The new-look, Cat-filled Springboks are in for a mauling in the Mandela Trophy
Andy Capostagno
The Stormers failed so let’s try the Cats. That’s the implication behind Nick Mallett’s selection for the Mandela Challenge at the Colonial Stadium in Melbourne on Saturday.
Out go Pieter Rossouw (at last), De Wet Barry, Braam van Straaten and Selborne Boome, in come Thinus Delport, Japie Mulder, Louis Koen and Werner Swanepoel. The Cats now provide the whole back row, the halfbacks, inside centre and left wing, giving them the balance of power in the team. Making up the rest are six Stormers, a Bull and a Shark.
Overall the selection might assuage the critics who see too much Cape Town bias in the side, but that’s about all. The mere fact that we have to resort to talking about provincial representation in the Springbok team means that the bigger picture has been lost before the Tri- Nations has begun. It’s not exactly on a par with rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, but it’s not far off.
There are straws to clutch at. The Cats,
given no chance in the Super 12 semifinal in May, gave the Brumbies a run for their money. They lost 28-5, but 14 of the Brumbies’s points came in the last five minutes. Hitherto some heroic forward play and tenacious defence out wide had given the Cats the right to dream. But that was then and this is now. The Cats were on a roll, the Springboks are in decline.
Against England the Boks were sometimes painfully nave, a trait that may be exposed by a good northern hemisphere team, but which will be ruthlessly exploited by the world champions in their own back yard.
If England could be faulted for their play in the two-Test series it would be that they failed to finish off movements after splitting the defence. That will not be the case with Australia – who, let it be reiterated, have the best halfback combination in the world and, even after a reshuffle, a three-quarter line second to none.
If the Wallabies are vulnerable it is up front where they were exposed in the second Test against the Pumas. Fletcher Dyson is the latest incumbent at tight- head prop who could be exploited by a hard-scrumming loose-head. Unfortunately Os du Randt has been placed on the international scrap heap.
The Wallabies are also a little underdone in the back row where they will miss the explosiveness of Toutai Kefu at eighth man and where they have no real flyer off the side of the scrum. With the return of Rassie Erasmus South Africa have a significant loose trio advantage, but they will have to rely on the tight five to dominate in order to fulfil that advantage.
That means a significantly better game is required from tight-head prop Cobus Visagie than he managed in Bloemfontein, where the suspicion was that he was not fully fit. It also requires 100% improvement in ball retention from the kick-offs, to which end the selectors have finally seen the light and recalled Albert van den Berg.
In Bloemfontein Boome gave a master class in how not to play as a modern lock. He missed five restart kicks and was lost in the loose. It may seem like wisdom after the event, but when the first Springbok squad of the season was announced there were those who commented that the best lock forward in Cape Town was not picked. And to this day Hottie Louw, with the deserving Cat, Jannes Labuschagne, languishes in the gym, waiting for the start of the Currie Cup.
Mallett has commented of late about the fact that no one made much of a fuss about the Springbok squad when it was first announced, but now everyone wants to make changes. Well there is a reason for that.
Early season there seemed logic in leaving out the likes of Du Randt, Mark Andrews, Naka Drotske and Ruben Kruger. But with the evidence of three Tests it has become clear that their replacements are just not good enough.
This week’s saviour is supposed to be Louis Koen, the flyhalf who Mallett hopes will involve the forwards more than Van Straaten managed. It is wishful thinking, for Koen is simply not an international player. Even with an execrable Super 12 behind him, the Wallabies would give more credence to the man in the Springbok number 10 shirt if Gaffie du Toit were wearing it.
The ultimate irony is that even with this team the Springboks could win in Melbourne by playing 10-man rugby, always assuming that Koen kicks his goals, which was not the case in the Super 12 semifinal. But Mallett has nailed his colours to the mast; he doesn’t want to win with 10-man rugby, he wants to win with the wide game. It will not happen.