Within the space of a few hours on Wednesday England coach Andy Robinson resigned, Springbok coach Jake White survived a vote of no confidence and Chiliboy Ralepelle became both the youngest (20) and the first black captain of the South African national side. It might be said that all three men are in invidious positions.
To deal with the lighter side first, Ralepelle will captain the Boks for the first 40 minutes of Sunday’s fund-raising jolly against a World XV in Leicester. Conceived as a means to raise money for the South African Rugby Players’ Association, it has not been given Test status and several of the South African combatants were not part of the three-Test touring squad presided over by White.
Thus we have the bizarre sight of players such as De Wet Barry, Wikus van Heerden, Selborne Boome, Meyer Bosman and Jongi Nokwe turning out in the green and gold not having played a game of rugby between them for months.
Of course, the same could be said of Ralepelle, hence the invidious position mentioned above. The young hooker has not played a full game of senior rugby this year, took a less than starring role in a couple of Bulls under-21 performances in September and has a total of two minutes’ Test experience under his belt.
It would have helped if Ralepelle’s coach had been at his side during the announcement of the team, but White was thousands of kilometres away in Woodstock, Cape Town, explaining himself to the president’s council. It may have been hard on his team, but by flying back to face the music White undoubtedly saved his job.
Had he chosen to stay and do the job for which he was employed by the South African Rugby Union (Saru), he would have learned his sorry fate eating room service in a Leicester hotel. Instead he got on a plane, took some expert advice from a respected provincial coach and went in with both guns blazing.
”They won’t be expecting that,” said the coach, who shall remain nameless, and he was right. As long as White was far away in a foreign land the council members who agreed with the Blue Bulls Rugby Union’s vote of no confidence in the coach were strong and numerous, but, with apologies to Joni Mitchell, by the time he got to Woodstock they were half a million weak.
Time will tell how many feathers have been clipped from White’s wings. He may yet end up in an even more invidious position, having assistant coaches foisted on him in the manner that the Rugby Football Union did with Andy Robinson. But having faced down the men in grey suits he will be stronger for the battles to come.
Ironically, White’s successful sortie was in no way the most important news to emerge from the meeting. After the best-attended and highest-quality Currie Cup tournament of the new millennium, there was a proposal on the table to revert to a 14-team competition next year.
The same little men who couldn’t look White in the eye wanted a piece of the Currie Cup action for the platteland. Instead, sing hallelujah, the eight-team premier division remains and has been entrenched for the next five years.
Boland, who won the first division this year, and the Pumas, who finished last in the premier division, will play off home and away for the right to compete in the elite section.