As the four South African franchises have one last go at winning the Super 12, the competition that gave southern hemisphere rugby its identity is being somewhat overshadowed by events elsewhere.
The lobbying has begun for the right to host the 2011 World Cup and International Rugby Board (IRB) chairperson Syd Millar is already accusing the Japanese media of misquoting him. Millar says he did not publicly back Japan’s bid during a recent visit, but did admit that the venue earmarked for the final was worthy of such a prestigious event.
As an exercise in semantics, this probably hurts no one in the long run; it takes a South African to do that. This week Brian van Rooyen, president of the South African Rugby Union (Saru), ”snubbed” a meeting in Parliament with the national assembly’s sports committee.
Van Rooyen sent an official in his place, which might have been fine had he not been quoted in Rapport at the weekend saying that he would not attend the meeting because he was ”tired of being tossed up and down by Parliament as if he were a small boy”. The upshot was that committee chairperson Butana Khomphela took offence and a new meeting that Van Rooyen did choose to attend was scheduled for the next day.
If Van Rooyen is to continue in his job, he might like to take a leaf out of the book of one of his predecessors. Louis Luyt was such an astute politician during his tenure as president that when he finally stood down one of the first things he did was to get himself elected to Parliament.
Over the next six months Van Rooyen will have enough on his plate, merely from a playing affairs perspective; he can do without emergency meetings with Parliament.
On the playing affairs front, politicking has begun in earnest for the fifth South African franchise to contest next year’s Super 14. Purely as a result of demographics, it cannot help but become a race issue between the two front runners — the Eastern Cape consortium of Border, Eastern Province and South Western Districts, against the central unions of Free State and Griquas.
Much ammunition will be sprayed around in the next few weeks, but not many of the participants have taken note of a change of tack by Saru that may render the eventual winner the holder of an entirely worthless remit.
In September and October, all other things being equal, the Rainbow Cup will take place for the first time. This will be a competition played on a knockout basis between eight South African provinces and 12 English clubs. Sponsorship is in place, the IRB has given its blessing because it falls outside all key international windows and only a few t’s and i’s need to be crossed and dotted by the broadcasters from here on in.
The Rainbow Cup marks the alignment of northern and southern hemisphere interests first mooted four years ago. Rian Oberholzer, then CEO of SA Rugby, went a long way down the line of organising a new Tri-Nations featuring the Springboks, England and France. The IRB blocked that idea, but a counter-proposal to include South Africa in the Six Nations was not dismissed so lightly.
The logical extension of that idea was to include South African provinces in the Heineken Cup, the European version of the Super 12. The Rainbow Cup is quite clearly a precursor to greater cooperation between this country and Europe and it has far-reaching implications both for the future of the Super 14 and even the Tri-Nations.
Ultimately, the broadcasters who love that prime-time window between 1pm and 6pm on a Saturday afternoon will make the decision. Australia and New Zealand fall outside that window and there would scarcely be a murmur of discontent from South African players as they bid farewell forever to flying backwards and forwards across the International Date Line.
It is that very aspect that is raised every year at this time when a new season of Super 12 comes into view. South African teams get the rough end of the pineapple in touring terms, crossing meridians and then spending four weeks on the road instead of two, which is the case with most of the Antipodean sides.
Purely on a cost basis, there is no way around that issue, which is why the Rainbow Cup should be seen as less of an end-of-season jolly and more of a Trojan Horse ready to change the shape of the game as we know it. But as sensible as it might be for Australia and New Zealand to beware of Greeks bearing gifts, this year they might need to beware of Bulls bearing brute force.
Whisper it, but a minor law revision being tested in this year’s Super 12 may have given the Bulls a crucial advantage. Referees have been accustomed to control scrums by saying, ”Crouch, hold, engage” and then, crucially, ”Keep it steady”. This year referees have been told to lay off, which means that once the packs hit each other it’s every man for himself.
This one amendment may, only may, mark you, be enough to turn Heyneke Meyer’s domestic Currie Cup Bullies into genuine Super 12 contender material. We’ll know more in two weeks’ time when they run out against the champion Brumbies in Canberra than we will after this week’s domestic squabble against the Cats at Ellis Park.