NicK Mallett has reshuffled a Springbok pack – but it still contains few aces Andy Capostagno It has been a tough week for Nick Mallett, the coach who could do without Mark Andrews and AJ Venter, but who thought that Percy Montgomery was indispensable. The crumbs on the floor are the last remnants of a large helping of humble pie. It was not ever thus. Mallett’s first Test in charge of the Springboks was on November 8 1997 at the Stadio Dall’Ara in the lovely northern Italian town of Bologna. The match programme proclaimed South Africa as the “Campione del Mondo” and featured on its cover an inset picture of Francois Pienaar receiving the William Webb Ellis Trophy from Nelson Mandela.
The main photograph, however, was of Mark Andrews winning a ball in the lineout, something that he has only been matched at in the past six years by Martin Johnson of England and Ian Jones of New Zealand. Discarded by the coaching staff at the ripe old age of 28, Andrews now finds himself back in the team as the principle ball-winner at lineouts and restarts. Plus ?a change, plus ?a le m^me chose. In the same programme you will not find Montgomery’s name in the starting 15. For Mallett had decided to begin the new era with Justin Swart at fullback, thus ending the distinguished Test career of the great Andre Joubert, the last line of defence in Carel du Plessis’s incredible final game as coach, when Australia were demolished 61-22 in Pretoria. But two days before the Italy Test Swart pulled a hamstring in training and, to the general astonishment of the assembled media, Mallett announced that Montgomery would start at fullback. In a list of possibilities to replace Swart, most had Monty placed third, sometimes fourth in line, behind James Small, Pieter Rossouw and Breyten Paulse. For remember that, under Du Plessis, Monty had been a centre, albeit one with a propensity to shepherd opposition runners accommodatingly to the try line. Mallett’s decision seemed like madness at the time, but it turned out to be a masterstroke, as Monty’s flaring pace brought the best out of Small and Rossouw who each scored a hatful of tries on a blissful tour. The match against Italy was the first in 33 successive starts for Monty in the number 15 shirt. After the match, in the foyer of the team hotel, I met up with a strapping blond Free Stater who happened to be playing club rugby in Italy at the time. His name was AJ Venter. Why this obsession with the past all of a sudden? Well, if the soothing noises coming out of the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) are to be believed, Mallett’s job is safe, win or lose against Australia in Sydney on Saturday. But it is an unwritten rule in British football that when the club director says the manager has his full backing, the wise manager gets his suitcases down from the shelf and checks them for moths. Mallett might well be in charge until the next World Cup, just as his contract says, but he may also recall that both Du Plessis and Andre Markgraaff were appointed to take charge of the team at the 1999 version, but failed to last the course. There has been talk of improvement in the performance of the Springboks. They lasted an hour against Australia in the Mandela Trophy match and, two errors by Monty notwithstanding, had the measure of the All Blacks in Christchurch. Another 20% improvement and they could win on Saturday. Believe that and you’ll believe anything. This is a beleaguered side. They would like to keep it respectable on Saturday, but for a number of reasons that is unlikely to happen. For one thing the team’s playmaker is not in Sydney, but back home in Bloemfontein.
And if it seems strange to call the number six flank a playmaker, then firstly it points to the absence of threat associated with a flyhalf who does little but stand deep and pass the ball, and secondly to the fact that Rassie Erasmus is a remarkable player. Without him the forwards will hold their own in the tight phases, but struggle to find a way ahead in the loose. And without him the backs will struggle to get good second- and third-phase ball to run off. The remedy this week, according to the coaching staff, is to have the recalled Pieter Rossouw stand in the flyhalf channel after the set phases have run their course. It is amazing to realise that after all that has happened this year and last, Mallett and Alan Solomons still believe that Rossouw has his pockets filled with magic dust which, when sprinkled in liberal amounts, causes the opposition to disappear. They would have more chance of beating the Australians with David Copperfield standing in the flyhalf channel and Rossouw standing in the English Channel.