The problem with the 18-month reign of Harry Viljoen as Springbok coach is that it has lowered our expectations. For while the 34-19 defeat of Wales in Bloemfontein last week had much to commend it, less than two years ago the critics would have been pulling their hair out, wondering how the mighty Springboks could beat an out-of-season Welsh side by such a paltry margin.
Perhaps it is no bad thing; we have expected far too much from the national side in the past, so expecting less than perfection now is a timely palliative. Some odd selections notwithstanding, Rudolf Straeuli’s honeymoon continues for another week as Springbok supporters indulge their coach in his attempts to pull the team up by the bootstraps.
Some home truths have to be faced, however. It is something of a mystery how James Dalton ended up with the man-of-the-match award, for instance. There was a time when missing your locks for much of the match and being part of an under-performing front row would have invited censure, not a hail fellow, well met, have this nice Jenna Clifford trophy to put in your bar, next to the empty bottle of Oude Meester.
The experiment with Andre Snyman at inside centre failed to the extent that he has been dropped to the bench for this week’s match at Newlands, and while that was always likely to be the case once De Wet Barry was fit again, it should not be allowed to camouflage the fact that Straeuli was guilty of muddled thinking in Bloemfontein.
It could be argued that the same thing applies with this week’s selection of Brent Russell at fullback. Ricardo Loubscher’s rib injury opened up a vacancy at number 15 and the media have enjoyed a fun week speculating on whom Straeuli might move there, but no one dared suggest the name of Russell, preferring instead to start the youngster at flyhalf and move Andre Pretorius to the last line of defence.
Breyton Paulse and Stefan Terblanche were also mentioned as possible stopgaps, but surely no one really believed that Percy Montgomery would be forgiven and recalled? Straeuli was conciliatory in his public pronouncements about Monty, but his selection of Russell points to his real feelings on the matter; that he would rather pick a callow youth out of position than select a man whose moral compass has gone awry.
Something similar applies to Victor Matfield, the lock who Straeuli has sent back to the Bulls. At the Pretoria training camp Straeuli announced that he wanted a far tighter game from Matfield than he had been providing hitherto. There is more to life than winning lineout ball and standing among the three-quarters, seemed to be the message.
Presumably Straeuli believes that Matfield did not heed his advice and that therefore his demotion is more a disciplinary procedure than anything else. There is no doubt that Matfield is the most gifted lock this country has uncovered since Mark Andrews, but he is not the only member of Harry Viljoen’s extended squad to apparently lose focus and certainly not the only one to raise Straeuli’s ire.
One door closes and another opens, however, and Stormers lock Quinton Davids makes his test debut alongside Jannes Labuschagne. This partnership seems to lack real scrummaging force and it may be that we will know more about the future of the Springbok engine room when Hottie Louw comes off the bench.
Bob Skinstad did well enough last week to retain both his place in the side and the captaincy, despite the return from injury of Corne Krige, who replaces Warren Britz on the side of the scrum.
AJ Venter is perhaps fortunate to retain his place in the starting line up; he was nothing like as impressive against Wales as he was on the end-of-season tour last year and might easily have been swapped with Joe van Niekerk, who remains on the bench.
The question is, has Straeuli strengthened the side with his changes? The answer, unquestionably, is yes. Barry had an outstanding Super 12 and looked head and shoulders above the ponderous crash-ball merchant of last season. Britz was only included in Bloemfontein as an emergency replacement for Krige and the Stormers captain deserves the chance, in front of his home crowd, to cement his place in the side once and for all.
Which leaves us with the fullback position. Pretorius played a full season there for the Lions in 2000 and showed his paces there in the second half last week. If he is not starting there this week it is because wet weather is predicted and Straeuli doubts Russell’s ability to run the game with the boot from flyhalf. That seems suspiciously like the same thinking that stuck Snyman out of position last week; it is to be hoped that Russell is not on the end of a hospital pass from the coach so early in his career.