Andy Capostagno Rugby
It would have been a wise man indeed who predicted that Wallaby coach Rod Macqueen would have more to worry about than his opposite number in the Springbok camp after last Saturday’s Test in Cape Town. For while South Africa have stumbled from one embarrassment to another during the Tri- Nations, no one was actually that surprised about the lack of achievement by Nick Mallett’s men.
Australia, however, were fancied to win the tournament for the first time in their history. Few will remember it now, so fleeting is fame, but the Wallabies were expected to give the All Blacks rather more than they could handle at Eden Park last month. The result, 34-15 to New Zealand, made a few people sit up and recognise the quality of John Hart’s combination, but the stubborn conviction that the Australian backs were the best in the world remained. Until last Saturday.
Faced with an old-fashioned, in-your-face piece of defending from the Springboks, the Wallabies simply went to pieces. Even the great George Gregan was choosing wrong options and throwing out poor passes. On the right wing Ben Tune was guilty of throwing the worst pass of the lot, squandering a five man overlap in the first minute, and generally lived up to David Campese’s unpopular assessment – more interested in running into people than around them.
On the other wing, Joe Roff had a day to forget and the midfield never came to terms with South Africa’s reorganised defensive wall, even after the palpably unfit Brendan Venter left the field at half-time. The Wallaby tight five was at sixes and sevens and even the battle-scarred Phil Kearns had a poor game, missing his jumpers in the lineouts and struggling with his props in the scrums.
And even with all of this, Australia should have won what was a desperately mundane encounter. It is all well and good to point to the scoreboard and reiterate that a win is a win is a win, but if either side begins the World Cup so poorly South Africa will lose to Scotland and Australia to Ireland. Simple as that.
And because Mallett has an analytical mind he wants to bury that thought in a month- long training camp away from the hurly- burly of the Currie Cup. He wants to get his men used to each other’s company, work on a few ideas and generally rest up before the World Cup starts in October. He is wrong.
If the greatest fear is of losing a key player to injury then it is too late now. Rugby is a collision sport where injury is inevitable. Even in training it is impossible to wrap a player in cotton wool. More than that, in matches that don’t matter, such as the two practise games that Mallett has lined up, a player’s fear of injury frequently causes him to hang back from the physical encounter and it is exactly in those situations – a lack of commitment – that injuries tend to happen.
If the second greatest fear is taking to the World Cup a squad riven with provincialism, then tough. It is as natural to South African sport as breathing. In some instances it is actually preferable to an all for one, one for all spirit, for it encourages competition for places.
How does Mallett expect his players to feel if five Natalians are allowed to play against Western Province on Saturday, but only Breyton Paulse gets to play for the streeptuie? Is it some misguided way of convincing the country that Province players are not being favoured after all?
The Currie Cup is a competition envied the world over. In many ways it is superior to the Super 12 exactly because of the provincial element. It is not some gathering of elite players running around in designer clothing for the greater good of Sanzar’s coffers, it is a century-old tradition, albeit an extremely chauvinist one. South African players cut their teeth on Currie Cup tales and to take it away from them, even in a World Cup year, is to tell them that what they believed to be important was nothing of the kind.
As it happens the Golden Lions, up against Boland this weekend, can probably win without having to dig too deep into their test playing resources. Ditto, the South Western Districts Eagles against struggling North- West, and Natal, thanks to Mallett’s generosity with his releases. Free State have a bye and need to beat the Falcons in Brakpan next week to have a chance of a home semi- final.
The point is that all the contenders should be allowed to pick their strongest side from hereon in. It will benefit the World Cup cause far more than another misguided training camp at the beach.
ENDS
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