Players care nothing for the record books, but after a while the weight of history forces its attention upon them. South Africa have not won against England at Twickenham since 1997. Last week they lost a game they should have won and it would be a brave man who would predict a different result this time around.
It was not ever thus. Springbok touring teams won every Test they played at England’s headquarters between 1913 and 1969. Admittedly that 56-year streak only included four matches, but there is something to be said for momentum. Once gained you must exploit it for all it’s worth.
That surely is the lesson that Jake White’s team should take from last week’s 23-21 defeat. Five minutes after halftime, with the scoreboard reading England 6, South Africa 18, the Boks had momentum. They had scored excellent tries either side of the break and defended manfully against multiphase English attacks. Then they got conservative.
Come what may, White will have to bring a different dynamic to this week’s rematch. He has lost flyhalf Butch James, last week’s most influential player, and Pierre Spies, the youngster whose quiet tour was not helped by being selected out of position against Ireland and then being forced back to number eight last week when Jacques Cronje limped off.
The inclusion of Kabamba Floors is long overdue and Oudtshoorn’s finest will not let the side down in yet another reshuffled back row. But the real weakness of this team is in the tight five and without major surgery there, Floors will have to spend more of his energy slowing down opposition ball than he would like.
Crucially, though, his selection, forced by injury though it may be, marks a significant change in White’s views on the need for a genuine fetcher. The coach said: ”He is really quick and I want him to play the openside role. I have had my views, but no beliefs are ever set in stone, and I am prepared to see how he fits in. If something is going to improve the team and help us win, then I am all for it.”
Such revisionist talk will help cement his job into 2007. South African Rugby Union (Saru) president Oregan Hoskins made that clear in the wake of allegations in Rapport last week that White had already been dismissed, and that Heyneke Meyer was the new coach.
Hoskins said: ”It is a decision that must be taken by SA Rugby and we certainly cannot do so on behalf of SA Rugby. It is the custom to meet after every tour and look back to what has happened. One has to look at what was successful and where you failed. The committee usually meet a week or two after a tour but it is up to them.”
Whatever the result on Saturday, White should be encouraged to recharge his batteries and look within himself over the festive season. Among the questions he needs to ponder are: Do I have the right captain? Can I accommodate Floors on a long-term basis? And the big one: Is there a more effective system than the rush defence? It’s the big one because it is not affected by White’s Achilles heel, selection.
During the course of this season White has abandoned a few of his favourites: Jaco van der Westhuyzen has been sent back to Japan, while De Wet Barry, Marius Joubert, Eddie Andrews, Hanyani Shimange and Solly Tyibilika are now regarded as surplus to requirements. Axing those players proves that White is not as pig-headed as some of his critics would like to think. Next year should be all about facing the future with an open mind. Here’s hoping.
Finally, let me record my sadness at the passing this week of Chick Henderson, a man who served the game his whole life and gathered enemies like a sieve gathers water. We shall not see his like again, for the game has changed fundamentally and the great amateurs who took rugby union to the four corners of the earth are leaving us as surely as quicksilver in a nest of cracks.
I shared breakfast with Chick in an Edinburgh hotel 12 years ago. A portly fellow passed our table and said: ”Hello Chick, how’s your back?” to which Chick replied, ”It’s getting better.”
I said: ”I didn’t know you had a bad back, Chick,” and he said: ”I don’t. That was Clem Thomas. He played on the flank for Wales in 1954 when I was playing for Scotland. I was trapped at the bottom of a ruck and he kicked me in the back so hard I can still feel it. Whenever I see him he always inquires after my back.”
That exchange of pleasantries had been going on for 40 years when I chanced upon it. Clem died a few years ago and I wouldn’t mind betting that Henderson’s appointment at the Pearly Gates will be accompanied by a question from St Peter along the lines of: ”There’s a Welsh gentleman up here who’d like to know how your back is, sir.”
Rest in peace, Chick. We’ll miss you.