'I tried to kill him': Why Springboks star went 'psycho' at All Blacks
Former Springboks lock Mark Andrews has revealed how earned his “psycho” reputation during his career against the All Blacks.
Andrews, a member of the 1995 World Cup winning side who played 77 tests for South Africa, opened up about his rivalry with the All Blacks, and how he became one of the most feared and respected players in the game.
While playing for the British Barbarians with All Black Anton Oliver, Andrews said he learned how “hated” he was on the field.
“He (Oliver) was surprised at how likeable I was away from the field. He said the All Blacks from his era hated me, they thought I was a psycho,” Andrews told SuperSport.
“I like to think I was a psycho on the field. If there is one regret, but maybe then it isn’t at all, it was that I never spoke to the opposition when we were at cocktail parties or other functions. I just never mingled with the opposition like other guys did. I’d just give them the death stare.
“My reason for doing it was simple. If I went to speak to Robin Brooke, my direct opponent in so many test matches, I might have found he was a nice guy. I didn’t want that. I wanted to feel the need to hurt him in every game I played against him.”
The 48-year-old said his bitter rivalry with the Kiwis started in 1994 in a Dunedin test where he “felt like the All Blacks were trying to kill me” during some brutal rucking.
“I made a tackle very early in the game and I couldn’t get out of the ruck, and these guys just came over me. Actually saying they came over me is wrong, they just stood on me while they rucked me. I couldn’t get out, and they’d just stand on me and ruck backwards,” he said.
“Fortunately the referee eventually blew the whistle and it stopped, but I honestly in that moment I felt I was going to die. There were holes in my sock, in my jersey and the old Medac garment, a bit like cycling pants that I wore under my pants, was torn. There was blood. That was my welcome to test matches against the All Blacks.
“I try and tell my kids that there is no shame in feeling scared and I use that moment as my example. I can honestly admit that I felt fear. No, I was terrified. My body was on fire and in that cold, the steel of the studs had really done their business. I felt like crying. It felt like the All Black players were trying to kill me, to maim me.”
The Springbok enforcer claims he was victim of another rucking incident when All Blacks flanker Zinzan Brooke stuck his boot into his ankle.
“[He] stuck his two back studs into my ankle and twisted.
“Then when I was trying to get up he leaned over and told me I didn’t deserve to be in the team and was a disgrace to my jersey.”
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Andrews would keep that incident in his mind and wait to exact his revenge against Brooke.
“I had to face up to the responsibility of playing for the Springbok jersey, playing for my country and representing all the people back home. So a light switch went off in my head. From that moment I just wanted to kill Zinzan Brooke and that drive remained with me for the rest of my career,” Andrews said.
“Zinzan ended up wearing a big white headguard for most of the second test of that series because his eye got gashed open. That was me. I’m not proud to admit it now, but I flew into one ruck and tried to kill him. I told him he didn’t deserve the jersey. He just laughed.
“But for the rest of my career I wanted to maim him, I wanted to maim or kill Richard Loe, it felt that if I didn’t get them they would get me.”
He admitted his conversations with Oliver had revealed to himself how consumed he had become with his rage as a player, but says he doesn’t have any hard feelings against those players anymore.
“Anton was right. I took it off the field with me in that I felt that I would be a hypocrite if I mingled with those guys at cocktail parties.
“I’ve met many of them post my career and they are indeed nice guys. There are no hard feelings now.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments