Springboks Andy Capostagno Rugby
It is tempting to say what a difference a year makes, but undoubtedly there are a few pedants out there who will point out that when South Africa meet Australia in Saturday’s Tri-Nations decider at Ellis Park, it will actually be only 364 days since the two last met in a Test match in this country.
But for all that has happened in the sport of rugby union in the respective countries during that time, it might as well be a decade or more.
The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has staged a successful Test match at the Subiaco Oval in Perth, thousands of kilometres away from rugby heartland on the east coast. With other marketing coups such as an advertising campaign featuring the likes of John Eales and George Gregan naked, save for body paint, it is not fanciful to suggest that the new millennium could see Union eclipse League as the second favourite oval ball game in Australia.
In South Africa the same time span has seen even more radical changes. The president of the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) took the president to court and won and then found himself replaced in office (still as yet, only in an acting capacity) by a black man. Marketing coups have been conspicuous by their absence, but Sarfu may well argue that when the national side is on a run of 13 straight wins, marketing is not necessarily a vital requirement.
And when all is said and done the big difference between the two sides that will run on to Ellis Park on Saturday and those which took the field at Loftus Versfeld on August 23 1997 is that both are brimful of the shining confidence which is only garnered through winning on a regular basis.
And the bond between these Australian and South African sides is firstly that both have recently beaten the All Blacks both at home and away, and secondly, and far more importantly, both changed their coaches after that Loftus encounter.
It is tempting to speculate that no coach in the history of the game has been sacked after such a resounding success as a record 61-22 victory, but Carel du Plessis’s goose had been cooked long before the wooden spoon encounter in Pretoria by a series loss to the British Lions and a directionless 55-35 humiliation at the hands of the All Blacks in Auckland. Similarly, Greg Smith’s dismissal from the Australian set-up was a cumulative climate of under-performance rather than one almighty cock-up against the Springboks.
Which brings us to another coincidence; the fact that both the ARU and Sarfu were too scared to appoint coaches regarded as mavericks until they had absolutely no choice. In a union which is still regarded in some circles as a throwback to the days when passing the port to the left was more important than winning test matches, Rod MacQueen was perceived to be from the wrong side of the tracks.
And in a union which seemed to live by the motto, “he that hath a secret to keep must keep it secret that he hath a secret to keep”, Nick Mallett was regarded as being on entirely too friendly a footing with the press.
Mallett and MacQueen have a high regard both for each other and each other’s teams, but who will have the last laugh on Saturday? MacQueen has successfully converted Stephen Larkham into a flyhalf, the evidence there for all to see when the former fullback provided the deliciously delayed scoring pass for Matt Burke to score a try that had been built through all of 13 phases against the All Blacks in Christchurch.
And with Larkham growing into the role and Burke staying fit, the missing links in the Wallaby back line have been filled. In addition, MacQueen’s gamble on the innate talent of young Tom Bowman at lock has been rewarded and the time is not far away when the peerless John Eales, Wallaby captain and lock forward extraordinaire, will only have to fulfil the role of three men, rather than the current four.
Like Mallett, MacQueen has discovered that shrewd use of the substitutes bench can camouflage the deficiencies of a suspect front row. The time will come when both the Springboks and the Wallabies will lose a match to an inferior side, due to technical deficiencies in the scrum, but on Saturday like will meet like.
South Africa will begin as narrow favourites because Ellis Park is a ground that always brings out the best in them and frequently the worst in their opposition. On the personnel side, they justify the tag because of a back row perfectly suited to hard fields and the modern game. No one has yet managed to stop the Australian half backs from dictating, but Teichmann, Venter and especially Erasmus will surely provide the corrosive hot breath on the necks of Larkham and Gregan this time.
Teichmann will lead his team onto the park for the 29th Test as captain, equalling the record set by Francois Pienaar, who captained the Boks to victory in the 1995 World Cup at the same venue as Saturday’s winner-takes- all game.
Teichmann will also extend his record to 34 consecutive Test appearance for the Springboks.
If the amazing heroics of King’s Park last week are anything to go by, Bobby Skinstad will play an important second-half role. Mallett says he wants the International Rugby Board to relax its substitution law, effectively making a rugby team 22 people instead of 15. His point of increasing the spectacle is well made when the example of three tries in 13 minutes to pull the All Black test out of the fire is cited.
But we are in danger both of compartmentalising players in the manner of American football and cheapening international caps. Everyone remembers Frik du Preez’s 38 caps. Who will remember such things if, say, Ollie le Roux were to win a similar number without once playing for 80 minutes?
Mallett will use his bench as shrewdly as ever on Saturday and not exclusively to rest fatigued players.
After Saturday’s 24-23 nail-biter Mallett was asked whether the All Blacks had fatally sapped his side’s energy for the encounter against an Australian team that has had three weeks off. He said: “I don’t see why they should be tired. They only played for 15 minutes today.” And he was only half in jest.