As an innocent victim of the Francois Pienaar selection row, Natal and Springbok captain Gary Teichmann will have the full support of his players on Saturday, but Pienaar is definitely ahead in the sentiment stakes
RUGBY:Jon Swift
ONE OF the most interesting aspects of the whole Francois Pienaar episode is that it has done what no hoopla off the field or expertise on it has succeeded in doing before. It has earned the Transvaal side the unqualified support of a nation.
This showed in an amazing manner last week when Transvaal battled their way past their Northern Transvaal neighbours for the right to meet Natal in the Currie Cup final. The terraces at Pretoria – those areas where the manne pull the light blue hats on over the horns – did the unprecedented and unthinkable, rising as one to support the deposed Springbok captain as he led his side on to the Loftus Versfeld turf.
It could be argued that the die-hard Natal supporters cannot truly be counted as part of this equation, but there is little doubt that, for perhaps the first time in living memory, the support at Ellis Park will be fully behind both Pienaar and the team.
But equally, you could forgive any Natalians for silently echoing the sentiments of one knowledgeable and vociferous former hooker from Northern Ireland in his assessment of this Saturday’s looming clash at Ellis Park.
“This one,” said Big George, welding all the directness of his Ulster upbringing to the fervency of his Transvaal fanaticism, “is for Francois.” On an emotional level, who would argue this?
The wave of emotional, provincialistic pride adds an extra element to what promises to be a final of huge proportions. On the one side Natal, a side which has swept all but the powerful Auckland before them this season, providing a brand of running rugby which has shaken many perceptions of how the game should be played. On the other side Transvaal, a side pilloried from the start, who have scratched and scrabbled, braved the storms and made it all the way to the final hurdle.
Perhaps, more than any other factor bar Pienaar, it is the fact that Transvaal have taken the hard route to the final that must give them heart for a game which they go into as underdogs against the holders.
There has been a resurgence in the Transvaal side which has shown all that is fine and good about the game of rugby football; the determination and guts to take on the toughest up front -as witnessed by the huge games produced by an outgunned front row and the massive contribution of Kobus Wiese and Hannes Strydom against Northerns – and a willingness to run the ball at every opportunity.
Natal have also shown these attributes throughout the season, but the rider must be added that the team committed to total football under the tutelage and guidance of coach Ian MacIntosh have shown an alarming tendency to fade towards the final whistle. They have also had more than their share of problems with goal-kickers, with Henry Honiball, Thierry Lacroix and Andre Joubert all showing an erratic uncertainty when the ball is aimed at the posts.
In this department, Transvaal have been blessed with the services of Gavin Lawless, who has come through the vagaries of positional switches earlier in the season, to become a fullback of real stature and hugely unlucky not to be recognised as such by Springbok coach Andre Markgraaff. But then perhaps enough has been said in this regard already.
For, while the semi-final against Northerns was undoubtedly played as a Pienaar benefit by the Transvalers, it is ironic that the man at the centre of national emotions was not the most dominant force in the stunning 31-21 victory at Loftus, despite his Man of the Match accolade.
Here, Lawless, scorer of the opening try, the buzzy forcefulness of hooker James Dalton, the brilliance of Hennie le Roux and the commitment of Wiese and Strydom, have to be balanced against the sentiment which undoubtedly prevailed.
No better illustration of this was the grin that broke over Wiese’s bruised and battered countenance as the whistle that signalled one more station to travel sounded.
But equally, Natal’s commitment to their captain Gary Teichmann can also not be discounted as a factor. For while the storms of sympathy rage around Pienaar, it is well to consider that Teichmann, the man named to take over as national captain, has – through no fault of his own – assumed the status of a drive-by shooting victim in the whole affair.
Teichmann, like Pienaar, is a fine leader and no fingers should be pointed at him. But it cannot have escaped the attention of the Natal squad that their man needs support more than ever at this juncture.
The Natal team will be playing as much for their captain as will Transvaal for theirs. It promises an outpouring of collective pride which could very well overshadow the realities of the encounter.
These are simply that the two best teams in the country have little in terms of a playing edge, matched as they are in most departments and even the reserve benches have the luxury of international players.
It is also worthy of note that, despite Markgraaff’s initial insistence on his way of thinking, his vision if you like, of Springbok rugby, he has had to turn to Natal on two occasions and bring in the hugely deserving Jeremy Thomson and Adrian Garvey to plug the holes in his squad caused by the injuries to Christiaan Scholtz and Os du Randt.
And rightly so. While Garvey has had the international future former coach Kitch Christie predicted for him put on hold through the sit-out clause in qualification after representing Zimbabwe, Thomson’s claims have truly shouted out in a season where – Transvaal’s Japie Mulder aside – he has been the country’s stand-out centre.
Thomson has, it must be said, epitomised the Natal approach; inventive and penetrative on attack and brave and unflinching in defence. And, while one player alone does not make a successful side, it has been interesting to note the spark he has lit under the Natal powder-keg in more than one outing, giving try-scoring wings of the calibre of James Small and Cabous van der Westhuizen – what a season the long-haired flyer has had – the room to weave their wiles.
In this, Thompson shares much with Le Roux, who has time and again proved to be the inspiration behind Transvaal’s backline, offering the same space for expression to comers in the game like Joe Gillingham and Jannie van der Walt.
One applauds Gillingham’s elevation to the Springbok squad – even if it is as a replacement for Boeta Wessels -but with the thought that, while a tour as a dirt-tracker must perforce be a huge part of his education in the game at top level, he is probably a season or two shy of Test rugby.
Van der Walt too is a shining example of a system which has nurtured his talent, helping him grow from the somewhat overawed teenager who first pulled on a Transvaal jersey into a bustling wing with great future potential and a voracious appetite for the tryline that matches the hunger of Small and Van der Westhuizen.
This growth within the game has surely benefited from the nascent age of pay-for- play, giving both the veterans something extra to show for the mindless grind of training and the bumps and bruises of play at Currie Cup level, and freeing the talented to do what they do best without having to worry about the more mundane business of day-to-day existence outside the stadium walls.
To this must be added the unassailable fact that, as professionalism begins to take root in the psyche as well as in the paycheque, that home ground advantage is starting to mean less.
This final promises an exhibition of this fact and, when the emotion is stripped from the encounter, a game worthy of remembering for all that the game stands for, a balanced meeting of two highly motivated and roundly talented teams of super-fit young men.