RIVERSDALE NEWS - One of South African Rugby's greatest players came from Riversdale.
1924 to 1933 was known as 'The Golden Age' in rugby, and the Osler brothers dominated the game in the Western Province.
In 1820, on 1st June, the original Oslers stepped onto South African soil at Algoa Bay. They had come from Cornwall in the south of England. Through the generations, the Oslers moved around the country, and in 1886 Benjamin (grandfather of Bennie and Stanley) Osler moved to Riversdale, appointed as chief magistrate. They settled in the Ou Pastorie in Borcherds Street, and had another five sons and two daughters.
All except two were educated at the Riversdale Public School. All nine sons became professional people: two doctors, two dentists, four attorneys and a land surveyor. The two daughters became teachers.
Ben Osler was born in 1877 and educated in Riversdale, and then trained to become a lawyer. He married Isabel Louwrens of Riversdale, and they had two sons, Benjamin (Bennie) and Stanley.
Bennie Osler had a natural talent and his ability was soon noticed, first at Rondebosch Boys' High School, where he played for u.15 and then u.17 Fifteens, and later at Kingswood College in Grahamstown, where he was in the 1st Fifteen. Being rated then as the greatest fly-half in South Africa, he was also a strategic kicker, having the superb gift of being able to kick with both feet equally well, as well as being a remarkable drop-kicker, who knew exactly where he wanted the ball to go, and got it there!
In a game between Kingswood and Grey College, when Grey was leading by 8 points, he began to change their fortunes around with a momentous drop-kick. Between 1920 and 1925 he played for UCT and between 1924 to 1933 he played for Western Province and South Africa, being the captain.
In a 1928 First Test against the All Blacks, he scored 14 of the 17 points in a win of 17-0, consisting of penalties (6 points) and brilliant drop-kicks (8 points). In ten years of playing in 17 Tests, he scored 46 points. At UCT Bennie qualified as a lawyer, although he really wanted to join the Royal Navy! Near the end of his life, because he was interested in horse-racing, he became a correspondent to Landstem. After losing his only son due to a heart-attack, and contending with bad health himself, he died on 23 April 1962 in Karl Bremer Hospital, Belville.
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