Dan Retief recalls a memorable encounter with the late Springboks forward Ruben Kruger. Read his thoughts on Super Sport.
"He was shy and didn’t really enjoy being in front of the camera but the day provided an apt insight to who he was. In a cupboard he showed me a collection of all the Springbok jerseys he had ever worn; the shorts, the socks, even the training jerseys and shorts because, as he explained, they were too precious to give away!
During an immense 1995 he was awarded a try by referee Derek Bevan in the “monsoon” semifinal against France in Durban which he admitted might just as easily have been denied (“Sometimes they give them, sometimes they don’t”) but he was adamant that he was robbed of a certain try by Ed Morrison in the Final at Ellis Park.
“There’s just no way it wasn’t a try,” he said. “I had the ball tucked into my chest, Os (du Randt) was shoving me from the right and the other forwards were on my left. When I went over the line I fell on the ball and no-one else got near it,” he explained without a tinge of bitterness.
Sadly after that pinnacle Kruger’s career would be dogged by injury and misfortune."
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