The day Mccaw got monstered
A hand-written note on the cart used to transport injured players off Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria has survived 15 years from the day it was posted to record the ugly injury to Richie Mccaw.
Mccaw was knocked senseless trying to tackle Bulls and Springboks prop Richard Bands as the Crusaders lost 35-20 in 2005.
The South African still dines out on the tale as he does on his famous try two years earlier when he bamboozled Carlos Spencer on his way to scoring a remarkable touchdown for the Springboks against the All Blacks at Carisbrook in Dunedin.
Not many people got the better of either All Black and Bands happily recounted both incidents in an interview with Sport24 looking back at his career.
‘‘I saw Richie mentioned me in his book, where he said I was halfman, half brahman [a type of bull],’’ Bands said.
‘‘The Bulls were on fire and it was a hot day in Pretoria, 34 degrees at Loftus with no wind, and the Crusaders came from snow and winter to Pretoria.
‘‘Fourie played me and Mccaw was in front of me, and I just smashed him. As I smashed him you could see his arms going straight and he was out.
‘‘He was lying there for quite awhile, and I didn’t know but they were struggling to get his tongue out his throat, he had swallowed his tongue.
‘‘It was a bad incident and I apologised to him afterwards. It was a freak accident.
‘‘But a funny story behind it, the guys who work at Loftus put a sign on the golf cart that carries the players off – after the knock – they wrote there ‘Kiwi recovery vehicle’, which was pretty funny. I see it is still on the cart today.’’
Bands is better known for his Dunedin try and still likes to give Spencer a ribbing about it, despite Spencer scoring 14 points as the All Blacks squeaked home 19-11.
The try recently made the list of the top 20 rugby tries viewed on Youtube.
‘‘Bryan Habana was 14 and I was No 20. I made the cut and I think I was the only front row player in the top 20,’’ Bands said proudly as he explained how he cleverly used the referee to help open up an inside channel and break the All
Blacks defence.
‘‘Referees are funny guys. They never take the blame for anything. You need to know that you will take that opportunity. He will never blow the whistle to say he was in the way. So I figured out the gap is where the referee stands.
‘‘They are pretty much show ponies as well and will never say they are at fault. So it happened that they kicked the ball and Ashwin [Willemse] took it up. That’s what made Joost [van der Westhuizen] such a legend – to see the opportunities, and he passed the ball and I went through the gap just past the referee – and he didn’t blow the whistle.
‘‘Carloswas in the way and I bumped him. I was flabbergasted because New Zealand’s defence was strong at that stage. Looking over my shoulder I couldn’t see any support so I continued and went over for the try.
‘‘It is one of those things, I think I scored three or four tries in my life, and if you are going to do it, you need to do it well. They say life is about timing and the timing was awesome. It was a humbling and awesome experience.
‘‘It is awesome that when you get to functions people ask you about it.’’
Bands revealed it was a bit of payback to Spencer after the Blues firstfive wizard had got the better of him at Eden Park in a Super Rugby match the year before.
‘‘I’ve seen Carlos a few times, and at one function he was on the stage with me. We were on the couch together and people asked about the try. At one stage Carlos nudged me and said ‘‘you know Richard, I really f****d up.
‘‘He is an awesome guy and there is a reason he was called King Carlos.
‘‘In 2002 we played the Blues and he came running straight at me and I thought I was going to smoke him,’’ Bands said. ‘‘But he looked me in the eye, and just at the right moment sent the offload to Doug Howlett to go and score under the posts. As he turned around he said ‘mate we passed you on the left’.
‘‘I said to him that night at the function – ‘after that chirp, I think we are at one-all after I bumped you in Dunedin’.’’