Du Preez fondly remembers playing in England in 1971.
Legendary Springbok rugby player Frik du Preez, who turns 90 next month, reckons he’s achieved everything he wanted to in his life.
Du Preez played 38 Tests and 87 games for the Springboks, went on six Springbok tours and played 109 games for the Northern Transvaal – now the Blue Bulls.
He was also the founding member of the Blue Bull Rugby Trust in 1989 and the treasurer who supported players who needed financial backing.
“I have been retired or unemployed for years, so now I just sit around. I have run around enough in my life.
“My dream was to become a Springbok and farm – and I did both,” he said.
51 years since Ex-Springbok flanker Frik du Preez’s last game
Du Preez kept cattle in the semi-Kalahari, in Bray.
“It’s the place in SA that’s the furthest from the ocean,” he says.
He first went to the ocean aged 23, when he played rugby for the army’s first team.
“They flew us to Cape Town. It was the first time I flew in an aeroplane and the first time I saw the ocean.
“Two years later, I was standing on a boat as a Springbok, travelling the world,” he said.
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Du Preez said they didn’t get paid to play for the Springboks in those days.
“Money cannot buy my rugby or the experiences I have,” he said.
Du Preez said it was hard to pinpoint a game that stood out.
“I haven’t played rugby in 51 years. When I decided to stop playing, I stopped.
“I don’t keep myself smart on the side of the field. I tried coaching for some time, but I got so de moer in.
“I don’t know anyone who makes a mistake on purpose. Red cards will kill the game,” he said.
Domestic rugby in a better place
Du Preez says the one thing that irritates him about rugby is the change of rules.
“The guys playing rugby today wouldn’t make it into our team back in the day, because they can’t scrum. They toss the ball out everywhere.”
But he said local rugby was in a better place than it’s ever been because Rassie Erasmus understands rugby.
“People don’t understand Rassie.”
Du Preez fondly remembers playing in England in 1971 as part of the Centenary Match between England and the President’s Overseas XV (a World XV) and eating a Brussels sprout, which wasn’t available in South Africa, for the first time in 1962.
First time meeting Mandela
He also remembers the night he met Nelson Mandela.
“Mandela was speaking at the city hall that night and I was told that he wanted to meet me. I couldn’t believe he knew who I was, but apparently, he was a big sport fanatic.
“The next moment, Mandela throws me a thumbs-up from across the room. I was so shocked I didn’t know what to do, so I drank another brandy.
“When someone tried to introduce me to him, Mandela said he knew who I was. He said, ‘Hello Frik, I want to thank you for what you have done for rugby in South Africa’.
“I asked him how he knew, because they never got to see us play and he said he used to listen to us play over the radio.”
Du Preez said the next moment Mandela told him he had heard he was very fond of Brussels sprouts.
“Before I could stop myself, I asked him where the f**k did you hear that? And he laughed and said he had his contacts. Contacts se moer,” he added.
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After that, Du Preez got a parcel from Mandela’s office.
“At first I was scared because what if it’s a bomb, but it wasn’t. It was a rugby ball and a handwritten note in Afrikaans that read, Geluk met jou 70ste verjaarsdag, Madiba,” he said.
Du Preez said he still had the rugby ball and the note in his bar area at his house in Silver Lakes in Pretoria, where he has been living for the past three years.
One of his favourite things about living in the capital is being close to Loftus and watching games from the presidential suite.
Du Preez also said he was excited to see what Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu can do. “He is good,” he said.
