OUR parliamentary rugby team will have an unfamiliar face on the right wing when it lines out against a Westminster XV before the international in London, next Saturday. In an effort to inject some pace and scoring flair, skipper Deputy M.J. Nolan has poached General Bantu Holomisa from the all-conquering South African parliamentary squad.
As an ANC MP and deputy minister for tourism and environment, the general attributes his selection to his performance in the December 1994 Ireland v South Africa fixture when he made it across for the winning try.
Still only 40, he is one of the cleverest and most colourful of ANC politicians. Once a member of the defence forces in the nominally independent Xhosa homeland of Transkei he reached the rank of general at 31 and in 1987 seized power in a bloodless coup. He became a major irritant to the apartheid regime in Pretoria, earning the nickname comrade general with his ill-concealed support for Nelson Mandela.
Apart from his adventurism, strategic grasp and staying power, Holomisa is also noted for his ability to jink and dummy.
As well as the general and another guest player, Bernard Durand from the French National Assembly, the Ireland squad will comprise captain MJ Nolan, Deputies Brian Cowan, Michael Creed, Michael Ahern, Sean Power and Batt O'Keeffe, Senators Frank Fahey and Liam Cosgrave and Oireachtas associates Conor Barry, programme manager at Defence and Donal Spring, brother of the Tanaiste. The ref at Sudbury will be PD Senator John Dardis and the chief baggage handler is Senator Eddie Bohan.