This week the wounded arrived back in Cape Town and Pretoria. The Stormers have a sick list that would have kept Florence Nightingale busy for a month, while the Bulls have lost some key personnel (including their inspirational captain Joost van der Westhuizen), but not all hope.
The Bulls won their first game on tour then lost the rest: the Stormers lost their first three, but won the last in invigorating fashion. Both sides have a bye this week, before finishing the tournament with six successive matches in South Africa, five of them on home turf.
Accordingly, both are still in with a good chance of reaching the semi- finals. That is certainly not the case with the Cats and Sharks, who play each other this week in Johannesburg before jetting off to the Antipodes for a dose of reality.
The Sharks reached rock bottom last week with a 23-19 defeat at the hands of the Highlanders. This was a world away from the team that dominated South African rugby in the mid-90s and a good distance from the somewhat more limited unit that reached the Super 12 final two seasons ago.
The locals believe that the Sharks are reaping the whirlwind. Four years ago a decision was made to engage a host of players from outside the province. A number of large cheques were written to bring Springboks such as Gaffie du Toit, André Snyman, Justin Swart and Albert van den Berg to Durban.
It seemed like a good idea at the time and, to a greater and lesser extent, all the Sharks’s signings have had their moments. But chequebook management is a sure way of undermining local talent, and club rugby in KwaZulu-Natal has begun to suffer. Young players unsure of their standing in the province have begun to seek greener pastures in England and France.
One of the greatest ironies of all concerns the young lock forward Greg Rawlinson, who made his Sharks and Super 12 debut against the Highlanders. Rawlinson was home on holiday in Durban, having signed to play in the New Zealand National Provincial Championship for North Harbour, when the phone call came. Could he help the Sharks out of a crisis?
Part of the reason that Rawlinson opted to play in New Zealand in the first place was the list of names available to the Sharks at lock. Mark Andrews had gone to play in England, but Van den Berg, AJ Venter, Philip Smit and Charl van Rensburg, imports all, were ahead of him in the pecking order.
It took a horrendous injury list and the banning of Venter even to get Rawlinson on to the bench. When he finally came on to the field he looked the part and North Harbour will be hoping to get as much out of Rawlinson as Otago did out of Justin Swart two years ago. Before then, however, he is likely to meet a few of his future teammates when the Sharks play the Blues in Auckland a month from now.
By then, of course, the Sharks will be playing for pride and little else. It is hard to criticise the union that sets the standard for professionalism in all aspects in this country, but it looks like hard times will be visiting Durban for a few years and some of it will be self-inflicted.
Another former Shark who left Durban looking for a game begins a two-week ban on Saturday. Hanyani Shimange had the temerity to pick up Christian Cullen and dump him into the ground while playing for the Cats against the Hurricanes in Bloemfontein last week. Shimange was sent off and with 14 men the Cats could not find a way to win.
After dumping Cullen, Shimange was assaulted by Rodney So’oialo, but despite the fact that the Hurricanes player was already on a caution, he received no censure until in the subsequent movement a far less calculated stiff-arm tackle earned him 10 minutes in the sin bin. The referee in question was Australia’s Stuart Dickinson.
This was the same Stuart Dickinson who could find no way to send off Aisea Tuilevu in the previous week’s encounter between the Cats and the Highlanders. A judicial inquiry gave Tuilevu a six-week ban for kneeing Friedrich Lombaard in the eye. Which, you might say, was one in the eye for Dickinson.
Except that Dickinson is not a cheat. He may make a lot of wrong decisions but he is not a cheat. After the Cats/Highlanders game I spoke to him and asked why he had not referred the foul play of Tuilevu to the television match official.
Dickinson pointed out that Super 12 rules as they stand at the moment only allow the referee to ask for a number as an aid to identifying the guilty player. This is how Shimange was given his marching orders the following week. The rules do not allow the telly ref to to make any kind of a ruling on foul play: he can merely advise the referee of a number.
Dickinson reminded me that a referee must abide by the rules of the tournament and the laws of the game. But he also said that if I, as a member of the press, were to suggest that the television official’s role needs upgrading in the area of foul play, the referees would be very supportive.
So there’s my suggestion, now get on with it please, Sanzar.