Andy Capostagno RUGBY Nick Mallett can be thankful for one thing this week, and that is that the Springboks’ opponents on Saturday are the All Blacks. If there is one team that South African players need no motivation for it is the men from New Zealand. There are several other things the Springbok coach has to be thankful for, however. The game is at Ellis Park, until very recently a veritable fortress for South African teams, where as good a player as Andrew Mehrtens has never won. All Black captain Todd Blackadder remembers it as the ground where his Crusaders team received “a hiding” at the hands of the Cats in this year’s Super 12. Reasons to be cheerful, part three: things can’t get any worse. The gun is pointed at Mallett’s head, whether the South African Rugby Football Union cares to admit it or not. Losing to the All Blacks on Saturday might be tolerated, but another dry-as- blotting-paper display will not. The coach has defended his game plan; the players have done likewise, at least in public. Several high- profile coaches have suggested a way in which it might be made to work, but the fact of the matter is that if the team runs out at Ellis Park and plays the kind of good-on-paper-terrible- on-grass rugby it did in the Antipodes the “game over” signs will be flashing long before the final whistle. There are good reasons to believe that at this time and in this place this particular All Black team can be beaten. Blackadder’s honeymoon as national captain came to an end in Wellington two weeks ago, and while he was happy to tow the party line upon arrival at Durban base camp – “The New Zealand public is always behind the All Blacks, everyone is very positive” – the fact is that a last-minute John Eales penalty goal has exposed a few festering wounds.
The rugby public in New Zealand is talking about size and the lack of it in their national team. Which is ironic considering that Mallett is always talking about the fact that no one is afraid of the size of Springbok forwards anymore. As a retreaded flanker Black-adder has had
to put up with this sizeist nonsense for several seasons. Under John Hart the mere fact that he played for Canterbury counted against him, the very same attribute that persuaded coach Wayne Smith not just to pick him, but to make him captain. Nobody cared about size in the early season games against the likes of Tonga and Scotland, where record scores were recorded. Then it was all about mobility and supporting the backs on their frequent forays. But now, in the wake of some crucial lost lineouts against the Wallabies and ahead of the Ellis Park Test, the issue has been taken out and dusted down. Why? Because for all of Mallett’s denial, teams still fear South African forwards.
Why that should be this season is not especially clear since the front row is some way short of what it could be and, what with injury, loss of favour and defections to France, the lock combination has changed with embarrassing regularity. Even the much-vaunted “best back-row in the world” has looked seriously flawed in the absence of the remarkable Rassie Erasmus. And yet, and yet, teams still fear us. Why? Because even at 75% a Springbok pack never gives up. One can only wonder what private thoughts must have been going through the forwards’ minds this season as quality ball after quality ball delivered to the backs on a silver platter with parsley around it has been parlayed into a 15m trudge back behind the advantage line. The “reverse thrust” game plan is responsible for this situation and it has nearly brought an end to the sometimes- distinguished careers of Pieter Rossouw, Percy Montgomery and Robbie Fleck at the highest level. And this week’s reshuffle is hardly going to make a difference. It would have been nice to see Japie Mulder play a significant Ellis Park Test one more time, but even he cannot make silk purses out of sow’s ears. Instead we’ll have to relish the sight of Chester Williams hunting for work (he’s on the left wing, but should have been switched to right to mark Jonah Lomu) and proving that he should have been in the team for the past 18 months.
If Williams’ back-to-basics type of game were to catch on among the rest of the backline there is reason to believe that this game can be won. It can be won by the old-fashioned Springbok virtues of winning quality first-phase ball, intimidating the hell out of the opposition when they have the ball and taking the odd chance along the way, be it to score a try or kick a goal.
And this week, more than any other week, to hell with tries and fancy rugby. Let’s get a win under our belts and contemplate life from a proudly parochial point of view once again.