RUGBY AT NEWLANDS - A History in 50 Test Matches 1891-2015

"When you run onto the field, you will hear the most deafening roar in the world. It will hit you straight in the face and go right to your knees. But when the Boks run out, it will be like an atomic explosion. You will feel like fainting."

    - Gareth Edwards, Wales and British Lion, to his fellow players in the changing room before the 1974 Test at Newlands

By David McLennan & Chris Schoeman

Mercury/ Burnett Media 2015. Hardcover; A4 size; 208 exciting pages. Good condition; almost as new.

The Western Province RFU acquired the ground in 1888, played its first matches there in 1890 and its first Test in 1891. In 2015 the 50th Test was played on the ground, South Africa vs Australia. All of the 50 tests are presented in the book with full date, match report and teams. Each match is also put into its historical context, including the 1976 Test during the uprising in South Africa. Then there is the reaction to each match and its place in the rest of the series/tournament. Many of the matches are of great historic importance, such as the first Test win, the first Series win, the non-Test when the New Zealand Imperial Services toured, the first Test in 1949 when all the Springboks were new caps and the first Test of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, though it does not include the semifinal that year when England were Lomu-ed, for the 50 Tests are Springbok Tests. There are also interesting titbits and bigger feature articles, as the one on Paddy Mayne and the one on Okey Geffin. There are bits in which great players like Naas Botha, Frik du Preez and Willie-John McBride speak as visitors to Newlands. The foreword to the book is by one of the great men of Newlands, Cecil Moss, the oldest living Springbok. He played his first Test in 1949 and went on to be a selector, coach and rugby savant, still as alert as ever today. Add to the excellent text the illustrations, taken from the great collections of Hymie Sibul and Don Vale, many of them available to a general readership for the first time, and you have an excellent book, a prize possession.

"This wonderful history of a great rugby ground, one of the very greatest in the history of great grounds, older than Twickenham, Murrayfield and Eden Park and still where it was for its very first test in 1891."