A week ago, the prospect of a depleted Samoan side causing the greatest upset of the 2003 Rugby World Cup seemed highly unlikely. Then came South Africa’s lacklustre effort against Georgia in Sydney last Friday, a performance which will live uncomfortably in the memories of this generation of Springboks.
That was followed 48 hours later by the best match of this tournament so far: Samoa’s 22-35 defeat at the hands of a stunned England, whose world number-one tag now looks a little tattier than it did before.
A combination of these two games has reinforced suggestions that Samoa will be the ‘Jack in the Boks†of the tournament. And, yes, we’ve always know they can play.
In 1991 they dumped Wales in Cardiff, reaching the quarterfinals of their first World Cup. They got to the last eight in South Africa in 1995 too, before returning to Cardiff’s spanking new Millennium stadium in 1999 to spank the hosts again on their way to a play-off defeat against Scotland.
The Samoans, whose total population of 180 000 barely matches a town the size of Brakpan, have never failed to qualify from their group. So we shouldn’t have been surprised by their astonishing performance against England.
But we were. Because before the tournament coach Joe Boe had made it clear just how poorly prepared his squad were. And we all knew that eight of their finest players, including Henry Tuilagi at Leicester and Trevor Leota at Wasps, had been left behind because they couldn’t afford to make the trip Down Under and play for the pride of the jersey.
Some claimed they had retired from the international game, others simply confessed they couldn’t afford to make the trip. At one stage, there were doubts about the future of Samoa as an international team.
After all, their top players have long been snapped up by New Zealand and, to a lesser extent, Australia.
Even as I speak, headmasters of the big rugby schools in Auckand and Wellington will be flying off to the islands, scouring the local schools for tomorrow’s Tana Umaga or Sa’a Nonu, two current Samoan All Blacks.
But despite all these drawbacks this small nation was able to give England the fright of their lives.
Clive Woodward’s men have spent this week in rest and recuperation after the shocking events of last Sunday. Here on the Gold Coast, the bruises are healing. But captain Martin Johnson warns South Africa: ‘I can’t remember the last time a side gave us such a beating for the first 20 minutes. I don’t think we’ve ever seen such intensity.â€
And loveable Woodward says simply: ‘I just hope Samoa get as up for the game against South Africa as they did against us. You can’t underestimate Samoa, they all run, they all tackle.â€
On Thursday, as I set off to play golf with fellow Afrikaans-speakers Mike Catt and England’s vision coach Sheryll Calder on the sunny Gold Coast, England will be preparing for a romp against Uruguay on Sunday before a quarterfinal against Wales.
The Springboks, meanwhile, have remained businesslike in Brisbane. Derick Hougaard, the 20-year-old, comes in for the experienced but inaccurate Louis Koen at flyhalf, which worries me slightly.
Okay, Koen had a nightmare against England, missing four penalties which might have put the Boks beyond catching by half-time. But now young Hougaard must test my old pal Earl Va’a.
Va’a is 31, a veteran who switched from rugby league for the 1995 World Cup, where he engineered the astonishing win over Wales.
Last week he told me: ‘To be honest, I only practise my kicking for an hour a week.â€
But he missed only one penalty in five (and that hit the post from nearly 50m), out-scored the off-form Jonny Wilkinson and created far more than the highly paid English number 10.
Va’a sees this as his swansong. He’ll retire after the World Cup to spend more time with his wife and four children in Wellington.
I suspect he’d rather go out with a bang in a quarterfinal against New Zealand than with a whimper against the Boks. Hougaard will apparently be ‘protected†by veteran Bok Joost van der Westhuizen.
Van der Westhuizen says: ‘I’ll protect him as much as I can, he will be a target. Between me and the forwards, we’ll try to take the pressure off him. But Derick has got great hands and he can run like Jonny Wilkinson.â€
Hmm. Given the way Wilkinson’s been playing lately, he’ll have to run better than that.
But with Rudi Straueli opting for John Smit at hooker and Faan Rautenbach at tighthead ahead of Richard Bands and Danie Coetzee, I think South Africa can do it.
Samoa, with the whole of Australia (and the rest of the world) behind them, were able to lift themselves to superhuman heights against widely reviled England last week.
I don’t think they can do it again. I’ll take South Africa as uncomfortable winners. But if the Samoans ever turn up for a World Cup fully staffed and fully prepared, beware.