AB Great, Bruce Robertson - RIP
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@Victor-Meldrew A massive man for that day and age, as well - especially for a back. McLean says he'd "trimmed down" to a fighting weight of 105kgs. Other "Big" backs in those days probably struggled to reach 80kgs.
n.b. I see Bruce listed at 86kgs, but he was a big back 15 years after Don retired..
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@Chris-B said in AB Great, Bruce Robertson - RIP:
@Catogrande said in AB Great, Bruce Robertson - RIP:
@Chris-B said in AB Great, Bruce Robertson - RIP:
@Dan54 That 1976 tour reminds me of how the likes of JJ Stewart hadn't yet appreciated the importance of goal kicking - the Jaapies were well ahead of us in picking Gerald Bosch.
Cough. Cough. Don Clarke. Cough.
We'd forgotten.
Our test goal-kickers on that tour were Williams and Going, who were pretty much 30 percent men by today's standards.
Laurie Mains was the only decent kicker on the tour, but was perceived to be too slow in general play and Kit Fawcett - better kicker than the other two, but too flaky.
A while ago I re-read one of Terry McLean's books where he put up some kicking stats for Don. He's miles short of good modern kickers.
So many things mitigating against kickers in days gone by:
The grounds were not as well looked after/muddier underfoot
No tees
The balls were heavier and less aerodynamic
The thick laces on the balls...
The leather absorbed any water and the balls became even heavier
The boots were awful in comparison
No kicking coaches
No scientific analysisThere's a reason that penalties and DGs were worth the same as tries back in the day - they were bloody difficult to achieve.
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Pierre Villepreux. Wet leather ball. No Tee. Athletic Park. 65m. Over the posts with room to spare.
And people think Jordie Barrett has a big boot.
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@Chris-B said in AB Great, Bruce Robertson - RIP:
@nostrildamus He was miles better than pretty much anyone else at the time, but that returns to my original point - especially in The Don's day, goal-kicking was very much an afterthought. (We didn't finally learn the lesson until the mid-1970s).
Around Don's time, I think the Brits were still arguing that having a coach was unsporting!
Lol yep the 1966 Lions captain was also coach Michael Campbell-Lamberton. Mind you, I think back then touchies were reserves from each teamand no replacements allowed. A bit has changed.
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@Chris-B said in AB Great, Bruce Robertson - RIP:
@nostrildamus He was miles better than pretty much anyone else at the time, but that returns to my original point - especially in The Don's day, goal-kicking was very much an afterthought. (We didn't finally learn the lesson until the mid-1970s).
Around Don's time, I think the Brits were still arguing that having a coach was unsporting!
They caught up soon enough
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@Chris-B A lot of it has to do with the style. Toe poking is pretty erratic and it wasn't until the 80s that Hewie and Deans etc started adopting it. I remember in my youth that most boots had a square toe. I assume designed with this in mind. And this was the technique taught. Probably some aversion from the meat heads to adopting the around the corner "soccer" style.
So much has changed including the use of a tee and angle of the ball at address.
Watching that 1976 Springbok tour was so frustrating with the goals kicking poor and there was concern we would lose the 81 tour for the same reason with Botha. But then there was Hewie.
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@Chris-B fairly sure Clarke was the heaviest AB in the team including all the forwards !
Protein, Creatine and other “supplements” have definitely changed things a bit in recent times. Robertson being 86kg at 186cm seems bloody slim though even for then !
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@MN5 That's my memory as well - that Don was usually the biggest.
On the kicking thing, while it's true that the balls, boots, etc were more difficult - the key thing was, I'm pretty sure, the relative amount of practice and technical proficiency of the kickers.
Here's what McLean has to say in 1964:
"...goalkicking these days is reducible to a simple study of aim, body balance and leverage and to practice comparable with that which a low handicap golfer gives to his hitting with woods and irons. For the British to point the finger at Clarke and to ask, after one of his great days, "Yes, but was this really rugby?" was to point the finger at the laziness and/or ineptitude of their own players. One hears again their cry, "Of course we don't play our Rugby that way". But, why not? The goalkick in Rugby is the long putt in golf or the push through midwicket in cricket - something infinitely exasperating to the other side but wonderfully profitable when it is done by your team."
I'll see if I can fish out what he had to say about our goal-kicking in 1976 - I recall JJ Stewart had a bit of a whinge at the end of the tour about kicking vs running rugby, something about let's all give up and go to the beach - and I think TP didn't have much sympathy.
On the coaching thing - it was very much related to the amateur vs professional thing - and league vs union. Coaching was a step towards professionalism, which was an anathema to the traditionalists. There used to be rules that home test teams couldn't assemble until two days before the test....to discourage them from practicing! Provincial teams that played warm-ups before playing a touring side were frowned upon, etc, etc...
McLean's books are fascinating to read some of this history.
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@Chris-B not to mention a home town ref by the name of Gert Bezuidenhout who officiated the series
When asked by Ian Kirkpatrick about his many odd decisions , he calmly answered the All Black looseforward/lock
You guys dont live in SA , i have to live with these people ..🤦🏻♂️ -
@Steven-Harris I remember him, well!!!
Had a discussion about him, with a few of the Jaap posters a few years back, when we had more of them. Pretty sure it's him not awarding Bruce's penalty try!I think we chose him to referee most, if not all the tests, because he was the least bad option.
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@Higgins said in AB Great, Bruce Robertson - RIP:
Piet Robertse
Or "Oom Piet" as Bok Captain Morne du Plessis referred to him.
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I remember reading in one of my Dad's old books that Clarke had a success rate of around 75% on conversions. If my memory is correct, that's bloody good and up with the best when you take into account tees, balls etc.
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@Higgins Looking up McLean - I think Gourlay did the first and Gert did the other three. I see a reference to Piet pissing the ABs off in one of the early matches by warning Whiting about his lineout technique in the tunnel before the game (among other things).
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@Chris-B said in AB Great, Bruce Robertson - RIP:
@Higgins Looking up McLean - I think Goulay did the first and Gert did the other three. I see a reference to Piet pissing the ABs off in one of the early matches by warning Whiting about his lineout technique in the tunnel before the game (among other things).
Looks like Robbertse dudded us in the 1970 tour but something keeps needling me about him doing something irksome during the 1976 Tour as well. Anyway in those days they were all as "challenging" as each other.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/south-african-ref-bad-news-for-all-blacks/FELJFOF6KV7P6UQC5HRWI6IGFE/EDIT: We lost twice with him on the whistle in Tests in 1970 whilst Northern Transvaal nutted us 29 - 27 under his control in 1976. He had blotted his copybook when the ABs managed to tip Eastern Province over earlier on that '76 Tour but he sure rectified matters in the Northern Transvaal game a month or so later!
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@Victor-Meldrew Be interesting if you can find that.
The stats I quoted earlier were part of McLean pointing out how much worse Don had become - but, he's way better percentage-wise at conversions than penalties - so if you translate his 50% career goal-kicking rate to the conversions vs penalties rates on this tour, he'd certainly be comfortably over 60 percent on conversions.
Not sure what rate modern kickers make conversions at - the best over 80% I'd guess?
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@Chris-B I think that whichever way you look at it, Don Clarke was, for his day, a phenomenal kicker.
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A nice write up.
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@Chris-B said in AB Great, Bruce Robertson - RIP:
Laurie Mains was the only decent kicker on the tour, but was perceived to be too slow in general play and Kit Fawcett - better kicker than the other two, but too flaky.
Number of factors
We had really bought into running rugby as a concept after being embarrased by the 71 Lions. Kicking was for nancies.
There weren't that many contenders. Karam had gone to league
Mains was too slow, Fawcett flaky but got into the side because Colin Farrell had a mare in his second test.
Richard Wilson went to Argentina under Mourie at the same time as the SA tour and was a decent kicker but he was kept out of the Canterbury side for years by the 1,000 year old Fergie and so was considered too green (but they took a punt on Fawcett) Greg
RollersonRowlands [thanks @Chris-B for correction] was a decent kicker but was considered too small (70 kgs)Bevan Wilson looked like the answer when he debuted in 77 against the Lions but was permanently injured. McKechnie also debuted in 77 and was an OK kicker but more of a utility and both he and both Wilsons were too inexperienced in 76
It is almost 50 years ago but I don't think JJ had that many options.
What I can recall vividly is just how outstanding Robertson was. Seemed to have all the time in the world. As someone said Conrad with wheels. Would have thrived in the modern game.
RIP
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