The 30-30 draw between South Africa- A and Argentina in Wellington on Wednesday raised more questions than answers. On the political front it prompted Pumas veteran hooker Federico Mendez to call once more for Argentina to be included in the Tri-Nations. On the domestic front it suggested that Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli doesn’t have as many options as he thought he had.
Since the end of isolation in 1992 there have been times when South Africa could routinely select a second 15 and sometimes even a third 15 good enough to beat any team outside the world’s top three.
Not any more. Straeuli and A-team coach Rudy Joubert can spin the performance as much as they wish, but the fact is that this was the Pumas’ second team, albeit augmented by a few who had played in the Test series against France.
In the recent past a half-decent South African side would have chewed them up and spat them out. There was trepidation in this country following the Scotland series and more when the Pumas won both Tests against France.
There is now a very real possibility that they will make history by winning in Port Elizabeth on Saturday because their first team is streets ahead of their second team, something that does not apply in South Africa’s case.
This weekend’s flyhalf Gonzalo Quesada can goal-kick far more reliably than Louis Koen.
Straeuli’s third Test team of the year has eight changes from the one that beat Scotland in Johannesburg, and continuity has flown out of the window. The much-vaunted Bulls pack, around which Straeuli was to have built his season, is down to only three representatives.
The Bulls half-back pairing has been split up and if Andre Pretorius had not gone down with flu, neither Koen nor Joost van der Westhuizen would have started the game.
The revolving-door policy in the centre continues and it is asking an awful lot of Gcobani Bobo and Marius Joubert to hold the defensive line against a Puma side that will pick and drive among the forwards all day. They will have to make the most of the attacking ball that comes their way, although the presence of Koen at flyhalf automatically means there will be precious little of that.
Ultimately the team will stand or fall on the performance of its forwards, and there is a good deal of pragmatism in Straeuli’s selections up front. First and foremost he has recognised that he had been starting games with the wrong props.
Robbie Kempson’s spell with Ulster has improved his scrumming immensely and he is clearly the best loose head available. Richard Bands did nothing wrong against Scotland, but he is far more valuable to the team as an impact player in the last half hour after the rejuvenated Cobus Visagie has drained the fight from the opposition.
The back row has a touch of mongrel about it thanks to the return of Corné Krige and AJ Venter. It’s ironic that both owe their place in the side to performances given for the Barbarians — Venter last month and Krige two years ago. It is an unhappy fact, however, that Krige has never played for South Africa like the Superman who won the man of the match award for the Barbarians.
Assuming this pack wins its fair share of ball and that Koen kicks his goals, the Test may well be decided by the use of substitutes in the final quarter. Here Straeuli seems to have more aces than his Puma counterpart, because in Brent Russell and Bob Skinstad he has two of the greatest impact players of all time.
When the dust has settled on Skinstad’s career, history may be unkind to the Springbok coaches who believed they could build a side around him.
Even now Straeuli and his brains trust are probably of the opinion that he must start as soon as he is match fit. They are wrong. Skinstad is not and never will be a grafter, but send him on when the opposition is beginning to gasp for air and he can win a game in a quarter of an hour.