Tradition won't help
HEY, traditional Test rugby makes a return. No tries for us. Two drop goals and four penalties by Morne Steyn . One try, one penalty to the Van Diemenslanders. But, as the great Boy Louw used to say: "Looks at the scoreboard man!" The scoreboard said 18-10 to us.
But these are not the 1950s. We have the All Blacks to play next weekend – running angles, off-loading, all kinds of deft touches that we so far show no signs of matching. One doesn't like to think of looksing at the scoreboard next Saturday.
And the Test raised concerns going beyond the fortunes of the Springboks. Has there been some kind of silent consensus in world rugby that the forward pass should go unpunished – so long as it's just a wee bit forward? Something like the hypocrisy over the straight put-in to the set scrum?
Either that or referee Wayne Barnes needs an appointment with the opticians. Plus his touch judges who are these days known as assistant referees and are able to call forward passes (and offsides from the kick, which they so seldom do).
When Barnes did eventually blow for a Wallabies forward pass, the crowd at the Street Shelter for the Over-Forties cheered as if a try had been scored.
In today's game with its fast (and exciting) offloads into space for the man running at the shoulder, many offloads are in fact marginally forward. Can this be tolerated? Are we not spoliing the game in terms of fairness?
And, while we're about it, why not just apply the laws as they stand for the scrum put-in? Let hookers heel tightheads again, bring back uncertainty. Cut the hypocrisy.
Harrumph!
Try awarded
MENTION of Boy Louw recalls an anecdote from his days when he'd retired from international rugby and was refereeing at club level in Cape Town. He awarded a rather scrappy-looking try and the defending skipper protested: "Oom Boy, dis nooit 'n drie!" (Uncle Boy, that's never a try!)
"Dink jy nie so nie? Lees vanaand se Cape Argus." (Don't you think so? Read tonight's Cape Argus.).
Lady in White
THE statue of Durban's famous Lady in White has been moved from T-jetty to the Maritime Museum, off the Esplanade. This is because security regulations and the need for permits to visit the locality made it virtually impossible for visitors to see the bronze statue and read about her story.
Perla Siedle Gibson was a London-trained opera singer who stood on North Pier during World War II and sang through a megaphone to probably a thousand troopships and naval vessels as they passed through Durban to or from the theatre of war in North Africa and the Far East.
The statue was made by her niece, Durban artist Barbara Martin.
Gibson worked in a dockside canteen as part of the war effort, hence the white uniform. Her singing began when some Irish soldiers on a troopship that was pulling away called: "Sing as a song, Ma!" She obliged with When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.
And that started it. Whenever troopships arrived at or left Durban, she was there on North Pier with her white uniform, red hat and a megaphone, singing emotional songs like There'll Always Be An England and Land Of Hope And Glory.
For her morale-building she received a commendation from King George VI.
The intention is that her statue should eventually be situated on the reconstructed North Pier, near where she sang, but work there is still in progress and it could take another five years.
Durban hospitality
I WORKED in London in the 1970s and fellows of a certain vintage would always ask when they heard I was from Durban: "Do you know the Lady in White?"
One said he would never forget the Lady in White, nor the slap-up meal he and his mates had at the Edward one night before breaking to management the sad news that they had no money to pay and their troopship was about to sail.
Management wrote it off to the war effort. That's traditional Durban hospitality for you.
Tailpiece
PAVLOV walks into a bar. The phone rings. He says: "Damn! I forgot to feed the dog!"
Last word
Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long.
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