The first part of the Springboks’ season has ended in much the same way as it started — with a bit of sulking, slandering and speculating.
Jake White has failed to retain the Tri-Nations title his squad won last year. Instead (and possibly more importantly), he has brought the Boks to within a hair’s breadth of being the best rugby team in the world.
Last weekend’s showdown at Carisbrook was just about the perfect package: a magic haka, awesome defensive work, blistering pace, lots of off-the-ball action, more blood and guts than Saving Private Ryan, poor refereeing and a nerve-shredding final quarter that inexorably wound down to Keven Mealamu’s try and an All Black victory.
It was a very, very close thing and although the result was not in the Boks’ favour, it certainly didn’t leave too many people with that shell-shocked ”all is lost” stare that was so common on Saturday afternoons two or three seasons ago.
In fact, the optimism among supporters has given Springbok rugby’s management and other unscrupulous characters the ideal smokescreen from behind which to sling shit at each other. May they sling merrily — just as long as they remember that what they’re slinging tends to stick. Trust things to get suitably hairy when the true chaps in charge decide to stick their noses in for a closer sniff.
While we’re dealing with matters of a defecatory nature, mention should be made of the Australian tabloid press’ risible attempts at discrediting John Smit. Rugby players, we all know, are not always good boys and usually carry around egos directly in relation to their size, but unfounded and damaging allegations like these take on a sinister edge when the racism shtick is used.
For us fans, happily, there’s the Currie Cup competition with all its little proclivities in in-fighting to follow for the next eight weeks. If the standards set by the Boks permeate to their provincial unions, competition this season might very well be among the most exciting we’ve had in yonks.
Resting those Springbok players who have been earmarked by White for some time off is also a good idea. Schalk Burger, Percy Montgomery, Os du Randt and company certainly deserve a break, and I hope their unions come to see the benefit in giving them some golf time.
Saturday, then, should see the All Blacks taking their sixth Tri-Nations title. Graham Henry’s side hold the all aces in the forwards and it will be a great surprise if the Wallaby pack manage to subdue their opponents in Wellington.
The All Blacks’ tight-five were excellent in Dunedin — with the front-rankers particularly menacing. I really don’t see Al Baxter, Brendan Cannon and wily old Bill Young getting on top of Carl Hayman, Mealamu and Tony Woodcock. Young’s tendency to shed penalties like a schnauzer sheds coat will most certainly cost the Wallabies at least three points.
Should the All Blacks maul the Wallabies up front, as they probably will, George Gregan’s season from hell will continue, as the pressure brought to bear on him will be enormous. Couple this to the fact that he’s partnered by a fullback/wing in Matt Rogers at flyhalf, and the chances that things will fall apart rather messily are pretty good.
Rogers is a fine footballer, with pace and presence aplenty, but I have my doubts about using him as a pivot.
The reality is that he will simply have to cope, as the Wallabies’ injury troubles have highlighted the fact that there is not as much depth available to Eddie Jones as we initially thought.
Gregan is a brilliant player and competitor — an icon of the modern game — and it is sad that he is being blamed, rightly or not, for the Wallabies’ poor performance.
My belief is that Australian rugby is fighting the combined effects of complacency in blooding new players and relying on veterans to get the job done.
Jones and Gregan should not be made scapegoats for a problem that should have been identified at least a season ago — and if they didn’t notice it then, someone should damn well have said something. It might also be that supporters are simply too demanding and that they tend to forget that the Wallabies have been beaten by two extremely good teams — without any argument the two top sides in the world.
Remember, however, that we’re talking about Test rugby here and that the margin between winning and losing is usually very small. The Wallabies could, through luck, skill or a brilliant bit of individual play, stick it to the All Blacks and give the Boks the title they chased so well this season. It might happen, but I wouldn’t bet on it too heavily.
Just as I wouldn’t bet on seeing Jones in charge this time next season.