Steve Morris : Rugby
The Springboks go to Europe for a five-Test tour, which starts with an outing against Italy in Bologna on November 8, with a substantially new side and rising new hopes that Springbok rugby under Nick Mallett is not the brittle entity that the series loss against the British Lions would have the world believe.
It is something that every rugby person in the country longs to see turn from a handful of dusty dreams of the 1995 World Cup into a gleaming pride-filled reality. Strange then that the South African Rugby Football Union’s (Sarfu) first pronouncement under the reign of the new coach would be to put the brakes on Mallett’s independence in selecting his side.
Sarfu’s pronouncement on the ban on Springbok selection for foreing-based players is one further sign of the unhappy marriage between the modern professional game and the entrenched ideas of the days of amateur administration.
There is no secret that Mallett would dearly have loved to have Fritz van Heerden among his lock forwards in Europe in the absence of Hannes Strydom and Kobus Wiese to complete the second row alongside Mark Andrews.
But that possibility was ruled out when Van Heerden used his marriage to a Dutch citizen to open the doors for a contract with Leicester Tigers where he will line up with Joel Stransky in the English league this season. In his place, Mallett has opted for the growing talents of Wium Basson of the Blue Bulls, one of the 10 new caps in the 36-strong tour party.
Some of the changes were forced on the coach by the normal attrition of the rugby season: Wiese and Strydom early on, fullback Andre Joubert later and scrumhalf Johnnie Roux all being ruled out through injury.
Sarfu’s pronouncement – blandly defended as “merely following the example set by the All Blacks in keeping their players away from Japan and other places” – strikes one as being a retrogressive step.
It certainly hasn’t helped Mallett and, as an aside, it must be noted that the New Zealanders who have represented their country since South Africa engendered global professionalism with the World Cup contracts, seem to have been treated with far more understanding and respect than have some of the men who have worn the green and gold with distinction. World Cup skipper Francois Pienaar is ust the most obvious example.
It is a seemingly narrow pattern of thought in a game which has become increasingly intercontinental in approach with the institution of the Super 12 and the mushrooming of the World Cup as just two examples: a decision to reinstate the laager of our years of isolation which will doubtless serve this country’s game ill in the future.
For there can be little doubt that as the rand continues its sullen slide against the world’s major currencies, more and more of our top players will make the decision that as professionals it is their duty to go where the rewards are greatest.
Mallett has done a fine job in examining the players of true class, balancing that against the form over the past six weeks and melding in a smattering of he younger set who will have to face the defence of the World Cup in Wales come 1999 and one would also suspect that he emerges as a coach of international stature and one of the real thinkers of the game before th tour is over.
But, in the light of Sarfu’s decision to close the borders, there is a distinct danger that he will be coaching the most successful feeder team on the planet.
Springbok squad
Gary Teichmann (captian), Thinus Delport, Percy Montgomery, Justin Swart, Mcneill Hendricks, Breyton Paulse, Pieter Rossouw, James Small, Joe Gillingham, Dick Muir, Franco Smith, Andre Snyman, Jannie de Beer, Henry Honiball, Boeta Wessels, Werner Swanepoel, Joost van der Westhuizen, Dan van Zyl, Andrew Aitken, Johan Erasmus, Corne Krige, Bobby Skinstadt, Philip Smit, Andre Venter, Mark Andrews, Wium Basson, Braam Els, Krynauw Otto, Os du Randt, Adrian Garvey, Willie Meyer, Dawie Theron, Toks van der Linde, James Dalton, Naka Drotske, Dale Santon