Red cards are now such a familiar sight in Test rugby that the shock factor has gone. Back in 2002 it was a different story. South Africa came to Twickenham desperate to win with their tour going off the rails, when Jannes Labuschagne was sent off after just 23 minutes for a dangerous tackle on Jonny Wilkinson, catching the fly-half late following a clearance.
A reckless hit on any home player would have gone down badly, but the poster boy of English rugby? Twickenham seethed. Wilkinson lay face down holding his head, Clive Woodward sprung to his feet out of concern. And after a brief word from referee Paddy O’Brien, Labuschagne was gone.
It was his final act in Test rugby – he never played for South Africa again.
Back in the changing room reflecting on what had happened, Labuschagne had a conversation that would transform his life, in which he claims talking to Jesus “took my heart out of rugby”. Today, Labuschagne is a preacher, but understanding how he got to that point requires some context.
In his words he grew up very poor on a farm in the north-west of South Africa, in a “very religious, God-fearing environment”. What sustained him were dreams of playing for the Springboks. At the age of 14, two events happened – the death of his father, followed by “an encounter with Jesus where I gave my life to him and was born again”.
Rugby now drove his identity, playing regularly at Craven Week – the annual schoolboy tournament named after the great Springbok, Danie Craven – before joining Traansvaal (now the Lions) and making his Springbok debut at 23. A two-year gap between caps followed before the head coach Rudolf Straeuli brought back an old-school concept in 2002 – trials.
“I can honestly say I was not the hot favourite to make it,” adds Labuschagne, up against two promising young locks by the names of Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield. “I’ll just play my heart out and if I never become a Springbok, I’ll be very happy to say that it was never meant to be.”
International career ‘a negotiation with the Lord’
Against the odds he was selected, beginning what he describes as “a negotiation with the Lord”, which went along the lines of “if you will bless me in this year, I will make your name great”. From being a surprise pick, Labuschagne went on to be named player of the match that summer against Wales and Australia.
Then came the autumn tour. Labuschange broke his hand in the opening defeat against France in Paris. Supposed to return home as a result, Straeuli persuaded him to stay. The Springboks were well beaten 21-6 by Scotland. Victory against England was now essential.
Sitting in his hotel room running through his mental prep the day before, Labuschagne had a vision where he was carried off the pitch with a broken neck. Concerned, he began to pray. “Lord, if I need to break my neck because this is part of your purpose and your plan, then so be it. I’m OK with that. But if this is not from you, please will you protect me and help me.”
The next day on the bus to Twickenham – which will host Saturday’s clash between the Springboks and England – the same vision returned. “I can’t go to the coach and tell them I have a bad feeling about this game, because he is the one who asked me to stay with a broken hand. So, I decided to play.”
South Africa, led by Corne Krige, were frankly thuggish and reckless.
O’Brien warned Krige that the next offence would be met with a red card, a message which did not reach the rest of the team. Putting pressure on Wilkinson was seen as key to victory and Labuschagne, who is 6ft 5in, felt he could let the No 10 know he was there, so to speak. “I know I am never going to be in time for him – I’m a lock, not a 100-metre sprinter.” The red card followed and England romped to a record 53-3 win.
Jesus said: ‘Jannes, I have protected you from breaking your neck’
Which brings us back to the changing room, with thunderous renditions of Swing Low happening above him while Labuschagne processed everything.
He explains: “I hear a voice speaking audibly out of the corner of the shower to me. And the voice says to me: ‘Jannes, I have just protected you from breaking your neck.’ I’m standing butt-naked in the shower, thinking let me just see if there is anyone else in this room with me.
“I walk through the whole changing room naked – I don’t know what I would have done if someone was in there – and I come back to the shower and realise there is no one else. And as I realise that I remember my prayer, and that the voice speaking to me is the voice of Jesus. In that moment, Jesus took my heart out of rugby. I realised that if he’s so real, I want to get to know him and to help others to find him.”
While Labuschagne was having this personal moment of revelation, South Africa was “up in arms” against him. His wife watched the game at a social function and deliberately waited to be the last to leave, because the car she was driving was Labuschagne’s sponsored vehicle with his name emblazoned across it. In the aftermath of the Test he kept what happened to himself – “I wish [in that moment] I could tell the coach and the captain and the guys what I experienced but they’re going to look at me and think man, you are truly a fruitcake!” – but for Labuschagne there was a sense of inner calm.
Bumping into O’Brien during the following Super Rugby season, the referee admitted his hand had been forced by how the Test was going and that the offence was “at worst maybe a yellow”. There has never been any contact with Wilkinson or the England captain Martin Johnson. “They are two great men in the sport and have achieved great heights. I trust some way along the line we might be able to shake one another’s hands and talk through these things.” Labuschagne retired for good in 2010.
‘The Boks are a little ray of hope for us’
He was in Paris for last year’s Rugby World Cup final and knows Rassie Erasmus from his playing days, admiring the way the head coach has doubled down on South Africa’s great strength: the power of their forwards.
“I bumped into Pieter-Steph [du Toit] in the airport. I’m looking up to this guy and he is playing flanker. I said to my wife, there is a reason they are successful. If that guy lines up next to you, you are pretty much intimidated before the game has even started. We have a lot of stuff going against us [in South Africa], so for us to have sport doing well, especially the Boks, is a huge plus for us as a country, a little ray of hope for us to look forward to.”
Today, Labuschagne works as a preacher “planting churches” across South Africa with another in Namibia, “preparing people for Jesus’ return and to preach the good news”. You can find his sermons on YouTube, still looking as though he could put in a shift as lock if required even now, at the age of 48.
That moment with Wilkinson cast him as a villain. Whereas for Labuschagne it proved to be life-changing in a more positive way than he could have imagined.
