If I think back to the many happy moments we spent on tour, I always see Jackie Tindall with a smile on his face. The first time I played with him on that tour (1931/32), something happened which I'd never seen before or since - something only Jackie Tindall could do.

We were under tremendous pressure in the match at Swansea and early in the game, when things were very uncertain, they kicked an up-and-under. Jackie caught the ball with the nearest Welsh forward still 10 or more yards away. He then started running towards our own goal-line with all the opposing forwards after him.

He stopped suddenly, turned around in his tracks and evaded everyone of them with the suddenness of his action. He ran well past where he had originally caught the ball and kicked an enormous touch which virtually took us to their goal-line.

A likeable fellow, he'd been on tour to New Zealand with Theo Pienaar's side in 1921 yet to us youngsters, even though he was a member of the older guard, he was unfailingly helpful and pleasant.

We played against a combined London side at Twickenham and Jackie sustained a serious injury. He was taken to hospital and we heard the bad news that he was in a critical condition. The King's own surgeon was called in to help save his life.

We were due to play the second last match of the tour against North of Scotland at Aberdeen, which was to be followed by the Scottish international. But we were so concerned about Jackie that we were ready to cancel everything should our teammate not pull through.

There was deep gloom in the Springbok ranks and we decided to wait until the match was due to start before we made a final decision. We were still in the dressing-room when our manager, Theo Pienaar, came in and said that Jackie was a bit better and that he actually wanted us to play.

We scored three glorious tries to beat North of Scotland. Jackie helped motivate us; a man greatly loved by all who knew him.