Oom Piet remembers 1950

The 1950 Currie Cup Final was one of the great Finals. It was a great match and there was in it a moment of remarkable sportsmanship when Transvaal – as the Golden Lions then were – and Western Province met. Playing for Transvaal was flank Piet Malan and he remembers it well.

Malan, who played 33 times for Transvaal between 1945 and 1951 and became a Springbok in 1949 is the oldest living Springbok at 92. He and his wife Hansie, who is 91, have been married for 63 years – and they go down to watch Transvaal’s descendants every time they play. That included the 2011 Currie Cup Final which made Oom Piet so proud – so very proud and excited.

He told this website: “It is good that the wheel has turned. There was a time when people up here would never talk rugby, but after our win on Saturday everybody is talking about rugby – men, women and children.

“My wife and I went to a grandparents’ service on Sunday and from the pulpit the predikant congratulated the Golden Lions on winning the Currie Cup. I have never heard that before. Then he said: ‘Here in our midst we have Oom Piet Malan who played in the Final in 1950 when Transvaal won.’ And the people applauded me. I stood up and said thank you. That has never happened to me in a church before. And friends have been phoning me from all over the place. It has been wonderful.”

Piet says that the presentation of matches is so different. “When we ran out, a few people here and there clapped hands. Now they have Kurt Darren singing, and scantily-clad girls dancing and flags waving. there were no flags when we played and just a few handclaps when we went off after the match. Now it’s a great atmosphere.”

And the celebrations? “The two teams would go to bioscope together upon the night before the match and then afterwards we and Western Province would have a dance till midnight. Later in the next week we had a dinner. Ladies were present and we had champagne to drink out of the Cup. It’s different now. I am not sure that the teams get together at all.”

And Oom Piet has clear memories of the match.

There were two sections in the Currie Cup that year. Western Province won Section A ahead of Border and Boland but Transvaal and Northern Transvaal ended level on 14 points each after beating all seven teams in the B Section. As a result, Transvaal and Northern Transvaal played off, Transvaal winning 17-9.

That made for Final between Western Province and Transvaal. When the two teams met in a Currie Cup Final, it had been at Newlands because Western Province was the older union. This would be their second Final and because the first one had been at Newlands, this one would be a home match for Transvaal and so at Ellis Park.

That principle was still in force the next time the two teams met in a Final and it was a home match for Western Province and so at Newlands. That was in 1986, 36 years later! There was a shorter wait for the next time – just 25 years. But this time the venue principle had changed. The match was in Johannesburg because Transvaal had topped the log.

There were 40 000 people at the old Ellis Park on 30 September 1950 to watch this wonderful match. Transvaal were heavy favourites after beating Western Province 18-9 at Newlands a month before. The Transvaal pack was expected to dominate and they did in all but the set-pieces.

A sign of the way the game was played then was Western Province won the scrums 24-22 and the line-outs 23-18 – so many stoppages. It was the driving in the loose and tight loose of the Transvaal forwards that won the day – that and the injury to Balie Wahl in the second half.

Western Province actually scored first when Dennis Fry charged down a kick by Flip Human, gathered and gave to Robert Boyes who drew Johnny Buchler to send his centre partner Visser over for a try which Boyes converted.

Hennie Muller kicked off unexpectedly to the left. Chum Ochse gather but his clearing kick was poor and Buchler dropped a 40-yard goal. 5-3.

Apart form this Ochse had a splendid match, outplaying big Jimmy Kotze, the Simmer Express, possibly costing Kotze a place in the team that touted Europe the next year.

Ochse beat Kotze to the ball in the Transvaal in-goal for a try to increase Western Province’s lead to 8-3 but two penalties by Okey Geffin gave his side a 9-8 lead at half-time.

It was anybody’s game and then fortunes changed. Oom Piet says that Transvaal had an awesome pack. “We decided that we would walk over Western Province and we did with Gert Kruger in the lead. They walked over the Western Province scrumhalf Balie Wahl and he went off with a cut eye. Gert said: ‘Now we’ve got them.'”

It was about 14 minutes into the second half that Wahl and Hannes Morkel took over at scrumhalf. Just after that there was an incident of remarkable sportsmanship, the like of which is unlikely to occur in modern times. Morkel was penalised when he put the ball into a scrum. It was in the Western Province 25, an easy kick for Okey Geffin but the great prop thought the penalty unfair and kicked the ball to Western Province. But soon afterwards Transvaal got the reward of a try by Hennie Muller. 12-8. But Boyes beat Jan Robinson and gave to Visser who gave to Ochse to score. 12-11.

Then came the try of the match. from a  scrum Des Sinclair beat Boyes and then swerved round Roy Dryburgh to score close in. Geffin converted. 17-11.

When Boyes knocked on, Sinclair picked up and gave to Fancy van Staden who scored in the corner. Geffin converted.

Transvaal won 22-11, the third time they had won the Currie Cup. They won it for the ninth time 61 years later.

Scorers:

For Transvaal:
Tries: Muller, Sinclair, Van Staden
Cons: Geffin 2
Pens: Geffin 2
Drop: Buchler

For Western Province:
Tries: Visser, Ochse 2
Con: Boyes

The teams

Transvaal: Johnny Buchler, Fancy van Staden, Des Sinclair, John Robinson, Jimmy Kotze, Flip Human, George Muller, Hennie Muller, Piet Malan, Basie van Wyk, Gert Kruger, Gert Dannhauser, Franz van der Ryst, Barry Schmidt, Okey Geffin

Western Province: Roy Dryburgh, Ken Watson, Robert Boyes, J Visser, Chum Ochse, Dennis Fry, Balie Wahl, Thys du Plessis, Stephen Fry, Hannes Morkel (captain), Piet Lombard, Piet Kriel, Des Dukas, Don Duffett, Jack Visser.

Referee: Eddie Hofmeyr (Transvaal)