Andy Capostagno RUGBY
There are still some dinosaurs who will tell you that the game of rugby union should have nothing to do with show business, most of whom probably thoroughly enjoyed England’s try-less 15- 9 win over France in last week’s Six Nations. Such relics of a former amateur regime will be appalled by the marketing people who tell us “It’s Show Time” this weekend.
But like it or not, it is a fact that the greatest rugby show on earth gets under way with the fifth instalment of the Super 12. And the purists will tell you it is indeed show time, as in “show us what you’ve got”. The pre-season bluster counts for nothing when the whistle blows for the opening match.
Only on Monday will we know if the new laws will enshrine the tight-head prop as the king of the hill, or finally make the squat strongman redundant. Only then will we know if the “wheel” has been reinvented. Spies in New Zealand claim to have seen the Sharks practising the “wheel”, a move which was supposedly consigned to the dustbin of history by previous law changes. And on Monday we will know if the new offside law is a) enforceable and b) desirable. It promises to be a fun weekend.
To begin at the beginning then, the Sharks are in action at 8:35am South African time on Friday against the Hurricanes in Wellington. Time was when a South African coach would have looked at the Hurricanes back three and wondered how to keep the scoreline respectable. But the World Cup caused a few halos to slip and while Christian Cullen, Jonah Lomu and Tana Umaga remain considerable players, they have been proven mortal.
In the World Cup semi-final the French half backs, Fabien Galthie and Christophe Lamaison, kicked over the heads of the two wings and made them turn, leaving the pace of Christophe Dominici to do the rest. In that game Cullen endured what he will hope was his final outing for the All Blacks at outside centre and now reverts to his favoured position for the Hurricanes.
The question is whether the Sharks half- back pair of Chad Alcock and Gaffie du Toit can gain enough quality ball to upset the All Black trio with similar tactics to the French. It is a tactic fraught with danger; kick badly and Cullen will receive enough good ball in open space to win the game on his own; kick well and the forwards might still let territorial dominance slip.
But Sharks coach Hugh Reece- Edwards will never again be in the position where he has absolutely nothing to lose. It’s a new team, a new regime up against the Hurricanes in Wellington, where they expect to beat most anybody. But they lost heavily to the Brumbies in pre- season play and giant flanker Filo Tiatia has a long-term injury. They are beatable and if Gaffie is “on” they will be beaten.
In South Africa most attention will be focused upon the Bulls against the Cats at Loftus on Saturday. Here most of all it is show time. Two new coaches, a host of new players and nothing to beat from last season other than last and penultimate place. A year ago the Cats ran away with it 57-24. There is reason to believe it will be closer this time, but there is also reason to believe that it will not be a classic.
A few players have swapped allegiances. Grant Esterhuizen makes his debut for the Cats against his old team; Os du Randt, Naka Drotske and Jannie de Beer have moved from Bloemfontein to Pretoria and hence are now Bulls rather than Cats. There will be scores to settle and points to prove and Laurie Mains for one may end the weekend wondering what he has let himself in for, whatever the score.
Finally the Stormers set off on the rocky road to the semi-finals against the Waratahs at Newlands. There are so many peripheral issues going on in Cape Town that it is difficult to believe they can begin the season with a win. Last year a fit Bobby Skinstad hauled the Stormers into contention and then watched from the sidelines with ice on his knee, as they imploded.
The truth hurts; without Skinstad the Stormers were an average side who relied on the genius of Breyton Paulse to break games; a bit like the Springboks at the World Cup, in fact. Paulse is as fine a player as Cullen, but that will not be enough to save the Stormers.
If you’re looking for a winner, look no farther than the three Australian teams. Their national sides won everything last year, now it is time for the Brumbies to go one better than beaten finalists in 1997, and don’t be surprised if they play one of the War-atahs or the Reds in the final.