If there is a definition of an invidious position it could be this: the national coach names you in the World Cup squad and brings you back from Ireland to play in the Super 12 — in the final game of the tournament you play against another South African franchise eager to prove that the national coach doesn’t know a prop forward from a big, black dog.
After playing for the Stormers against the Cats at Newlands Robbie Kempson could be forgiven for packing his bags and heading back to Ulster. Fortunately, as Rudolf Straeuli realised, Kempson is not your average prop forward. The Stormers won a tight game and Kempson won his war within a war.
”There were plenty of chirps out on the field, but I can’t afford to let those kind of things get to me. I have been put on the spot and I’ve got to produce the goods: I can’t afford to have an off game,” said Kempson after the game.
For two reasons, Kempson may be the first in a long line of returning Springboks. Firstly, the English Premiership has tightened up on its foreign-players restriction: only one non-European Union passport holder allowed. As Kempson points out: ”The change in the set-up in England has closed the door. Being allowed one foreigner a team means they’re only after the real stars, not some guy who happened to play flank for Maties.”
Secondly, SA Rugby has finally taken its blinkers off. Since the southern hemisphere body Sanzar was formed in 1995 as a result of the
10-year commercial deal with Rupert Murdoch’s organisation, Newscorp, South Africa has been the most evangelical of the partners concerning foreign-based players. When Francois Pienaar and Joel Stransky moved to Saracens and Leicester respectively in 1996, the national body treated them, two of the architects of World Cup victory the previous year, like pariahs.
It didn’t help that Pienaar and Stransky helped to open the floodgates. Every year since then high-
profile players have left this country for England and France, lured by the high value of European currencies against the rand and, perhaps, the non-accountability of their actions in a national context. In other words they could go out every Saturday and play, rather than having to worry about politics and job security. The one thing that the outcasts knew was that there was no way back.
The thaw began in 1999 when
Jannie de Beer, Brendan Venter and Fritz van Heerden all came back from England to play in the Currie Cup and were subsequently selected for the Springbok World Cup team. Last year Selborne Boome returned from a two-year sojourn in France and was treated, if not like the conquering hero, at least as a rugby player whose experience overseas would count as a positive, rather than a negative for his chances of resuming a Test career.
Kempson put it into perspective: ”The bottom line is that we never rated the way rugby was played in the northern hemisphere. Now they have definitely caught up. I wouldn’t say they’re better — I’d say the European Cup is on par with the Super 12 — but it’s reached the stage where I think you’ve got to consider foreign- based players. I look at someone like [Gloucester flank] Jake Boer who hasn’t had a look in at the England set-up. I don’t say he’d walk into the Springbok side, but he’d definitely be a factor, because he’s doing it week in and week out.”
Kempson is the first foreign-based player to be headhunted by SA Rugby. He is on loan from Ulster and will return there in November after the World Cup is over. At least, that was the plan, but Kempson says, ”They’ve been really good to me at Ulster and what happens from here on depends a little bit on what Rudolf’s vision is, not just now, but beyond the World Cup.”
Ironically it was SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer — the most vehement defender of the no-foreigners policy — who smoothed the way for Kempson’s return.
”Rian and Solly [Alan Solomons] are good friends and Rian made contact to see whether Ulster would consider releasing me for a period of time. Solly said yes and that’s when Rudolf got hold of me,” says Kempson.
Solomons is a recurring theme in Kempson’s career. Now the coach of Ulster, it was as Western Province coach and assistant to Nick Mallett with the Springboks, that Solomons tempted Kempson to move to the Cape. Until then he had played his rugby for Natal after being schooled at Queen’s College.
”Technically speaking John Allan had the biggest influence on me, but Gary Teichmann was my captain at College Rovers and Natal and he had a huge influence on my career. I moved to Western Province in 1999, the first year of the Stormers. I had been part of a successful set-up at the Sharks, but I’d reached the stage where Ollie [le Roux] and I were being rotated, which was frustrating for both of us.
”Luckily we were close friends and ironically that probably moved us closer together, but also at that time the side was starting to break up. Teich, Jeremy Thompson and Henry Honiball had all moved to Britain and I felt it was time for me to look at a new challenge. I think that’s a good thing every three to five years.”
What makes Kempson unique — and the principal reason that Straeuli brought him back to South Africa — is that he can prop on both sides of the scrum. It is a relic of this country’s conservative past that international trends have been slow to be accepted here. Other countries have played specialists at inside and outside centre, open and blind-side flank for decades, but the Springboks adhered to their old left and right system for several years after readmission in 1992.
With props we went the other way — absolute specialisation between loose head and tight head — while other nations saw a need for players to be able to adapt, particularly in Europe. An example of that at the highest level would be England’s Jason Leonard, the first prop forward to earn a century of Test caps. The vast majority of his caps have come at loose head, but he played a series for the British Lions in New Zealand at tight head and has played there on occasion for both club and country.
Before Kempson came along, the only post isolation prop that had played on both sides for the Springboks was Balie Swart, who was moved from loose head to tight head for the 1995 World Cup by Kitch Christie. He hardly ever played there before or after and if Tommie Laubscher had passed a critical fitness test he would probably have had precious little game time in the tournament, because Os du Randt was in his way at loose head.
Kempson, on the other hand, has played on both sides in about 50% of his first-class games in this country. In the modern era he is a coach’s dream: technically adept at loose head, but strong enough to move to tight head for the last quarter, allowing an impact loosie — such as Toks van der Linde — to come off the bench and cause havoc.
I asked him what was so different about his rugby upbringing? ”I’m not too sure. I learnt when I was really young, and right through junior school I chopped and changed. My brother was at the same school and he was quite proficient at tight head, so he taught me a few tricks of the trade. I’d say I was more adept at loose head, but every year since then I’ve spent some time on either side and have managed to maintain a competency in both.”
Which brings us to the $64 000 question for those uninitiated in the dark world of the front row. What’s the difference?
”Where do you want to start? Tight head is much more difficult! It’s a lot more intense, more in your face. As a result you tend not to run around the field so much. Your lower back takes a battering and your neck gets a small hiding. On loose head you want to get the biggest hit possible, depending a little on whether the tight head you’re up against likes to come in or force you out.
”If you get a big hit on the tight head then the rest of the scrum is easy. If he gets a big hit on you then you’re on the back foot right from the start. You’ve got to struggle just to keep the scrum up and it’s hard to come back from there. At tight head you basically scrum against two people, the loose head and the hooker. You attack the loose head straight on and then try to strike in on the hooker.”
So now you know. The big question for someone who has played in both hemispheres is where does the balance of power lie in tight forwards?
”In Europe the nature of the fields you play on naturally puts more emphasis on the tight five. The
Super 12 is fast and pacey, whereas the European Cup is just a grind on wet fields. Therefore there has to be a bigger emphasis on line-out ball, scrum ball and back-row moves. As a result I would definitely say that the northern hemisphere has the edge in tight-five play because they’re always in the game and learning.
”I learnt a lot over there and I would say that props there are a lot more proficient. The French props have by far the best power to weight ratio. They tend to be short and squat, which makes them very difficult to scrum against. Pieter de Villiers would not be out of that mould: he’s very good at what he does and probably the best in his position in the world.
”It’s difficult to know how he slipped through the net, although he did leave South Africa when he was very young and played for four years before he was eligible for France. Even so I think it is a problem that South Africa has to address. We should endevour to keep players like that here. Someone like Pat Barnard, who I just played against [Stormers vs Cats] has a lot of potential. They must try and nurture that and make sure that he goes further,” said Kempson.
Kempson is only 29, but he has been through the mill and knows what he is talking about. So would someone like Barnard call him ”Oom”? ”I certainly hope not. He wasn’t very polite out on the field!”
Whether he stays here after the World Cup or moves back to Ulster is actually irrelevant, because Kempson has proved that there is life after leaving South Africa. Future generations of players in this country will owe a debt of gratitude to the modest man who came in from the cold.