“How do you solve the problem of elusion?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you keep a wave upon the sand?
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?”
PARDON me for pinching those lines from the lyrics of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Sound of Music”. No doubt it sounds sassy-mouthed when applied to the manly game of Rugby. But could the genius of Jannie Barnard, Transvaal’s Springbok fly-half, be more aptly extolled, his elusive sidestep and bewildering inside jink more pointedly acclaimed even by the most exasperated loose forward?
Often have I listened - with due sympathy - to the lamentations of bemused victims of the Barnard magic. They seldom vary.
In Transvaal’s first inter-provincial at the beginning of the current season, Barnard scored a breath-taking try, jinking his way through practically the whole of the Eastern Transvaal side. And his crackerjack breaks engineered two more tries.
Now, “Whitey” Dercksen, of Eastern Transvaal, is no mean flanker. This is what he had to say about Barnard after the match:
“Man alive, it’s fantastic! You have to oppose the little blighter as a loose forward if you really wish to discover what a wonderful fly-half he is.
“He could side-step two pouncing leopards, he could. This afternoon I took time off to measure one of his side-steps. A full six feet it was, from take-off to landing. What can a poor flanker do?”
Only just 21 in April this year, Jannie Barnard’s play in general carries a more matured look than before he left for New Zealand with the Springboks last year.
In kicking the ball, whether tactically or into touch, in handling, running, breaking and passing and in his ubiquitous cover defence there is the calculated efficiency of a young rugby genius in a hurry - as in a hurry he should be after having faced the likes of demons Tremain and Conway on the muddy fields of New Zealand.
In New Zealand a youngster learns to jump sideways, but quickly!
Well-drilled Machine
Jannie concedes that the better side won the series in New Zealand “though I still maintain that we could beat them, as, quite frankly, their threequarters did not impress me. But we were up against a grinding, well-drilled machine that played the game tight and nailed us on our mistakes.
“We have to admire these chaps for playing in their conditions. They are more dedicated to the game than we are. They certainly practice a lot harder. To have the privilege of playing behind a pack of forwards such as theirs, must be a threequarter’s dream.
“The All Blacks have every man, woman and child in New Zealand united in fanatical support of their side. That must be a wonderful feeling. Grab South Africa from under my feet and I would sooner fall into New Zealand than any other country in the world.”
“Jinks” Barnard is a shining example of natural, unadulterated genius. This likeable, soft-spoken, often blushing and shyly smiling little hero (5 ft. 8 in., 160 lbs.) was born to become a fly-half.
One regularly reads with amazement how today’s Springbok lock started his career as a wing, even switching to scrum-half, before he settled down in the position for which he was best suited.
Often such a searcher has had to struggle in some forgotten third league, striving and exhausting himself on the road to glory.
Always Fly-half
Not so our Jannie. Ever since he and brother Robbie, four years his senior, played their dodging touch rugby as kids in the Barnard backyard or on the lawn skirting the Ellis Park field - where Mr. Barnard religiously took his boisterous sons - Jannie has been nothing else but a fly-half.
Robbie, who like Jannie plays for Diggers and has also represented Transvaal as a hooker, was naturally bigger, stronger and faster than his kid brother during those backyard playing days.
“I was a little fat boy,” Jannie recalls, “and the only way I could hope to dodge past Robbie was to try and catch him on the wrong foot.”
And that is where, why, when and how Jannie’s now famous inside jink originated, to be developed and perfected in later years.
“From the word ‘go’ I played at fly-half. I haven’t played in any other position,” Jannie reflects.
Yes, and right from the word ‘go’ young Jannie was a star, a prodigy. He was picked regularly for Johannesburg’s under 14 and under 15 sides in the inter-town series.
Come and page with me through the scrapbook his mother has assiduously kept throughout his career. Jannie himself is far too modest to sound his own trumpet. Let’s go back to 1961, when 16-year-old Johannes Hendrikus Barnard was playing for the Hoërskool Fakkel First Fifteen.
Here we have the first of countless newspaper accolades bestowed on one J. Barnard:
“For the visitors, fly-half J. Barnard was outstanding.”
When playing in his first match for Transvaal Schools: “Barnard, of Fakkel, is one of the most promising backs in Transvaal. This boy is going to make a name for himself.”
Good Cricketer
The year 1962 was a memorable one, for Jannie was appointed headboy of Fakkel, as well as captain of both the rugger and cricket sides. As seems the prerogative of all good fly-halves, Jannie is to this day a cricketer of considerable ability and he has already turned out for Wilf Isaacs’ Eleven as batsman and seam bowler.
In spite of these activities, he remained a good scholar, writing his matric at the age of 17.
Here we have an account of a match against an old rival, the Hoërskool D. F. Malan: “Jan Barnard was the outstanding player. One of his terrific breaks brought him a spectacular try and in the second half he added a snappy drop goal.”
Gauging from these press cuttings, you will by now have realised that we bungling reporters do occasionally pick a winner!
It was in 1963 that the whole of South Africa came to take notice of an 18-year-old fly-half who was destined to become the Cliff Morgan of South African Rugby. Having enrolled with the Medical Corps of the S.A. Army at Voortrekkerhoogte, Pretoria, Jannie blasted his unerring way into the Northern Transvaal under 20 side.
Criticism always dogs the genius, follows in the wake of praise. It is almost integral in the recipe of fame. It is the price of success. Only when criticism is obliterated, can there be spontaneous acknowledgment of the attributes lording above it.
Here is a newspaper cutting to the effect:
“Northern Transvaal’s under 20 team, playing very much improved rugby over their previous showing against Western Transvaal, beat Transvaal 12 - 0 in a splendid game at Ellis Park on Saturday in the chief curtain-raiser to the provincial match.
“The chief instigator of this improvement was fly-half Barnard, who was the most criticised player after his Westerns debacle when he ran his backs into such a lot of trouble that they could hardly do a thing right.
Like Mannetjies Roux
“On Saturday, however, he played like a model fly-half and sent his backs away on many stirring runs. Barnard looks like developing into a fine fly-half, being a strong and elusive runner with a style not dissimilar from that of Springbok Mannetjies Roux. He seemed to break whenever he felt like doing so.”
A scintillating Barnard display in the Stellenbosch festival match at the start of the season surprisingly did not inspire a knowledgeable Cape Town writer towards picturesque descriptive writing. Rather he somewhat caustically condemned Barnard for (allegedly) having attempted too much on his own and for having reverted to a policy of “over-to-you-chum” whenever he ran himself into difficulties.
And yet Barnard accepted the critic’s judgment with typical self-effacement:
“Perhaps he’s right, you know. Others have taxed me for being over-adventurous and selfish. I must learn to curb my impatience on attack.”
I would say that perhaps Barnard expects his often less-talented three-quarter colleagues to perform his own feats with equal finesse.
Hunted Target
Consider that these days he has become the most hunted target on any South African rugby field. It’s like having the reputation of being the fastest gun alive. Loose forwards become as single-minded as a trade union in their united howl: “Get Barnard!”
As for the “jinking-and-dashing” similarity between Barnard and Roux, it is as well to bear in mind that “Mannetjies” happened to have been schoolboy Jannie’s hero. Conversely, his fly-half hero was not the dazzling Welshman Cliff Morgan, whose inside jink also invited gasps of delight. No, it was the Springbok and Diggers fly-half, Natie Rens.
At the age of 18 Jannie was promoted to the senior first fifteen of Pretoria Defence, playing alongside the individualistic, error-prone albeit dangerous “Twinkletoes” Roux (“I used to jump to attention every time Frik du Preez or Mannetjies addressed me on the field”).
Roux it was who at the time remarked: “Barnard is the most natural rugby player I have ever seen.”
The “Golden Boy” - as he was inevitably dubbed by sportswriters - was a strong contender for Junior Springbok colours against the Wallabies of 1963.
His return, at the age of 19, to Johannesburg and Diggers, immediately sparked a heated controversy in the Rand press, for another excellent young fly-half, Alan Menter, of Wits, was the favourite for Transvaal selection.
Shivering in his boots (“as I still do even before club games”) Jannie ran onto the field to represent Transvaal against Rhodesia in his first inter-provincial. To this day he bears testimony of that encounter in the form of a tiny scar on his upper lip - a cut caused by an indiscreet elbow.
Five Test Matches
At the age of 21 he has already appeared in five test matches - his first against Scotland during last year’s short, sad tour, two against Australia and two against New Zealand, including the sole victory in the third test against the All Blacks.
Small wonder then that he should worriedly ponder the possibility that “by the time I’m 25, people will say I’m too old for rugby.”
Jannie is essentially an outdoor man (“I can swim and laze in the sun all day”). He’s a keen cinemagoer, adroit dancer and is what is broadly termed as being full of clean, healthy fun. He is fond of light music and the Beatles. And now the golf bug has bitten him.
In this respect he recalls a letter, one of many he received daily while on tour in New Zealand. This one, from a youngster, went like this: “I am also a fly-half and I also like the Beatles. My sister is real keen on you, but she is a fan of the Rolling Stones.”
Romantic Girls
As could be expected, the eligible young Springbok has a big fan mail - most of them from young hero-worshippers and romantic teenage girls. Jannie is understandably reticent in revealing the contents of some of those epistles.
He does regret not being able to comply to the ardent request of the young thing who begs for him to send her his Springbok jersey as a souvenir!
South African rugby needs, perhaps more urgently than victory over the All Blacks or the French, PERSONALITIES.
Our spectators are clamouring for the individuals of exceptional and unorthodox merit. The glamour heroes - a Brewis, a Lategan, a Muller, a Natie Rens, a Frik du Preez, or a Mannetjies Roux. In other words, they hunger for the players who possess that little extra - crowd appeal.
Sitting at Ellis Park and listening to the small boys chanting “Jannie, Jannie!” every time their little Superman handles the ball, I am inclined to predict that by the time the Froggies arrive next season, Jannie Barnard will be the established James Bond of South African Rugby (at least the initials correspond!).
Already he has conquered the peaks represented by Dennis Fry, Natie Rens and Keith Oxlee before him. He’s still climbing and by the time he has attained the ripe old age of 25, I have little doubt that Jannie Barnard will have joined Masters Osler and Brewis in the Fly-halfs’ Hall of Fame.