RUGBY: Luke Alfred
THE hoary question of how the Highveld altitude affects=20 visiting rugby teams has never been more squarely in the=20 frame, particularly with the arrival of 15 World Cup squads=20
The results of sides playing Transvaal in this year’s Super=20 10 appear to contradict the truism that “visitors fade in=20 the second half”, with both North Harbour and Queensland=20 gaining in strength rather than fading as expected, and=20 even lowly Waikato managing to score a late try against=20 Northern Transvaal.
Western Province coach Alan Zondagh believes the later his=20 side arrive up-country the better, pointing out that=20 Province tend to fly up on the Friday night to counteract=20 the influence of altitude. “I’m not a scientist,” he said,=20 “but there’s a time when your body will adapt and a time=20 when it won’t — if you go up late enough altitude doesn’t=20 really matter.” Zondagh adds the rider that altitude=20 doesn’t always play the part that it is meant to,=20 occasionally lulling the home team into a false sense of=20
“In the Transvaal-Queensland game there was such a lot made=20 of it (altitude). I almost think that Transvaal were=20 waiting for Queensland to fade and they never did.”
For former Springbok and current Natal coach Ian McIntosh=20 altitude is something that can never be under-estimated.=20 “There’s no two ways about it,” he says forcefully,=20 “altitude gives the home side a helluva advantage.” His=20 answer to the problem is to fly up approximately three days=20 before the game.=20
He doesn’t believe that this acclimatises his team, but=20 thinks this is preferable to arriving either the night=20 prior to or the morning before kickoff.=20
He notes that last year England flew from Durban to=20 Bloemfontein for the opening mid-week game of their tour on=20 the Tuesday night. The consequences were disastrous for=20 Rowell’s men, resulting, McIntosh adds colourfully, “in a=20 complete ambush”.
McIntosh speaks passionately about “that burning feeling”=20 that hits coastal sides when they play upcountry. It isn’t=20 too bad when it’s overcast or when the game is being played=20 at night, but on a hot winter’s day at Loftus nothing can=20 be worse.=20
He doesn’t put Queensland’s three second-half tries against=20 Transvaal in the Super 10 final down to outwitting the=20 altitude hoodoo, but prefers to ask why Transvaal slumped=20 so badly after the Reds’ second try.=20
Andrew Slack, the Queensland coach, wouldn’t agree. In a=20 curt rebuttal to the SABC’s David van der Sandt during a=20 half-time interview, Slack answered the inevitable, “will=20 altitude make a difference” question with a brisk “No”.=20 McIntosh believes it’s all in the mind anyway, saying that=20 by the time Natal played Queensland in a friendly at=20 Ballymore two weeks before the Super 10 final, they had=20 made their minds up that altitude wasn’t going to be a=20
Zondagh notes that French coach Pierre Berbizier has=20 insisted that his side undergo altitude training prior to=20 their arrival in Pretoria, their first round headquarters.=20 Presuming that the French head their group, a possible=20 Durban quarterfinal against either Wales or Ireland looms.=20
If the French succeed at the first knock-out stage, they=20 will stay in Durban for their semifinal, which should be a=20 dream come true for Berbizier after the rigours of Pretoria=20 and Rustenburg. If we really want to know the secret to the=20 altitude debate, we should ask Berbizier shortly after=20 their Durban quarterfinal.