Thursdays are for throwbacks, and given that the roads are going to be a mess throughout the day, we thought we would take a look at a rather infamous car crash from 2012.

Former Springbok fullback Earl Rose was 28 when, together with his wife Amor (what is it with rugby players and Amor?), he went ploughing into the front counter of a fish and chips shop in Gordon’s Bay.

Side note – he is a former Springbok, because even though he was never capped he was called up to the squad in 2009 to play against the British & Irish Lions.

Times LIVE were all over this story when it broke, so let’s get some background before we check out the crash unfolding:

Ooskus Fisheries, which has served fresh calamari and other seafood delights in the coastal town for nearly 40 years, exploded in a cloud of concrete and dust shortly after 3am last Sunday.

CCTV cameras inside and outside the store captured the dark BMW 1 series approaching, flatten two poles on the pavement and then ram through the front of the store.

Although police were at the scene within minutes, Raymond Goldberg, owner of Ooskus Fisheries, said no blood or alcohol tests were conducted on the car’s occupants.

“The police told me that they can’t draw blood because they don’t know who the driver was, and the people in the car were being evasive about who the actual driver is,” he said.

Your camera angle number one – from the 15-second mark:

A look from inside the shop, which is pretty much action right from the kick-off:

I know it seems hard to believe, but the third video is perhaps the most damning of all. Yes, that’s a topless Earl looking a little worse for wear from around the 2:45 mark:

One of the first men on the scene was Ooskus employee Johan Thiart, who recounted his story:

“I was lying in bed, then I heard a vehicle coming down the road. I was thinking ‘that person driving isn’t slacking at all’, and as I thought that, I heard the crash. Immediately I jumped up and ran out.”

He found a shocked Amor in the street. “When I got there, [his wife] was already standing outside; he was still in the car. He was busy screaming and shouting at her. Then I rushed home to call my boss.”

Thiart said Rose’s wife left the scene a few minutes after the crash. “When I went back … the wife was gone, he [Rose] was just sitting around here,” said Thiart, standing outside the remains of the building.

Given that it’s absolutely bucketing down in certain parts of the country, let this serve as a reminder to drive cautiously on the roads.

It’s almost the weekend, and we’ll get through this together.

Oh – the World Cup kicks off today, so let’s also relive this glorious moment one more time:

Goosebumps.

[source:timeslive]