The darling of the stands is back and set to get tongues wagging again
Martin Gillingham
Bob Skinstad, the glamour boy of South African rugby, has called on the sport’s top brass to drop their ban on overseas-based players representing the Springbok team. “I’m of the opinion that you should be able to play Super 12 or northern hemisphere rugby and still have a national allegiance,” Skinstad says. “It’s sad that we’ve lost people like, initially, Francois Pienaar and Joel Stransky, and now it’s Selbourne Boome who seems lost to South African rugby.
“I think Harry Viljoen is one of the coaches who might turn something like that around because he is forward thinking. But at the moment the feeling is that players are not being loyal if they go overseas.” Even though this might spark speculation that Skinstad is preparing to turn his back on the local game, he insists he will be playing for a South African side in next year’s Super 12. He says: “First and foremost I want to represent South Africa and I don’t want to be in a situ-ation where I’m fighting a legal battle to represent my country where I’m seen as the outcast. Make no mistake, though, I’m willing to do it if I think it’s the best way forward for me and the country.”
But Skinstad, whose contract with Western Province expires this year, has ruled out a move to an international club after the Currie Cup. He says that if the will exists within the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) to soften its stance on exiles it will “probably take a season and a bit to resolve”.
“Ideally I’d like to see it resolved before I make the decision whether to stay or go. I’m not willing to be the ambassador of change while I’m still trying to get to the top of my game.” There is a concern in Cape Town circles that the departure of Alan Solomons he takes up a three-year post as coach of Ulster immediately after the Super 12 might prompt an exodus of top Western Province players. It’s already been mooted that Springboks Rob Brink and Charl Marais are set to follow Solomons to Belfast while others will be weighing up their options once the Stormers play what is likely to be their final game in the Super 12 campaign against the Sharks at Wellington in eight days’ time. Skinstad too isn’t ruling out the possibility of moving to another South African province. “A lot depends on how many guys go, how many stay, and who the Super 12 coach is. There are a lot of factors that would impact on my decision.”
Gert Smal and Carel du Plessis, the current management team at Western Province, are the overwhelming favourites to take over the Stormers. But there has been speculation that the widening rifts in the Stormers franchise, which in part prompted the South Western Districts and Boland unions to insist on exercising their rights to host Super 12 games this season, may see Rudy Joubert appointed. Joubert has enjoyed considerable success since taking over at Boland. Another big name currently out of work and seeking a return to South African rugby is former national coach Nick Mallett. He lives in Cape Town and, though he left plenty of scorched earth behind him in the Sarfu boardroom, Viljoen, and particularly his assistant Andre Markgraaff, are keen to see him appointed to one of the Super 12 coaching jobs next year. Like most big names in a professional sport, Skinstad will be happy to have his name discussed across a table surrounded by agents and provincial chief executives. But the most likely outcome must be that Skinstad will remain at least another year in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. He’s just bought a new home in Claremont and, in a rugby community that contains many Skinstad detractors, the 24-year-old who was born in Bulawayo and grew up in Natal, may opt to stay among friends. One of the more destructive elements of Skinstad’s first comeback from the knee injury sustained in a late-night car crash two years ago was a whispering campaign waged against him on the run-up to the World Cup. It was marshalled by Johan Erasmus, ably assisted by provincial allies such as Andre Venter and Werner Swanepoel.
It’s a campaign Skinstad was all too aware of and something that contributed to the strain of his return to the top flight. “I’m lucky to have people around me like Corne Krige and Andre Vos who are also loose forwards and who understand what it’s like to be out there.” Skinstad feels he has no need to confront those who spoke of their contempt for him in quiet corners of team hotels on the run-up to the World Cup. “I’ve chatted to various people about being a player in the limelight and, therefore, someone who is going to take flak. But I’ve never felt the need to take anything up with another player because I don’t think it’s something that has ever compromised the Springbok team.” That is a rather optimistic outlook and, almost two years on, it’s going to be interesting to see whether those wounds reopen when the Springbok squad joins up again at the conclusion of the Super 12. Of course, it is uncertain whether there will be a place for Skinstad in the squad. The triumvirate of Venter, Erasmus and Vos would seem to have first run on the back-row positions in Harry Viljoen’s next Test team, leaving Skinstad’s best chance of an appearance against the French coming from the bench in the second half.
But what Viljoen will have been glad to see is that Skinstad’s troublesome left knee has not required physiotherapy since January and that some of the deft touches that marked his play two years ago are returning.
His ability to be in the right place at the right time was no better illustrated than deep in injury time against the Reds in George when his try won the game for the Stormers. His allround game was there for all to see against the Crusaders a week later at Newlands, while his two games since though much quieter in comparison have still featured cameos to suggest he’s on his way back.
More than two years on from that fateful night when the cocktail of post-match euphoria laced with Cape roads greased by the first winter rains led to his car’s coming together with a Rondebosch garden wall, a fit and eager Skinstad is a sight all South African rugby lovers should be glad to see.