A wise man once said that while horses and dogs were capable of running to form, you should never bet money on human beings. Those who kept their money in their pockets ahead of last week’s Currie Cup semifinals are the true descendants of that sage.
For, while the match between the Cheetahs and the Lions in Bloemfontein was always too close to call, there seemed no logical way to predict a Blue Bulls win against the Sharks in Durban. The Sharks were better in all departments and they had home advantage. The only thing that could stop them was complacency. In the end that’s all it took.
The Bulls have, quite rightly, been the butt of jokes for several seasons. Dysfunctional game plans and a steady drip of players seeking pastures new bear testimony to the fact that there is something very wrong in the state of Pretoria. And yet the Bulls are in the Currie Cup final. The last time they managed that feat they were also written off and derided and they promptly beat Western Province at Loftus.
Stephan Pretorius, the Bulls chief executive, even went so far as to claim that the semifinal win last week was a watershed in the history of the union and that they now have a squad that will go far. Indeed, if the Bulls beat the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday, the manufacturers of Humble Pie will be able to list on the stock exchange.
If people learnt from their mistakes, this column would be all about how the Bulls have been consistently wronged by the critics and have proved conclusively that they are a good side by reaching the final. But history teaches us that we do not learn from history. The Bulls are in the final despite their painfully slow centre pairing, an unpredictable service from scrumhalf and the one- dimensional pop-and-drive tactics of their forwards.
But having reached the final it has to be admitted that they have a damn good chance of winning it. For one thing, the two sides have met five times in the final and the Lions have never won, managing only a 14-14 draw in 1971. For another they have already beaten the Lions at Ellis Park this year, during the log section of the competition. And for still another their captain, the man responsible for the unpredictable service from scrumhalf, remains a remarkable player.
Those who become easily cynical about the motives that drive the modern rugby player should have seen Joost van der Westhuizen after the final whistle in Durban last week. The most-capped Springbok of all time ran over to his 19-year-old flyhalf and hoisted him into the air. Hardly the reaction you might expect from a hoary old campaigner serving out his dotage in a competition that is beneath him.
With the benefit of a decade at the top Van der Westhuizen knew that Derick Hougaard had achieved something remarkable in his first season of senior rugby. After a disappointing debut against the Leopards in Potchefstroom, Hougaard’s season really began when he came on as a replacement for the last five minutes of the match against the Eagles in George. With the Bulls trailing, Hougaard scored the winning try and calmly converted it from the touchline.
He went on to tame Western Province with a prodigious kicking display at Loftus and, despite losing his favourite kicking tee ahead of the semi- final against the Sharks, kicked the goals that mattered once again. It is far too soon to compare Hou-gaard to Naas Botha, but he shares one attribute with his famous forebear in the number 10 shirt; the intimidation factor.
Put simply, the Lions know that if they give away a penalty in their own half they will be conceding three points and starting again from the halfway line.
So much for the reasons why the Bulls have a right to dream. The fact is that the Lions should be able to shatter those dreams. Not so long ago Lions coach Frans Ludeke, in common with his counterpart Heyneke Meyer at the Bulls, seemed about as secure in his job as an Italian prime minister.
In Witbank Louis Koen’s last-minute penalty kick saved the Lions from the ignominy of two years in the B Section. But having struggled desperately in the log section, the return of their Springboks together with an injection of self-belief turned them from underachievers into the team that peaked at the right time. How did it happen?
First and foremost, the forwards came to the party. The evergreen Willie Meyer inspired his front-row partners, Kleinjan Tromp raised his game to the level of his fellow lock Jannes Labuschagne and, when fit, Joe van Niekerk played like a one-man army.
A flyhalf with half a dozen Springbok caps under his belt, Andre Pretorius went from being merely promising to the finished article. He is South Africa’s most complete flyhalf since Joel Stransky and could be the fulcrum of the Springbok team for a decade if he stays fit.
Pretorius’s performances have taken the pressure off his outside backs and, in particular have allowed fullback Jacque Fourie, to play with the unfettered ambition of the schoolboy that he still was this time last year.
Fourie began his career as a centre, but his play at fullback is distinguished by an acute positional sense and the kind of intuitive grasp about when to come into the line that Andre Joubert had in spades, but Percy Montgomery never worked out.
His duel with Hougaard will be one to relish on Saturday. Hougaard’s instructions will be the same as ever: kick for the corners and play the game in the opposition half. From there the disruptive jumping of Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha can win key ball against the throw and allow Hougaard the option of dropping at goal. Fourie’s job is to ensure that Hougaard’s kicks to the corner do not find touch.
The one imponderable concerns the weather. In 1987 it did everything but snow and with all around him battling just to stand upright, Botha dropped goals off either foot as though he was running on Velcro.
The Bulls management will secretly be praying for the kind of conditions they had in Durban last week, but the Lions have too many ways to hurt the Bulls and they should beat their trans-Jukskei rivals in a final, albeit at the sixth time of asking.