Andy Capostagno Rugby
Those who take comfort in the constricting cloak of provincialism have a fun weekend ahead. The Cats play the Stormers at Newlands with, if you believe the hype, the visitors determined to rain on the Super 12 log leaders’ parade and the home side looking forward to sending the Vaalies back home with a 50-point hiding.
The South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) would like us to believe that its concept of regionalism has driven provincialism underground, but to stand beneath the main stand at Newlands last Saturday and listen to the familiar chant of “Pro … vince, Pro … vince” in the wake of the Stormers’ narrow win over the Chiefs was to realise that Sarfu’s argument is bunkum.
Equally, the Cats last week fielded a pack with seven Griquas players in it, and only five players in the starting line-up were attached to the Golden Lions Rugby Union. It is one of the charming eccentricities of the regional system that Griquas are attached to the Cats. After all, Kimberley is the capital of the Northern Cape. Do you think that will stop the Cape Town bandwagon from exploiting the north/south divide? I think not.
Cats wing Chester Williams will probably be booed when he runs on to the park on Saturday. He has gone from hero to zero by daring to seek his fortune outside the province that gave him his start and a World Cup-winner’s medal, to boot. The question to be asked is whether the booing of a former favourite will be such a bad thing.
For regionalism is one thing, one egalitarian ideal. But it ignores the fundamental reason why 99% of any crowd turns up at any sporting event. They wants to see the foreigners get a good klap. The fact that some of the foreigners may be more local than their own players matters not one whit. A victory for the home team is life-affirming. It means you can hold your head high and smile in the face of adversity. Why would anybody want to get rid of that?
The fact that victory for the Stormers would make a South African team log champions for the first time ever in the Super 12 will affect the Cats preparations. It will mean that they want to win even more.
And in case anyone thinks that the rest of the world is laughing at such petty-minded ignorance of the bigger theme, we should remember that, on the same day, the Hurricanes will want desperately to beat the Highlanders.
It makes for a delicious final weekend of log action. The Highlanders dominated the tournament from week one, inspired by the All Black front and back rows and the dynamism of Jeff Wilson.
Injuries have made them a shadow of the team that began the tournament and they could scarcely have picked a worse way to finish log action than against the Hurricanes in Wellington.
For not only are the Hurricanes just about the most unpredictable team in the tournament, but people from Wellington really don’t like people from Dunedin. It seems that the tournament organisers enjoy watching local rivalries upset the apple- cart.
In the last round of log action last year, the Queensland Reds needed to beat the ACT Brumbies in Canberra to reach the semi- finals. Needless to say, they lost 23-16 and the Brumbies celebrated by carrying their fly-half, David Knox, around the stadium to celebrate his last game and, more importantly, the slaying of the dragon from Brisbane. The fact that an Australian team had thus failed to reach the knockout stages was a total irrelevance.
And so it will be at Newlands and Wellington on Saturday. At least the Stormers and the Highlanders will know what they have to do, due to the fact that the Reds play the Sharks in Brisbane 24 hours earlier. This year the Reds know that they cannot be eliminated from the top four, but a four-try performance could win them a coveted home semi-final berth.
The Sharks, having thrown away victory against the Crusaders last week, now need the same team to come unstuck against the Waratahs down the coast in Sydney. They then need to beat the Reds and hope that bonus points are in their favour, rather than against them. The Sharks’ destiny is in the hands of others and they will know better than anyone else that they only have themselves to blame.
Games should not be lost from 22-6 up at half time, as the Sharks were against the Crusaders. A certain naivety seemed to creep in, something not unknown among South African teams touring New Zealand. Which is one good reason to suspect that both the Highlanders and the Stormers will not be side-tracked at the final junction box; they know their opposition too well and they dare not let down the chauvinistic hopes of the home crowd.