There were times last year when the Springboks appeared a moribund outfit. When Harry Viljoen selected Braam van Straaten and Louis Koen to stand next to each other in a Test match the nadir was reached. There were dissenting voices, but Viljoen’s argument was that he had no option. There are many reasons why he reached that conclusion, but in the 20-20 glare of hindsight the principal one is that he was wearing blinkers.
Viljoen’s successor, Rudolf Straeuli, may appear like pragmatism made flesh, but beneath the bluff veneer beats the heart of a born risk taker. Not all his gambles have come off; Andre Snyman was not up to the task of playing inside centre in the first Test against Wales and only time will tell whether Straeuli’s treatment of Victor Matfield will be to the long-term benefit of the Springboks.
But he had no qualms in picking Bolla Conradie and, when the elements dictated a change, none again in replacing the Stormers’ scrumhalf with Craig Davidson. He saw the talent oozing from the pores of Brent Russell and found a way to get him into the side, a way not predicted by anyone outside Straeuli’s inner circle.
And on Wednesday Straeuli had the good sense to name Corné Krige as captain for Saturday’s Test against Argentina in Springs. There is no doubt that, had he been fit, Krige would have captained the Springboks in the Bloemfontein Test and, by extension, at Newlands the following week, too.
But Krige’s loss was Bob Skinstad’s gain and while the former golden boy may be a long way from walking through the doors of the last-chance saloon, and despite all public pronouncements to the contrary, by promoting Krige Straeuli is clearly making a telling point.
Skinstad scored a try in Bloemfontein and was an effective presence in a fine second-half performance, but in the wet at Newlands where some old-fashioned pick-up-and-drive eighth-man play was required, he was largely anonymous. On the firm ground of PAM Brink this week, with the captaincy not there to cloud the issue, Skinstad needs to produce a performance that will disarm the critics.
More importantly, he needs to convince Straeuli that he is an international class eighth man. Remember that the coach knows a thing or two about the position and that, like Skinstad, he forged his initial reputation in the Springbok side as a number seven flank.
Straeuli also knows how unfair the world of international sport can be; having established himself in his favourite eighth man position during the 1995 World Cup, he was dropped by Kitch Christie for the semifinal and final and to add insult to injury, made him teach Mark Andrews how to play the position in his stead.
This is character-building stuff and should be remembered whenever Straeuli’s adherence to Christie’s methods of man management is discussed. Put bluntly, Viljoen might have been fooled by a few under- performing Springboks, but you can’t bullshit Straeuli.
Everything Straeuli has done since accepting the job halfway through the Super 12 has been aimed at providing options.
Hence the conciliatory talk about having two captains in the mix, hence the shuffling of resources among a largely settled 22 and hence the selection of Wednesday night’s A team that beat the Pumas 42-36.
Others might have believed that the careers of Joost van der Westhuizen, Andrews and Robbie Fleck were at an end, but Straeuli wanted to see for himself in a competitive environment. The risk taking was there, too, and after just one club second-team game as preparation, Butch James produced a display that provided food for thought. It may have been an error packed game, but at the end of it Straeuli knew more about his options than when he started and that, after all, was the reason for playing it in the first place.
All in all it has been a good week for South African rugby. On Tuesday the under-21s, known as the Baby Boks, beat their New Zealand counterparts in a pulsating match at RAU stadium to progress to the final of the competition. They will play Australia at Ellis Park on Friday night and victory would give them South Africa’s first win in the competition since 1999.
And in case you think that under-21 rugby is irrelevant in the greater scheme of things consider just the names of squad members at that 1999 tournament in Buenos Aires who have since become Springboks: John Smit (captain), De Wet Barry, Wayne Julies, Jaco van der Westhuizen, James, Neil de Kock and Lawrence Sephaka.
It is a racing certainty that members of the current Baby Boks squad will play for the Springboks and some of them, like Clyde Rathbone and Jean de Villiers, might be in the mix before the end of the year.