Education
The selectors chose him as a wing on occasions as they thought him difficult to combine with in mid-field
The selectors chose him as a wing on occasions as they thought him difficult to combine with in mid-field
He was capped 27 times. 6 times at wing and 21 times at centre, scoring 6 tries. Born in Victoria West and educated at Paarl Boys High, he went to Stellenbosch University.
A institution known for serving as a conveyor belt of future Springboks.
Later on he joined the South African Air Force in Pretoria where he was a Harvard instructor. He possessed a great deal of pace and was a ferocious defender, despite his lack of size.
He was perhaps best known for his tackle on England and British Lions flyhalf Richard Sharp, while playing for Northern Transvaal (the Blue Bulls) in 1962, which broke Sharp"s jaw or cheekbone. According to legend, he got his nickname (originally "Mannetjie", Afrikaans for little man) from a domestic worker, who apparently found his cockiness quite amusing.
The addition of the "s" is affectionate.
During a conversation, Mannetjies referred to the house in Victoria West where he played as a young boy. The high stoep (porch) around the house made the domestic worker to warn him with “ Mannetjie pasop dat jy nie daar afval nie” ("Mannetjie watch out that you don’t fall down from there"). Follow link to see picture
The Afrikaans artist Laurika Rauch has a well-known song with the title "Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux" ("Send Greetings to Mannetjies Roux").