DANIE CRAVEN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 166, 31 July 1937, Page 16

DANIE CRAVEN

A VERSATILE PLAYER SPRINGBOK VICE-CAPTAIN.

'Danie Craven, vice-captain of the Springboks, will be long remembered and talked of in Australia and New Zealand. For Danie is the most versatile of this famous combination, a personality, and in my opinion one of the greatest footballers in the world to-day." So States Syd. Nicholls, who arrived in Auckland with the team after following the tour in Australia. 'A product of Stellenbosch University, a teacher at Grahamstown Coliege, a deep and studious thinker who can talk learnedly on many subjects and hold his own in any company (you may hear him broadcast), this visit to the Antipodes is the culmination of a life's dream. And Craven is appreciating to the full every minute of his time here. Out early in the morning with his camera, 'and always on the go, he peeps into every nook' and cranny in search of life and colour. For he is also a student of nature.

"On the field of play Craven is a formidable proposition, for here he is a vital mainstay and malnspring in the Springbok back machinery. His quick mentality sizes up the situation in a flash. Bui'it on powerful lines— he tips the beam at 14 stone — this sturdy veldlander ctands up to anything, and can he take it! Possessing remarkable versatility, his value. to his side is hard to assess. Personally, I consider him to be the Springboks' greatest player of to-day, and in all the Rugby playing countries of the world I know none better. He is a magnetic, dynamic and constructive player. As a scrum half he is as lithe as a balldt dan.cer and his bul'let dive pass is in a ciass of its own. As a five-eighth he can find the gap, is neat, thrustful and at times brilliant in attack. At centre he is ' a mainstay, weli balanced and trustworthy. At full-back his hands are the essence of safety, his line-kicking , heartbreaking tofhis opponents, for he is a mighty kicker, and his game in this position is vastly enterprising. As a roving forward he reminds one strongly of Cliff Porter's style of play, for he is everywhere. "In his 'last four appearances he has{ played in four different .positions, forward in tlie last Test, fly-half in the first Test, full-baclc against Queensland, and scrum half against New South Wales, and in this last match, although on a well defeated side, he was the outstanding player on the field. ' T could keep on adding to his achievements, as I have seen him playing in many games in various countries, but I will refrain because Danie is" an extremely modest fellow, and if he reads this I am liable to get my head punched, so I will call it a day. But before I ring off I must tell you that when the Springboks played Scotland in Edinburgh in 1931 ,it was Danie who won the match that day for South Africa. The score was three all, and wilh 15 minutes to go it lgoked as if the game would remain a draw, as the South Africans, although getting the ball, could not fina'lise ahy of their efforts with the greasy ball on that slithery turf. . Sizing up the situation from a scrum in mid-field, ' Craven elected to give it a go on his own. And what a gloijious effort it was, all his own. Only a powerful,' deliberate thruster of his type could have ever got that try. He dashed around the scrum through the fast-breaking Scottish forwards and threw them all off, then, crashing on, he ran to the left and brushed, off four other woUld-be tacklers and then went lfell for leather for the line down the centre of the paddock to score one of the greatest tries ever."