It should not be difficult to build hype around the visit of the reigning world champions to these shores, yet the first Springbok Test of rather an important year is not doing business at the box office. By Wednesday, the first of two Tests against England, at Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein, were under subscribed by 50%. What can this mean?
It would be easy to point out that the England side announced by coach Brian Ashton on Tuesday is closer to a third than to a second team. There are three World Cup winners in it (Jason Robinson, the captain, Jonny Wilkinson and Mark Regan), but no one from Leicester or Wasps, due to a fixture clash.
Yet, historically, South African supporters have liked nothing better than the chance to watch their team hitting a man when he is down. Why would supporters not pay to see these Boks shoot fish in a barrel? It’s not like ÂÂBloemfontein gets a major Test every year.
Could it perhaps have something to do with issues beyond the game? Is the paying public telling the South African Rugby Union (Saru) exactly where it can stick its race-based policies? White’s team will inevitably be scrutinised for its representivity and it might be said to fail the pencil test, because a foot injury to Akona Ndungane means that there is no black African in the match 22.
There are four players of colour in all and only two can be truly described as merit selections. Bryan Habana has rediscovered the form that made him the best wing in world rugby two years ago, and the desire to unite the Sharks front row in the starting line up is the only reason that ÂÂGurthro Steenkamp is on the bench.
The other two inclusions remind us that we are not campaigning on a level playing field. Ashwin Willemse played the last of his 11 Test matches three years ago. Since then he has been a martyr to injury and has this season played just twice.
Willemse’s comeback was in a Vodacom Cup match in Welkom on March 31. He left the field injured just before half time. A little over a month later, he played (off the bench) for the Lions against the Cheetahs in the final round of log play in the Super 14. He scored a try, but scarcely covered himself in glory as the Lions lost 16-10.
Ricky January also came off the bench in that game. Lions coach ÂÂLoffie Eloff seemed to be of the opinion for most of the tournament that Jano Vermaak was a better scrumhalf than January, an opinion shared by most critics. Yet, the first Springbok game of the season comes around and, from a squad of 47, Januarie and Willemse make it to the starting line up.
In the past we could have written this off as an example of White’s idiosyncratic selection policy. He believes, and in many cases has been vindicated in those beliefs, that he knows better than the provincial coaches who can play his game and who can’t.
Then there’s his loyalty to players who have done it for him in the past. January and Willemse both played in his under-21 team that won the World Cup in 2002. So too, in Saturday’s team, did Jean de Villiers, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger and Gurthro Steenkamp.
But those excuses won’t wash this time. Willemse and January are in the team for two reasons. Firstly they help with quota requirements, and secondly they are both on fat contracts with Saru. Willemse played two games of rugby in 2005 and three last year, yet he is rumoured to have been earning in excess of R100 000 per month since his last Test against Ireland in November 2004.
January has been more visible on the field, and since he started the last three Tests of the 2006 season, White has a powerful argument that you don’t drop the man in possession. Furthermore, January wouldn’t be in the first-XV if Fourie du Preez were fit. And let’s not forget that he is likely to have a big game against England, because he’ll get an armchair ride from his mighty forwards.
But let’s also not forget that White and his employers have been at loggerheads since the loss to France in Cape Town last year. Back then it was touch and go whether White would take the team on tour and, if Saru vice-ÂÂpresident Mike Stofile is to be believed, it remains uncertain whether he will be at the helm for the World Cup.
Clearly, Luke Watson is the least of White’s worries at the moment, as he attempts to find the few missing pieces in his fine team that will enable it to win the World Cup, while keeping the politicians happy and looking over his shoulder for knives.
Will anyone, for instance, note that he has kept Danie Rossouw at number eight?
The Bulls flank-cum-lock was a revelation there on the fields of Britain, but may be too slow to play there in this country. Saturday will tell us more and it would be nice, one week hence, to be writing about rugby issues.