air
RUGBY:Andy Capostagno
IT might have been a stupid tour to lay on after the busiest season ever, but at least it has started in the right place. Isolated pockets of Argentina are aware that the world champions are in their backyard, but while a few players are carrying muscle injuries, there are not many Springboks who will be flying to France with wrist injuries, the result of over zealous autograph signing.
Given the laager mentality of more than one post-isolation tour, it is refreshing to see how relaxed many members of this squad are. Relaxed enough to wander around the bustling streets of Rosario last Monday in ones and twos, rather than the rolling mauls, safety in numbers, of yore. James Small, for one, is delighted to be able to pass unrecognised in the throng.
The management made an important move early in the tour as well, announcing the team to play Rosario early enough to let all the players know where they stand. There was thus no pussy-footing around the issue of who would make the Test team and, thank heaven, no provincial nonsense from speculating journalists. They were able to watch the Test team practise days before it was officially announced, so no pathetic one-upmanship over who has the coach’s ear has been indulged in either.
The manager, too, has benefitted from the breath of fresh air provided by Argentina. On Tuesday while Gary Teichmann led the Test team through a game of touch rugby at Rosario’s Jockey Club, Andre Markgraaff ran around on an adjoining field with the rest of his management team, trying in vain to lay a hand on Carel du Plessis, and to develop a sidestep that also eluded him as a player, laughing all the while.
A certain humility pervades the camp at the moment and one wonders what previous Springbok coaches would have made of Markgraaff’s decision to practise defensive patterns on turnover ball. The drill saw Kobus Wiese knock over a tackle bag, but lose the ball forward, whence the follow-up forwards were coached where to slot in, how to avoid being caught offside and how to make sure that the first subsequent tackle is made well behind the opposition advantage line.
A simple enough exercise, but one can imagine a few of those previous coaches holding their heads in shame that the current incumbent could think so negatively as to expect a Springbok to lose the ball going forward.
Saturday’s first Test will tell us a little about how far this team has come since the All Black humiliation, and how far it can go before new faces are required. The best aspect of it is the back line where every position looks a cut above the Pumas. Re- uniting the back three of Andre Joubert, James Small and Jacques Olivier immediately gives the team balance and one is left wondering all over again how such minor talents as Justin Swart and Pieter Hendriks were allowed to play every Test they were available for this year.
Olivier for one will look upon Saturday’s game as a chance to re-invent his career. Three years ago in Buenos Aires he went down with flu on the eve of the first Test. A young man who was thought a political choice, not worth his place in the squad, took his chance and stepped into legend. That man was Chester Williams and while the Paarl pearl’s star waxed, Olivier’s waned, with injuries adding their insults to his illness. He may never get back the spring in his step taken by successive knee injuries, but he is a cerebral player par excellence and just to see him thinking on the ball is worth a lifetime of watching a lesser player sprint.
Olivier confirmed the mood in the camp while watching the dirt trackers beat Rosario 45- 36 on Tuesday night. He said, “This is the most relaxed tour we’ve ever been on. We’re playing plenty of golf and trying not to take our rugby too seriously. Mind you, things might change if we lose a couple of games.”
That is the nub of the matter. It’s easy to smile when you’re winning, and even when Tuesday’s game was almost turned on its head by Rosario’s amateurs, Markgraaff had the grace and patience to deal with an interminable bilingual press conference afterwards. If the Test side should slip up against the Pumas we might see a less sanguine performance from the manager.
In truth though, it is difficult to see a banana skin lying in wait on this section of the tour. The only real weakness for the Springboks is in the front row where Dawie Theron may struggle as badly against Roberto Grau as he did earlier in the year against Olo Brown. But Theron’s performance may be irrelevent if Natal’s Adrian Garvey confirms the rich promise that he has shown in the last two seasons.
Garvey is not as big as some tightheads, but he has a habit of finishing a game stronger than even the most illustrious of opponents. He is also a wonderful ball handler with a sound temperament and, if Markgraaff was culpable for not picking Garvey in his original squad, he will be forgiven for getting it right in the end.
If Garvey makes the step up well on this tour, the prospect of seeing him and Os du Randt in the same side next year is mouth- watering.
Players such as Garvey and Du Randt are crucial to the kind of game that Markgraaff and his assistants are trying to build. Basically it involves bringing the tight five to a level of fitness and vision that allows them to arrive first at the breakdown created by the loose forwards, thus creating quick second and third phase ball for the backs to run onto. If the theories work in practice we could be in for a thrilling few years of Springbok rugby. It is such a refreshing thought that it is to be hoped the drawing-board will be allowed to gather dust for as long as possible.
ENDS