John Perlman
Nick Mallett doesn’t look worried. “It’s a very nice problem I have,” says the Springbok coach of the fact that his back row, widely seen as the finest in rugby, currently excludes a 22-year-old more and more people regard as potentially the finest loose forward in the world. Bobby Skinstad doesn’t seem too troubled either.
“I have my role in the side and I’ve been very fortunate to be part of this Springbok team,” he says.
Skinstad’s Springbok role so far has been to come on with about 20 minutes left.
His last two supporting roles saw him score match-turning tries, against the All Blacks in Durban and against the Wallabies in the Tri-Nations decider at Ellis Park in August. “Twenty minutes . it’s not really enough for a hungry rugby player,” Skinstad says with a half a grin, then adds: “But I’m very happy to bide my time.”
But “bide my time” and “Bobby Skinstad” don’t really belong in the same sentence. Capped by Western Province at the age of 19, he won his first Springbok cap and a Currie Cup winners’ medal before he played a full first-class season. And after some thrilling performances as he led Western Province into the Currie Cup final, the question many fans have been asking is this: who moves over to make way for the wonder boy?
The Springbok number six, seven and eight jerseys currently belong to Rassie Erasmus, Andr Venter and skipper Gary Teichmann. One notion knocking around is to move Venter to lock and put Skinstad at seven. Mallett allows himself a brief what-if – “it would give my pack fantastic mobility” – then insists it’s not going to happen, yet.
“The media are dying for sporting stars and Bobby has caught their attention,” he says. “But I’m working on a more patient approach with him. The guys in possession, who are playing well, will have to start playing badly for things to change.” (Not that Mallett is afraid to axe icons -just ask James Small and Andr Joubert, left out of the 36-man touring squad.)
Skinstad, Mallett says, is big and fast, “blessed with staggering attacking skills” and has “a maturity way beyond his years”. But the Bok coach has been critical of the player’s offensive tackling: “You need turnover ball in the modern game and this is where Venter and Erasmus know their stuff.”
Mallett’s slightly guarded comments partly reflect his coaching philosophy. “The way the team plays is the key to the result,” he says, “not the individuals.” But Mallett’s assistant Alan Solomons – also Skinstad’s coach at Western Province and his close friend – more than makes up for this reserve.
Solomons recruited Skinstad, who was born in Zimbabwe but played for Natal and South African Schools, before moving to the Western Province sevens side two years ago.
“The first time I clapped eyes on him I realised I was looking at something special,” Solomons recalls. “It’s one of the most exciting things that can happen to a coach. It’s like finding gold. Bobby is going to be one of the best loose forwards the world has ever seen. He has vision, skill and unbelievable pace. It’s like watching Graeme Pollock – you know you are privileged to see someone you won’t see the like of again in your lifetime.”
Much of the appreciation for South Africa’s newest rugby superstar, though, has been more pop than profound.
For thousands of fans, and sections of the media, Skinstad is Scrumming Spice – his boyish good looks and infectious enjoyment of the game, and of life, massively marketable in the first full bloom of the professional game. His female fans call themselves Bobby Girls, and Newlands Bobby World.
Solomons knows that this could get tricky. “We have regular chats to make sure that the balance is always right, that the image portrayed is always that of a clean-cut, intelligent man,” he says.
Somehow the cover story in the rather downmarket You magazine slipped past though, Skinstad posing shirt off with the promise of “More hunky pics inside”. Skinstad’s management – with whom, he says, he has mapped out the next five years – will now probably be direct him away from that sort of publicity. Skinstad himself, a genuinely friendly, intelligent fellow who has studied English and psychology at the University of Stellenbosch, hints that he is happy with that.
“I’m a fairly quiet character,” he says. “I don’t mind the attention when it’s relevant to rugby but I don’t care for the off-the- field stuff that much.”
He’s made a point, he says, of “avoiding people looking for reflected glory. I live in digs with seven other people who don’t play rugby. They don’t care if I’ve had some niggle at training. `Stop whining,’ they say. `Live a bit.’ I fetch my own beers from the fridge, do the dishes and wash the floor when it’s my turn. The guys would just laugh at me if I acted the star. I’ve tried to be as happy-go-lucky, boy- next-door as I can. Who can really dislike the boy next door?”
Nobody – apart from the neighbour who thinks the boy next door spends too a little too much time in his house.
You hear occasional mutterings that some players feel Skinstad may have got too much too soon.
So Western Province’s defeat by Joost van der Westhuizen’s Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup final – on the eve of the Grand Slam tour which he kicked off this week by captaining the Bok midweek side to a 10 try, 62-9 thrashing of Glasgow Caledonians – may have been a blessing in disguise.
Skinstad was gracious in the Currie Cup defeat, as he was in this week’s victory. But behind the ready smile is the look of a young man who knows his time will come again.
And again. And soon.
ENDS
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