The Springboks will play their final match of the 2005 Tri-Nations against New Zealand on Saturday. A win will give them back-to-back titles in the competition, something only achieved previously by their opponents. Defeat will almost certainly mean second place in the log, for no one in their right mind believes that in the current circumstances Australia can win in New Zealand a week later.
Jake White took over the Springbok coaching job as the 2004 Super 12 was coming to an end. Under White’s predecessor, Rudolf Straeuli, the Springboks had sunk lower than at any time in their illustrious history:divided off the field, derided on it.
In 18 months in charge White has transformed the national side to the extent that victory over the All Blacks in Dunedin will install the Springboks as the number one ranked side in the world for the first time in seven years. The House of Pain on Saturday thus marks the end of an era, albeit a short one because, strange to relate, the result is actually irrelevant.
Irrelevant because White’s achievement is that in the space of 18 months he has won a major trophy, uncovered half a dozen great players, and earned the respect of the international community. His team might lose by 30 points on Saturday (although that is highly unlikely), but none of the foregoing will have changed. That’s a hell of an achievement given what went before.
Nevertheless, it is the end of an era, for after Saturday White can no longer hide behind the modest mantle of one who is just happy to be there. To quote Churchill, it is not the beginning of the end, but it may be the end of the beginning, because from Saturday onwards the countdown begins to the 2007 World Cup.
The last time the two sides met in the university town of Dunedin was in the World Cup year of 2003. Given no chance after being Jan van Riebeeck-ed (16-52) in Pretoria three weeks earlier, Straeuli’s team was lauded for losing only 11-19 and tight-head prop Richard Bands scored the try of the season as the Boks regained some pride.
As it turned out this was just another false dawn and among the results of that benighted season it stands out as an aberration. Saturday is different because public, press, players and coaching staff will all regard defeat of any kind as failure. That’s how far we have come.
It is a line that slips glibly off the keyboard; in 84 years of trying, South Africa have never won in Dunedin. Indeed, prior to the Pretoria Test of 2003, the 28-0 defeat suffered by Nick Mallett’s 1999 team at Carisbrook marked the nadir of Springbok performances against the All Blacks.
It was on that day that Mallett saw the end of the road rising up to meet his captain, Gary Teichmann. The decision was taken to remove Teichmann from the plans for the World Cup later the same year. At that moment the cement that held Mallett’s team together during the famous 17-match unbeaten run began to crumble.
It’s worth pointing that aspect out six years later, for this is the first Springbok team since Mallett’s of 1997/98 that has the stamp of greatness about it. Great teams win matches they should lose because they are held together by something more than string and sealing wax.
In another season the Boks would have lost three out of three by now and, in all likelihood, White would be out on his ear. After all, you can’t expect to win Test matches against top sides by defending hard and relying on scoring from interceptions. Except that South Africa have now done exactly that three times in a row and they stand on the threshold of history.
Things have conspired in their favour. For once the Boks have scarcely suffered a serious injury in the whole tournament, while their opponents have been haemorrhaging great players on an almost daily basis. There will be no Dan Carter (broken leg) and no Byron Kelleher (concussion) at halfback to torment the Boks on Saturday.
Instead Leon MacDonald, a 27-year-old fullback who has never started a Test at flyhalf, will partner the distinctly pedestrian scrumhalf Piri Weepu. So, while the All Black forwards are likely to win their fair share of ball, it is in the lap of the gods as to whether the outside backs will see any of it.
Then there’s the strange case of the missing crowd. Carisbrook holds only 37 000 people, but by midweek there were still 7 000 tickets available. The New Zealand Rugby Football Union is apparently looking long and hard at revoking Test status for the headquarters of Otago and the Highlanders, based upon a perceived apathy among the locals.
That’s just the sort of thing that gives the Springboks an important edge going into the game. Two months ago the All Blacks were the kings of the world because they had given the Lions a hiding. Now they can’t draw a crowd for what is effectively the Tri-Nations decider against their greatest international rival. What is going on here?
Despite what you may have heard, the All Blacks are vulnerable and it may just be that White’s one forced change to the starting team that beat Australia could be his ace in the hole. With Breyton Paulse unavailable due to a three-week ban, White has recalled De Wet Barry at inside centre.
Barry has been out in the cold since White hit on the inspired pairing of Jean de Villiers and Jacque Fourie in midfield. It has happened to the Western Province man before, in 2003 in fact, when Straeuli recalled Barry to play against Australia at Newlands.
Barry put on a display of tackling that day unmatched in recent times, and his demolition job on opposite number Steve Kefu ended that unfortunate man’s international career before it had begun. In the expected soft conditions at Carisbrook, Barry might do something similar to both Aaron Mauger and MacDonald. Prepare to be delighted.