Stormers aim to repeat Western Province’s historic All Blacks upset

The Stormers will attempt to recreate one of Western Province’s greatest victories when they face the All Blacks on Friday, 50 years after the New Zealand side suffered their first defeat on a 24-match tour at Newlands.

Western Province overturned an 11-0 deficit to win 12-11 in 1976, scoring two tries in the final quarter through Bossie Clark and Chris Pope.

Former Western Province and Springbok captain Morne du Plessis still regards the match as a defining moment, despite the difficult political circumstances surrounding the All Blacks’ visit to South Africa.

“It’s such a long time ago, but obviously it was a standout sporting moment for all of us to play against the All Blacks,” Du Plessis exclusively told KickOff Rugby.

“It was quite a difficult time in South Africa’s history outside of rugby. ‘76 would go down as a dark year for other reasons. The All Blacks also came here under a lot of pressure because of the political situation.

“But we were young guys and we were playing rugby, wanting to do the best we could and get the best out of it that we could, and to play for your Province against the All Blacks.

“Obviously, the ultimate would be to play for your country against the All Blacks. But that was the start of the tour, or sort of quite early in the tour.

“And you know, the excitement in the crowd and the people were hungry for international rugby.”

Du Plessis said the Western Province team was young but had developed into a settled and competitive side after strong performances in the Currie Cup tournaments.

“We were a young team, [and] we were a reasonably settled team. We had done quite well in the Currie Cup tournaments and so on,” Du Plessis noted.

“And if I look back at the guys in that team, there were some special players in Divan [Serfontein], Robbie Blair, Peter Whipp, Chris Pope, Boland Coetzee and Bossie Clark.”

The match appeared to be slipping away from the hosts after two Western Province errors were punished by the All Blacks. Blair, who had left his kicking boots in the changing room, missed eight attempts at goal and the home side trailed 11-0.

The comeback began when Clark gathered a kick ahead from Serfontein and crossed the line. Blair then recovered his accuracy, helping reduce the deficit to 11-6.

The decisive passage arrived with only three minutes remaining. Western Province fullback Dawie Snyman collected a loose ball in midfield and launched an attack before passing to Du Plessis on his right.

The rangy No 8 advanced towards the line and, as the All Blacks’ cover defence closed in, released the ball inside to Chris Pope. The blond UCT winger finished the move, while Blair converted from a difficult angle to complete the turnaround and send the Newlands crowd into celebration.

“We came back sort of unexpectedly and got a sniff that we could win this thing,” Du Plessis remembered after Western Province’s first try.

He also recalled the split-second decision that created the winning score.

“Somebody asked me, why didn’t you pass it to the guy on your outside? I mean, you don’t know that moment. You just make that [decision].”

Du Plessis has no doubt that beating the All Blacks carried greater significance than winning the Currie Cup at the time.

“It’s got to be to beat the All Blacks, because you can always win the Currie Cup next year. You’re not going to beat the All Blacks again, that’s for sure.”

The Stormers now have the opportunity to match the achievement of the 1976 Western Province side. Although the game has changed considerably over the past five decades, victory over the All Blacks would still represent a landmark moment for the players.

Kick-off on Friday is at 19:00.