Springbok Greats - Hennie Muller

Описание: Hendrik Scholtz Vosloo Muller was born March, 26th, 1922 in Witbank, South Africa. His International career was from 1949-53 in which he played 13 tests, of which 9 was a captain.

Hennie Muller introduced a new style of play for a number 8 forward in the immediate postwar years. The clue comes in his nickname, "Windhond" or greyhound. When he first entered test rugby in 1949 he was arguably the fastest back row forward in living memory. His speed was already legendary and he put it to good use. Against the All Black of 1949, Muller was so destructive at eighthman, that there were calls for the laws to be changed. He would stood off from the lineouts, where the All Blacks had the upper hand, and mowed down their flyhalf, Kearney, time and again, so that their backs hardly saw clean ball. He was an excellent and intelligent footballer, could run, handled like a back and kicked with either foot.

He captained South Africa in 9 tests and his Springbok side of 1951/52 were a team on a mission. They would go on to complete a clean sweep of victories over the four Home Unions and France, but no single display would match their destruction of Scotland in the first international of the tour on November 24, under his leadership. In a game that has gone down in South African folklore as the "Murrafield Massacre", Muller crossed for one of the nine tries that were scored in a vintage display of powerhouse rugby. Offensive in defense and relentlessly slick in attack, the visitors ran out 44-0 winners, a score-line that was almost unheard of in its day. Muller's performance was a master-class of back row play, with the intensity you would expect from a man who admitted that he stopped talking to his wife three days before a test because he was thinking about what he was going to do during the match. Before crying tears of joy in the changing room after the game, Muller was chaired off the field by his humbled but gracious opponents.

In 1953, Hennie was captain against the Wallabies of John Solomon, and the Springboks won the first test easily by 25-3 at Ellispark. Hennie scored one of the Springboks' five tries, taking a pass after a break by Ryk van Schoor. The Springboks went on to beat the Wallabies, 3-1 in the test series and that also signalled the end of a rugby career of a Springbok legend, Hennie Muller. When he looks back at his rugby career with memories of great games, his personal favorite was not a test but a club game between E.R.P.M. and Diggers in 1949. There were many famous tries, but at the top of the list is Chum Ochse's try against Cardiff in 1951-52.

Hennie also concludes in his book "Tot Siens To Test Rugby" that most Springoks that became great players during their time, had put in hard extra hours long after the official practice was over. "In my own case I used to do most traing after dark. The light fails by 6 o'clock on the Reef, and at Boksburg we had no floodlighting. To build up stamina I used to carry on running long after most of the players had left the ground".

Having played against New Zealand, Australia, the four British Home Unions and France in a period of five years, Hennie picked his best side that he played against during that time:
15. Bob Scott (NZ)
14. Peter Henderson (NZ)
11. Eddie Stapleton (Australia)
13. Bleddyn Williams (Wales)
12. Ron Elvidge (NZ)
10. Cliff Morgan (Wales)
9. Rex Willis (Wales)
1. Johnny Simpson (NZ)
2. Has Catley (NZ)
3. Kevin Skinner (NZ)
4. Roy John (Wales)
5. Lauchie Grant (NZ)
6. Des O'Brien (Ireland)
7. Don White (England)
8. Brian Johnson (Australia)