Rob Louw
[6] Rob Louw was born in Wynberg, Cape Town on 26 March 1955 to one of the oldest families of Western descent in South Africa.
Rob's father, Matthew Michael (Matt) Louw, was born on the island in 1922, and served in the South African Air Force's 30 Squadron in Cairo during World War II.
Louw had played in 28 Springbok matches, of which 19 were tests; the most notable were probably the 1980 series in South Africa against the British and Irish Lions, and the 1981 tour to New Zealand and the USA.
Louw evaded a hapless John Carleton with an inside swerve, and scored from 25 metres out, despite the attempts of Lions' wing Mike Slemen.
Wing Gerrie Germishuys had intercepted a cross-field kick by the Lions' Andy Irvine and sprinted down the left-side of the field, wrong-footing a retreating John Carleton with an outside-inside swerve.
Protesters opposed the tour as part of an international anti-apartheid movement that believed in denying economic, sporting and cultural contact with South Africa.
In an interview reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, Louw claimed that black and coloured players were proud of the Springboks and that rugby had created a sense of unity among South Africans.
[26] Reflecting on the tour 15 years later, former Springbok flank Boland Coetzee praised Louw and Hempies du Toit for their efforts to make Tobias feel welcome.
[38] Despite good performances by Louw and fellow-South African Nick du Toit in the last games of the season, Wigan lost by one point to Halifax in the race for the 1986 British rugby league title.
[39][40] Rob Louw appeared as a substitute (replacing second-row Ian Roberts) in Wigan's 15–8 victory over Oldham in the 1986 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1986–87 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens, on Sunday 19 October 1986.
[41] In 1987, Louw was on the reserve bench but was not used when Wigan beat Warrington to retain the John Player Special Trophy, while Mordt did not make the team.
Louw was appointed captain of the President's XV, which included All Blacks Gary Whetton and Steven Pokere, Australian Roger Gould and Peter Grigg, and fellow-South Africans Wilfred Cupido (a coloured player, selected for the Springboks' internal tour of South Africa in 1985) and Henning van Aswegen.
Danie Gerber, Errol Tobias, and Rudi Visagie were among his teammates, while the England squad included Rob Andrew, Rory Underwood and Clive Woodward.
[13] In November 1997, he participated in the World Rugby Classic series in Bermuda, alongside Wilfred Cupido, Helgard Muller, and Mkaya Jack.
[49][50][51] In April 2000 he played in the Golden Oldies tournament in Japan, along with Gysie Pienaar, Avril Williams, Wilfred Cupido, Divan Serfontein, Burger Geldenhuys, and Eben Jansen.
[52] In March 2004, Louw was in the squad for the match between the Springbok Legends and the Puma Classics of Argentina at the Olivos Rugby Club in Buenos Aires.
Others in the squad included John Allan, James Small, Pieter Hendriks, Garth Wright, Zithobile Ntaka, Dick Muir, and Gary Teichmann.
Louw's appeal was based on an International Rugby Board rule that allowed former professional players to play for Defence Force clubs.
The disciplinary committee of the SARB rejected Louw's appeal on the grounds that he was not a serving member of the Defence Force, even though he was a Navy reservist at the time.
[57] Earlier that year he was one of the co-presenters on four training programs in Gauteng that was co-sponsored by rugby ball manufacturer Gilbert and the Afrikaans newspaper Beeld.
[58] Louw is married to Azille and is the father of a son, Robbie, and three daughters: Mystique, Shahnee, and Roxanne (Roxy), a model who was the face of Oakley's 2005-2010 international advertising campaign.
The image was meant to mirror a similar one of South African cricket captain Clive Rice, published a couple of years previously.
[65][66][67] Two weeks after the diagnosis Louw, still in the United States, and former Springbok Robbie Fleck urged crowds attending the Currie Cup Final to wear pink to promote awareness of cancer.
[68] After his treatment Louw started using a mixture of herbs to improve his immune system, extolling the virtues of turmeric (Afrikaans, "borrie"), green tea, and black pepper in particular.
[75][76] In May 1994, Rob and Mark Louw obtained a court order for the provisional liquidation of Adventure Sports Enterprises, the inflatable rubber boat company in which both had shares.
