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New Springbok No. 8 hails from the birthplace of the eighthman

By Hannes Nienaber , in Featured | Main Rugby | Featured Rugby | News , at 2024-11-20 Tags: ,

Charlie Hofmeyr’s u16-side of 2018 was captained by Cameron Hanekom. He is seated third from left with coach, Mike Geldenhuys, seated in the middle.

The Springboks and their coaches, especially, have been responsible for some of rugby’s most interesting and effective innovations.

Current Springbok coach, Rassie Erasmus, brought the Bomb Squad to the world of rugby, as well as the Nuke Squad, or rather a 7-1 split on the bench.

A longer-lasting and permanent innovation is our focus here. It was introduced by Oubaas Markötter in 1930 after the University of Stellenbosch‘s second team suffered a devastating defeat against Ikeys.

One player in particular, according to Dr. Danie Craven, took most of the flak for the defeat, and that was centre André McDonald, who hailed from Ceres. McDonald was a member of the Hoërskool Ceres’ First XV which won the Villiers Cup in 1925.

After that loss, Markötter spent hours wandering up and down his house muttering: “He is not a wing, not a centre, not a flyhalf, not a scrumhalf. What is he?”

It was at the next practice that Markötter ordered McDonald to get himself a scrum cap and invented the No. 8 position as we know it today. Previously, the No. 8 had functioned as a third lock, with teams utilising various scrum formations.

New Zealand, for instance, made use of a 2-3-2 formation while most other countries implemented a 3-2-3 formation before Markötter and South Africa introduced the 3-4-1 scrum to the world.

That move, from the midfield to eighthman, saw McDonald being selected for the Springboks’ tour of Great Britain in 1931/32.

His roommate, Craven, scored the winning try in the final test match of the tour against Scotland, thanks to a dummy run by McDonald to the blind side from a scrum. The Springboks won 6-3 in front of a crowd of 74 000 at Murrayfield.

Now, 93 years later, Hoërskool Charlie Hofmeyr has produced their second Springbok and, once again, he is an eighthman, Cameron Hanekom.

Okay, technically according to our criteria, Hanekom won’t count as a Springbok from Charlie Hofmeyr as he didn’t matriculate from the school, and he also didn’t play for the school’s first team.

Hoërskool Ceres’ first XV, which won the Villiers Cup back in 1925, with their future Springbok André McDonald as part of the team.

Hanekom will be added as a Springbok from Paarl Boys’ High because that’s where he matriculated. He played for the Boishaai 1st XV off the bench in 2019, while his final season at school was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

His only match in his matric year was against Monument, of Krugersdorp, during the annual Porterville Bulfees.

Hanekom was part of a formidable loose trio during his u15 (2017) and u16 (2018) years at Charlie Hofmeyr. In combination with Wynand Pieters and Sarel Herbst, he wreaked havoc on opposition defences.

Charlies‘ u15 side lost only to Hugenote, of Wellington, with their flyhalf Corné du Plessis (129) being the top points’ scorer, while Douglas le Bretton, with eight tries, was the top try scorer.

Du Plessis and Le Bretton, who scored 52 percent of their side’s points, left Charlie Hofmeyr at the end of the 2017 season to join Hoërskool Noord-Kaap, in Kimberley. Most teams would’ve struggled after losing their leading points’ and try scorers. Not Charlie Hofmeyr, with Hanekom leading the charge.

Hanekom captained the u16 side and scored 10 tries in nine matches, with Pieters and Herbst scoring nine and eight tries respectively. The team from Ceres did, however, lose two matches, going down against Hugenote (20-30) and Hermanus (0-14). Hanekom missed both games due to injury.

It is also fitting Hanekom will make his international debut against Wales as he also qualifies to represent them through his grandmother on his mother’s side.

“He is a born leader and has an incredible rugby brain. I didn’t have someone that year to help me coach the team. So to have him with his vision for the game as captain helped a lot. He was also an amazing team player,” said Mike Geldenhuys, Hanekom’s coach at u15 and u16 levels.

Doc Craven is on record saying that André McDonald would’ve captained the Springboks if McDonald had not retired so early in his career. A hostel at Charlie Hofmeyr, House McDonald, is named after him.

McDonald later served many congregations as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church in Edenburg (1940), Citrusdal (1945), Zastron (1946), Kroonstad-Suid (1950), Smithfield (1953), and Brandfort-Oos (1960). He passed away in 1991 in Brandfort.

Interestingly, another Springbok No. 8, Dugald Macdonald, farms just outside Ceres. He played one test against the British Lions in 1974.

Other Springboks who were born in Ceres but finished their schooling elsewhere are the brothers John, Dick, and Lammetjie Luyt (SACS/Paul Roos Gimnasium), John Villet (Hoërskool Bellville), Ray Mordt (Churchill High), Jaco Reinach (Grey College), Breyton Paulse (Skurweberg Secondary), De Wet Barry (Paarl Gimnasium), Wilco Louw (HTS Drostdy) and Frans Erasmus (Laingsburg).

Hannes Nienaber
error: Sorry ol' chap, those shenanigans are not permissible.