Steve Morris : Rugby
In many ways, the week leading up to the departure of the Springboks for their five- Test tour of Europe has not been exactly the way coach Nick Mallett would have planned it.
He lost Corne Krige – the tearaway Western Province number six flanker the coach admitted was a vital cog in his plans – to injury even before the Springboks had a chance to be fitted out in their tour kit.
Krige was a victim of the sheer speed and ferocity at which last weekend’s memorable Currie Cup final was fought at Newland’s and that his side edged in as 14-12 winners over Free State must have done little to dampen Krige’s disappointment.
Neither can Mallett’s post-match comments have given the players on either side much to take heart from. Mallett, forthright as ever, bemoaned the fact that the Currie Cup was won on both sides running defensive patterns and forsaking the more open expansive game that has been so much a feature of the play of both Province and the Cheetahs all season.
The coach has a valid argument in this view, but his outspoken assumption that South Africa will not beat the All Blacks by failing to score tries needs some careful thought on his part, no matter how committed he is to running rugby.
For it must be said that the Springboks won the World Cup as much on a rock-solid defence as they did on exploiting the world-class flair of wings James Small and Chester Williams, and the incisive running from the back of fullback Andre Joubert.
It has even been argued that the final against New Zealand was decided as much by Japie Mulder’s devastating tackle on a flying Jonah Lomu as it was by that momentous extra-time drop-goal by Joel Stransky.
And perhaps Mallett might also meditate on the fact that the Springboks under his predecessor Carel du Plessis were just as imbued with a will to run as his line of thinking aims at instilling in the tour party for Europe. Yet, though they outscored the British Lions in tries, they lost the series.
This is not to say that a return to the ideals of the 10-man game are any real basis for progress in the modern game. The All Blacks have shown this through coach John Hart’s crafting of the concept of total rugby into a winning art form for the New Zealanders.
It was also emphasised on a more local level with the 54-22 annihilation of the Wallabies in the final tri-nations Test this season that remains the salient high point of an otherwise dismal year at international level for this country.