South African rugby can only be the winner as the teams riding high on the log clash
Andy Capostagno
Last Saturday Rudolph Straeuli smiled. It is not that the Sharks coach is unaccustomed to smiling indeed in person and away from the limelight he can be jolly and self-deprecating it is just that he takes his rugby very seriously. But even Straeuli had to admit that Saturday night was no time to recite platitudes about how the Super 12 was only at the halfway mark, that the players were keeping their feet on the ground and that there would be time to celebrate at the end of the competition. Saturday night was not quite all right for fighting, but it was all right for most other things.
The Waratahs had been seen off in emphatic fashion and while the Sharks had committed far too many handling errors for it to be truly satis- factory Straeuli is nothing if not a pragmatist. He said, “22 points out of 25 after five games. I’d have taken that if you’d offered it pre- season.” And then he smiled again. It is worth remembering those light-hearted moments, because after Friday night in Bloemfontein they might not come around for a while. On Friday night the Sharks travel away from Kings Park for the first time this season to play the Cats at the Free State stadium.
Anticipating something of a war the competition organisers have hired a neutral referee, Peter Marshall of Australia. It is to be hoped the game will live up to its billing as a meeting of the first and third teams in the Super 12 log.
It is to be hoped the match will not be another of the mean-spirited encounters that usually occur when South African sides face each other. Hope, after all, was the last thing left in Pandora’s box when all else had fled. The other teams in contention for semifinal places will be hoping the Cats and the Sharks knock enough lumps out of each other to reduce both sides to easy pickings when they begin their tour of the Antipodes in two weeks.
The point is that, notwithstanding the vicissitudes on tour of the Stormers (who have won once) and the Bulls, this has been the best start yet to the Super 12 for South African teams and it would be a shame to spoil it now.
The best possible result on Friday would be a draw in which both teams scored four tries, ensuring each of three points. Of course, if it were to happen like that the King commission would probably have to reform, so we’re stuck in the real world. In the real world it is likely to be a grim, attritional encounter, with much depending on the respective goal kickers. The prowess of the Cats in that regard will depend somewhat on whether Louis Koen’s right eye has opened since last week’s match against the Hurricanes.
In these days of specialist treatment Koen has probably been through the mill this week, but I wonder if anyone thought to tell him to lie back with a good rump steak laid across the affected part?
Koen and whoever gets the nod to kick for the Sharks will either have to kick immaculately or face a dressing room filled with grim-faced forwards after the game. Make no mistake, this encounter will be won up front and the jolly rugby played by the Sharks in the past two weeks will not be in evidence. Waratahs coach Bob Dwyer said: “After we lost to the Cats I thought they would be too strong for the Sharks, but after seeing what the Sharks did to us I’m not so sure.” What he meant was that it has become clear over the past five weeks that the Cats pack is the best in the competition. They have a magnificent tight five and a predatory back row, and with those two facets in place they are a match for anyone. Can the Sharks cope? Dwyer clearly thinks they can. The Sharks might not have a Willie Meyer or a Rassie Erasmus, but they have a fine blend of youth and experience. Albert van den Berg has looked suspect at Test level and everyone is eagerly anticipating the pairing of Mark Andrews and Johan Ackermann later this year. But at provincial level Van den Berg is a considerable force and he may yet develop into the real thing. Then there are the worker ants, Charl van Rensburg and Warren Britz. Van Rensburg’s ability to play lock and back row tends to have him compartmentalised as a bits and pieces player, but his form at the moment places him way above such mealy mouthed praise.
As for Britz, he is the first example, and hopefully not the last, of a South African forward who has developed his game to another level by way of sevens rugby. His innate sense of space, honed in sevens, helps him to excel in the hurly-burly of the ruck and maul and it is to be hoped that Stuart Pinkerton’s tap dance on Britz’s face last week will not leave any lasting damage. After gloomy predictions ahead of this season about South African rugby in general, it is encouraging to report that the patient is showing signs of recovery. It is asking too much of human nature for Friday night’s match to be much of a spectacle, but if all goes well it is just
possible that both Straeuli and Cats coach Laurie Mains to be smiling all the way to the international departures lounge. Rassie Erasmus, but they have a fine blend of youth and experience. Albert van den Berg has looked suspect at Test level and everyone is eagerly anticipating the pairing of Mark Andrews and Johan Ackermann later this year. But at provincial level Van den Berg is a considerable force and he may yet develop into the real thing. Then there are the worker ants, Charl van Rensburg and Warren Britz. Van Rensburg’s ability to play lock and back row tends to have him compartmentalised as a bits and pieces player, but his form at the moment places him way above such mealy-mouthed praise.
As for Britz, he is the first example, and hopefully not the last, of a South African forward who has developed his game to another level by way of sevens rugby. His innate sense of space, honed in sevens, helps him to excel in the hurly-burly of the ruck and maul and it is to be hoped that Stuart Pinkerton’s tap dance on Britz’s face last week will not leave any lasting damage. After gloomy predictions ahead of this season about South African rugby in general, it is encouraging to report that the patient is showing signs of recovery. It is asking too much of human nature for Friday night’s match to be much of a spectacle, but if all goes well it is just possible that both Straeuli and Cats coach Laurie Mains to be smiling all the way to the international departures lounge.