Andy Capostagno Rugby
If God had meant man to live in England, he’d have given him gills. That line kept recurring in my thoughts during two trips to the Cape last week.
On Saturday Clive Woodward’s prayers were answered as the heavens opened and soft, suppressing rain fell on his England team at Newlands. On Sunday the weather cleared up briefly, but on Monday at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch, a rugby match between the under-21 sides of South Africa and Argentina was played in conditions that would have convinced a duck to get out his brolly and gumboots.
There is one thing to be said about playing in extreme conditions: you learn things about players and teams that can be disguised elsewhere.
On Saturday we learned that the Springbok scrum is sick. Against a workmanlike (and largely third choice) England eight, Gary Teichmann’s men gained not one centimetre of ground in the set scrums.
What does this tell us? That Robbie Kempson and Ollie le Roux added together at loosehead do not add up to one Os du Randt? Yes, but we knew that. That Mark Andrews and James Dalton have their minds on other disciplines than scrumming? Or is it more fundamental?
After the first test against Ireland, Nick Mallett called in Paul Day, a scrum doctor from the University of Cape Town. But hard though Day tried, he could find no remedy for the debilitating effects of scrumming against Paul Wallace. Never mind, the Springboks stuck 96 points on Wales the next week – problem solved.
But at Newlands the problem resurfaced against an England front row that held its ground with ease. Now the Boks are on tour in Australasia and if they encounter equally stern, or heaven help us, sterner resistance from Australia and New Zealand, all the good confidence building work against the minnows of the northern hemisphere will have been wasted and we will once again look forward to a Tri-Nations full of South African underachievement.
Guy Kebble is not amused. “Scrumming,” says the Bull, “is about rhythm. You need eight players who are committed to the idea of the scrum and then it is just a case of hydraulics.
“When Natal won the Currie Cup in 1990 we did it by scrumming everyone else off the park. We didn’t do that because we were bigger than everyone else, we did it with rhythm and hydraulics.”
Something along those lines was visible in Stellenbosch on Monday when Argentina beat South Africa 41-6. The baby Pumas scored five tries and a penalty try and they did it all through scrumming.
It was not a question of weight. The Springbok under-21’s tight five outweighed their opponents by about 30kgs. But where the Pumas took a leaf out of the senior side’s famous Bajada shove, the Boks were a collection of individuals in vain search of a purpose.
And this was not a motley collection of South African walk on players. Loosehead prop John Smit of Natal and locks Boela du Plooy of Free State and Victor Matfield of the Blue Bulls will very probably go on to play for the senior Springboks. It is not a question of talent, it is a question of organisation.
There is an over-riding system of thought in rugby in this country that says if one fails bring in another one. This system has led to the Blue Bulls employing the services of more than 20 fly-halves since the retirement of Naas Botha.
This is also what is wrong with South African scrumming. The coaches look for a quick fix. Even Mallett is probably counting the days before he can call on Du Randt once again, unaware that the reintroduction of the mighty man could cause as many problems as it solves.
Word is out that the All Blacks are vulnerable. The winners of the first two Tri-Nations series have been forced into restructuring and, just as Mallet is struggling to camouflage the loss of Du Randt, John Hart is getting used to life without legends. Everyone said that Sean Fitpatrick and Zinzan Brooke would not be easily replaced and such an eventuality has come to pass.
Taine Randell may have become a great player and captain, but if Anton Oliver is the answer at hooker then why was Hart even considering playing Olo Brown in the number two shirt? Is it because he wants to cling obstinately to the past, even if it means reshuffling his resources? The time is fast approaching when even more All Black icons will have to be dispensed with. Ian Jones is staring a sell-by date in the face and so (whisper it) is Michael Jones.
By contrast Australia have emerged from the Super 12 with a few reputations in tatters, but a willingness to throw new talent into the fray. Their 76-0 drubbing of England may, upon reflection, have been closer to the freak result claims of Woodward than a few of us wished to admit at the time, but if the Wallabies snatch a win in Melbourne on Saturday it will be time to sit up and take notice of coach Rod MacQueen’s team building.
We may even be forced to admit that picking Stephen Larkham at fly-half instead of fullback was an inspired move. If there has been a significant removal of responsibility from the fly-half position in the modern game, maybe we have to look at the idea of installing a ball player there whose very last thought is concerned with kicking the leather off the ball. And then again, maybe Larkham at fly-half is a luxury than can be afforded when you have Tim Horan at inside centre.
The one thing in the Springboks’ favour is that they now have a week away from home to work together. Already ensconced in Perth, they will watch Australia take on the All Blacks and look for a solution to the thorny problem of winning the Tri-Nations.
Being away from home means no distractions from family and friends and not so innocent bystanders telling you that everything will be fine if the coach only realises that that oke is a palookah who shouldn’t be on tour and that Japie van der Domkrak from Bethlehem is the answer to all Springbok problems.
There is not too much wrong with this Springbok squad and with a little fine tuning I can imagine Teichmann holding aloft a few trophies in the years to come. And funnily enough, I happen to know that Kebble will be in Perth in a few days time.
ENDS