Birthday Tribute – Hannes Marais | 21 September 2026 | Eastern Province · South Africa · Rugby
Marais turned 85 today. This tribute follows Hannes Marais from a Karoo farm to the captaincy of the only Springbok side to complete a long tour unbeaten.
ROOTS: SPREEUKLOOF AND A BAREFOOT START
Johannes Frederick Klopper Marais, known as Hannes Marais, was born on 21 September 1941 in Somerset East and grew up on the family farm, Spreeukloof, near Cookhouse. His first year of school was at a farm school, and town life at Gill College in Somerset East felt cramped after the open veld.
He played his first rugby barefoot on the farm, and Hansie Lategan later called him the barefoot lad of Spreeukloof. Gill’s maths teacher, Cecil Coppens, coached him and helped prepare him mentally for matches, a job Danie Craven took over later.
He went to Stellenbosch to study agriculture, meaning to become a vet. An injury in 1960 forced him to start in the under-19 FF side, and he worked his way up into the Maties first team.
THE EARLY CAREER: HOOKER, FLANK, THEN CRAVEN’S TIGHT-HEAD
Hannes Marais tried hooker, then flank, before Craven called him over at Stellenbosch and asked his weight. He said more than 230 pounds, and Craven moved him to the front row.
Danie Craven, Stellenbosch rugby legend
“True enough, that is where he started showing his real worth.”
He played for the Stellenbosch first XV in 1962, then Western Province and Southern Universities. The Hannes Marais Springbok debut came on 24 August 1963, when he was 21 and playing tight-head against Australia at Ellis Park as Springbok number 390. The Springboks lost 9–11 and he was dropped, along with other teammates who had played poorly.
Back on campus, everyone who had wished him luck now mocked him. The joke was that he had played two Tests at once: his first and his last.
Hannes Marais won his place back against Wales at Kings Park on 23 May 1964, scoring his only Test try in a 24–3 win. Lategan called him the fastest prop the Springboks ever had, and Chris Schoeman described a powerful, mobile forward with good hands and a never-say-die attitude. After the 1965 tour of Ireland, Scotland and Australia, he was out of the Test side until the 1968 Lions series.
“WOW, he captained the only Springbok side ever to finish a long tour unbeaten! Prof Hannes is a true South African Sport Legend!” – 🎙️Jay
THE BREAKTHROUGH: THE 1968 LIONS AND THE 1970 ALL BLACKS
Hannes Marais played all four Tests against Tom Kiernan’s 1968 Lions while representing North Eastern Cape, and the Springboks won three and drew one. His provincial career ran across three unions:
- Western Province: 1962–1963
- Eastern Province: 1964–1967 and 1970–1974
- North Eastern Cape: 1968–1969
The Hannes Marais Eastern Province years brought the Currie Cup captaincy, and he captained North Eastern Cape in the competition too. Then came the All Blacks in 1970, which he rated the absolute highlight of his career. The series finished 3–1 to the Springboks:
- First Test, Loftus: won 17–6
- Second Test, Newlands: lost 8–9
- Third Test, Port Elizabeth: won 14–3
- Fourth Test, Ellis Park: won 20–17
Hannes Marais, Springbok tight-head prop
“Ask any Springbok, the Kiwis remain our arch-enemies. It was an incredible series, and brutally hard.”
The second Test at Newlands was so violent that Piston van Wyk needed a record number of stitches. Marais credited Johan Claassen’s coaching and Dawie de Villiers’ leadership for taking South Africa to a peak.
THE PINNACLE: HANNES MARAIS AND THE 1971 TOUR
Hannes Marais was vice-captain in 1970 and captain from 1971. He led the Springboks for the first time on 12 June 1971, a 22–9 win over France in Bloemfontein, and drew the second Test 8–8 in Durban.
The Hannes Marais 1971 tour of Australia was the last time the Springboks played there before isolation. Demonstrators against the apartheid government disrupted matches, and the tourists came home unbeaten, the first and only Springbok side to complete a long tour without a loss. They won all three Tests:
- First Test, Sydney Cricket Ground: won 19–11
- Second Test, Brisbane Exhibition Ground: won 14–6
- Third Test, Sydney Cricket Ground: won 18–6
The Age reported on 28 June 1971 that Hannes Marais kept reminding the press he was in Australia to play rugby, and described him as friendly, honest and intelligent. He remembered a side that leaned on each other because of the protests.
Hannes Marais, Springbok captain
“Characters like Frik, with his guitar, and Ian McCallum, who got the guys singing. I can still hear McCallum singing Waltzing Matilda at full volume.”
THE SETBACK: THE 1974 LIONS AND A REPAIRED RETINA
Hannes Marais had already retired after an eye injury and retina operation. His surgeon, Hennie Meyer of Pretoria, made clear he should not even ask whether he could play again, so he did not ask and simply started playing again.
Johan Claassen talked him into captaining the Springboks against Willie John McBride’s 1974 Lions. The Lions won 3–0, with the last Test at Ellis Park drawn 13–13, and both sides claimed tries that referee Max Baise did not allow. It was the first four-Test home series South Africa lost in the 20th century, and Marais was one of only three Springboks to play all four.
Hannes Marais, Springbok captain
“Although the 0–3 series defeat was extremely humiliating, and I struggled with it for years, I learned so much from it; it made me a better person.”
Claassen came to him years later to apologise for the persuasion, and Marais said he would not have had it any other way. He finished the year in France, captaining a 13–4 win in Toulouse and a 10–8 win at the Parc des Princes on 30 November 1974, his last Test at 33. That made 35 Tests, 11 of them as captain.
The Lions’ own side helped with the hurt. The Wooden Spoon charity invited Marais and his wife Christa to the 21st and 25th reunion dinners of the 1974 series, and at a dinner at Murrayfield he sat next to Princess Anne.
FROM PROP TO PROFESSOR AND SPRINGBOK SELECTOR
Hannes Marais completed his MSc in agriculture in 1967, then worked as an Angora goat specialist, extension officer and lecturer at Grootfontein Agricultural College in Middelburg. From 1970 he lectured at the University of Port Elizabeth, completed a doctorate in animal science, and was later appointed a professor.
He also coached the university side and the Eastern Province under-20s, served as assistant coach and selector at Eastern Province, and sat on the Springbok selection panel from 1982 to 1986. He returned to it in 1993 and stayed through the 1995 Rugby World Cup. He kept playing hostel rugby at the university for five more seasons, stopping just short of his 40th birthday.
He married Christa in 1965 and they have three daughters. They have lived in Gqeberha for more than 50 years, now in Summerstrand. He came through a five-double heart bypass and walks at least an hour every day.
From all of us at Just Plain Sport — still walking an hour a day and still turning warthog tusks into corkscrews. 🎂🏉
