News24.com | Platinum miner Sidney Tobias breaks down barriers with Bulls … just like his Springbok dad

Sidney Tobias. (Photo by Christiaan Kotze/Gallo Images)

• It would seem that the Tobias family was born to break barriers in South African rugby.
• Forty years after Errol became the first Springbok of colour, his youngest son Sidney is showing with the Bulls that club rugby need not mean the end of a professional career.
• The 33-year-old hooker has a new appreciation for the game after doing the hard yards by juggling his playing career with being a rock engineer at Northam Platinum.

The Tobias family is evidently one born to break barriers in South African rugby, even if their achievements vary a bit in significance.

Errol will always remain the big pioneer, the brick-layer from Caledon who would become the first player of colour to ever appear in a Springbok jersey when he debuted against Ireland at Newlands in 1981.

The nimble pivot who started at inside centre, broke the line and fed Rob Louw with the pass that saw the flanker score that very same afternoon.

Three years later, he would have the honour of scoring a Test try at Ellis Park, memorably leaving England centre John Palmer clutching air with a disdainful hand-off.

Just shy under 40 years later, Tobias’ youngest son, Sidney, is breaking barriers of his own.

Sidney’s achievements will, admittedly, n