Andy Capostagno Rugby
The Currie Cup originated in Kimberley and there is every chance that this year it is going back there. For Griqualand West, under the coaching of Andre Markgraaff, have progressed this season from worthy underdogs to pedigree contenders; you might say that the rough diamonds have been cut and polished, although their opponents would attest to the fact that there is still a certain sharpness around the edges.
Those with long memories will suggest that there are certain parallels between the class of 1998 and the class of 1970, the last Griqua team to lift the coveted trophy. Then, as now, there was a Springbok at flyhalf. In 1970 it was Piet Visagie, today it is the wonder kid, Gaffie du Toit.
Visagie had the great Mannetjies Roux with him in midfield and while the current batch of centres in Kimberley may not quite match Roux for quality, they make up for it in quantity. Edrich Lubbe is a Springbok, Lourens Venter will be one soon and Franco Smith was so good that even Markgraaff couldn’t persuade him to stay.
Which says much about the history of Griqua sport in general. Kimberley has produced its fair share of stars in a number of codes, but if they were really good they didn’t tend to stay. Times are changing. The ease of travel has had something to do with it, but the one item that will always keep players in ostensibly one-dimensional places is success. Put another way, Manchester is not Paris, you know.
The Griqua style of rugby is not as easy to categorise as it may at first appear. Naturally it is based around uncompromising defence, something which Nick Mallett’s Springboks know a lot about. But defence is not enough to win titles. Once you have stopped the other side playing you actually have to do something with the ball yourself.
Which is where the likes of Du Toit and Venter come into the equation. But only after the forwards have adequately subdued the opposition defence. In the quest for subjection, Markgraaff has gone the same route as Mallett in picking mobile forwards before stern scrummagers. Mallett thinks Andr Venter may be a lock; Markgraaff has already nailed his colours to the mast by picking Phillip Smit in the engine room all season.
The Golden Lions thought they could do without Piet Krause despite the fact that as astute an eye as Gerrie Germishuys picked the pacy flank as a future star. What would Dawie Snyman not have given to turn back the clock last Saturday, when Krause made the Golden Lions back row look pedestrian with his all-action performance.
But Krause did not develop quickly enough in Johannesburg and he is one of several players to have benefited from the move to Kimberley. Most, admittedly, have come from the south, rather than the north. It is well documented that Markgraaff plucked Du Toit from Maties, but less well known that his scrumhalf at Stellenbosch, Dave von Hoesslin, came with him.
Von Hoesslin has been on the bench for most of the year and in a successful Vodacom Cup side Hakkies Husselman was propelled into the emerging Springboks team that beat Wales in Secunda. But in the space of two games (against Free State and the Golden Lions), Von Hoesslin has made people forget about Husselman so completely that it is the Matie who is being talked about as a possible tourist to Britain with Mallett’s Boks in November.
Which makes it doubly ironic that Western Province are in danger of not reaching the semi-finals of the Currie Cup due to problems at halfback. Flyhalf Louis Koen loses more of the plot each week and the wise men from Cape Town had to tempt the estimable Dan van Zyl from the Mpumalanga Pumas to give their back line some kind of worthwhile service.
Gavin Cowley, as astute an observer of halfback play as there is, was asked his opinion on the local talent by the Province selectors last year. He said: “One thing you must not do. You must not lose Gaffie du Toit and Dave von Hoesslin.” Which just goes to prove that you can lead a horse to water, but if he’s wearing blinkers you’re wasting your time.
The story has also been told of Jearus Nicholas, the wing from Tygerberg who gave up his job as a postman to learn the game under Markgraaff. Every week he does something remarkable and it will not be long before people are talking about matters other than the trademark swallow dive of Mr Nicholas.
But we began by comparing the 1970 team to the current incumbents. There is another parallel. The winning penalty for Griquas against Northern Transvaal in 1970 came from Peet Smith, a flanker. Of course, in those days the forwards did much of the place kicking. But times change and while Ollie le Roux may have a bit of fun kicking for the Sharks, Basil de Coning has the technique to become the real thing.
Some major provinces are going to be disappointed in this Currie Cup season of wildly fluctuating fortunes. How much more upset would, say, the Blue Bulls be, if the winning goal in this year’s Currie Cup final were to be kicked from the touchline, 45m out, into a swirling wind, by a hooker?