Matthys Michael Louw

Boy was gebore in die Wellington distrik, een van veertien kinders waarvan tien seuns was. Hy was in 'n rugby familie gebore: hy en sy broer Fanie en sy oom Japie het vir Suid-Afrika gespeel. Sy neef Cyril en broers Elinor en Japie speel vir Transvaal terwyl sy ander broers, Jan, en P.K vir die Westelike provinsie gespeel het. Toe hy agtien was speel hy vir Paarl Boys High se eerste span en ook vir die Westelike Provinsie. Hy was 22 jaar oud toe hy Suid-Afrika vir die eerste keer verteenwoordig het in 1928 - teen die All Blacks. Op die 1931/32 toer na die Britse Eilande speel hy in negentien van die ses-en-twintig wedstryde. In 1933 speel hy teen die Wallabies in Suid-Afrika en in 1937 weer teen hulle en die All-Blacks in Australasië. Tragies is sy broer, Fanie, dood na wedstryd vir Westelike Provinsie teen Transvaal in 1940 weens hartprobleme. Nadat hy uitgetree het as rugbyspeler word hy 'n skeidsregter maar weens 'n kniebesering moet ook daarmee ophou. Hy word betrokke by afrigting en was afrigter van die Springbokke in 1960 en 1965. Daarna was hy betrokke by Westelike Provinsie as keurder en bestuurder.

Boy Louw
Full names: Matthys Michael
Date of birth: 21 Feb 1906
Place of birth: Wellington
School: Paarl Boys High
Springbok no: 207
Debut test province: Western Province
Physical: 1.8m, 90.7kg
Date of death: 3 May 1988 (Age 82)

Test summary: Tests: 18 Tries: 1
First Test: 18 Aug 1928 Age:22 Lock against New Zealand at Crusaders (St George's Park), Port Elizabeth
Last Test: 10 Sep 1938 Age:32 Loose-head Prop against Britain at Newlands, Cape Town

Test history:
Date Age Position Opponent Result Score Venue Prov
18 Aug 1928 22 Lock New Zealand Win: 11-6 Crusaders (St George's Park), Port Elizabeth WP
01 Sep 1928 22 Loose-head Prop New Zealand Lose: 5-13 Newlands, Cape Town WP
05 Dec 1931 25 Loose-head Prop Wales Win: 8-3 St. Helens, Swansea WP
19 Dec 1931 25 Loose-head Prop Ireland Win: 8-3 Aviva Stadium (Lansdowne Road), Dublin WP
02 Jan 1932 25 Loose-head Prop England Win: 7-0 Twickenham, London WP
16 Jan 1932 25 Loose-head Prop Scotland Win: 6-3 Murrayfield, Edinburgh WP
08 Jul 1933 27 Loose-head Prop Australia Win: 17-3 Newlands, Cape Town WP
22 Jul 1933 27 Lock Australia Lose: 6-21 Kingsmead, Durban WP
12 Aug 1933 27 Loose-head Prop Australia Win: 12-3 1 try Ellispark, Johannesburg WP
26 Aug 1933 27 Flank Australia Win: 11-0 Crusaders (St George's Park), Port Elizabeth WP
02 Sep 1933 27 Flank Australia Lose: 4-15 Springbokpark, Bloemfontein WP
26 Jun 1937 31 Eighthman Australia Win: 9-5 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney WP
17 Jul 1937 31 Loose-head Prop Australia Win: 26-17 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney WP
04 Sep 1937 31 Loose-head Prop New Zealand Win: 13-6 Lancaster Park (Jade stadium), Christchurch WP
25 Sep 1937 31 Loose-head Prop New Zealand Win: 17-6 Eden Park, Auckland WP
06 Aug 1938 32 Loose-head Prop Britain Win: 26-12 Ellispark, Johannesburg WP
03 Sep 1938 32 Loose-head Prop Britain Win: 19-3 Crusaders (St George's Park), Port Elizabeth WP
10 Sep 1938 32 Loose-head Prop Britain Lose: 16-21 Newlands, Cape Town WP

Boy Louw : Doc Craven
Boy Louw : Doc Craven
Boy wasn't called the master for nothing: He was a masterly player and he had a mastery of the rules of the game.

On the ship going to Australia in 1937, he and Mauritz van der Berg were cabinmates. And when we happened to pass by, sometimes kicking up a bit of a row, Van der Berg would say: "Keep quiet boys, Boy is busy reading his bible." We soon found out that he meant the rules book. He had so mastered the laws through his devoted studies that he could also predict the way a game's pattern would develop.

I remember an occasion on the 1931/32 tour, just before the test against Wales. I was a mere youngster, having just turned 21, and I was sitting next to Boy in the bus after having visited a coal-mine in the nearby district. I turned to Boy and said: We can't beat the Welsh."

He replied: "Yes, it will be difficult, but beat them we will."

He then proceeded to expound his theory as to why he was so sure of victory.

Nobody, certainly not in our side, thought we had a chance of beating the cream of Wales as we had struggled to beat their provincial teams. We had battled against Cardiff, Llanelli and Newport, yet Boy was brimming with confidence. When we got back to the hotel the team to play against Wales was read out by our manager Theo Pienaar, and I found much to my surprise that I had been selected to play in my first test match.

Pierre de Villiers came up to me and congratulated me on being selected.

Bear in mind that he was the other scrumhalf in the touring side and he must have felt the disappointment keenly; yet he had the grace to offer his best wishes.

Pierre, in fact, got me to sit down with him and we compared notes as to how we saw the test match developing. Boy and Pierre were firm friends, both having played for Paarl and Western Province.

I don't believe that South Africa will ever see the likes of Boy Louw again. He was one of the most versatile forwards, together with Phil Mostert and Manie Geere, that I have ever seen and he was able to play in any position in the pack.

One of the abiding memories I have of Boy is when I went to visit him in an oldage home shortly before his death. After my visit the nursing sister, who had been watching us intently, remarked that she had not seen Boy as voluble and as excited for a very long time. I told her: "Sister, when you have had the privilege such as Boy has had, of playing on the rugby fields of the world, you will understand that the memories will never fade."

After his death, I was asked to pay tribute to him on television. To give an example of the esteem in which Boy was held, I received a phone call the next day from a man who described himself as an out-and-out Northern Transvaal fan. However, after having heard the T.V. broadcast he had felt compelled to phone. Indeed he not only offered to pay for the costs of the coffin but did so and supplied expensive jarrah wood for the purpose.

Matthys Michael (Boy) Louw : Chris Schoeman
Boy Louw was as well known for his peculiar use of the English language as for his rugby skills, but the former is a topic for another day. A farm boy from Wellington, Boy played his first game for Western province against the 1924 British Lions as an 18-year-old. It was also his first game ever at the historic Newlands. He would make his Springbok debut four years later, against the visiting New Zealanders, and play for South Africa for another 10 years until 1933, when Sam Walker's British Lions toured the country.

Strong as an ox, Boy was hard as nails and relentless. He was the one his teammates turned to to 'sort out' a petulant opponent when the need arose, but off the field he was a real gentleman. Apart from his strength he had an instinctive flair for the game. excellent anticipation, was always well aware of what was going on, and was a skilful player. He had the distinction of playing for the Springboks in every position among the forwards, from hooker to No. 8.

A serious student of the game and its laws, Boy understood the fundamentals better than almost anyone, and wasn't later known as 'The Old Master' for nothing. No one had greater passion for the game than he did and, after retiring as a player, he went on to become a referee and both a Western Province and Springbok selector and coach.

Some great Boy Louw stories : Paul Dobson
Acclaimed @rugby365com writer Paul Dobson regale us with tales of Western Province and Springbok legend Boy Louw.

Nobody played rugby with a greater devotion to the game than Boy Louw. Nobody had a greater love for Western Province than Boy Louw. Nobody had a greater pride in being a Springbok than Boy Louw. And nobody produced more amusing rugby stories than Boy Louw.

We have here a sample of those stories. Everybody who knew the great man would be able to add to them. And do not make the mistake of thinking that they were the accidental creations of a dumb cluck. Oom Boy was a clever man with a great sense of fun and the amusing things he did and said were done deliberately.

I am well and truly old now but being old gave me a chance to meet and listen to Springboks of yesteryear going back to 1921. It has been something that has greatly enriched my life. It is something that I can recommend to anybody, for just being in the presence of great men from the past is somehow golden.

Oom Boy, sometimes called the Master, was born on 21 February 1906, one of 14 children (10 boys and four girls) on a farm near Wellington in the Cape. He went to Paarl Boys’ High, played for Paarl and was a bank manager in Paarl. He played for Western Province from 1924 to 1938 and played for South Africa from 1928 to 1938. His 18 Springbok caps was a record when he retired. He had been on two Springbok tours – 1931-32 and 1937. He played in every position in the scrum but was perhaps best at prop – a big, powerful, fearless but fearsome man.

Oom Boy was from a rugby family. Uncle Japie had played for Transvaal and South Africa and cousin Cyril had captained Transvaal. Brother Fanie played for Western Province, Transvaal and South Africa. Brother PK played for Western Province, Jan for Rhodesia, Japie and Elinor for Transvaal.

Playing days, over Oom Boy coached – Paarl, the University of Cape Town, Western Province and, on the 1961-62 tour, South Africa. He was national and provincial selector, and the manger of Western Province.

He was also the first man to referee a Currie Cup final – at Newlands, when Western Province played Transvaal in 1939. His brother Fanie captained Transvaal who won the match.

Those were amateur days. Nothing Oom Boy did for rugby earned him money. It was just what he loved doing. Working for the bank gave Boy the money he needed for wife Christina and their two children.

This is by way of an inadequate introduction to Boy Louw whose involvement in rugby was probably more wholehearted than anybody else’s. It is by way of an introduction to some Boy Louw stories to be followed by stories involving other players, and …..

AND, wouldn’t it be great if readers added to the stories from around the rugby world?

A lot of Boy Louw stories depend on the way that he said them, and the way he said them was calculated. Boy Louw made mirth but was not an object of derision.

Boy was in body and soul South African and so his stones have a South African way of speaking. For one thing he had a habit – all his own creation, I think – of adding a meaningless s to verbs. So look becomes looks for no reason, take becomes takes, don’t becomes doesn’t. And those three will give us his first three stories.

If the side that Oom Boy was coaching had just scraped home and somebody told him sourly that they were lucky, Oom Boy had a standard reply: “Oh so. Looks at the scoreboard.”

It is till a common saying in South African rugby.

On tour in England he went into a store to buy a cake of soap. The perky assistant asked him: “Do you want it scented?”

To which Oom Boy enjoyed saying: “No, I’ll just takes it with me.”

Western Province played Free State in Bloemfontein. Oom Boy was the Province manager and I was sent up as a referee. There was confusion in my booking and I was down to share a room with Jannie Krige, the Province vice-president, who was having none of it and I went off to sleep on Gerrit Coetzer’s couch.

Province lost but after the match Oom Boy came to me and said: “Ou Paul, I hears you have troubles with your bed. Comes to my room. I’ve got two beds and I doesn’t snores.”

When he had finished playing Boy Louw became a referee. As a player he went about with a Rugby Law Book in his pocket, believing that you played better if you knew the laws better. And straight after he had stopped playing, he joined the Western Province Referees Society.

Pretty well to the end of his life, he would attend meetings and when he asked a question, he would stand up politely to ask it, even though it was hard for the heavy old man to get to his feet. He was certainly fast-tracked in terms of today’s referees. He stopped playing in 1938 and in 1939 he refereed the Currie Cup final at Newlands.

That does not mean that he always dealt gently with referees. The last Test, his 18th, that Boy Louw played for South Africa was against the B&I Lions at Newlands. The 1930s were a golden decade for the Springboks. In it they beat England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand and the Lions. It was a three-Test series in 1938, and the Springboks had won the first two. Series won, the third Test was at Newlands. The Lions led 21-16 when DO Williams got a pass from Johnny Bester on the Lions 25. Away he raced and round he went to the posts, when the referee blew his whistle – for a forward pass to Williams well over 30 metres earlier in days when touch judges had no say and there were no TMOs. With that whistle the referee blew the final whistle. The Lions won 21-16.

The referee for that match was Nic Pretorius, who had played in the Springbok pack in 1928. After this Test, he put his head around the door of the Springbok unchanging room to thank the players for the game, Boy Louw threw his boot at the referee’s head. The boot missed.

Once a referee denied Oom Boy a try because he, according to the referee, had not grounded the ball. Oom Boy was indignant. “Grounded the ball! Must I buries the bloody thing.”

Mind you, later when he was a referee and had awarded a try, a player was indignant and said: “That wasn’t a try.” Boy came back at him: “Oh so. Reads about it in the Argus.”

During World War II, Oom Boy joined up and Bombardier Boy Louw went up north and then on up through Italy. There was rugby up north and through Italy, and Bombardier Louw coached the 6th Division side, including in matches against New Zealand teams.

Dr Cecil Moss was in the medical corps in Italy when an ambulance arrived to fetch him. It was not a medical emergency – Oom Boy had sent it to get him to practice.

In 1949, the first Test against the All Blacks was at Newlands. Before the Test, Oom Boy had words for the Springboks: “When South Africa plays New Zealand, consider your country at war.”

Oom Boy was the assistant manager (aka coach) of the 1960-61 Springboks on their 34-match tour of the UK, Ireland and France. On a bitterly cold day up at Leicester they drew 3-all with Leicester and East Midlands with Les Boundy, an international referee of the London Society to referee the match. After the match a bright reporter from a London newspaper, came up to Oom Boy and said: “Do you have any comment on the referee, Mr Louw.”

“Sommer kak,” Oom Boy said angrily. Fortunately, the reporter did not understand. Mind you in those more careful days he would probably not have published Oom Boy’s reply as “Up to shit.”

The Springboks were criticised for their dour rugby on a tour when they were too successful for local liking – 31 wins, two draws and one defeat in 34 matches. The Springboks had intended playing running rugby but they encountered one of the worst of winters and were forced into an unattractive style of rugby.

There is a story of a miserable, raining, cold midweek afternoon when coach Boy Louw expected them to practise. He changed with them and the players used his presence to exaggerate shivers as they “discussed” the dangers of practising in such weather. Oom Boy did not react and when they peered through the window, there was Oom Boy standing on the half-way line, wearing only a jersey and shorts, a whistle in one hand and the ball tucked under the other arm. Shamefaced, they left the changeroom to join their stoic coach.

When Boy Louw was the manager of the Western Province side, the team used the B-Field for practices. (The B Field was behind the South Stand, now occupied by the Sports Science Institute. It was a rainy night but Jan Pickard, the president was there, and Augie Cohen, the team doctor and manager Boy Louw. There was scaffolding to house a camera and the watchers huddled under the rough roof to get out of the rain. But water leaked in.

The following conversation is in Afrikaans. The important words are dak – roof, in Afrikaans pronounced duck), lek – leak, weer – weather and lekker – nice.

Doc Cohen said: “Oom Boy, die dak lek.” Immediately Oom Boy replied: “Ja, dis lekker weer vir daks.” (Almost – It’s nice weather for ducks.)

Oom Boy was no softy on the field, not at all. When the Springboks played the 1933 Wallabies, there was lots of what the Australians call stoush. It was a tour of 23 matches, including five Tests. The Springboks won the series 3-2, which means that the Wallabies were competitive. They also had Awesome Aub Hodgson and Wild Bill Cerutti in their side. And the Springboks did not have shrinking violets either, not with the Paarl Boys’ High Old Boys Manie Geere and the brothers Louw in their side.

These were days before citings and things, but on the Friday before the second Test, in an effort to improve on-field attitudes, the two teams had dinner together, the backs at one hotel, the forwards at another. It did not help. As they walked out, Boy Louw said: “That will only make things worse.” And Cerutti replied: “That suits us.”

The next day the fighting broke out at the kick-off as the forwards ignored the ball and got stuck into each other. That seemed to have a cathartic effect, and after that the match was tough but clean.

In the second half of the fifth Test, Fanie Louw was knocked out. Boy helped to carry his unconscious brother from the field. He threw water into Fanie’s face. Fanie came to life and Boy asked: “Fanie, was’ sy nommer? (whats his number?) Spluttering, Fanie said: “Dertien.(13).

A while later, there was a thud and Boy said to referee Boet Neser: “Mr Ref, you can maar blows your whistle. Number 13 is off.”13 was Cerutti’s number!

These were days before replacements for injury and Oom Boy once berated one of his teams which had finished a match with 14 men because of injury: “Rugby is for fifteen versus fifteen. The same numbers play. If you loses a man, they loses a man, too.”

Victory and defeat were at the opposite ends of Oom Boy’s emotions. Angry in defeat he loved victory and there is a lovely mental picture of him on the 1961 tour, sitting with the gentry in camel-hair coats, gloves and bowler hats and bursting into song when the Springboks scored a try: “Ons scores agter die pale, ons scores agter die pale.”

One of his gimmicks was to use different first names for the players he coached. On the 1961 tour, Frik du Preez was Flippie, Keith Oxlee was Kirk, Ian Kirkpatrick was Keith and Dave Stewart was Peter. He would start his team talk with something like: “Peter, you’re the pivot.” to great player mirth. It broke the ice. Many years later Stewart would phone him and say: “Oom Boy, it’s Dave.” And Oom Boy would say: “Hello, Peter.”

He also had fun with malapropisms. When he put sugar into the team he had ordered for Lionel Wilson, Wilson said: “Hang on, Oom Boy, I don’t take sugar.” Oom Boy replied: “Ag, come on, man, Lionel. Don’t be so perpendicular.”

When the Springboks were in Ireland in 1961, they played Munster in Cork and while there visited Blarney Castle where Oom Boy kissed the Blarney Stone. He explained: “It makes you more elegant.”

He may not have been elegant, but he certainly was generous. Asked to coach the University of Cape Town, Oom Boy felt most honoured, because he had not been to university himself. He would catch a train in Paarl to Salt River, change trains at Salt River and then catch a train to Rosebank. There he would walk up the hill to the windy university fields. And after practice, he would do the reverse journey. And he did it for no remuneration at all – not even his train fare.

Matthys Michael Louw: (the baptismal register gives his names at Matthijs Michiel)

Birth place: Wellington District
Date: 21 February 1906
Parents: father: Johannes Guilliame Louw
Mother: Engela Christina Louw, née Kirsten
Wife: Christina Maria Magdalena Louw, née Crump
Children: Johannes Michael Louw, Hester Christine Visagie née Louw
International career: 1928-1938: 18 tests
Province: Western Province
Clubs: Caledon, Paarl, Gardens
Later he was a coach and a selector, both to national teams.
School: Paarl BHS
Occupation: Standard Bank
Death place: Stikland Hospital (He was living at the Chris Heunis Old Age Home in Somerset West at the time.)
Date: 3 May 1988
Cause: Bronco Pneumonia

Boy Louw: Springbok archetype who lived a full rugby life : Huw Richards
There is a risk of categorising Boy Louw, who died 30 years ago on May 3 1988, as a comedy act. That outstanding chronicler of the South African game, Paul Dobson, recorded that "nobody in South Africa generated so much rugby mirth."

But it is worth remembering that Boy's famous reported manglings of the English language -- telling a shop girl that no, he would take the soap he had bought with him when asked "do you want it scented?" and warning the 1931-32 Boks that they must beat Wales for reserve wing Dai Owen Williams "because his father was a whale" -- were, as an Afrikaaner, in his second language.

And the one thing much more mangled that the English language was anyone who had the misfortune to oppose him directly during a decade-long, 18-Test career. Much more than an inadvertent joker, he was the archetype -- tough, smart and abrasive -- of the formidable forwards who so often made South Africa the strongest team in the world.

If any single quote speaks for him it is the one most cited in his native country -- complete with his trademark addition of an 's' to English verbs -- "looks at the scoreboard", a soundbite perfectly expressing the creed of the rugby pragmatist through the ages.

A total of 18 matches is not much nowadays, but they were enough when he accumulated them between 1928 and 1938 to make him the all-time Springbok record holder, a distinction he held until overtaken by lock Salty du Rand in 1956.

And there was a beautiful symmetry to his career, encompassing home (1928) and away (1937) series against the All Blacks, home (1933) and away (1937) against Australia, a visit to Britain and Ireland in 1931-32 and a visit from the Lions in 1938. The 1930s were arguably South Africa's greatest era, beating all four home nations on their own grounds and winning every series, reaching a peak as 'the greatest team ever to leave New Zealand' in 1937.

Recalled by Chris Greyvenstein as "a man of enormous physical strength," the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Louw stares fixedly out of team photos as though carved from a particularly unyielding piece of teak. He was, mostly, a prop, and more often than not a loosehead. But the Boks always felt safe in switching him to tighthead, particularly if his brother Fanie, a teammate in 11 of those 18 Tests, was also playing.

But he was versatile even by the standards of an era in which forwards were less specialised than now. The positions he played in five consecutive matches against Australia, split between the five-Test marathon at home in 1933 and the visit which preceded the famed series in New Zealand in 1937, speak for themselves -- lock, prop, flanker, flanker and No. 8.

The observant will notice that only one forward position is missing from that sequence -- hooker. True, none of his caps was won in the middle of the front row, but he filled in four times for Jan Lotz, the only specialist hooker in the party, in provincial games during the 1937 tour.

Matthys Michael Louw, as he was christened in 1906, came from one of those giant rugby clans which are something of a South African speciality. His uncle Japie played in the first ever Bok team against the 1891 Lions, and Boy was one of 14 children.

All nine of the boys who reached adulthood played senior rugby, four reached provincial level and two, Boy and Fanie, became Boks. A third, Japie, was seen as a serious candidate for the 1937 tour of New Zealand before he drowned at Port Elizabeth while on tour with Transvaal a year earlier. Fanie too was to die young, collapsing after a match at Ellis Park in 1940.

Boy made his debut for Western Province, between the wars the dominant force in Currie Cup competition, as a teenage schoolboy against Cove-Smith's Lions in 1924, and graduated to the Boks -- initially as a lock -- in the second half of the 1928 series against the visiting All Blacks. With that other South African archetype, the siege-gun kicker Gerrie Brand, he was a fixture for the next 10 years.

He was dropped only once, amid a spectacularly shambolic selection for the first Test against the All Blacks in 1937. Selection was wholly in the hands of five senior players, including Louw himself. It was a rare misjudgment on his part. He was, as that ability to play multiple positions shows, much more than a simple force of nature.

As Dobson wrote "Nobody in South Africa took rugby more seriously," while Greyvenstein reckoned him to have "an instinctive flair for the game and he understood the details down to the most minute details." An agency report on his retirement called him "a keen student of tactics, and he had much to do with the methods adopted by South African packs in recent years."

South African writer Maxwell Price recalled from days as a schoolboy spectator at Newlands the skills, way beyond those usually expected of tight forwards, displayed by Boy in matches for his club, Gardens.

After signalling for the ball from a lineout, "Up Boy would go to meet the ball, turn as he took it and bamboozle the opposition tight for a moment, and then having brought in the loose men on the other side, throw out a pass not to his scrum-half, but straight to his fly-half."

He played under some of the most formidable leaders in South African rugby history -- Phil Mostert, Bennie Osler, Phil Nel and Danie Craven -- but had a strong sense of his own role. We don't know which of them he told "You make the speeches, I'll lead the pack," but at 25 he had the strength of mind to stand up to the bombastically dictatorial Osler. At a windswept Murrayfield in 1932 he vetoed his call for the ball to be moved: "Nonsense with you, Bennie, we're keeping it up front."

Less appealingly, he was also the 'enforcer' for ruthlessly physical teams. The great New Zealand writer Terry McLean clearly never forgave him for the blow inflicted on All Black flanker Jack Rankin -- who suffered from memory lapses for the rest of his life -- in the second Test in 1937, writing that "Louw is still revered in South Africa as one of the great prop forwards, but it is sad that he inflicted a life injury on an opponent in what was supposed to be a sporting affair."

Louw played his last match, for the former pupils of Paarl High School, in October 1938. He had always carried a rule book around with him as a player and moved into refereeing to such effect that within a year he was taking charge of the first ever Currie Cup final -- the tournament had previously been played on a league basis -- in spite of the fact that one team was his own, Western Province and the other, Transvaal, was captained by his brother Fanie.

South African rugby, particularly on the Afrikaaner side, was torn by the Second World War. But Boy joined up and served in North Africa and Italy as a bombardier, devoting any free time to organising hard-fought matches between South African servicemen and their New Zealand counterparts. It meant that when he famously told the 1949 Springboks "When you play rugby against New Zealand, consider yourself at war," he was speaking -- unlike all too many people who loosely bandy such comparisons -- with recent first-hand knowledge of the real thing.

Knee injuries cut short his refereeing career, but he made an impact as a coach -- first at the University of Cape Town -- and eventually as assistant manager, the thin disguise in which the amateur era wrapped coaches, of two touring Springbok teams.

The first, led by Avril Malan to Britain, Ireland and France in 1960-61, steamrollered the home nations with forward power, flanker Doug Hopwood undoing Wales with blindside moves devised by Louw. Centre John Gainsford called him "a coach we were prepared to die for."

The second, a short tour of Ireland and Scotland in 1965, was less successful. It was also led by Malan after Hopwood was vetoed as leader amid the political manoeuvrings endemic to the South African game, and saw the end of South Africa's 59-year unbeaten run against the four Home Nations as both Tests and the matches against Irish Universities and Scottish Districts were lost.

He remained an active Western Province official into the 1980s and his most famous quotes remain a part of the game's occasional currency -- deployed in 2011 in snide press comment on the language skills of Springbok coach Pieter de Villiers, an Afrikaans-speaker born in Louw's home town, Paarl.

Louw was a true rugby lifer, with a life to which few can compare.

Boy Louw Notes
Boy Louw, the legendary pre-war forward and holder of the then record of 18 test caps, played in every position in the scrum for the Springboks. In test matches, Louw played loose-head and tighthead prop, lock, flank and eighthman. Whilst on tour in 1937 in Australia and New Zealand he played in four matches as hooker. Boy also refereed and in later years Boy became a noted administrator, coach, selector and Springbok manager.

Boy Louw was one of the most colourful personalities to ever wear the Springbok jersey:

The story goes that in one of the 1933 Tests in South Africa against the Wallabies, whose forwards did not exactly favour kid-glove methods, Fanie Louw (who was packing in the Springbok front row with his elder brother) turned to Boy and said: "I've fixed my man, Boy. What about you?" Came the reply: "I fixed mine long ago!"
Boy once looked at a sloppy lineout and said: "Why do you stand so crooked? Can't you stand in a straight stripe?"
Boy and his pack were battling mightily in a match when Springbok centre Johnny Bester not only dropped hard-earned possession, but stood rooted on the spot and did not fall back to recover the situation. As Boy ran past Bester, he slapped him on the rump and reprimanded: "Hey, do you think you have bought this ground of plot?"
Boy once walked into a shop in New Zealand and said to the assistant: "I'd like some soap please." "Certainly", said the assistant, "do you want it scented?" To which Boy replied: "No, thanks, I'll take it myself."

SI Springbok TOP 100 - Boy Louw #39 : sport24.co.za
He made his debut at lock back in 1928 against New Zealand, but Boy (Matthys Michael Louw) was such a versatile player that he was picked and played at Eightman, flank and prop for the Springboks. A dedicated student of the game and the laws, Louw played most (13) of his 18 test matches for the Boks at loose head prop.

Stoere ‘vyand’ betaal vir Oom Boy se kis : Org Potgieter
Een van die grootste en mees legendariese Springbokke se ‘scoreboard’ het 27 jaar gelede – op Sondag 3 Mei 1988 – tot stilstand gekom.

Boy Louw het in sy 18 toetse in elke voorspelerposisie gespeel: slot (2), flank (2), agsteman (1) en loskop (13.) As leier van die voorspelers, wat gewoonlik sy rol was, het Boy nooit na die kaptein geluister nie, vertel sy boesemvriend, Danie Craven. Hy het dan ook op ‘n keer vir sy kaptein gesê, “You make the speeches, I lead the pack.”

‘n Puik voorbeeld hiervan was die 1931-’32 toets teen Skotland in ‘n stormsterk wind en emmersvol reën op Murrayfield.

Bennie Osler (losskakel) was die gevierde, gerespekteerde en outokratiese kaptein van die Bokke; Boy die leier van die voorspelers. In een stadium het Osler besluit om van taktiek te verander. Craven moes die bal by die skrum ingooi, en Osler het geroep dat hy die aangee wil hê.

Boy Louw het anders besluit. “Hou die bôl onder die forwards!” het hy geskree.

“Laat kom vir my!” was Osler se teenopdrag. Die uiteenlopende opdragte is twee keer herhaal, voordat Boy sy kop uit die skrum geruk en vir Bennie toegesnou het: “Kom, str-nt met jou, Bennie! Hou die bôl onder die forwards!”

Dit was maar Craven se derde toets, en hy was verskeur tussen die twee bevele. Totdat hy onthou het wat die legendariese oubaas Mark Markötter hom op Stellenbosch ingedril het: “Op ‘n modderveld speel ‘n skrumskakel met sy voorspelers, of anders skop hy die bal.”

Craven vertel dan verder hoe hyself later die wendrie gedruk het deur die bal voorlangs onder die sterk manne te hou.

Oom Boy is allerweë beskou as een van die grootste taktiese kenners van die spel. Verder was sy voorgevoel en aanvoeling vir die spel verstommend en het hy altyd presies geweet wat op die veld om hom gebeur. Male sonder tal het dit dan gebeur dat hy die plek van die steelkantvleuel of die skrumskakel – wat iewers in ‘n losskrum betrap is – ingeneem het. Só was hy altyd meester van die situasie en het hy later ook die bynaam ‘The Master’ gekry.

“Afgesien van sy soms vreemde Engels,” vertel Frik du Preez, “het hy die gewoonte gehad om spelers te herdoop. Hy het my Flippie genoem, en Dave Stewart het Peter geword en Keith Oxlee was bekend as Kirk.” ‘n Ander bron vertel dat hy Eben Etzebeth se ooms, Skattie en Cliffie, Es-tebeth genoem het.

Hy het ook die gewoonte gehad om iemand wat onkant staan by ‘n losskrum, aan die nek te gryp met die woorde: “You plays on my side, you push on my side!”

Sy Afrikaans was soms ook maar vreemd en hy het sy lewe lank van lyn-uite gepraat en ‘n flank was ‘n spoed-forward. Die lakoniese “Looks at the scoreboard” – gerig aan ‘n verloorspan wat kla – het klassieke status verwerf.

Frik du Preez vertel in sy outobiografie hoe ‘n goeie invloed Oom Boy op die spangees gehad het as assistent-bestuurder van die 1960-’61 Springbokspan in Brittanje. Hy het dikwels uit sy eie sak betaal as die span gaan fliek het, en het gereeld ‘n paar note in iemand se hand gedruk met die opdrag, “Gaan koop vir ons tjoklits.”

Die Engels wat aan Oom Boy toegedig word, is ‘n groot deel van die legende. Een keer was ‘n Springbokvlug vertraag, en iemand wou weet wanneer hulle dan vertrek. Die antwoord, wat aan Boy toegeskryf word, was “It could be today, tomorrow or ormorrow.”

Of toe hy in Engeland seep gekoop het. “Do you want it scented?” “No,I’ll sommer take it with me.”

Of toe hy in Wallis ‘n toespraak moes maak. “I once played for the Springboks with a wing called Dai Williams. His father was also a Whale.”

Toe Craven ‘n dag na Oom Boy se dood ‘n huldeblyk op TV moes lewer, het hy ‘n oproep gekry van ‘n anti-WP-man wat Noord-Transvaal ondersteun het. Hy het aangebied om uit eerbied vir Oom Boy vir die kis van duur jarrahout te betaal.

Matthys Michael Louw is op 21 Februarie 1906 op die plaas Watervlei naby Wellington gebore as die vyfde kind van tien broers en vyf susters. Een broer is jonk dood, hy en Fanie Louw het Springbokke geword en die ander broers het almal senior rugby gespeel.

- Org Potgieter