Pretorius compared to Wallaby great Ella
July 24, 2002

Springbok backs coach Tim Lane has compared the South African flyhalf Andre Pretorius with Wallaby great Mark Ella - but the young Bok was unaware of the name when asked for his reaction!

"It's always nice to be compared with someone like that who's had a great career, but to be honest I don't know the name," the 23-year-old Springbok told The Australian.

Pretorius can be forgiven his lack of recall as when Ella was making his name by scoring a try in every Test on the famous 1984 Wallaby grand slam tour of Britain he was in short trousers.

It was also during South Africa's isolation period when little or no outside rugby news reached the then apartheid republic, especially the exploits of a black Australian.

Speaking of his young fly-half's attributes, Lane commented, "Andre's fairly unique because he's small for a flyhalf by today's standards, but he has a touch of Mark Ella about him with his passing."

"He's probably quicker than Mark and probably steps better than him, but some of the things he does remind me of some of the uncanny things Mark used to do."

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