Two Springboks of yesteryear die
Willem Barnard and Mof Myburgh, two Springboks of yesteryear, died on 15 June, 2012. Both had great careers. Barnard was 88, Myburgh 75.
Willem Barnard was the first Springbok from Upington. He played in the fourth Test against the All Blacks in 1949 when the Springboks won 11-8, thus whitewashing the All Blacks in the series.
Four of his teammates that day are still alive – Cecil Moss, Carrots Geraghty, Tjol Lategan and Piet Malan who is the oldest living Springbok.
Barnard was then a member of Basil Kenyon's 1951-52 Springboks', a magnificent team that won all five Tests on its tour of the UK, Ireland and France. Barnard played in the tough Test on the tour – when the Springboks beat Wales 6-3 just before Christmas. He played in 13 of the 31 matches on the tour. Four of the matches were in France and the French voted Barnard the best-dressed Springbok as well as the best line-out jumper, but the locks were Salty du Rand and Ernst Dinkelmann – both outstanding.
While in Scotland, Barnard's wife, Willie, gave birth to their first daughter, which gave rise to a happy party at which he was presented with a nappy with a note: Get your big hands used to this.
From Hoërskool Upington, Barnard went to Stellenbosch University where he played for the Maties and qualified as a schoolmaster. In 1946 he started his teaching career at the Hoër Tegniese Skool in Oudtshoorn and also started his provincial rugby career, playing for South Western Districts. In 1948 he moved to the Technical College in Pretoria and in 1949 to Clapham High School. While in Pretoria he played for Northern Transvaal and for South Africa.
At the end of 1950 his father died and he went back to Upington to run the cartage contracting business and also became a cattle farmer. Back in Upington, he played for Griqualand West.
He also did well at boxing, swimming, baseball and athletics. His wife Willie (nee Ehlers) played softball for Northern Transvaal.
Willem Hendrik Minnaar Barnard was born in the Gordonia District and died in Upington on 14 June 2012, survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters. His young brother Paul, who played for UCT and Western Province, was later the president of the North Western Cape Rugby Union, died in April. Paul's son, Johan, captained Namibia and later played for Western Province.
Mof Myburgh was a legendary Springbok – a huge prop forward, a great sense of humour, a cultured policeman and a bosom friend of Frik du Preez who, rumour has it, used to jump off Myburgh's massive calf to get up higher in the line-outs in days when lifting did not exist.
Myburgh was born in Senekal in the Free State and went to school there but then he joined the police force and so went to the Police College in Pretoria, a great source of players for Northern Transvaal. He was 20 when first chosen for Northern Transvaal in 1957 and played for the province 109 times. He became a Springbok in 1960 when he was in Avril Malan's team to the UK, Ireland and France and played his first Test against the 1962 Lions at Ellis Park. He was persuaded to come out of retirement to play his last Test against the All Blacks in 1970. In all he played in 18 Tests.
Myburgh had two great cultural loves – opera and Shakespeare and he was an expert on both, activities not usually associated with a Northern Transvaal prop. He also had a great sense of humour and one of his sayings is amongst the most famous in South African rugby history. In 1969 Northern Transvaal beat Western Province in the Currie Cup Final at Loftus Versfeld and Frik du Preez turned in a virtuoso performance, leading Myburgh to say win awe: "Ou Frik darem. Hy't gedrop, geplace en gescore."
Johannes Lodwikus Myburgh was born on 24 August, 1936. He had heart problems but eventually died of liver cancer in the Eugène Marais hospital in Pretoria, survived by his wife Aneline (née Conradie), their daughters Karen Riekert and Linda Enslin, and three grandchildren.
