The euphoria following victory in the Under-21 World Cup, together with the goodwill generated by the Supersport Club Championships and the 39th Craven Week for high schools will not last much longer. But there is a brief window of opportunity before South Africa becomes embroiled in the Tri-Nations to examine the future structure of the game.
Of the four semifinalists at last week’s club champs three were from higher education establishments. Two of those, RAU and Shimlas, have been powerhouses of the game for many years, while the strength of the third, Pukke from Potchefstroom, is a new development due mainly to the establishment of a rugby academy in the town. Rugby, we may deduce, is strong in the universities and technikons.
At the latest instalment of Craven Week the star players were from schools such as Maritzburg College, Grey Bloemfontein, Affies, St Stithians and Monument Krugersdorp. Rugby, we may deduce, is strong in the best schools, be they public or private.
At the Woodburn stadium in Pietermaritzburg substantial crowds have been present every day. These crowds are made up of players not in action, proud parents, local rugby fans starved of top-level action, administrators and, most pleasingly of all, former Springboks such as Theo van Rensburg, Gerrie Germishuys and the great Frik du Preez.
After three years of decline Craven Week is back on the map and the South African Rugby Football Union needs to act quickly to ensure it stays there. The same could be said of club rugby, once the lifeblood of the game in this country, now a backwater populated mostly by players not good enough to play provincial rugby, watched by one man and his dog.
Former Springbok hooker John Allan has trenchant views on the subject. He said: ”We’ve got to scrap the Vodacom Cup and start giving the public rugby that they actually want to watch. What I’d like to see is a proper exploitation of the success of the Super 12. Every local Super 12 match should be preceded by a schools game and a club game.
”That way we would get bigger crowds, they’d come earlier and stay longer and the added exposure would allow the clubs and schools to attract sponsors. Our stadiums are empty for Vodacom Cup matches because people realise it’s second- division stuff and not proper provincial rugby. I’d like to see Vodacom put their money directly into areas of the game that need it desperately.”
Imagine the future if Allan’s wise words were heeded. Instead of heading to Loftus Versfeld with heavy hearts in the certain knowledge that the Bulls will lose again, you could get to the ground early, watch Affies play Pretoria Boys High, followed by Tukkies against Harlequins, leave at half time in the main game and have had an entirely uplifting experience.
Apart from anything else, the scrapping of the Vodacom Cup would force provincial players not in the Super 12 mix to play for their clubs. That would improve the standard of club rugby and show young players that it is not an impossible step up to provincial level. It would also force some notoriously conservative provincial selectors to look further than their own backyard for talent.
If something is not done soon to bring club rugby back to prominence it will die inside a generation of the game going professional. If that were to happen a system might well grow up like the one that exists in the United States. There, sport is played in the schools and universities. Once someone has finished their education, unless they are good enough to play professionally, they are done with team sports for life.
Contrast that with Australia where 90% of the entire population plays some kind of sport and the difference becomes clear. The US is good at sports not played seriously in the rest of the world, although it struggles to beat Cuba at baseball and Eastern European nations at ice hockey every time the Olympics comes around. Australia, however, produces champions in individual and team sports with embarrassing regularity.
Which brings us back to the Tri- Nations. Australia are the defending champions and so distressed have the New Zealand public become at the selection of the All Black side that 60% of bets with the local TAB have been for a Wallaby win in Christ-church on Saturday.
Coach John Mitchell has been pilloried for picking too many Crusaders despite the fact that they won the Super 12 with a perfect record. There are also dark mutterings over his decision to axe Jonah Lomu and Tana Umaga, players who, 12 months ago would have walked into any world team you care to think of.
Such shenanigans should convince Rudolf Straeuli, if the perspicacious Pretoria attorney had not already deduced it, that there are worse jobs in the world than coaching the Springboks. Straeuli took the time to visit Maritzburg on Monday and speak to the Craven Week teams at the official opening. His heart is in the right place. Next week we’ll know if his team is in the right place, too.