In two years’ time, as the run-up to the 2007 Rugby World Cup begins in earnest, the South African Rugby Union (Saru) will be wondering why it agreed to play so many Test matches in the previous two seasons against the best two teams in the world.
For nothing exposes the soft underbelly of a successful team more than a sustained campaign against quality opposition, as Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward has discovered during his side’s sad traipse through New Zealand.
This year the Springboks play New Zealand twice and Australia four times. Next year, in addition to the shiny new Super 14, the Tri-Nations tournament has expanded to the extent that each team will play the other three times, instead of the current twice.
It all begins in Sydney on Saturday when the Wallabies host the Springboks for the first of two matches for the Mandela Challenge Plate. This is not a new trophy, as it was first contested in 2000, then again in 2002, when South Africa won a 33-31 thriller at Ellis Park thanks to Werner Greeff’s finest moment, a try in injury time that he converted himself.
That game was actually part of the Tri-Nations as neither union could find time in its busy schedule for an extra match, and mercifully this seems set to become the norm from next season on. But the mere fact that the foregoing needs to be discussed at all reveals the Plate for what it truly is, namely a marketing team’s attempt to squeeze more juice from the Sanzar lemon.
It is, of course, for a good cause and the Boks will be wearing the former president’s prison number, 46664, on their sleeves at the Telstra stadium. But that cannot hide the fact that this is a tacked-on game that is unlikely to engage the public. Crowd estimates of 80 000 are being bandied about, but if more than 50 000 actually turn up it will be a surprise.
It may be the odd provenance of the fixture that persuaded Jake White to give the quotes that are being used to motivate the Wallabies this week. Asked about loosehead prop Bill Young, White said, ”If Young rocked up at Stellenbosch University and said he played rugby they would have sent him to the fourths. If he said he was a prop they would probably have sent him to the sevenths.”
What’s missing from that quote is the inevitable qualification that White surely used, namely that, despite his build, Young is a quality performer. What White was trying to say is that if Young were South African he wouldn’t have been given a chance because he doesn’t weigh 120kg and he can’t crack nuts by coughing loudly.
As for the reference to Stellenbosch University, it is only two weeks since a graduate of that institution packed down at tighthead for France against South Africa. Pieter de Villiers had to leave the country for recognition, despite the fact that he looks a lot more like a boerewors-chomping leviathan than Young ever could.
White’s problem is that he has had flippant quotes turned against him before. As recently as last November, Ireland took offence at his suggestion that only three of their team were worthy of a place in the Bok side. The fact that he actually said words to the effect of, ”Your outside centre is the best in the world and the two locks are world class,” has been disregarded. The press printed the legend.
But if the consequence of White’s utterances this week is that the referee spends some time studying Young’s illegal scrumming method then all will be forgiven. It will mean an easier ride for Lawrence Sephaka at tighthead for the Boks.
With a pack weighing in at more than 900kg, White has taken a calculated risk. If the game is set-piece heavy, well and good, but if the canny Wallabies turn the Bok behemoths and make them run to the extremities of the field, trouble looms.
In halfbacks George Gregan and Stephen Larkham the Wallabies have two players well capable of making Springbok lives a misery. Gregan has been under an injury cloud, but has been named in the side. Larkham is back to his mercurial best, which forces Matt Giteau to play at inside centre, offering the Wallabies a third kicking option in midfield.
It is this axis that White is worried about. Picking a massive pack is his attempt to starve the gifted trio of ball, but that will only happen if the Boks do indeed control the set pieces. On paper that looks likely, but Australian sides are renowned for their ability to make a lot from a little.
A case in point was at the 1999 World Cup, won by the Wallabies under coach Rod Macqueen. Most will recall arch-Republican John Eales receiving the Webb-Ellis Trophy from Queen Elizabeth, but few would be able to name the other members of the tight five that started every game of the knockout stages.
David Giffin partnered Eales and the front row consisted of Richard Harry, Michael Foley and Andrew Blades. The great centre, Tim Horan, won man of the tournament, but he couldn’t have played without the efforts of his tight five. Eddie Jones’s current scrum unit is as efficient as Macqueen’s world-beaters and the Boks will have to do a lot more than huff and puff to blow this particular house down.
Fortunately, of course, in the greater scheme of things it’s a meaningless game. Roll on the Tri-Nations.