Magnetars, the wise will tell you, are among the rarest celestial bodies in the universe. Of the estimated septillion-plus stars floating through the observable cosmos, these hyper-magnetic powerhouses account for less than a microscopic fraction of 1%.
A rugby enthusiast will tell you that a Springbok captain playing at centre is almost as rare a sight in the Green and Gold. Of the 67 men recorded as leaders of the senior national side thus far, only four have commanded the team from the midfield. On Sunday, against Australia in Perth (kick-off 11.45am), André Esterhuizen becomes the fifth — and much like a magnetar, the burly midfielder is an anomaly with a gravitational pull so massive it alters everything around him.
Esterhuizen joins an exclusive group of men who have led the Boks from the midfield. You have to go all the way back to 1896, during the British Isles tour of that year, to find the first.
The great mystery
Ferdie Aston was born in England in 1871 and played for Blackheath and the Barbarians before emigrating to South Africa. He lived in Border, then Kimberley, and eventually settled in Johannesburg, where he represented Wanderers.
In 1896, while playing for Transvaal during a volatile political era, Aston was selected to captain the Boks in the first three Tests against the visiting British Isles in Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Kimberley.
His captaincy is etched in history for two reasons: he became the first Springbok captain to lead the national team across a multi-match Test series, and under his leadership, South Africa scored their first-ever Test points during a 17–8 defeat in the second Test.
Where Aston drifted off to after his playing days remains a mystery.
The great PK
The next centre to captain South Africa was born just a year after Aston’s famous series. In the context of modern medicine, Pieter Kuyper Albertyn — PK for short — would likely have been advised to never step onto a rugby pitch again following a horrific injury in 1919. Indeed, doctors at the time warned him he was lucky not to be crippled.
Playing for Western Province Universities against the New Zealand Imperial Services, the tall and strong Albertyn was tackled so violently that he tore all the ligaments in his knee, causing severe internal bleeding that turned his leg black overnight.
Despite the devastating injury, PK was back on the field just six weeks later — thanks to a homeopath’s treatment — remarkably scoring five tries in his comeback match against Somerset West. But Albertyn, who at one time could hold his own over sprint distances, knew he could no longer play on the wing. The injury had stripped him of his top-end speed, and tackling him at full flight posed a grave risk. Directional changes and sharp turns were painful, forcing a shift inside to centre where his tactical mind could take over.
With his playing days numbered in his mind — despite still being in his early 20s — Albertyn travelled to London to study dentistry at Guy’s Hospital. It was only upon his return to South Africa that legendary selector AF Markotter "ordered" PK to report for a trial match in Durban, following rave reviews of his provincial form in the Western Cape.
At the time, Albertyn was nowhere near the national radar for the 1924 British Isles tour, save for his place in Markotter’s grand masterplan. By the end of the trial — having been blunt-force instructed by "Oubaas" Mark to simply "not go and make a bloody fool of yourself" — PK was not only named in the squad, but appointed as Bok captain.
He went on to lead South Africa in all four Tests of the series, guiding the Boks to a 3–0 series victory with a single draw in Port Elizabeth.
The great unknown
Eighty-eight years after Albertyn walked off the pitch, Jean de Villiers became the next midfield star to be honoured with the Bok captaincy. De Villiers went on to skipper the team on 37 occasions, compiling a solid 65% win rate. Yet the silky-smooth inside centre was defined every bit as much by his gracious, unifying leadership as he was by an agonising, relentless battle against injury.
Much like PK before him, De Villiers suffered a knee injury in Cardiff in late 2014 so catastrophic that it required a full knee reconstruction. Given virtually no chance of returning in time for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, he endured an extraordinary eight-month rehabilitation to make his deadline.
His captaincy, like stretches of his playing career, was pockmarked by cruel fate. Just weeks after returning from that horrific knee damage, a fractured jaw against Samoa cut his World Cup short.
De Villiers’ tenure was a journey of incredible highs — such as snapping the All Blacks' 22-game unbeaten streak in 2014 — intertwined with bitter lows, most notably standing as skipper during the "Miracle of Brighton" when South Africa fell to Japan.
The great machine
Jesse Kriel does not often get the flowers he deserves from the rugby-loving public, but there can be no doubt that he is an integral part of the Rassie Erasmus era.
Officially, he has captained the Boks once — against Italy in Pretoria — where he became the 67th official Springbok Test captain, but there is no denying his vital role in the team's wider leadership group. Relentless on attack and defence, Kriel is as close to a machine as the Boks can get in the backline. Approaching his 100th Test cap, Kriel is set to join the centurion club, with the distinct possibility of a few more matches as skipper along the way.