An almost complete breakdown in the chain of command notwithstanding, South African rugby continues on its results-driven way. People who would ordinarily find a way to criticise God for allowing the sky to be generally light blue are now dyed in the wool Bulls fans, imploring the Sharks this weekend and the Stormers next weekend to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
In case anyone is in need of a translation of the foregoing, the Bulls have a mathematical chance of reaching the semifinals of the Super 12, but they need to extract 10 points from their last two games against South African opponents. Even then they will have to rely on other results going their way and the Springbok coach, for one, is banking on having a full complement of players at his first training camp in Bloemfontein on May 20.
Bulls fans surely do not need to be reminded of what happened the last time their side met the Sharks in Super 12 play. In 2004 it happened to be the opening match of the season. The Bulls were then two years into their domination of the Currie Cup, the team they had beaten in the final match of 2003 was the Sharks and Loftus Versfeld was regarded then, as now, as an impregnable fortress, at least to South African sides.
It was inevitable then that the Sharks would win. This year nothing much has changed apart from the venue and although the Bulls are on a mighty roll they remain the kind of team that can be intimidated into playing poorly.
Coach Heyneke Meyer is well aware of that fact and mentioned it during the week in reference to the first game of the season, which the Bulls lost to the Cats at Ellis Park.
That result seemed an aberration at the time and the Cats have not won a match since. Ultimately it may turn out to be the real reason that the Bulls don’t make the semis, although such is the nature of the game in this country that no bookmaker worth his salt would even accept a wager on the Bulls losing at least one of their last two games. It is that inevitable.
That’s not intended to belittle the achievements of Meyer and his team during the past month. If semifinal spots were decided on current form then the Bulls would have no problems. But they aren’t and they do. Rather it is intended to point out the deeper malaise afflicting our rugby, whereby the result of a match has become far more important than the way it is played.
There may be a place for such soccer-like obsession in the professional game, but it is starting to have a negative impact on the traditional breeding ground of provincial and national players — the schools.
Two weeks ago Maritzburg College hosted Grey College from Bloemfontein in a traditional rivalry dating back many years. The home side won a tight contest by two points and a large crowd celebrated the first win for the home side over Grey in more than a quarter of a century. But two members of the Grey management chose the moment to physically and verbally assault the referee as he left the field.
The referee in question was not your average schools match Joe, but Michael Katzenellenbogen, one of this country’s top referees. Katzenellenbogen has a physiotherapy practice in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and in order to devote more time to it has temporarily opted out of refereeing at the higher level.
You can read as much or as little into the bare bones of the story as you like, but what it actually comes down to is that defeat for Grey was not an option. During the past decade conspicuous success on the field for Bloemfontein’s finest has brought with it the nice little additions, like sponsorship and access to the finest young talent in the country.
Defeat on the field tends to erode such things.
It can be argued that schools rugby has come to this because of too much media exposure. Schools are now ranked according to sporting ability and the league tables are published in the Sunday press. Supersport cherry picks the best games to broadcast and this year no fewer than four schools rugby festivals have been given extensive live air time.
As a result there are dozens of schoolboy rugby players out there who are accustomed to being the centre of attention and extremely unaccustomed to failure. Which could explain why it is that the Bulls play like gods at Loftus and dogs everywhere else. In familiar surroundings, with sponsors and spectators rolling out the red carpet they play to the manner born.
In the real world beyond Pretoria, however, there exist people who actually don’t care if the Bulls never win another game, and in fact would prefer them to occupy the basement of the Super 12 along with the other three South African franchises. In this world any member of management who happened to stray on to the field for a word with the referee just because his team lost would deservedly spend the night in the hoosegow.