WE GO AGAIN
KEVIN MCCALLUM: There’s the right way, and the Luke Watson way
While talent and dedication and some luck helped some get into the Springboks Watson's path was paved for him through connections
There are ways of asking questions at sports media conferences when there is a stink in the air. Start off gentle, build up and then come in from the side with a sliding tackle of an inquiry that will drag out. Or, go in with a two-footed tackle, taking man and ball in one mighty bang. Perhaps the finest example of the latter method I have ever witnessed was performed by sports writer Ken Borland in 2007 in a room at the Springbok hotel in Sandton. Luke Watson was going to make his crowbarred debut for the Boks and had been put up for a pre-game interview. Borland pulled out a copy of a SA Sports Illustrated from 2004 in which Watson had given an interview. “Luke, in 2006 you said: ‘I would love to play for the Springboks, but I don’t want to… compromise my beliefs and integrity and honour. I believe Jake has lost the integrity, honour and pride the Boks should be about’.” “What has changed since then?” asked Borland Watson was taken aback and got a little snarky. “First and foremos...
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