RUGBY: Jon Swift
THE thing you have to admire most about South African coach Kitch Christie is that in his own quietly determined way he gets what he wants.
Evidence enough of this is Ray Mordt’s inclusion as his deputy — no matter what title the former union test great and rugby league star carries — and the selection of the massive Johan Nel as prop in the Northern Transvaal side to take on Natal at King’s Park this weekend.
Admittedly, Blue Bulls coach John Williams was given the opportunity to change a side which won so convincingly against Transvaal, by the injury to Heinrich Rodgers, but Nel has virtually rocketed back into the limelight since Christie drew a bead on him at the first national squad training.
Nels’ re-emergence after two years in injury-enforced doldrums is signal token that Christie is not going to be sidetracked by the provincial priorities of this country’s present Currie Cup powershift.
It is an interesting period — at least from the sidelines. And one in which the game in this country is rapidly altering on two levels.
At the top end with the tour of Scotland, Wales and Ireland fast approaching, the hullabaloo of the tempestuous aftermath of the New Zealand tour has thankfully taken a back seat to the business of building an integrated international squad. Christie has fixed and determined ideas about how it should work at this exalted level and some of his choices for the training squad have caused more than a few eyebrows to be raised.
But central to this is the seeming ability of the man — backed by both a staggeringly successful provincial record and the power concentrated on his convenorship of a three- man panel of selectors — to override the dictates of provincial politics.
This approach has not been without problems. Christie’s insistence on fitness first and the physical approach to training has put even more severe pressure on top players already overburdened with pressure outings at top level. And if, as seems highly probable, the Currie Cup comes down to a play-off among the sides vieing to face Free State on October 1 after their memorable defeat of Natal last weekend, that pressure will only intensify.
It is not an easy passage of history for the coach. He has little time to work in — and added aggravations such as the rugby league contract centre Pieter Muller has supposedly put his name to which have to be dealt with.
There is the continuing problem of indiscipline on — and it can be argued off — the field to be straightened out. James Dalton’s ommission from the Transvaal side to face Western Province at Ellis Park tomorrow is a case in point.
Dalton has been axed by Mordt for his somewhat hotheaded approach to joining scrums against Northern Transvaal last weekend. Dalton, fine prospect that he is, has looked to figure large in Christie’s future plans.
But the coach’s refusal to have either James Small or Andre Joubert in his training battallion until his way of doing things was fully understood, bears testimony to the salient fact that Christie will brook no bull from anyone.
Dalton, one feels, will have to fight his way back into the reckoning for both the trip to the United Kingdom and next year’s World Cup squad. That said, however, there is little real doubt that he will do just that.
It is perhaps unfair to single Dalton out. But he epitomises the pressures on this country’s top players under the new regime. None of the men fighting for a tour place can be allowed to be intimidated by any opposition. They have to continually perform at a peak against a punishing schedule of matches. And take everything Christie and Mordt dish out in squad training.
On top of this, there is the problem for the players of staying free from injury. Again, the schedule makes no allowances for this.
It must lead to a singularly unwelcome form of schizophrenia among the chosen elite … you have to keep performing at an almost unprecedented level and you have to hold off getting damaged in the process.
And, on the face of it at least, it would seem that injuries have played more than a minor role in the season thus far. Hennie le Roux has a continuing nag from his damaged shoulder, an injury which is also hampering his provincial and South African captain, Francois Pienaar.
Dalton and centre Christiaan Scholtz are also on a damaged list which seems to grow as the weeks go by.
Christie, meanwhile, has to sit tight and take each knock to each of his favoured players with a stoicism he cannot truly be feeling behind the calm external facade. Christie is renowned as a player’s coach. Make no mistake, he feels every bump and bang. For each setback makes his task that much more difficult and, it must be said, shortens the timespan in which he has to weld together a combination which can do what the Sarfu executive and the public want most … win.
And in a season where sides like Northerns and Province have produced both hugh disappointments and tremendous returns to the path of victory: Transvaal have both flattered and deceived; Natal have been abjectly underachieving; and Free State have roared back to the prominence they enjoyed in the 80s, there is little anyone can do but feel for Christie.
He has been adamant about his determination to turn the game around in this country.
That determination is an undoubted bonus for South African rugby. One hopes fervently that Christie is able to graft this determination onto the shaky platform of restricted time, a chaotic playing programme and the available talent.