THE 4 PROPS
Chaired by Sport24 editor and well-known front row grunter, Andrew “Tank” Lanning, the panel of Guy Kebble, Charl Marais and Keith Andrews entertained the 100 strong audience with their banter, candour and humour.
The first half of the show was dedicated to sharing opinion on matters relating to their careers, the toughest opponents, funniest moments and of course the woes of the Springboks.
Each of the panel is an accomplished speaker and MC Lanning is experienced at getting guests to share memories and opinion. He often chairs such gatherings and kept the boys going.
Speaking of chairs, the furniture was on loan from WOODLAM in Epping, trendy, high quality and STRONG.
Guy Kebble was particularly entertaining. Charl Marais, while apologising for English being his second language, was engaging, modest and charming. Keith Andrews demonstrated, through his finely tuned story-telling ability, why he is a popular dinner speaker.
The audience enjoyed stories from tours (no what goes on tour doesn’t always stay on tour) and got an insight to the thinking of Springboks on the challenges facing the Springboks.
When it came to the video analysis, well that’s another story entirely. Any backline player or staunch supporter hoping to walk away feeling that he could now watch the Boks on a Saturday and actually understand what was happening in the engine room, soon realised it is a miracle the referees can make n assumption in ‘real time’ on the pitch.
Featuring two tightheads, a hooker and a loosehead, the panel was often hard pressed to agree on what was actually happening. There is indeed so much happening in a scrum, not necessarily only from a spoiling aspect, but also from a dominance point of view, that debate raged and a new respect for the referees was forged.
It was an evening of laughter and fun, complimented with some technical input and some very funny storytelling too.
The audience appeared to enjoy themselves immensely and the opportunity to chat afterwards with these legends of the game was a rare pleasure.
Mari Gleeson and her daughter Kiera tastefully decked the clubhouse out, Mike Chowles supplied the sound and lighting, Frankie Hechter supplied a television monitor to help make the analysis visible to all, Ryan Williams did the collating of material and Mike Punt donated the snacks as well as a stage which will be a permanent facility at the club.
Thanks to Tank, Keith, Guy and Charl for a most entertaining evening. Thank you too to Robbie Kempson who was scheduled to participate but had to unfortunately withdraw.
We look forward to the next encounter.
