He says hes not a one-man cavalry but the Tykes hope for great things from the Bok Paul Rees Braam van Straaten made his debut for leeds Tykes last weekend after putting the English premierships bottom club ahead of South Africa. And he sparked the Yorkshire club to a 23-18 win over Harlequins, kicking 13 points with three penalties and two conversions. Unlike his compatriot Joost van der Westhuizen, who signed a contract with Newport only to renege on it when the scrumhalf was offered a contract by South Africa to take him through to the next World Cup, Van Straaten kept his word and turned up in Yorkshire. That was even though the Springboks asked the outside-half, who makes his debut in the centre against Harlequins at Headingley, to sign a lucrative two-year deal. “It was too late,” said the 30-year-old. “I had already given my word to leeds and had I gone back on that no European club would have been prepared to look at a South African again. I was convinced I had a lot more to offer the Springboks, but it was not just about myself. “I did think about what South Africa had offered and I appreciate that my international days are probably over as a result, but I am not a person who goes back on my word and I also wanted to spend more time with my family, which I will be able to do now.” At the time he agreed to join leeds, Van Straaten was out of the international loop. The South Africa coach Harry Viljoen was talking about a game plan where kicking was kept to a minimum and Van Straaten, a prolific goalkicker who at 100kg cuts an imposing figure for a centre, was deemed to be persona non grata. When Viljoen realised that principle counted for less than performance at international level, Van Straaten was recalled to the Springbok side and offered a new contract that, if he had signed it, would have given him the chance of doubling his 21 caps. When Van Straaten was interviewed in South Africa after his move to England had been confirmed, he was under the impression that leeds was near london and that the weather could not be too bad because the rugby club was next door to a cricket ground. On arrival this week, he made a few cracks about the cold and rain at a time when the temperature in Cape Town was in the mid 30s.
leeds have been feeling the chill in recent weeks after conceding 169 points in their past three matches. They leaked 21 tries in that sequence, only two fewer than in their other 11 games this season. Van Straaten will bring solidity and experience, but he was the first to point out that he alone could not turn the clubs season around. “I am not a one-man cavalry,” he said. “I got a bit of stick in the South African dressing room when they saw the result at Wasps two weeks ago when we lost 64-14, but I just laughed it off. “We should be aiming for the top eight. If we can beat leicester once, why not twice? This is something different for me and I have to succeed to justify my decision to join leeds. I am very proud of what I do, and if a little bit of that rubs off, we can do well.” Van Straaten is the leading points scorer in the history of the Super 12, with 496 in 45 matches for the Stormers and Western Province, and at a time when New Zealand and Australia are complaining about the hard year their players have had, his time with leeds means he will have 15 months of uninterrupted rugby. “That does not worry me,” he said. “Im in the best shape of my life. Vince lombardi once said that a team did not go physically flat, it went mentally stale, and thats the way I want to introduce myself to leeds. “I have had a long season but that doesnt mean I wont get back to where I want to be. I have been playing first-class rugby for eight years now and I would like to think that during this time I have learned the tricks of the trade. I am playing the best rugby of my career.” Van Straatens international career is not necessarily over. Though South Africa have always refused to consider players who do not play in the Super 12 or the Currie Cup, the rule is not written in stone and the player has a clause in his contract with leeds that allows him to be released for international duty should the call from Viljoen come: one pointer may be that Van Straaten was chosen for the tour of Europe even though he had already decided to play in England. His arrival in Yorkshire is timely, as the leeds director of rugby Phil Davies acknowledges. With the only question at the top of the table concerning who will finish second to leicester, the battle to avoid relegation promises to be more intriguing if leeds can pull out of their slump.
“I was looking to bring in two world-class players this season,” said Davies. “I identified Braam, Joe Roff and Cobus Visagie but in the end was only able to sign one of them. “We have had a couple of tough weeks, but Braams arrival has given us a boost. We are going to change our style and be more direct, but at the start of the campaign I divided the season up into phases. We are currently at phase 10, which is about focusing on performance.” Van Straaten said he did not feel any pressure despite the position of his new club. “In rugby at this level, you have to be tough mentally,” he said. “A primary-school teacher taught me that years ago. “Calmness under pressure is all about inner confidence and I was born for those moments. Its about the mental these days every professional player is strong physically. It is up to me to inspire the leeds players mentally and I am sure that by May we will have pulled through.” @ Test made in heaven
Adelaide is the perfect place to play cricket Peter Robinson Quite how many frequent flier miles youd need to get from Ahmedabad to Adelaide is well beyond my grasp of arithmetic, but Id bet you anything Englands cricketers would happily give up theirs to swap venues for this weeks Test matches. If the Adelaide Oval is where virtuous cricketers go to play Test matches in heaven, then Ahmedabad is where youd find the Test match from hell (umpires, Ian Robinson and Javed Akhtar; match referee, Mike Denness; catering by the people who do the press lunches at St Georges Park; and commentary, single-handed and without respite, by Geoffrey Boycott). Ahmedabad, not to put too fine a point on it, is a hole. It is known as the “Manchester of India” because its an industrial city, but its hardly likely that Alex Ferguson would want to spend his retirement there trying to sort out the fortunes of Ahmedabad United. From the hotels to the ground to the pitch to the dressing rooms to the toilets (the last two of which appear to be mysteriously linked by some quirk of Indian plumbing), its an awful place.
In 1996 South Africa, who needed 190 to win, were bowled out for 105 by Javagal Srinath (6/21) on a pitch that had crumbled by the first afternoon. They had endured chunks of concrete lobbed at Paul Adams by fans on the open stands at fine leg and a dressing room floor that was sometimes awash with dirty grey water. Add to this a fine dust which irritates sinuses and a gloomy hotel in which food was scarce and it amounts to a venue that most of the side would pay money to avoid in the future. Oddly, the media were quartered in rather better lodgings, although the Sunday Times correspondent tended to disagree. On booking in he had asked for a room with a river view, but when he bounded out of bed on his first morning he was greeted by the sight of hundreds of homeless people busy with their ablutions on the banks of what amounted to an open sewer. Adelaide, however, is a pretty Victorian city and home to the worlds most beautiful cricket ground. If you live in Cape Town you could argue the toss when Mike Procter was once asked to choose he said: “Um, well Cape Town does have the mountain” but the Oval on a Sunday morning, with cathedral bells chiming as spectators make their way through parkland to the ground, is simply magnificent. It has no desire to become a stadium and half the ground consists of grass banks, on one of which stands an old-fashioned scoreboard which offers more information at a glance than most of the computer-driven boards that have become the norm in South Africa. The square boundaries are close and the straight boundaries enormously long (although Gary Sobers is once reputed to have driven the scoreboard on the full). The pitch is always perfect for batting and the outfield slick and glassy and if you dont enjoy playing or watching here, then you dont much like cricket. Then again, the last two Tests played in Adelaide by South Africa have brought few rewards. In 1994 South Africa lost to draw the series and in 1998 South Africa drew to lose the series. In 1994 someone, who may or may not have played rugby for Eastern Province, punched a hole in a dressing room wall in frustration and in 1998 Hansie Cronje stuck a stump through the door to the umpires room. Steve Waugh was largely responsible for Australias win there in 1994 with a big hundred 164 after missing the earlier Tests through injury. There has been a lot of talk this week about the need for South Africa to give Waugh the verbals Barry Richards, for one, has advocated this, but Im not too sure that giving the greatest fighter in world cricket the needle is the best way to go about the job. It seems to me to be a bit like poking a crocodile with a sharp stick before you try to capture it. Then again, if the South Africans are quick-witted enough to come up with snappy responses to the sledging they can fully expect from the Australians, theyll be doing all right. An exchange between Glenn McGrath and Eddo Brandes has been doing the rounds on e-mail recently. I have no idea whether its true, but its worth repeating. According to the story, McGrath reaches the end of his follow-through and asks Brandes why hes got so fat. “Because,” answers Zimbabwes best-known chicken farmer, “every time I fuck your wife she gives me a biscuit.” Peter Robinson is the editor of CricInfo South Africa