Memories of Mendoza
Mendoza is a remarkable city. Based in a relatively dry area, similar to the Great Karoo, it has little rainfall but lots of water.
Towering above Mendoza is the mighty Andes and its snows melt and turn the city green.
A road from Mendoza goes over the Andes to Santiago in Chile.
It’s not a big city – some 110 000 thousand people and some 100 000 trees. When a baby is born in Mendoza, a tree is planted.
Like Córdoba, Tucumán and San Juan, Mendoza is an important centre for Argentinian rugby. There are 14 clubs in the city and the rugby people have a special friendliness.
In 1996 the Springboks went there for the first time. They were on a tour of Argentina, France and Wales, with Test matches in the three countries. They started their tour in Rosario and the next day managed to get out of the flooded city to get to Buenos Aires where they won the first Test. Then they flew to Mendoza for the match on 12 November 1996,. a Tuesday.
There are two memories that stand out.
On the tour for the first time was a 20-year-old Matie from Ceres, Breyton Paulse. Paulse was born in the Kouebokkeveld on the farm De Keur which belonged to the Du Toit brothers, Charl and Gys. His mother worked for the Du Toits. When Breyton was starting his Springbok tour, the brothers flew into Buenos Aires to make sure that he was all right in days when nonracialism was a newish concept in South Africa. They saw that he was in good hands, sharing a room with thoughtful Franco Smith and getting on with his team-mates, and so they flew home without watching a match.
The match in Mendoza would have been the one to watch. Paulse was on the wing with Jeremy Thomson and Dick Muir in the centres, Franco Smith at flyhalf and flank Wayne Fyvie as captain. Breyton scored four tries on that dark night when the Springboks won 89-19. He did not play in any of the five Tests but it was the start of a brilliant career that included 64 Tests.
The props in the Cuyo side were Roberto Grau and Federico Méndez who played in the Tests on either side of the Mendoza match, which meant that in eight days they played against Springboks. Méndez, a man of Mendoza, later played for the Sharks.
It was a joyous night in Mendoza.
The Springboks were staying in the Plaza Hotel with its 19th century Spanish colonial facade and its huge stoep stretching the full length of the front and about 15 metres wide, looking out onto the well-treed Plaza Independencia.
When the Springboks were there, there was a big gathering of primary school choirs. They thronged to big stoep of the Plaza Hotel, and there in the midst of them stood the massive figure of prop Toks van der Linde. He sang with them. He sang Rossini’s Figaro with his strong voice while boys and girls looked up at him with worshipful admiration.
Good place Mendoza.
By Paul Dobson, Rugby365
