Andy Capostagno Rugby
There is a theory which states that northern hemisphere rugby will only improve if it changes its playing season to coincide with that of the southern hemisphere. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. (This paragraph with apologies to Douglas Adams).
For how else can we explain the fact that the South African domestic season begins on Friday, 24 hours before the second round of matches in the Five Nations Championship? There are four fixtures in the Vodacom Cup with a fifth to be played in Bloemfontein on Saturday. So the competition which will forever live in the shadow of the Super 12 will have one weekend of prominence before the razzmatazz gets going in earnest next Friday.
The five games in question will mostly be played in balmy late- summer conditions, on pitches that Geoffrey Boycott would struggle to force a car key into, which is appropriate inasmuch as the cricket season still has a month to run. Needless to say somewhat different conditions will apply in the Five Nations matches, both of which will be played in London.
England make their debut in this year’s tournament against Scotland at Twickenham; up the road at Wembley, Wales take on Ireland. For the English Rugby Football Union the accountants will breathe a sigh of relief the moment the whistle blows to start the match, for it had been sold out months before England were (for 24 hours) hoofed out of the tournament for daring to be acquisitive. The prospect of refunding something like R15- million to the punters must have had the bean counters sending out for a bulk order of brown trousers.
But 70E000 spectators will cram into Twickenham with the prospect of a far closer encounter than the gloom- mongers would have predicted three weeks ago. Scotland were supposed to be the whipping boys of the Five Nations this year, but John Leslie’s dramatic try in the 10th second of the match against Wales at Murrayfield a fortnight ago changed all that.
An admiring Nick Mallett said: “I still can’t believe that New Zealand let John Leslie go. Right now, he’s the best inside centre in the world.”
Leslie and brother Martin went a long way towards galvanising the Scottish effort and if their tight forwards can produce enough ball at Twickenham, England will struggle, given their familiar lack of cutting edge behind the scrum. The mood in the England camp has undergone a sea change recently and the once blinkered sentiment concerning true blue Englishmen in the national side has eased more than somewhat.
For a start Joel Stransky’s name has been pencilled in for the World Cup even though he cannot take part in the Five Nations. The reason for coach Clive Woodward’s change of heart is a simple one: he doesn’t have a fly- half worthy of the name and Stransky gives a master class in the art for Leicester in the Premiership every weekend.
England have ignored qualified foreigners for years because they could afford to. The other home unions could trawl family trees in search of maternal grandparents who changed trains in Auchtermuchty; England had plenty of 100th-generation Anglo Saxon stock to call upon.
But times have changed. Ambitious English clubs have bought in players from all over the world, players who have taken the place in the side of promising youngsters who would have been happily thrown into the fray a few years ago. Fly-half is still an extremely important position and last weekend the 12 premiership clubs began their matches with a total of three English fly-halves between them.
Those three were Mark Mapletoft, who normally plays fullback for Gloucester, Alex King (Wasps) and Johnny Wikinson (Newcastle). All three were seen to disadvantage on England’s disastrous southern hemisphere tour last year. Is it any wonder then, that Woodward has reserved the right to change his mind about Stransky?
What would he not give for a competition like the Vodacom Cup which last year unearthed Gaffie du Toit, Lourens Venter and Robert Markram? They were part of the Griquas team which carried all before them and lambasted the Golden Lions 55-0 in the final.
With last year’s Super 12 in full swing it became fashionable to belittle the Vodacom Cup, a competition which declared its quota system from day one. But when the Super 12 was over and the graduates of the Vodacom Cup, began to shine in the Currie Cup people began to sit up and take notice.
It is too early in the season to expect too much from this weekend’s opening salvoes, but the greatest motivator of all is there unseen in every dressing room. Make a fist of this one and you could be going to the World Cup. Those who scoff may care to cast their minds back four years and recall the half- dozen high-profile performances which got Robbie Brink into the World Cup squad. Remember him?