There have been some odd happenings in South African sport during the course of the 21st century.
Take the case of cricketer Jacques Rudolph, who made his debut for the Proteas against India in 2001, only for the ICC retrospectively to strip the game of its Test match status.
A year later the same Rudolph was selected to face Australia, only for UCB president Percy Sonn to veto a white player in favour of the coloured Justin Ontong. At the third time of asking, Rudolph finally earned his Test cap in Bangladesh and celebrated his debut with a double century.
But is Rudolph’s story any stranger than that of Robert Brian Skinstad? This week Skinstad will lead the Springboks on to the field in Sydney for a Test match against Australia just more than four years after bowing out of Test rugby.
Skinstad was the 50th Springbok captain and played a further seven Tests under the captaincy of Corne Krige after being removed from the helm in 2002 by Rudolph Straeuli. His final Test in his initial career was against Argentina at the unlikely venue of PAM Brink Stadium in Springs.
Who now remembers the fact that Skinstad left South African rugby not with a bang, but a whimper? He was on the field for the last 12 minutes as a replacement for AJ Venter. When he arrived the Pumas were leading 25 to 16, on the verge of a historic first win over the Springboks. A try by Brent Russell and a conversion and last-minute penalty by Louis Koen saved the embarrassment of the home side. Skinstad flew to England soon afterwards.
And that should have been that. In the next four years, Skinstad played a little of what he called ”social rugby” for a fallen giant of the British game, Richmond. He dabbled in real estate, tried unsuccessfully to start a team of southern hemisphere ex-pats — called ”The Tribe” — and appeared as an analyst on Sky TV’s rugby shows.
When the rumours filtered through early this year that Straeuli had secured Skinstad’s services for the Sharks, it seemed more like a marketing move than an attempt to bolster the squad for the Super 14. Crucially, Sharks coach Dick Muir did not jump in with both feet. He put Skinstad in the charge of the fitness trainer and gave him a few Vodacom Cup games.
He did not feature in the Sharks’s first five games, but sidled on to the bench for the last two at home before starting for the first time on tour in the Antipodes. His return to high-profile rugby came on a magic night in Albany when the Sharks beat the Blues with verve and style. It was probably that performance which convinced Springbok coach Jake White to take notice.
Nevertheless, it was still something of a shock to see Skinstad’s name in the first training squad of the season. He had effectively gone from retired dilettante to national squad member in the space of three months and a handful of games.
Injuries to key players handed the former captain the gilt-edged opportunity to start the game against the All Blacks in Durban a fortnight ago. There was a moment early on when he signalled his presence. He hacked the ball ahead on the New Zealand 22, but couldn’t re-gather to score.
The Skinstad of 10 years ago would have scooped up the ball and cantered under the posts. But the Skinstad of 10 years ago had not yet injured his knee in a bar-room brawl. As things transpired in Durban, Skinstad could not last the pace. He was not alone in that, of course, as the Boks were overhauled in the final quarter, but that’s not the point.
The point is that Skinstad was never judged by the standards of mere mortals. He went to the 1999 World Cup on one leg because the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) had used his image shamelessly on about 70% of the brands associated with the national side, from shirts to soft drinks and everything in between.
Oh, and there was the small fact that he took over the number eight position from Gary Teichmann, when coach Nick Mallett became fatally disillusioned with the man who had led the Boks through their 17-match unbeaten run.
It is not as though Skinstad doesn’t come with baggage, then, although the extraordinary circumstances surrounding his return to the captaincy have conspired to keep it out of the headlines. White’s decision to send a ”B” team on tour was deemed rather more important than who might lead it.
Skinstad’s team has a chance, of course, albeit a slim one against a Wallaby side rejuvenated by victory against the All Blacks last week. It is woefully short of pace up front and will need to slow the game down to compete. Assuming it can do that, it will be up to Derick Hougaard to kick the Boks to victory.
”We must play Bulls-style rugby,” said Skinstad this week. The transformation is complete. When does real life start again?