Andy Capostagno Rugby
Ian McIntosh is one of the nicest men I know. He has one Achilles heel. Rugby. He is so passionate about rugby it makes him ill. At King’s Park in Durban he sits two boxes down from the commentators with his brains trust of Hugh Reece-Edwards and Craig Jamieson. Thus ensconced he is three floors up from the action, behind glass and with a perfect view of both the field and a television screen. As a commentator I have learned not to gaze through the glass that separates us, otherwise I end up commentating on Mac, rather than the game.
Last week it must have taken all the considerable strength of Mac’s lieutenants to stop him from breaking the window and diving headfirst to his death, 50m below.
You may be the most passionate KwaZulu-Natal supporter on earth, but if you felt let down by the Coastal Sharks’s defeat at the hands of the Canterbury Crusaders, try multiplying your emotions by 1E000 and then, maybe, you might have some kind of a handle on how Mac was feeling.
The funny thing is that Mac’s rage doesn’t last. An hour after the game he has changed from axe-murderer to Norman Normal. Sharing a drink with Mac is now a pleasure as his mind makes the smooth transition from adrenaline-soaked to analytically-precise. He is even prepared to joke about the situation: “Well, we needed the air miles, you see.”
A day later and the plan is beginning to take shape. Chances are that Mac was told to sit down dozens of times on the flight to Christchurch for this Sunday’s semi-final against the Crusaders.
He will have been pacing the aisle, speaking to his assistants, motivating his players and trying to work out how to beat the odds.
He will, of course, need to rely on his experienced players. That Gary Teichmann will have a good game is a given. But Henry Honiball will not be at flyhalf, Pieter Muller will not be at centre and, it goes without saying, Wickus van Heerden will not be on the flank.
After all is said and done, Mac might just opt for simplicity.
He may address the troops thus: “I want every one of you to make two tackles for every one you missed last week. If you do that we might win.” “Might” being the operative word, for the Sharks player cupboard is a little bare, their confidence a little bruised.
Nick Mallett must know how Mac feels. Depending on whether the Sharks win, Mallett may, or may not, have a Springbok training camp next weekend. Before then he has to select a squad to fill a training camp and that is a little difficult just now.
It is easier to name the certainties than it has been for many years.
Teichmann will captain and he will be joined in the back row by the magnificent Andr Venter (“That guy is a machine,” Mallett told me) and the rejuvenated Rassie Erasmus. Mark Andrews and Krynauw Otto will lock the scrum and Adrian Garvey and Willie Meyer will share the onerous duties of the tight-head prop.
Joost van der Westhuizen will clear ball from the scrums and lineouts. That’s eight. We need 15, 21 or 30 depending on how thorough you’d like to be.
Okay, Honiball, Muller and Os du Randt will be there if fitness permits. James Small will be there if his social life permits and Andr Joubert will be there if Mallett can convince himself that the great man can be persuaded to apply his mind to the 1999 World Cup.
Now we begin to struggle. Who is the best hooker in the country? Probably it’s Naka Drotske, but after three months with the Golden Cats no one is quite sure who can play and who can’t anymore.
With James Dalton injured, the second-best is probably Chris Rossouw, who has been there and done that and deserves another chance at the highest level, if only to prove to his grandchildren that he won his World Cup- winners medal and did not find it in an antique shop.
At loosehead there is plenty of choice, but Du Randt has set a frighteningly high standard. Ollie le Roux held down the job at Free State and won the first of his Springbok caps before the outrageously gifted Du Randt came along to persuade Le Roux that the winter nights are warmer in Durban.
Otherwise it’s back to nice guy and tryer, Dawie Theron who, experience has proved, is not test class.
As for lock understudies, come home Fritz van Heerden, all is forgiven. Without Van Heerden it’s back to the worthies, Hannes Strydom, Braam Els and Steve Atherton, or a youngster such as Selborne Boome or Brad McLeod-Henderson.
At least that pair can understudy the back row as well, although AJ Venter has probably done enough to squeeze himself on to the bench, even while playing for the Cats.
At scrumhalf there is, as usual, a problem if Van der Westhuizen gets injured. Werner Swanepoel has been affected by playing for the Cats and, as usual, Dan van Zyl hasn’t played enough games to make a convincing claim.
Johnny Roux is unavailable and Kevin Putt is approaching his sell-by date, but is probably Mallett’s number one understudy.
If Honiball is unfit, flyhalf is a horrific conundrum. Maybe Hennie le Roux and Franco Smith will get their chance, based on the fact that they can both play inside centre too.
Louis Koen and Boeta Wessels have gone backwards and it is unlikely that Mallett will ever again be able to convince himself that Jannie de Beer is the answer. If De Beer is the answer, I’d like to know what the question is.
One centre is a certainty: Andr Snyman. But Japie Mulder is injured, Dick Muir has retired, Muller is injured . I could go on.
And then there’s the wing position. Stefan Terblanche has come on, but I suspect that one critical moment will reveal all over again that, love him or hate him, you can’t ignore Small on the right. On the left Pieter Rossouw continues to play himself back into the Maties second team, but fortunately there is an answer.
While all around were lamenting the need to play a dead game at Ellis Park last week, Chester Williams announced to the watching world that he is back. He may be a yard slower, but his defence is as awesome as ever it was and against Joel Vidiri, Jonah Lomu, Joe Roff, Ben Tune and company, you better believe that we are going to need defence.
As for the rest, one can only hope that Mallett can re-ignite the spark in Percy Montgomery and build a tight five worthy of the name. I have no doubt that he can, just as I have no doubt that the Sharks can beat the Crusaders. It’s just that the odds are against it. Horrendously so.