Andy Colquhoun Rugby
Saturday’s Super 12 collision between the Sharks and the Stormers at Newlands probably has more sub-plots than you’d find in a property developer’s fantasy for cluster homes on Table Mountain.
At face value, the game is simply about the maximum of five log points to give the winner a leg-up towards the competition’s semi-finals. But that’s like saying The Merchant of Venice is about debt collection in Renaissance Italy.
It’s rather more complicated than that.
At stake is the title of “South Africa’s team”, the reward for our leading contenders in the tournament and behind whom the nation’s support is likely to coalesce once they carry the rainbow flag into the knockout stage.
Then, for the 15 Natalians in the Sharks’ line-up, there is the small matter of revenge. Last September they lost to Province for the first time in three years to surrender the right to home ground advantage in the last four of the Currie Cup.
And don’t forget the shirts. The Stormers will be the men in black, usurping the colour traditionally associated with the Sharks and forcing the visitors to wear their change jerseys. (In the United Kingdom this would be the cause of some celebration in the marketing department of football clubs, encouraging supporters to purchase the second “away” strip.)
And then there are the individual clashes. Should the 35-year-old Andr Joubert be recalled to the Springboks at the expense of Percy Montgomery, the holder of Joubert’s old number 15 shirt for the past 16 internationals?
Is Bobby Skinstad’s unique attacking flair from number eight of more World Cup worth than Gary Teichmann’s peerless but more prosaic qualities of diligent hard work?
Robbie Kempson scrums down against his old front-row pals from Durban; Mark Andrews will be intent on seeing off the challenge from Johnny Trytsman for his number five Springbok jersey; and who will be left standing when the world’s fiercest flyhalves in Henry Honiball and Braam van Straaten – South Africa’s one and two – bang heads?
There’s more meat in this game than in Ollie le Roux’s triple mega-cheeseburger, but, for the neutral South African supporter, there is a dilemma as well. Who do we want to win?
Victory for the Stormers would leave them perhaps needing no more than two wins from their remaining four home games to claim a top four place. Three wins might give South Africa its first home semi-final in Super 12.
Five points for the Sharks would put them firmly back in the frame and, with a match against the Bulls at King’s Park in a week’s time, they could go on tour with their destiny firmly in their own hands – particularly as they face what are likely to be a series of “eight-pointers” against the Blues, the Reds and the Crusaders.
The Sharks’ defeat by the Hurricanes last week was more careless than culpable and they weren’t half as poor as some reports suggested. But a second defeat would leave coach Ian McIntosh contemplating the prospect of failing to reach the play-offs for the first time.
Defeat would be less critical for the Stormers, but a high-scoring draw – with three points for both sides – would probably satisfy honour and strategic demands as well as providing one final twist to the plot.
As it is, there is likely to be a painful culling of the contenders over the weekend.
Nine sides are chasing three places behind the Highlanders, but either the Blues or the Hurricanes – who face each other at Eden Park, New Zealand – will be dealt a mortal blow by defeat, while the champion combination, the Crusaders, may hear their death knell sounded.
They face the Highlanders in Carisbrook’s House of Pain and defeat is not really negotiable for Todd Blackadder’s side. It would leave them needing four wins from their final five matches – three of which are away from home – to have any chance of hanging on to their title.
There will be contrasting pressures at Loftus Versfeld where the Reds have everything to lose against a Bulls side which has only one thing to gain – a little respect from the public and the rest of the competition.
Nick Mallett’s technical analyst Jake White has been seconded to assist Bulls coach Eugene van Wyk. His first job should be to plug the huge holes in midfield through which opponents have gambolled with impunity throughout the tournament.
In the other match, the Chiefs, the only other side without a victory, have a tough one against the Brumbies in Canberra.
They appear to have too much talent to go through the competition without a win and it would suit South Africa’s cause if they ended their wait this weekend.