Despite losing, Transvaal and Western Province proved they can still provide tough competition in the Currie Cup, but some of the lesser unions are not so fortunate
RUGBY:Jon Swift
IT IS perhaps one of the supreme ironies that so often mark man’s sporting endeavours, that the nub of last weekend’s rugby came from the performances of two sides on the wrong end of the final scoreboard.
For, while Natal held out Transvaal 37-36 to stay top of Section A and Northern Transvaal duly ran out 27-16 winners over Western Province, there was much to be acclaimed and admired in the performances of both losing sides.
Both marked a turning point in application and attitude from teams who have had a tough year of it thus far, sharing disappointing campaigns in the Super 12, battling through almost unprecedented injury lists and struggling to get into gear in the Currie Cup.
For Pienaar’s Transvaal, the resurgence could not have come at a more critical time with the selection panel’s eyes on the coming tours to Argentina and France as the province which provides the nucleus of the Springbok side came good in all but the eventual result.
It was a stirring fight-back in the second half that was as much a part of the greatness that the game can produce as Andre Joubert’s superb hat-trick of tries for Natal.
Pienaar led, as he always does, with his body on the line and, aided by a truly monster game from the giant Kobus Wiese, the Transvaal pack finally produced the fire they are capable of.
Fritz van Heerden’s Province side too were far from disgraced against a Northerns side which has re-established the winning pattern of simplicity before spread that the late Buurman van Zyl turned into such an artform.
It is true that while there will always have to be winners, the true mark of the health of rugby in this country is the gap between the eventual scorelines. In these two instances at least, this was true.
And while there must be cause for some relief at the South African Rugby Football Union’s offices over these two results, there must equally be some concern over the monster 113-11 win Free State recorded over a hapless South Western Districts.
In the former encounters, there lay all that is good in the Currie Cup system – hard, committed play, skill, flair and adventure – in the latter all that is inherently unbalanced in the present set-up.
When the fact that Free State missed the Super 12 is taken into account, the new-look boys from Bloem have managed to do in their own backyard what has evaded Transvaal and Western Province on a more global platform.
But there will have to be a hard look at the ethos professionalism has introduced to the remnants of a system that must, by its very nature, leave sides like South Western Districts as whipping boys.
To produce a combination capable of consistently taking on the bigger unions, there has to be a better and more equitable spread of resources. It is impossible for the men from Oudtshoorn to be expected to match the megabucks at Ellis Park.
One would suspect that, in the age of the electronic spectator, the idea that the late Doc Craven fought so hard for – that of getting the big name sides and players to the lesser-known venues – no longer really holds water.
It is all very well holding the local side dear to one’s heart, but laying out good money to watch yet another weekend whipping, when the beer at home is cold, the couch comfortable and the confrontation on offer more appealing, has proved to be another.
It would be a sad day if these representative sides were to disappear altogether. They have every much a right to pride and tradition – and it might be added playing Free State -as any other.
Perhaps Sarfu should examine more closely the system which has kept American football competitive in a professional era; one where the teams are traded and sold as franchises rather than regional fixtures.
The Americans rely on a draft system to smooth out imbalances. This allows for the team which finishes last to have first choice of the new players coming through or even to barter that choice for another.
In this way, the lesser sides are able to build whatever strengths they own by filling in the gaps in their make-ups with real talent. The players are able to command big money on their way into the game and free to move on when the initial contract has been fulfilled.
In a South African rugby-playing context, the major centres – with major budgets – are already able to do this, slotting in players almost at will, given the incentives they can offer.
A draft system would, however, enable more and more young players to find their way into the Currie Cup competition. Those who make it able to move to the bigger, better- paying unions, those who don’t, welcome to finish their careers in the lesser sides.
And it will certainly go some way towards producing the kind of performances from losing sides evident last weekend.
ENDS
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