RUGBY: Jon Swift
SADLY, the enduring memories of the opening phase of World Cup Rugby ’95 will be of a savage confrontation and a tragic accident.
The pile up during the Cote d’Ivoire-Tonga tie which led to Max Brito being so badly injured will leave an indelible scar on the tournament. The sight of the African player’s immobilised dreadlocked head being stretchered off is one which will not easily be
Neither will the unseemly brawl of Boet Erasmus which all but erased the eventual 20-0 scoreline of the crucial South Africa-Canada match in Port Elizabeth.
>From opposite ends of the rugby-playing spectrum, both stem from the same intensity and commitment which are essential ingredients to the business of shoehorning so many matches into so short a time span and having so much riding on the outcome.
Both wing Pieter Hendriks and hooker James Dalton summed it up in different ways. Both accurately reflected the pressures on everyone connected with the tournament. An emotion-choked Dalton, his appeal against the much-debated sending off by Irish referee David McHugh and the subsequent 30-day suspension from the game and exit from the squad, was perhaps less eloquent than Hendriks.
“There won’t just be 15 players on the field,” said Dalton, fighting back tears, “there’ll be 16. I’ll be with you all the way. To the manager and coach, I say thank you. It was great while it lasted.”
Dalton, a fiery individual whose talent has been channelled into becoming a fine forward indeed by the South African coaching staff, was a victim of the pressure cooker atmosphere and the huge expectations of a nation slavering for success.
Criticised for his throw-ins at the line-out and being chased hard for the No 2 green and gold jersey by Chris Rossouw, and imbued so deeply with the ethos of “the team first, last and always”, there was little chance of Dalton not blowing when Hendriks became the victim of a cowardly attack from behind.
As a corrollary to the shambles which followed, the incident involving Hendriks and Canadian wing Winston Stanley would have been all over almost as soon as it began if it had not been for the sneak punch on Hendriks by Canadian fullback Scott Stewart. That Stewart, like Hendriks, cited and then suspended, should have only got a 30-day sentence for what amounted to inciting a riot is a scandalous lack of appraisal of the circumstances and a lasting indictment against the panel which handed the suspension down.
Hendriks was perhaps as big a victim — guilty as he was of the unpardonable offence of lashing out with his feet — as Dalton. Brought in to replace Chester Williams at the last minute, he had scored that wonderful try in South Africa’s opening game against the Australians at Newlands.
In the niggle and nudge, scramble and spoil of Boet Erasmus the pent-up frustration in Hendriks exploded under the provocation of a punch from behind. “Sad,” said Hendriks, “the whole thing only lasted about eight seconds.” The echoes will last far longer.
Hendriks has subsequently had to deal with expulsion from the tournament and a scathing attack from — of all people — Jan Boland Coetzee. It is a heavy burden to carry.
But not as permanent as the damage to Brito’s spinal column. That this crippling injury happened in a game of no import to the knockout stages, would beg perhaps the most serious of all questions on the pressure inherent in Rugby World Cup play.
Is it really fair to feed an emergent rugby nation to sides as tough as those they have to face in the pool system? This would be a fair query for Japan to make as well after their devastating 145-17 defeat at the hands of the uncompromising All Blacks in Bloemfontein.
The answer is an unequivocal NO! The lives of young players are not worth putting at risk … either physically or emotionally.