Mad Mac O’Grady was responsible for ruining Severiano Ballesteros’s majestic golf swing. After an intensive training camp had taken away what nature had given, O’Grady and Ballesteros gathered up photographs of the old Seve, drove into the desert, dug a pit in a deserted spot and set fire to them.
You could be forgiven for thinking that something similar has been happening at the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) since Brian van Rooyen became president. A rewritten constitution is on the way, following close on the heels of a restructured Currie Cup, a realigned Super 12 and a shiny new Springbok coach.
All of which gives a certain touch of keen anticipation to the beginning of the new rugby season this week, for the 2004 Super 12 is the last competition prior to the reinvention of South African rugby. It could also be the last Super 12, but that’s another story.
For now the familiar ‘brands†— Bulls, Cats, Sharks and Stormers — will trot out of the tunnel one more time (well, 11 times, actually) with early season hope set to be dashed on the rocks of mid-season ennui and late-season misery.
This year it falls to Jake White to find crumbs of comfort in individual performances as our teams once again fail to deliver the goods. Remember how it was when Rudolf Straeuli took over on April Fool’s Day in 2002? Weekly press conferences to lift journalistic hearts grown leaden under the weight of results that saw the Bulls, Cats and Sharks finish in the bottom three slots on the log, while the Stormers came seventh.
Using the annual window of opportunity created by the gap in the fixture list while Australian and New Zealand teams contest the knockout stages of the Super 12, Straeuli set up a training camp and then held a Springbok trial at Loftus. At that trial a new star emerged, but Brent Russell was deemed surplus to requirements at the World Cup 18 months later.
White has been around long enough to know the pitfalls of being Springbok coach. He should know that his media-friendly personality will be tested to the limit only once the Springboks actually start playing. The only piece of advice he should need is to remember to enjoy the honeymoon, for experience tells us it will evolve into a loveless marriage.
The honeymoon begins on the Highveld this weekend as the four South African sides meet in local warfare before the real thing starts next week. The Stormers will be favourites to beat the Cats at Ellis Park, the Bulls likewise over the Sharks at Loftus.
As the first Springbok coach since Kitch Christie to make his home in Johannesburg, White will be able to watch both games and still sleep in his own bed. Ah, but will the sleep of reason produce monsters?
History suggests that both these games will be unedifying spectacles, littered with foul play and lacking ambition. If that sounds unduly cynical, remember that when the Bulls and Stormers met in a pre-season friendly in Dubai a fortnight ago three players — Daan Human, Andries Human and Dale Santon — received yellow cards in the first 15 minutes. Some friendly!
But let’s not dwell on the past. Maybe, just maybe, a new start for Sarfu will be parlayed into a fresh beginning for our rugby. Maybe Ashwin Willemse and Breyton Paulse will score a hat trick each at Ellis Park and Brent Russell and Jacques Cronje will charm the crowd that is sure to gather at Loftus. Until the first whistle blows there are no monsters in our dreams.