Your Rugby Inspiration

This won't apply to those who didn't play the game, so I offer an alternate question at the end of this for our dear Lügnerin. To the rest of you, who/what inspired you to take up the game? Who were your heroes as a kid, did any one players stick out for you? For me Andre Snyman was an early influence, there was also Joost and James Small. Monty was another, and Os was the emblem of South African masculinity. However, Daniel Herbert was one of my biggest influences, I was quite taken by Aussie rugby, and he was a player that stood out for me. The combination of Horan and Herbert isn't mentioned much these days, but that was a fearsome partnership of physicality and skill; they didn't just play around you, but through you. It was lethal. The game that really was the turning point in my interest in the game was the England test of 1997. Mike Catt was sublime and was England's brightest light, but the Boks were simply too good. Snyman was the Bok of the game. It was this game that turned me away from other sports, I knew then that rugby was my true love. I started playing on the wing, and had always wanted to play at 10, but that never happened. I settled at 12 and never looked back. 

PS - Liebe Lügnerin, when did you first discover that you were able to carry water like a pro? Did you ever have aspirations of becoming a professional hydration facilitator?

No.  My early rugby hero was long before you were born.   It was Gainsford and later on Jannie Engelbrecht.  The latter was so highly regarded in New Zealand that a family there named a son after him.   

I had no ambition to do anything - but to go to University, but the family was in dire straits financially and I ended up having to go to Pretoria and work in the Forestry Department while studying part time.   

I was rapidly promoted in the Public Service and by 1981 was an Under Secretary - the third highest rank in the Public Service at the time.   Through the years I was in a position to see the provincial games and test games in Pretoria and Johannesburg regularly and after moving to Durban in 1974 I watched games at Kings Park regularly.

I was prematurely retired by the Government in 1984 after a huge problem between De Klerk - then our Minister - and myself  and in the end was appointed by the Municipality of Ballito in 1986 - where I worked until I was 70 years old in 2012. 

I always was an avid rugby and cricket supporter through the years.

I just loved the game from since a can remember. The great WP team of the early 80's cemented that love for life.

Played until Standard six or seven (grade 8 0r 9 for the millenials), till an issue with my neck vertebra was discovered after an injury...never stopped watching though. 

In hind sight, I should probably have tried my hand at refereeing later in life, as a way of being actively involved...but didn't think of it back then.

Correction Wanker....it was not....’Gainsford and later on Jannie Englebrecht’. They started their Bok careers in exactly the same test, against Scotland in 1960. 

You really do talk absolute drivel all the time ....but tell me, is it too late to congratulate you on being an Under Secretary.

LMAOFY!

Great career Mike. Well done. 

Can't say anybody inspired me. We played rugby at school and I found I was good at it making our first team in form 4. Zimbabwe schools go up to to form six. 

We were far away from the whole SA Rugby scene. Didn't even know who played in the national side. 

Found it a very exciting game to play but cricket was my biggest love. 

Maybe I should have asked if he had aspirations to be an under hydration facilitator! 

I think my earliest memory of rugby was the 1992 win over France. I saw that with my father. I didn't understand the game very well at the time, was quite young. Of course, I also saw the 95 World Cup, but it didn't leave me wanting to play the game. 95 was where the NFL and Serie A grabbed my attention. That was the year I really took an interest in sports, and it was 97 that I got into rugby. I was a very enthusiastic participant in any activity at school and took part in anything I could. I stopped taking an interest im soccer around 2001 though. From there I became more focused on rugby exclusively as both entertainment and an activity. Afyer my school years it was rugby and NFL, though my interest in sports as a whole has waned these past few years. Politics, commercialism and celeb culture has killed many sporting codes.