Gavin Rich uses John Dobson's public concern about social media attacks on Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Salmaan Moerat as a jumping-off point for a broader reflection on accountability in rugby criticism. His argument is straightforward: the old media era wasn't kinder, but it was accountable — writers faced the players and coaches they criticised, day in and day out. Rich owns his own misjudgements (dismissing the Boks' 1995 World Cup chances, piling onto Mallett over the Teichmann call) but frames them as part of a culture where you had to front up. Anonymous social media attacks carry none of that cost, and he thinks the difference matters.
The column roams widely from there — a digression through East London's rugby history (Border's 9-0 defeat of the 1949 All Blacks, the 1997 Lions scraping past Border 18-14), the gruelling four-month train odyssey of that All Black touring squad, and the state of Eastern Cape rugby today. Rich ties the provincial decay to real human cost: players like Mapimpi who made it despite the broken pathway, and youngsters who don't. The piece closes on a genuinely moving note with the passing of long-serving Stormers team manager Chippie Solomon, whose farewell coincides with Scarra Ntubeni's final home appearance. Rich's tribute to Solomon — foul-mouthed, beloved, the institutional heart of the franchise for over two decades — lands as the emotional core of what is otherwise a wide-ranging, nostalgic column.