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fair on the whistle, which was in his mouth.’’

Alan Sutherland, captaining the All Blacks, told Bush: ‘‘You’ve gone now, you dopey bastard!’’, but referee Schubel O’reilly didn’t order him off. The NorthWest Cape captain, ‘‘speaking in Afrikaans, told O’reilly that I had been provoked’’.

Bush had the ‘‘distinct impression’’ from his first tour game that match officials were against the All Blacks.

An Eastern Province player ‘‘illegally picked the ball out of our second row to score’’ before the referee ‘‘penalised us seven times in 10 minutes. To me it was obvious we were playing 16 men. Basically, he was a bloody cheat,’’ Bush said.

Bush at one point played nine consecutive games and was selected for the fourth test ‘‘in the cauldron of Ellis Park’’ where an All Blacks win would square the series.

He remains sore that referee Gert Bezuidenhout denied the All Blacks a penalty try after Robertson was ‘‘grabbed around the shoulders in an illegal tackle. Hell, even Dr Danie Craven, the president of the South African Rugby Board, said that night it should have been a penalty try’’.

Bush remains ‘‘still brassed off’’ at being penalised at a late lineout when he was ‘‘nowhere near the ball’’, which allowed South Africa to kick a goal and clinch a 15-4 victory and a 3-1 series win.

‘‘On the field I made a comment to the All Blacks around me that I still stand by. ‘What do you think they penalised me for? The ball went down the back. It must be because I am not their favourite colour’’.

‘‘I hadn’t done anything wrong, other than being brown on a tour where several of the referees, like Bezuidenhout, cheated’’.

Bush was so convinced the All Blacks ‘‘should have squared the series’’ that he boycotted the aftermatch function.

He said Bezuidenhout came to farewell the All Blacks at Johannesburg Airport next day and told them ‘‘Listen boys. You can go to your home, but I have to live here!’’

Sport

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2023-06-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282127820873001

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