I must not say too much about Ian, because we work so closely together.

I call him a mule because he can be just as stubborn as one. The trouble is - he's so often right! He often swims against the stream, and yet, when I blame him for it, he always turns out to be right in the end.

Ian had a very difficult start to his career because he was selected in preference to Hansie Brewis - a rather difficult act to follow. He was much criticized as a result off his kicking tactics in the second test against the Wallabies in 1953; yet Ian was only playing to instructions.

There were a lot of moans and I thought he would disappear from the scene. He came back, however, a centre. With those long legs of his he could move either way, and he also had a body sway which pulled many an opponent off balance.

Today he is doing a job which one day will be written in gold lettering in South African rugby annals. What he is doing for South African rugby - not only the coaching but the relationships which he is fostering - is something which very few people know about. Those who do, realise the debt we owe him.