Marthinus Theunis "Tjol" Lategan (29 September 1925 – 8 March 2015)[1] was a South African rugby union centre.
[4] He was the last surviving member of the 1949 Springboks who beat the New Zealand 'All Blacks' in all four Tests of their tour of South Africa,[4] before he died on 8 March 2015.
[3] But after the Western Province back line produced a disappointing display in that match he was called directly into the South Africa squad for the first Test at Cape Town.
[7] The final two games of the tour, in Durban and the Port Elizabeth, saw Lategan collect his third and fourth caps in two further Springbok victories.
On 24 November Lategan and van Schoor were partnered for the fourth time at international level when South Africa faced Scotland at Murrayfield.
[3] South African rugby journalist R.K. Stent, described Lategan as having a 'Big Moment' temperament, believing he hit his best form of the tour against Scotland.
As he crossed the 25-yard line, Lategan lobbed the ball over Ken Jones' head which was collected by Chum Ochse who scored a try in the corner.
[17] Lategan played in three of the final matches held in Britain, Western Counties, South of Scotland, in which he scored his second try of the tour, and the encounter with the Barbarians.
The first game, played at Johannesburg saw South Africa win 25–3, where Lategan was joined at centre by his old teammate van Schoor.
[20] The loss was blamed on the Springboks desire to please the crowd by switching away from their normal kicking game, to one based on running with the ball.
Although Lategan continued to play rugby switching from Western Province to Boland during the 1953/54 season, he never represented South Africa at international level again.