It was perhaps fitting that old Springbok hero Joggie Jansen was at the Cape Town Stadium the day before he died, watching the Boks beat the All Blacks in another epic showdown between the rivals.
The next day the 78-year-old suffered a fatal heart attack.
Jansen played 10 consecutive Test matches for the Springboks (1970-72) and was on the losing side just twice. He played 61 matches for Free State and was a key member of the side that in 1976 won the Currie Cup for the first time.
Last Saturday, watching in the stands, Jansen would have been taken back to his own struggles with the All Blacks of 1970. The Boks won the series 3-1 with the crash-tackling Jansen playing a significant role in the success…
When the All Blacks cruised into South Africa in 1970 after a 17-Test unbeaten run they were expected to brush aside a Springbok team that had been winless on a four-Test tour of the UK and Ireland.
Dawie de Villiers’ men had lost to England and Scotland and drawn with Ireland and Wales and now they had to host an all-conquering New Zealand team that not for nothing had been nicknamed the “Unsmiling Giants”.
Before the first Test, at a heaving Loftus Versfeld on July 25, 1970, De Villiers asked for each Springbok to do something unique to inspire belief that they could topple the giants.
Four minutes after kick-off the captain got the ball rolling when he called a move from a scrum near the All Blacks’ tryline. He instructed hooker Piston van Wyk to kick the ball through the scrum. When the ball popped out at the other end of the scrum, flanker Piet Greyling swooped and nudged it to De Villiers for a cheeky score.
The 70 000-strong crowd roared their approval but three minutes later they would go berserk.
The All Black scrumhalf Chris Laidlaw had passed to flyhalf Wayne Cottrell, who darted to the blindside and was about to feed the original Jonah Lomu, Bryan Williams, when a guided missile shot in from nowhere and Cottrell was flattened as if a tank had rolled over him.
The missile was the 22-year-old centre Joachim “Joggie” Jansen and so devastating was his shoulder-first tackle to the midriff that Cottrell lost his nerve for the rest of the series.
The tackle was of enormous significance. In an instant, the winds of belief blew into the Springbok mainsail while doubt struck the All Blacks.
The Boks knew the All Blacks were fallible. They won the match 17-6 and the series 3-1.
The hand of Danie Craven
There is a fascinating story behind Jansen’s famous tackle and it was Mr Rugby, Danie Craven, who had a hand in destiny.
The tale begins way back in 1949 when another All Black team with a fearsome reputation was coming to town.
Craven was a Springbok selector, and he convinced the rest of the panel that to stop the fast-running Kiwi backline in its tracks, they had to give a debut to a centre called Ryk van Schoor.
Craven had spotted Van Schoor tackling savagely for Rhodesia in the Currie Cup and the tobacco farmer would prove a big hit in that series famously won 4-0 by the Springboks.
Fast forward to the 1965 annual high schools Craven Week. Doc Craven had invited Van Schoor to take a coaching clinic with the backline players, one of whom was the 17-year-old Joggie Jansen of the Free State team.
“That ‘tackle’ originated at the Craven Week of 1965,” Jansen said in 2020, 50 years after the 1970 series.
“Ryk van Schoor was invited to show us how to tackle. It so happened that he picked me for his demonstration on how to dive with your arms outstretched and lead with your shoulder. I thought to myself: ‘Hmmm, this might work…’”
Five years later Cottrell would testify that Van Schoor’s technique — so perfectly carried out by Jansen — indeed worked.
Incredibly, prior to that first Test, Jansen had never attended a Springbok match as a spectator, never mind played in one.
He recalls that before the kick-off, his centre partner, Mannetjies Roux, whispered to him: “Pay no attention to the Haka… Just watch Cottrell going blind to feed Williams early in the game.’”
The 19-year-old Williams was of Samoan heritage and would go on to become one of the greats of the game. He would be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to rugby.
The All Blacks had never heard of Jansen before that match. He was not even a household name in South Africa.
“I kinda came from nowhere,” said Jansen, who was born on February 5, 1948 in Griqua Town. “But after that first Test, my life changed.”
Joggie was one of seven children and his brother Eben would go on to play for the Boks in 1981.
“We had no workers on the farm and did everything ourselves. The girls sewed and baked — my one sister’s nickname was ‘Dough’ because she was constantly baking to feed her hungry siblings.
“We were very lucky to have a rugby field neighboring our yard. As a boy, I scored many a try for the ‘Springboks’ against the ‘All Blacks’ on that field.”
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Joggie Jansen Scissors movement
Joggie could not have known that one day he would do exactly that — score against the All Blacks.
“Before the second Test in 1970, at Newlands, Mannetjies told me I was going to score that day.
“I was taken aback but after thinking about it, I replied: ‘I will score, but you must say when…’
“We had a pre-planned scissors movement which involved the inside centre moving outside, the outside centre coming into the gap, and receiving a pass from the flyhalf.
“In the match, suddenly Mannetjies suddenly shouted: ‘Scissors! Here’s your try!’”
Joggie stormed over Fergie McCormick, knocked over Graham Thorne, and dived beneath an attempted tackle by Brian Lochore to score a brilliant try.
He says the crowd din gave him goosebumps but the response of his teammates was muted.
“In that era, the players didn’t hug each other and whoop about like they do today,” smiled Jansen.
“Only Jan Ellis said in that deep voice of his: ‘Mooi (beautiful) man!’
The All Blacks won that second Test and the series moved to Port Elizabeth.
When the All Blacks named their team, they had moved dangerman Williams from wing to outside centre and the Bok coach, Johan Claassen, was worried.
Mob tackling against All Blacks’ centre
Claassen asked the team for suggestions on how to stop the burly Williams, who technically would be opposite Roux.
Jansen says the team discussion went like this: “Mannetjies said: ‘I can’t tackle that guy. But,’ and he put his hand on my shoulder, ‘my partner here can!’ And I was moved to 13 on defence to stop Williams.
“I barely slept and the next morning at dawn, Mannetjies rushed into my room which I was sharing with Gert Muller. He jumped on the bed and exclaimed: ‘Did you sleep well? Bryan Williams! Afraid of him? No. Good…’
“And, then he was out of the room.
“In the bus, Mannetjies held a place for me, and started again: ‘Bryan Williams.’
“‘What about him?’ I asked with irritation.
“‘What is his strength?’
“‘He steps strongly off his left foot.’
“‘Bryan Williams… Are you scared?’
“And, so Mannetjies continued until I was fed up. ‘That’s enough now.’
“‘Okay, you’re ready,’ he grinned.
“Early in the game, Mannetjies passed late to me and I took the ball and Williams all at once but I just had time to turn and swing a hip at him. Williams got up unsteadily and rubbed his shoulder.
“Soon after, he received the ball and I could see he was about to explode off that left foot. I flew into him with everything I had. I went in low and at the same time, Jan Ellis and Piet Greyling hit him above me. It was a mob tackle and we went down in a tangled heap.
“Williams was not the same again.”
The Boks won the match 14-3 and the next week completed a 3-1 series victory at Ellis Park.
Once more Jansen played a vital role. This time it was a savage tackle on the All Blacks fullback Gerald Kember. The ball was dislodged and Roux scooped it up and put wing Muller away for the match-clinching try.
Roux was ecstatic, Jansen recalls.
“Mannetjies was jumping about yelling that he won a ‘teelram’ (breeding or prize ram). Mannetjies was a sheep farmer and a Springbok fan had promised him a ram if he scored or made a try.”
This is a chapter from Mike Greenaway’s best-selling book, The Fireside Springbok.
