‘I ran as fast as I’ve ever run’: Inside the Wallabies’ 1963 Ellis Park victory

It is 62 years since Randwick’s John Williams scored the game-winning try in the Wallabies’ first and only victory over South Africa at Ellis Park. But even at 85 years of age, he can still recount every step he took on the ground’s bone-dry, yellow turf.

Williams played in three of the four Tests on that tour of South Africa – his only international caps – but he remains proud to have been part of one of the Wallabies’ greatest Test victories.

Although the game has changed dramatically since 1963, Williams can empathise with the current Wallabies as they prepare for the first Test of The Rugby Championship and get ready to deal with playing at altitude at Ellis Park.

Williams and his teammates played a gruelling 20 games on the 1963 South Africa tour, including four Tests against the Springboks, in Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.

“We noticed the difficulty in playing at a higher level immediately because one of our first games on tour was at Springs [against Eastern Transvaal at 1626 metres above sea level], which is fairly high too, and that was a problem,” Williams said.

“That first game I played, for the first half, it was a bit tiring. But the second half I started to breathe properly, but absolutely, it does affect you, that’s for sure.”

After losing the first Test to South Africa 14-3 in Pretoria, the Wallabies levelled the series with a 9-5 victory in the second Test at Cape Town at Newlands.

Wallabies utility back John Wolfe was due to make his Test debut at Cape Town, but got injured and had to sit in the stands at Ellis Park for the third Test. Sadly, he never got an international cap.

Wolfe took his place beside 65,000 South Africa fans at Ellis Park and remembers that few of them were prepared for what would happen.

“The South Africans were, how can I put it, just so confident that they didn’t expect it [a Wallabies win],” Wolfe said. “Even during the club games or the provincial games, they were always quietly confident and didn’t expect us to win anything.

“I remember the crowd at Ellis Park was electric. It was very dry conditions. Apart from the altitude, it was just a perfect day.”

Williams was a renowned sprinter, having missed the 1962 rugby season to train with Australia’s Empire Games squad.

Randwick’s commitment to running rugby had given him a licence to take risks and use his speed, and when he saw the hard field at Ellis Park, he knew an Australian victory was possible.

“The day we played them in Johannesburg, the ground was sort of yellow in colour, the grass was very thin, and it was a very hard surface, which suited me for running, because I liked the harder ground to run on,” Williams said.

“I also remember when we came onto the ground to play the game, we all lined up and they sang the South African national anthem, but didn’t let us sing ours, and that fired us up a bit.”

Williams’ fellow winger, Jim Boyce, was similarly stunned by the South African decision not to play the Australian anthem.

“There were big crowds singing, it was just a huge volume of noise singing their anthem, and then there was nothing,” Boyce recalled.

“We were absolutely astounded by that decision not to play our anthem. Now, I can understand why they wouldn’t play it, because our anthem at that point in time was God Save the Queen, and that would have created all kinds of problems in South Africa. But we would have been more than happy to hear Waltzing Matilda.

“It sort of rippled along the line that they’re not going to play our anthem, and it just galvanised everyone to [perform at] another level.”

The Wallabies were also spurred on at Ellis Park by a brilliant performance from fullback Terry Casey, who kicked a conversion from touch, a penalty goal and a 40-metre drop goal, helped on its way by the thin air.

Williams still remembers scoring his side’s lone try that afternoon.

“It all happened so quickly, but it was a perfect try, because it started off with a lineout,” Williams said. “Jim Boyce threw the ball into the lineout – and we had a terrific lineout forward, Rob Heming, who is no longer with us – he deflected the ball down to Peter Crittle, and Crittle went forward and turned his back on the opposition and passed the ball back to Dick Marks, who took off.

“I knew he [Marks] was going to pass the ball to me – he gave a perfect pass to me, and I just couldn’t believe how good it was.

“I ran as fast as I’ve ever run down that sideline. There were four defenders coming across to get me, but I actually had enough speed to get away from them and get the ball down in the corner.

“It was a sensational time. I can’t believe it happened so quickly. It’s amazing, to be honest with you.”

At the final whistle, Williams watched the South African team chair Wallabies captain John Thornett off the field on their shoulders in a gesture of sportsmanship. The celebrations lasted long into the night in the Australian team hotel.

“They didn’t think they were going to be beaten, but they took it very well,” Williams remembered.

“They were a pretty polished side, and at the time they were one of the best sides going in rugby.

“But they were very, very good about it, and we had a good time in the sheds after the game and back at the hotel. One of our players got up on the desk in the hotel, and we all sang Waltzing Matilda, including the hotel staff.”

Although the Wallabies were defeated in the final Test 22-6 in Port Elizabeth to leave the series locked at 2-2, the team was greeted in Sydney by 20,000 fans, who lined the streets for a ticker tape parade to mark their achievement.

Gordon Bray covered his first Wallabies Test for the ABC in 1976 against France and has written extensively about the 1963 tour in his book The Immortals of Australian Rugby Union. Bray believes the victory in Johannesburg still stands up as one of the Wallabies’ greatest, 62 years later.

“It’s got to be right at the summit of Wallaby victories to win at altitude,” he said. “The fact that we haven’t won there for 62 years lets you know how hard it was.

“I mean, the All Blacks really struggled to win there – they couldn’t win a series in South Africa until the game went professional – so that’s how hard it is.

“That Australian team [of 1963] didn’t have the size of the South Africans up front, but they had brilliant players, and the way we played the game, the intelligence of the Australian team, really applies today. I think, that’s the Australian way of playing ...

“They drew the series, but winning those back-to-back Test matches was just a phenomenal feat, and I’d rate that victory [Ellis Park] right up there with Australia’s greatest ever wins.”

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