Bob told me that, like Paul Roos, he had made a fool of himself when he decided to stand for Parliament and won the Stellenbosch seat.

He confided that he had ended up a very disillusioned man and that he should have stuck to rugby. "Rugby", he said, "offered two of the greatest experiences in life - comradeship and integrity. Neither of these qualities could be found in the world of politics."

The main thing I remember about Bob is when he told me, modest man that he was: "I was never as good a wing as people thought I was. I was fast and when I saw that there was a man in front of me and I couldn't beat him with a swerve or sidestep, I kicked the ball over his head. With my speed, often helped by a mistake from my opposite number, I would gather the ball myself and then I was away."

He told me Japie Krige was a typical artist and a very difficult person to play with. He was one of the privileged few who could combine with the little centre.

Purely by chance a college friend of his, Dietlof Maré, happened to hear Mr Markotter say: "Bring me someone who has speed and speed only, because I need someone on the wing who can stay with Japie Krige."

Dietlof told Mr Mark that he thought he had the man for him. The next day Maré brought along Bob Loubser who was at that stage mainly an athlete.

Thereafter whenever Japie got the ball all he said was: "Kom Bob" ("Come on, Bob") and most of the players could not stay up with him because it was impossible to know which way Japie would twist or turn next.

All Loubser did was to run along the touch line keeping an eye on Krige. He knew with unfailing certainty that he would eventually link up with him again.

I often recall the days when I used to visit Mr Mark at his home as a first or second year student - the house I live in today. Mr Mark would ask the promising first year students to his house and present would be Paul Roos, many of the other greats of yesteryear and quite often Bob Loubser.

One of the purposes for these visits to Mr Mark was to recall the greatness of the legends of yesterday and to instil in us youngsters an appreciation of the legends of the game.

There was a tradition at Stellenbosch that each year the third team played against an Old Crocks side. One year we had a very promising wing in the third team, and Bob Loubser at the age of 52 was opposing him. On one occasion when Bob received the ball from a full line movement, the third team wing attempted to tackle him, with disastrous results.

Bob ran right over him and the young winger, much to his dismay and our regret landed up in hospital.

But that was Bob Loubser: a man whose greatness extended well beyond his playing years but who was ever modest and self-effacing.