World Cup win left me totally shattered

JAPIE MULDER THE FORMER SOUTH AFRICA, LIONS AND LEEDS TYKES CENTRE

- Jon Newcombe

My uncle, Boet Muller, was a Springbok on the 1965 tour to New Zealand, and my father and three brothers all played provincial rugby, so I grew up in a rugby family and was never far from a rugby field. But it never dawned on me that I might actually become a Springbok too, until the call came in 1994 telling me to pack my bags and get myself down to Cape Town to fly out to New Zealand because Pieter Muller was injured.

I was lucky that I played in a strong university side at the University of Jo’burg. Had I been involved in a weaker team who knows I may have never played professional rugby let alone get capped. Francois Pienaar was our captain and seeing him and a number of other players make the step up into the Lions squad gave me a real sense of belief that I could do that, too. After missing most of ’92 after a big knee op, I came back and had a big year. We won the Super 10, as it was called then, and the Currie Cup and the majority of that side were in the Springboks side that won the 1995 World Cup.