Tuks skipper a rare multi-code breed who started in canoeing before rugby took hold

Most sports fans will know of the dual sports code prodigy, dexterous in more than one sport, geniuses who could wield a bat and kick a ball with equal venom.

Herschelle Gibbs was one such schoolboy flyhalf, who went on to play cricket for the Proteas, while Springbok No 15 Conrad Jantjes trialled at Chelsea Football Club before being swept up by rugby. Schalk Burger might have made a fine cricketer were it not for his rich rugby lineage.

Rarely do you come across someone whose two schoolboy sports are so far apart - one on land and the other on water.