Andy Capostagno Rugby
We live in strange times. Through the years of South Africa’s sporting isolation the apex of ambition in this country was to play against the British. The All Blacks provided the sternest rugby challenge, the Australians the same in cricket, but the cradle of both games was Britain and tours to and from the home countries were special.
Now the South African New Zealand Australian Rugby committee (Sanzar) is prepared to forgo rugby tests against the British in an effort to grow the game elsewhere. And, bizarre to relate, they are absolutely correct. Let the Rugby Football Union squabble with its clubs and barter with its broadcasters, the southern hemisphere has bigger fish to fry.
Next year the Springboks might warm up for the Tri-Nations with tests against Samoa, Fiji and Tonga, or the United States and Canada, or even (and this would be nice) a three-Test series against Argentina. At the end of those hypothetical encounters the Springboks would be a lot more battered and bruised than they were against Ireland, Wales and England this year, which might be regarded as a bad thing. But they would also be a lot better prepared for the rigours of the Tri-Nations, which might be regarded as a good thing.
Rian Oberholzer, South Africa’s representative on the Sanzar committee has said: “The United States is a sleeping giant in rugby.” But it would be more correct to say that Argentina holds that status. You only need to look at the Pumas’s under-21 team, currently cutting a swathe through their opponents in the Cape, to understand that.
Over the last 10 years Argentina has produced schoolboy, student and under- 21 teams capable of holding their own in any company. It is only at full Test level where the Pumas are under- achievers, something which a concerted attempt at upliftment from Sanzar would go a long way towards curing.
The time is not far away when the Tri- Nations will become the Four Nations (or Quad-Nations if you prefer) and after that the sky’s the limit. The effect of such evolution might be to convince the members of the four home unions that parochialism is killing the game in the northern hemisphere.
The Heineken Cup, played for by the club sides of the Five Nations, was an attempt to raise the level of the local game in the same way that the Super 12 has here. It seemed to be working, so the English clubs have pulled out. Go figure.
Sanzar have discovered the best way to cope with that kind of logic. They have ignored it. When the Springboks complete their tour of the home unions in December it may be a long, long time before they undertake such a trip again.
Only money would lure them back, and with the way the product is being grown in the southern hemisphere, even the relative strength of the pound against the rand may not be convincing enough.
Anyway, at least in the short term, it seems that we are stuck with the Tri- Nations. Ag, shame. Up until this year it has been a very one-sided competition. New Zealand won all their games, Australia beat South Africa at home and vice-versa. We’ve already had the shock of Australia 24, New Zealand 16, what does the weekend hold in store?
Well, for one, the Springboks may appear to be the home team in Perth. The Subiaco Oval holds 40 000 people and according to Gary Teichmann, at least 15 000 on Saturday will be South African ex-pats living in the world’s most isolated city.
Nothing lifts a team so much as support away from home and that maybe enough to tip the scales in the Springboks’ favour.
Australia are suffering from the fall- out of their win in Melbourne, with half the team nursing injuries sustained against the All Blacks. They are also unlikely to be capable of raising their game to the same level two weeks in a row. By contrast the Boks have an unchanged team from that which won in the mud of Newlands and they have had a week off. They have been living in Perth for 10 days and they are oozing a quiet confidence.
All of which might suggest the pride which comes before a fall. After all, Nick Mallett is on a streak of nine wins in a row, but has yet to meet a southern hemisphere team during his time in charge. But Mallett has every reason to be confident; he has built a damn good team during his 10 months in charge.
There are areas of weakness; the tight five are not all that they could be and the three-quarter line hasn’t yet clicked this season, despite scoring 96 points against Wales. But the strength of the side is in its middle five, the back row and the half-backs and that is the rock upon which the rest of the side relies for its pattern.
In New Zealand, Teichmann has long been recognised as the perfect number eight. He plays a similar game to the great Buck Shelford, although in the modern dispensation he is forced to stay on his feet rather more.
The Kiwis believe they may have unearthed another gem in Taine Randell, but they are less sanguine about the depth of talent on the flank. If John Hart could have three wishes right now, he would probably ask for Teichmann, Andr Venter and Rassie Erasmus.
These three have grown immensely as players under Mallett, who regards Venter in particular as the perfect rugby-playing machine. Inasmuch as the quiet man from the Free State wins ruck ball, line-out ball and loose ball, tackles like 10 men and runs like a wing, he may be right.
He lacks only subtlety, which is provided in some unlikely places by Erasmus. Look out for all three on Saturday in a match likely to be the best seen so far this season, and likely only to be bettered by the next Tri- Nations game. And the one after that, and the one after that .