A young speedy winger by the name of Renier Grobler had a phenomenal rise to Bok colours in 1969. He made his debut when Northern Transvaal beat the 1969 Australians 13-3 and scored a try. He would play two more games for N.TVL and scored a try in the 1969 Currie Cup final against WP at Loftus. That match is fondly remembered for Frik du Preez's "gedrop, geplace en gescore" exploits. The public questioned Grobler's selection, citing inexperience. He gave a good account of himself on tour and was not overawed by the task at hand.

The following year, a series of injuries kept him out of the N.TVL team and in 1971 he was slowly working his way up through the N.TVL B side. On the day 26 May 1971, the touring 1971 French side ripped apart W.TVL 50-0 in Potchefstroom, Grobler a corporal in the SAAF, was a passenger in one of three SAAF Hawker-Siddeley HS -125 (code named Mercurius).

The SAAF were doing a practice run for the 10th anniversary Republic Day Celebrations in Cape Town and due to low clouds around Rhodes Memorial, the three executive jets slammed into the mountain at high speeds killing all eleven men. Remnants of that crash still remain, but tragically "Rysmier" Grobler was lost to South African rugby forever.