The Springboks finally got their game plan right against the All Blacks – now they face the world champion Wallabies Andy Capostagno ‘Is the sword still hanging over your head?” came the question in the media conference. “What sword would that be?” came the answer from Springbok coach Nick Mallett. If Damocles had indeed escaped he showed few signs of relief. Anger was closer to the surface than relief, the justifiable anger of one who has been proved right when all thought he was wrong. There can be few things more pleasant than ramming critical words down critical throats and on Saturday at Ellis Park, Mallett deserved to relish his opportunity. It is almost three years since a Springbok team has played so well; in fact you have to go back to the final Test of Mallett’s first tour in charge, Scotland at Murrayfield, on Saturday, December 6 1997. On that blissful day James Small broke Danie Gerber’s Springbok try-scoring record and Mallett had his clean sweep: Test wins against Italy, France (twice), England and Scotland in successive weeks. The team went on to dominate the Tri-Nations in 1998, winning 17 games on the trot along the way, but they never played such direct rugby again. Against the All Blacks last week the Springboks scored brilliant tries from set-piece ball, the kind of thing that was supposed to be impossible under the new laws. But more than that, while adhering to a few basic principles they made the game up as they went along. That may appear to sit uncomfortably with the notion that the Boks won because they finally mastered the coach’s game plan. In which case it should be pointed out that the game plan changed. For one thing the forwards were not allowed to get in the way of the scrumhalf and consequently Werner Swanepoel had by far his best game in a Springbok jersey. For another thing Braam van Straaten stood noticeably closer both to Swanepoel and to the advantage line, with similar consequences.
Those simple alterations allowed the forwards to reach the breakdown quicker, which in turn allowed the tight five to dominate their opponents, which in turn gave extra space to the backs, which in turn allowed them to run onto the ball at pace, which in turn… But none of this would have happened if Swanepoel and Van Straaten had repeated their displays in the Antipodes. By the simple addition of the kick to both players’ repertoire the All Blacks were made to think. It didn’t always go according to plan and Van Straaten’s ill-considered skip pass allowed Tana Umaga to score an important try in the first quarter. But as the game went on it became clear that, by whatever means, Swanepoel and Van Straaten had been empowered. They were not playing a training field game, they were scanning the opposition and applying first principles; do whatever the opposition would like least. And if that sounds a little like the game played by George Gregan and Stephen Larkham for the ACT Brumbies and Australia, then maybe Mallett’s obsession with Brumby rugby has finally been vindicated. For while Mallett’s team might not be able to run the intricate lines of those two sides, they can offer a variety of methods to counter good teams. And at the end of the day, all anyone really asked for was some variety.
Will it be enough to beat the Wallabies in Durban? History suggests it will, for the world champions have yet to win a Tri-Nations Test in this country and have a solitary victory at Newlands in 1992 to their credit since South Africa emerged from isolation. The Wallabies have taken a commendable softly, softly approach to the game, staying an hour’s drive from Durban and scheduling just one major training session in the week prior to the game. The Wallabies have done enough over the past 12 months to believe that the physical side of the game will be there when asked for. It is the mental side that coach Rod Macqueen is more concerned with and he would do well to prepare his side for the emotional onslaught of a full stadium and a confident Springbok team. For it is one thing to beat the Springboks in Sydney and Melbourne in front of hugely one-sided crowds, it is quite another to beat them at home. Indeed they may decide that the odds are stacked too heavily against them and look elsewhere to even matters up. They may look to South Africa’s man of many parts (including auxiliary flyhalf) Rassie Erasmus, and attempt to remove him from the playing arena at an early stage. But even if they succeed they may still find that the newly tweaked game plan will hold together because Erasmus is no longer the only Springbok capable of varying his options. Unpredictability has returned to our national side, let joy be unconfined (she was innocent, anyway).