His name touches a soft spot in my heart. Jack Slater was a thorough gentleman and a superb player. He and Stanley Osler were colleagues when I was at St Andrew's; how the boys respected them.

In 1928 Jack scored the only try in the first test against the All Blacks. He came back to Stellenbosch after that and took a course in education and then I had the opportunity of getting to know him better.

He always looked so fit and so well that when I was playing for Albany I begged him to turn out again. Mr Markotter also thought the world of him.

You know, its a strange thing that the Springboks of the 1920s were invariably such neat people in everything they did. It's a fact. Whether it was part of their education, background, upbringing or whatever, I don't know, but there was no exception. They were tidy and well-mannered and Jack Slater was one of the best among the best.