George Philip "Butch" Lochner (1 February 1931 – 27 August 2010) was a South African international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He made nine appearances for the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

between 1955 and 1958, mostly as a number eight. He also scored two tries during his international career, at a time when tries were worth three points. Lochner, who studied agriculture at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

, started playing provincial rugby with

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in 1951, before moving to Boland in 1954. He made his international debut for South Africa during the 3rd

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of the 1955 British Lions tour at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium,

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

. The match was won by the Lions, giving them a 2–1 lead in the four Test series. He was not selected for the 4th Lions Test, but was included in the squad for the 1956 tour of Australia and New Zealand. He played in all six of the tour Tests, including two victories over

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. After Australia, the Springboks travelled to New Zealand to compete in a four Test Series. Following a loss in

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and a win in

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, the series with the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

was level going into the 3rd Test at

Lancaster Park Lancaster Park, also known as Jade Stadium and AMI Stadium for sponsorship reasons, was a sports stadium in Waltham, a suburb of Christchurch in New Zealand. The stadium was closed permanently due to damage sustained in the February 2011 eart ...

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. Lochner, playing as a flanker, scored a try as South Africa lost the match 17–10. New Zealand went on to win the series 3–1. He then played in both Tests of

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's 1958 tour. He scored a try in the opening match, a 3–3 draw at

Newlands Stadium The Newlands Stadium, referred to as DHL Newlands for sponsorship reasons, is located in Cape Town, South Africa. The stadium has a capacity of 51,900 people, but is not an all-seater venue. Various sports teams use the stadium as their ho ...

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, before making his final appearance as a Springbok in the 2nd Test at Ellis Park,

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. France won the game to take the series 1–0.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lochner, Butch 1931 births 2010 deaths South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Rugby union players from Stellenbosch Rugby union number eights