Like the vast majority of you, I have never piloted a big passenger jet and, indeed, have no wish to… but, my god, to the layman that was a close shave at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town last weekend ahead of the second Test between South Africa and New Zealand.

Or was it? Was it in fact just brilliant professionalism from experts who know exactly what they are doing?
For captain Steve van der Merwe and his crew in the lead plane – which included two co-pilots who were both captains in their own right and also experts in aerobatics – was it in fact as routine as a lineout throw-and-take by Eben ...