Classic Clashes in Bloemfontein - 1985

Along came Naas

It was just the third year of the Lion Cup and Free State's third final but Naas Botha was lying in wait.

Naas had gone to Newlands in the wet and the wind played one of his greatest games ever, handling flypaper hands in the slippery wet, playing at speed and kicking with authority. The upshot of that performance was victory for Northern Transvaal by 12-3 - or rather by Naas-3. That was at a time when Western Province, based on their best pack ever, ruled the Currie Cup.

That win took Northern Transvaal to the final.

The Lion Cup, a knock-out competition, had started in 1983, one of those things to keep South African rugby vibrant under isolation. It was slow to catch on but Free State caught on quickest. Free State won the first Lion Cup, Western Province beat them in the second and here they were in the third final after beating Northern Natal (72-24) in the quarter-final and Eastern Province (24-9) in the semi.

You would have expected a huge crowd at the old Free State Stadium and the hopeful cry of VRYSTAAT to rise up and bounce off Naval Hill to the world. But even in those days support was incomprehensibly scanty, for the Lion Cup was not the Currie Cup. There were just some 10 000 spectators in the ground on a cold and windy afternoon.

Free State had a wonderful pack with brilliant loose forwards but Northern Transvaal had Adolf Malan and Louis Moolman, the best line-out forwards in the world, and they had Naas.

Naas dictated. He kicked and Adolf and Louis won the line-outs. Free State outscrummed them and the Free State loose forwards - Gerrie Sonnekus, Japie Wessels and Eben Jansen - cleaned up in the loose. Forget that advantage, for Adolf and Louis won the huge line-out count 34-14, 13 on the Free State throw. And Naas carried on kicking.

Helgard Müller scored the only try of the match but two minutes from the end Free State were penalised. Naas took aim and fired the Lion Cup off to Pretoria, for that kick made it 12-9.

Naas had kicked all 12 points, has he had done at Newlands sin the semi-final. Northern Transvaal had won a semi-final and a final without scoring a single try!

Scorers:

For Northern Transvaal:
Pens: Botha 2
Drops: Botha 2

For Free State:
Try: Müller
Pens: Pienaar 2

Teams:

Orange Free State: Kosie Smit, Buks Schutte, Helgard Müller, Casper Wessels, Jan du Toit, Gysie Peinaar, Christo Ferreira, Gerrie Sonnekus (captain), Eben Jansen, Japie Wessels, Nico Barnard, Rudi Visagie, Martiens le Roux, Wessel Lightfoot, Steve van Eyssen

Northern Transvaal: Paul Botes, Hendrik Kruger, Frans Wessels, Giepie Nel, Ray Mordt, Naas Botha (captain), Tommy du Plessis, Johan Marais, Johann Lamprecht, Burger Geldenhuys, Adolf Malan, Louis Moolman, Piet Kruger, Uli Schmidt, JC Strauss.

Referee:  Frans Muller (Eastern Province)