Lategan played in golden Bok era

Cape Town - Marthinus Theunis ‘Tjol’ Lategan, who passed away on Sunday at the age 89 (the third oldest living Springbok at the time of his death) was an outstanding centre in one of the Golden Ages of South African rugby, in the years that rugby re-emerged in South Africa following the Second World War.

He entered the competitive ranks of senior club rugby in Western Province as a member of the Stellenbosch University Rugby Football Club. As such he represented Maties in tough Town Challenge and Grand Challenge encounters against the best of the province as well as in intervarsity competition.

As part of the post-Second World War (1939-1945) rugby generation, he formed part of the new crop of players that had to put South African rugby back on track after a most divisive internal conflict following major disputes over the use of rugby as a means to raise funds for war support services.