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Cape Town - Tommy Gentles, who died aged 77 in Johannesburg, was the shortest player to have been picked for the Springboks at 1.60m.
He was 8cm shorter than Ricky Januarie and 15cm shorter than Gio Aplon, and that is a record that may stand forever, especially with the size of modern day professional players.
Gentles, a scrumhalf, made his debut in the much talked about first Test against the British and Irish Lions in 1955. The Boks lost the Test 22-23 at Ellis Park after Jack van der Schyff failed with a conversion in the dying moments of the game.
However, the Springboks avenged the defeat with a 25-9 victory at Newlands, with Tom van Vollenhoven scoring a famous hat-trick.
According to the renowned Cliff Morgan, the second of those tries was one of the five best tries he had ever seen. It came after scrumhalf Gentles "launched" his wing with a break down the blind side.
The following year Gentles was a member of the first Springbok team to lose a series in New Zealand. The series was characterised by foul play and the home team comfortably won it 3-1.
A first tour of South Africa by France was Gentles' swansong in the Green and Gold. The French were an unsung Five Nations team, but drew the first Test and won the second - a victory that gave French rugby a huge boost and confirmed that South Africa were no longer the rugby superpower that it had been prior to the Second World War.
Gentles then went to play professional rugby for Wigan. Van Vollenhoven had earlier blazed that trail, which also ended the Bok careers of Dawie Ackermann, Wilf Rosenberg, Martin Pelser, and later Rob Louw and Ray Mordt.
In those days there was a strong aversion to being paid to play rugby and clubs falling under the umbrella of the Transvaal Rugby Union were banned from having anything to do with Gentles when he returned to South Africa from Wigan.
He is survived by his wife, Jean, and his son, Ian.
He was 8cm shorter than Ricky Januarie and 15cm shorter than Gio Aplon, and that is a record that may stand forever, especially with the size of modern day professional players.
Gentles, a scrumhalf, made his debut in the much talked about first Test against the British and Irish Lions in 1955. The Boks lost the Test 22-23 at Ellis Park after Jack van der Schyff failed with a conversion in the dying moments of the game.
However, the Springboks avenged the defeat with a 25-9 victory at Newlands, with Tom van Vollenhoven scoring a famous hat-trick.
According to the renowned Cliff Morgan, the second of those tries was one of the five best tries he had ever seen. It came after scrumhalf Gentles "launched" his wing with a break down the blind side.
The following year Gentles was a member of the first Springbok team to lose a series in New Zealand. The series was characterised by foul play and the home team comfortably won it 3-1.
A first tour of South Africa by France was Gentles' swansong in the Green and Gold. The French were an unsung Five Nations team, but drew the first Test and won the second - a victory that gave French rugby a huge boost and confirmed that South Africa were no longer the rugby superpower that it had been prior to the Second World War.
Gentles then went to play professional rugby for Wigan. Van Vollenhoven had earlier blazed that trail, which also ended the Bok careers of Dawie Ackermann, Wilf Rosenberg, Martin Pelser, and later Rob Louw and Ray Mordt.
In those days there was a strong aversion to being paid to play rugby and clubs falling under the umbrella of the Transvaal Rugby Union were banned from having anything to do with Gentles when he returned to South Africa from Wigan.
He is survived by his wife, Jean, and his son, Ian.
