Something special
28 Oct 2010
MIKE GREENAWAY, writing in SA Rugby magazine, says Patrick Lambie is the future of South African rugby.
In the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, the mink and manure belt of the Garden Province, the favourite sport of Hilton College old boys is to ask their bitter rivals from Michaelhouse how many Springbok rugby players they have produced.
The Balgowan school has spawned war heroes (the flag flown at World War I’s bloody battle of Delville Wood is proudly displayed in one of the eating establishments), politicians, prestigious authors, captains of industry, national cricketers, swimmers and athletes … even Spud Milton (of the John van der Ruit books) went to the stately school modelled so closely on the posh English public schools, but so far the eight rugby fields on the sprawling estate have yet to produce a rugby Springbok.
Perhaps the most genuine indication that the school might at last break its unfortunate duck came in Patrick Lambie’s Grade 11 year. The flyhalf had missed his U16 season because of a serious injury and when he pitched up for training the next year, the flyhalf berth was already secured by the older Guy Cronjé, who was partnered at scrumhalf by his twin brother, Ross (both of whom have gone on to play for the Sharks).
So the coaches asked Pat if he wanted to try fullback. How did he react to changing positions after not having played rugby for a year? By the end of the season he was picked at fullback for SA Schools.
The following year, his matric year, he was in the SA Schools No 15 jersey once more. In fact, he also played KZN Schools rugby and cricket two years in a row, and that elite club can’t have too many members …
As Sharks captain Stefan Terblanche puts it, rather amusingly: ‘The next Michaelhouse old boy who asks me if Pat is going to be their first Springbok, I might have to shoot! But having said that, if he’s not their first Bok, then they will have to wait another 100 years …’
Towards the end of his first year out of school, Lambie made his debut for the Sharks – a 20-minute stint off the bench in a Currie Cup match – and was then drafted into the Super 14 training squad. Midway through the Sharks’ troubled Super 14 tour earlier this year he made his run-on debut.
Lambie took time out from the Sharks to play fullback for the SA U21 team in Argentina and was one of the stand-out performers at the international tournament, finishing up as the second highest points scorer.
He has been a fixture in the Sharks team ever since the Super 14 tour and the only debate around his continued inclusion has been where best to utilise his talent – fullback, centre or flyhalf.
And this, of course, has brought up the old chestnut of whether the Sharks are going to do a ‘Brent Russell’ and produce another ‘Jack of all trades and master of none’, as has allegedly been the story with Frans Steyn and Ruan Pienaar (although this was more the case at Springbok level).
The good news for South African rugby is that young Lambie is being carefully managed by the ever-cautious John Plumtree.
‘There has been good communication between all relevant parties from the word go and that is very important because wherever Patrick plays, he must be positive about it,’ the Sharks coach says. ‘He is still at the stage of his career where he is enjoying the experience simply of playing at this level. Moving from 15, which he knows well, to 12 and then to 10 has been good for him because it has exposed a few minor weaknesses in his game that he otherwise might not have known about. When the novelty wears off and he wants to settle into a position, we will talk about it.’
Interestingly, Lambie says an inspiration for him at school was Steyn and the impact he made first with the Sharks and then with the Springboks at fullback, flyhalf and centre.
‘I looked up to Frans because he gave us schoolboys hope that we could get a break sooner rather than later and excel at the highest level,’ Lambie says.
The softly-spoken youngster conducts himself in interviews with unfailing politeness and good manners. He is as humble and charming a young man as you could possibly chance to meet. But what are his thoughts on the position he would most like to play?
‘I’ve enjoyed 15, 12 and 10 and I don’t yet know which one I’m best at or which one I enjoy the most. But with a bit more time and experience I’ll be able to decide on a position, put my mind to it and stay there,’ he says.‘At fullback I have always enjoyed taking the high ball – even though I’m not the tallest, I like that bit of pressure – and then also the space you have at the back to read the game.
‘At flyhalf, I like being close to the ball and getting my hands on it as much as possible, as well as being able to make decisions and link with the players around me. The same goes for 12, which also has the added attraction of being a major avenue of attack for the opposition, and I’m happy with that because I enjoy tackling.’
The impressive thing about Lambie’s progression from 15 to 12 and then to 10 is that he has got increasingly better the closer he has got to the ball. He was excellent at fullback and when he was moved to 12 questions were asked about the wisdom of the move, but he responded superbly there, and when he was moved to 10 he again met and then surpassed the challenge.
‘I have honestly enjoyed all three positions,’ he says, ‘and maybe it helped that I played 12 after fullback before moving to 10, but the most important thing is that I’ve played a sequence of games in each position. I haven’t played one game here, one game there, and then gone back to the previous position.’
An avid admirer of Lambie is former Springbok and Maritzburg College flyhalf Joel Stransky, and he feels that consultation with experts in the three positions Lambie has played will help make the decision on where he should ultimately settle.
‘First of all, I’d like to say that I’ve enjoyed watching Patrick play, and what has stood out for me is that old indication of how good a player is – the time he seems to have to make decisions that other players don’t,’ Stransky says. ‘He never gets flustered, he never panics. There’s no hint of alarm about his play. He has brilliant skills, a kicking game, tackles very well and, most importantly, he has a wonderful temperament.’
But Stransky suggests that Plumtree sits down with a fullback specialist such as André Joubert, a renowned centre like Dick Muir and a flyhalf of the calibre of Henry Honiball and ask them for an analysis of where Lambie’s skills set is best suited.
‘Sometimes where the player feels he should play and where he’s best suited are not the same,’ Stransky advises. ‘I’ve seen that with Frans Steyn. He wanted to play 10, then 15, but maybe 12 is his best position?’
But where does Stransky feel Lambie should play? ‘The more I think about it, the more I feel that a kid with his talent has to be as close to the ball as possible. I’d play him at flyhalf.’
And is Lambie ready to tour with the Springboks in November? Stransky certainly believes so but Plumtree would prefer the youngster’s Springbok debut to wait a while.
Stransky says: ‘Good enough is old enough. We have a major issue in this country at Springbok level right now and we need youngsters to come through fast and learn the ropes.’
Plumtree is not so sure: ‘Look, he’s unquestionably an international class player. He’s a natural, he’s a very calm young man with an old head on a young body. To be straightforward, he’s a bloody good kid, and is an absolute pleasure to have in your squad.
‘Personally, I don’t think it’s necessary for him to tour in November. A good Super Rugby campaign will grow his confidence, while this end-of-year tour might not be the happiest and I’d hate to see him take a knock. But if they decide to take half a dozen youngsters and he’s one of them, then good on him.’
The theme of Lambie being cool, calm and collected is a recurring one, going way back to his primary school days. His class teacher and sports coach at Clifton school in Durban, Barry Mezher, says he was a gifted sportsman and natural leader to whom his peers naturally gravitated.
‘It stood out for me that at such a young age here was a kid who always put the needs of his team-mates above his own, led by example and deflected attention and praise to others,’ Mezher says. ‘He was empathetic to his peers and could be innovative in finding ways to get the best out of them.’
Mezher adds that Lambie was also an exceptional cricketer: ‘He had the sweetest of timing as a batsman and as a bowler had the discipline and calmness to bowl line-and-length deliveries that irritated batsmen into submission with his accuracy.’
At Michaelhouse, his school masters soon picked up that the best asset of this brilliant sportsman – he was also a very good swimmer – was his temperament. He never got flustered and the bigger the occasion, the better he reacted to pressure.
Alan Redfern, Lambie’s housemaster, says that perhaps the best way to sum him up is to point out how his peers responded to him.
‘When he was announced as head boy he was the unanimous choice by pupils and staff and was given a spontaneous standing ovation, which is rare.’
At the conclusion of his matric year, Redfern says that Lambie had ‘set a new benchmark for the role of head prefect’.
He was involved positively in a number of cultural and social activities at the school. As well as being a chapel server and senior member of the school’s Christian Representative Council, he was the chairman of the Toastmasters Society and served on the school’s Student Representative Council.
Redfern says Lambie was always ‘quietly at the forefront’, avoiding the limelight where possible but when in it, conducting himself with humility.
The balance between sport and academics has continued after school. Lambie is currently in his second year of a BA degree through Unisa, specialising in environmental management. He says it involves his favourite subjects, geography and economics, and it could qualify him one day to be involved in a passion of his: animals and conservation.
In the meantime, Patrick Lambie is living his dream. It is not that long ago that he was one of the barefoot kids running around the Kings Park outer fields playing touch rugby while his parents braaied.
The Lambie family are true Sharks fans, always have been, going back to the early-80s when dad Ian was a stalwart for Berea Rovers and played a handful of games for Natal before a serious knee injury ended his career, while Pat’s grandfather, Nick Labuschagne (Caz Lambie’s dad) is a former president of the Natal Rugby Union and was intricately involved in the administration of the 1995 World Cup. He also played 50-odd games for Natal and five for England. So the game is very much in Pat’s genes.
‘The rugby background in our family helped me make the decision on whether to choose cricket or rugby as my career,’ he says. ‘It ended up being quite easy, really. I love cricket but rugby is my passion.’
– This article first appeared in the October issue of SA Rugby magazine. The November issue is on sale now.
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523 Comments
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28 Oct 2010, 12:23 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) :
I’ll make sure I pay her first.
What I am worried about is the can of whoopass she is hiding from me.
28 Oct 2010, 12:24 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) : Ha ha ha ha…I never thought of that. You probably right. A Spaza shop selling the weeks ‘takings’
Sugar and pain tablets always available
28 Oct 2010, 12:26 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
Very interesting. Is it then far fetched to propose that a large section of South African society is prone to sociopathic behaviour? Add the lack of employment and you suddenly have the perfect mix.
No father figure, a culture of lack of empathy for animals and unemployment and voila: The perfect factory for producing hundreds of thousands of pscychopaths.
It would also explain why other countries – where income disparaties are as great or greater than in SA, like India for example – don’t have the violent crime problem that we have.
Hinduism intrinsically respects animal life – all life in fact – and I would presume that two parent families are much more prevalent in India than in South Africa.
And since sociopaths have zero empathy for others, it also explains the rampant corruption where a few can enrich themselves even though their brethren are dying of hunger.
I think we’ve found the answer to the enigma, my friend.
28 Oct 2010, 12:26 pm
147@gunther(gunther) : the blac domestics end up thinking i’m their son or if they’re close to my age that we’re buddies. it’s not on.
28 Oct 2010, 12:26 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
I wouldn’t have minded if they were one of your shirts from Monsieur Pricee or Markhams.
But I fly them in from the states.
and a burn mark in the shape of an iron spoils the look.
28 Oct 2010, 12:26 pm
@Dusky(Dusky) : And coffee. And non matching knives and forks.
28 Oct 2010, 12:28 pm
@Dusky(Dusky) : and she can’t be a blue bulls fan, not thanks
28 Oct 2010, 12:29 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) :
that’s the problem with the natives they don’t know their place.
they probably mock your private school accent behind your back too.
28 Oct 2010, 12:30 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
and where
the ARSEINGFUCK
have all the tablespoons gone….
28 Oct 2010, 12:33 pm
Bloody hell how did you people end up on this topic?
28 Oct 2010, 12:33 pm
@gunther(gunther) : this other one would frown and act up every time my ex-girl used to visit…
28 Oct 2010, 12:34 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt) :
My fault, I’m afraid.
28 Oct 2010, 12:34 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt) :
I wish I knew.
28 Oct 2010, 12:35 pm
@gunther(gunther) : private school accent is only for when having drinks with Xhosakid at the Wayside Hotel in Butterworth during December holidays…otherwise i keep it Kasie!
28 Oct 2010, 12:35 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) :
Must say, I couldn’t deal with having a white Afrikaans domestic servant. I’d have to “tannie” her all day long. Wouldn’t work. So I guess we’re in the same boat. It just helps if the domestic is from a different culture, then you can have a good relationship while still maintaining the necessary distance required between an employer and employee.
28 Oct 2010, 12:37 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) :
that brings us on to the (t)horny issue of the hot young domestic.
my best mate got thrown out of his digs in London because he kept porking their hot polish maid.
there was so much boinking that no cleaning got done.
all in all they are best avoided.
the same as hot secretaries.
28 Oct 2010, 12:38 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) : yes, all those 3 factors unfortunately play a role. I would add that many urbanised black people who are struggling to get a job are not born in the city in question but often come from a more Rural environment. Take Cape Town for example: Many young work seekers come from the Eastern Cape where the patriachal tribal system based on honour, respect for elders, “the villiage raising a child” for example, is left behind when they arrive here. The societal support structures are in many cases not as prevelant, which furthers the problem.
28 Oct 2010, 12:38 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) :
undercover brother…
28 Oct 2010, 12:39 pm
@gunther(gunther) : YOU TOO!!!???
28 Oct 2010, 12:40 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
Don’t buy that last part. While the lack of social support structure may conceivably lead to increased stealing and robberies, it doesn’t explain the violent nature of the crime.
Nope, the psychopath solution is far more fitting.
28 Oct 2010, 12:40 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) : lmao @ “tannie her the whole day”
28 Oct 2010, 12:40 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) :
I’m looking for a career change and can clean like a demon.
So would you have me as your domestic.
28 Oct 2010, 12:41 pm
@gunther(gunther) : I buy from Big and Tall…
28 Oct 2010, 12:41 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) : I’m not presenting them as either/or hypotheses, but rather as complimentary.
28 Oct 2010, 12:42 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) :
Ja, I’m a traditional type of Afrikaans boy. Got to have respect for your elders.
28 Oct 2010, 12:43 pm
@gunther(gunther) : I had quite a few hot young tutors for my children. Unfortunately I was never at home at the same time as them. So my kids had a lot of fun, but not me……
28 Oct 2010, 12:43 pm
@gunther(gunther) : HAHAHAHAHAA that is f*cking funny! remember when he was infactuated with denise richards and had to eat mayonnaise?
28 Oct 2010, 12:44 pm
@Dawn(Dawn) :
No, you’ll totally ruin my peaceful existence. You’ll point out what a slob I am and generally act like Hitler to force me to get my act together.
Will be way too much stress for me to handle.
28 Oct 2010, 12:46 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) : I am buddies with my gardener. He and I will often sit and drink a beer on a Saturday after he is finished. I often give him extra money if he needs it, I have bought him new clothes and shoes a few times (not the scrap from my cupboard) and I pay him probably three times the going rate for someone who only works a Saturday morning.
Why ? Because I trust him, he works hard, looks after his family nicely and I know he wont steal a washer from me.
I got no problems with that. Some dont realise you reap what you sow.
28 Oct 2010, 12:47 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
Tutors? Friggin hell, do you also have two black Dobermins guarding the gates to your estate, walk around in a khaki safari suit all day long and have a personal P.I. driving around in a red Ferrari to sort out all your troubles for you?
28 Oct 2010, 12:49 pm
Has the rugby blog moved?
28 Oct 2010, 12:50 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) :
Um….no.
28 Oct 2010, 12:51 pm
@Dusky(Dusky) : is he Pedi? those are very good natured people…try a Xhosa gardener, you will see
28 Oct 2010, 12:51 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) : Ja – you bladdy Afrikaners that started that oom and tannie thing. The guy who built my house was an elderly gentlemen. We got on very well, and he did a good job, but my brothers in law (I am married into Afrikanerhood) asked me how can I call him by his first name.
I said to them. I will call him Oom Piet if he calls me Mr Smith. I am building a house with him, a business deal with several 0′s in the price….if he wants me to call him Oom, he can call me Mister, or Sir.
To heck with that. He is not my uncle. Funny how cultures differ.
But you know, its mos us ‘rude’ English….ons wat die ‘satans taal’ praat…
28 Oct 2010, 12:51 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) :
No, that’s me.
28 Oct 2010, 12:51 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) : To be fair, Denise is a fair bit of crumpet…..
28 Oct 2010, 12:55 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
Shellby is way better!!!
28 Oct 2010, 12:57 pm
184@Dusky(Dusky) : hahaha
28 Oct 2010, 12:58 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) : Not sure – isn’t ‘Sithole’ a Xhosa surname ?
28 Oct 2010, 12:58 pm
186@stormersboy(stormersboy) : sure, she’d definitely a MILF
28 Oct 2010, 12:58 pm
@Dusky(Dusky) : zulu…
28 Oct 2010, 13:00 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots) : Would that be the Shelby from “Lesbo 101 7″, or the Shelby from “Playboy: No Boys Allowed, 100% Girls” ?
Or someone else perhaps?
28 Oct 2010, 13:03 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) : Eish, and he supports the Bulls…
Haikona wena…..I am going to give him a slap down the next time I see him. A Zulu Bulls supporter ? Since when ?
At least he also supports Kaizer Chiefs…so he and I have common ground on that one
28 Oct 2010, 13:05 pm
Geez, it hits 1pm and everything goes quiet here. Did the factory siren go ? Lunch time ?
28 Oct 2010, 13:08 pm
193@Dusky(Dusky) : well, next time ask him why he supports the Bulls, is he just on the bandwagon or he actually likes something about them
28 Oct 2010, 13:08 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
No, this Shellby has two l’s.
Go well go Shellby!!!
She’s a legend! Strange you don’t know her!
28 Oct 2010, 13:09 pm
@Dusky(Dusky) :
No.
28 Oct 2010, 13:10 pm
@Dusky(Dusky) : Maybe if we start discussing rugby again the folk will return
28 Oct 2010, 13:11 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots) : I feel like I’m missing out! Where might I have casually come accross an image of her??
28 Oct 2010, 13:11 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots) :
I miss Ethel. I miss Harry the Beach Walker too…
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