Old foes meet in Wellington fun
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:49
The Wellington Rugby Club is 110 years old and as part of its celebrations it is holding a 110-table dinner on 15 August 2008 on nits president's farm with two old foes as guest speakers.
Dawie de Villiers and Chris Laidlaw had much in common and yet they were oceans apart.
Both were scrumhalves, both were youthful prodigies playing for their countries in the early twenties, both captained their countries and they played against each other in three different countries. Both were university men and both went into politics, the one in the government of South Africa, the other vehemently opposed to the government of South Africa. Both became diplomats.
They opposed each other in New Zealand in 1965, at Twickenham in 1969 and in South Africa in 1970.
In 1965 they played each against each other three times, Laidlaw twice on the winning side. Laidlaw then captained Oxford when they beat the Springboks in 1969 and in 1970 they played against each other three times, De Villiers twice on the winning side.
Now they team up as guest speakers at the posh functuion to take place the Welbedacht Farm of Schalk Burger in Wellington on the eve of the Newlands Test between South Africa and New Zealand. It promises to be a great evening.
Schalk Burger, the Springbok lock of the 1980s and the father of the current Springbok, is the president of the club and will speak as will the chairman, Chris Faure who played for Northern Transvaal and Natal in his day.
Trevor Quirk will be the master of ceremonies, which also means lots of entertainment as do performances by singer-entertainer Mallies le Roux and story-teller Nico Nel.
The dinner and the fun will be televised for Total Rugby. The three-course meal with Schalk Burger's excellent wines will also have 15 lots for auctioning by Trevor Quirk.
The tables of ten cost R5 000 each.
For those who would like to join this special bit of rugby fun, the man to contact is Johan van der Merwe. (Cell: 0730111960; e-mail jvdm@kingfin.co.za) The club has a website - www.wellingtonrugby.co.za - and an e-mail address - info@wellingtonrugby.co.za).
