Book Review: Gazelles in Argentina

He has set out to write the histories of tours, in and out, that have not previously been written about. This is his eighth book.

The seventh had been the Junior Springboks in Argentina but the Argentinian Rugby Union asked for a team that did not have the label Junior as they were growing up in rugby, and so Danie Craven devised the Gazelles - a team between the Springboks and the Junior Springboks. Unlike the Junior Springboks, the Gazelles had Springboks in their side - 25 out of 46 on the two tours. Dawie de Villiers who captained the 1966 team was the Springbok captain and Morné du Plessis who was in the 1972 team, which was an Under-24 team, became the Springbok captain.

The Gazelles had their own colours - green and red - and their own badge - a springbok head between a protea and an erica.

They went on tour to Argentina in 1966 and 1972. On each of the tours they played two "Tests" against the Pumas. The Pumas had come of age when they beat the Junior Springboks in Johannesburg in 1965, and the four matches between the Pumas and Gazelles were tough affairs. The Gazelles won the first three, the Pumas the last one.

The 1966 team also played Chile and Uruguay but the 1972 team played only in Argentina. Both tours are introduced with excellent coloured maps to show their venues.

These were days when tours and Test matches were such special occasions. Teams such as the Springboks, Junior Springboks and Gazelles were all the more special for being rare, unlike today when the Springboks are like a club side of days gone by.

The book is a complete history of the two tours - the trials to select each of the teams, a report on each of the 26 matches, pen pictures of the Gazelles and tour statistics. The presentation is lively, entertaining, colourful, succinct and easy to use.

It is thus a book worth having for its intrinsic interest and also for its place in rugby history.

Title: Gazelles in Argentina

Illustrated throughout, partly in colour

For copies, contact: Hans Saestad on hanz@absamail.co.za