First Springbok Try Against All Blacks: A 1928 Moment That Changed South African Rugby

Albertus “Oupa Alvi” van der Merwe was 19 years old when he ran onto the field at Newlands in 1928 and scored a try against the touring All Blacks, the first player to do so on African soil. The All Blacks won that opening tour match 11-3, but the moment lodged itself in rugby history. It earned van der Merwe selection as Springbok number 221 and marked the beginning of what would grow into the sport’s greatest rivalry.

That rivalry resumes on August 22, when the Springboks face the All Blacks again. For the Van der Merwe family, the date carries a particular weight.

After his playing days ended, Oupa Alvi turned to building something more permanent. He helped establish what is now Alvi’s Drift, an estate in the Breede River Valley that has become known for its winemaking across several generations. The current generation has translated that legacy into a premium collection called the 221 range, named directly after his Springbok number. Four wines make up the collection: a Chenin Blanc, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Pinotage, and a Special Cuvée Red.

Alvi van der Merwe, the winemaker and Oupa Alvi’s grandson, is clear about what the range is meant to represent. “221 was never meant to be only about rugby, sport or one person’s achievement,” he says. “It is about the stories people share around a table, family stories, old memories and ordinary evenings that stay with you. For us, 221 takes a story from our own past and passes it on. When someone opens a bottle, we hope it becomes part of their story too.”

That philosophy has a direct ancestor. Oupa Alvi himself believed that “you don’t make good wine alone. It’s a team effort.” Nearly a century on, the estate operates by the same principle.

The 221 wines are positioned for occasions that carry meaning: a braai, a family lunch, a Test match watched with friends. Van der Merwe puts it plainly: “Few things bring South Africans together quite like a Springboks-All Blacks Test. But we’d argue a good glass of wine comes pretty close.”

More information about the range is available at Alvisdrift.co.za, and the estate can be followed on Instagram at @alvisdriftwine. Further reading on the story behind the 221 collection is available at https://www.glamour.co.za/lifestyle/lifestyle-news-the-springbok-who-made-history-before-south-africas-greatest-rugby-rivalry-began-39c8b5a2-877d-443a-8c77-2ebc06706bb0.

Whether the August 22 Test adds another chapter to the rivalry Oupa Alvi helped inaugurate remains to be seen, but the family has already found its own way of keeping the story alive.