too young to play againgst this...I don't even think Pieter was born then but he confirmed this... Andy Van Der Watt also the same...Frik had hands so huge. As a line out forward with a big leather ball, this man used catch or tap it like a cricket fielder.
I got a lot of signatures that day...including some legends...Alan Pask Haydn Morgan...he immigrated to SA and worked in Pinetown as a car salesman at GM motors...one of the best and flank forwards ever, according to Keith Oxlee.
How times have changed but these are priceless memories,.
