Because sport broadcasting these days is so ubiquitous it is easy to forget what happened in the week prior to the teams emerging from the tunnel. The fixtures list says Sharks vs Crusaders, Nelson, New Zealand, and you turn on the television and indeed there are the teams at the appointed venue. But one team clearly wasn’t there. One team still had its body clock in Durban, its iPods in a left-luggage locker in Sydney and its concentration span somewhere between the two.
This week when you turn on the telly the Crusaders will be running on to the turf at Newlands in the second of the Super Rugby semifinals. How they manage to deal with the things that scuppered the Sharks will have a material effect on their chances against the Stormers. Statistics suggest the New Zealanders have a mountain to climb somewhat higher than the one that dominates the scenery in Cape Town.
Taking everything that has transpired this season into account, the Crusaders can legitimately claim to be the best side in the competition. They have played every game on the road, coped without their inspirational captain Richie McCaw in more than half their matches, dealt with travel complexities and injuries along the way and still finished third in regular season play. Even so, a rational person must admit that they have little chance at Newlands on Saturday.
That’s despite the fact that the Crusaders are the most successful team in the history of Super Rugby. They have seven titles to their name and 17 wins in 22 play-off matches, but three of their five defeats have come in semifinals played in South Africa. All three were against the Bulls, and on each occasion the Bulls went on to clinch the title.
The Stormers will be hoping to extend that sequence of results and titles, but it probably means that the Blues have to beat the Reds in the first semifinal in Brisbane. In the event of the Stormers beating the Crusaders, the Blues would then fly to Cape Town for the final. If the Reds win, they will host either the Stormers or the Crusaders, come what may.
The Blues have a simpler task than their Kiwi rivals. They only have to cross the Tasman Sea to play the Reds. The restructured competition is in its infancy, but one thing that should be exercising Sanzar’s minds is the fairness, or lack of it, in the play-offs. Maybe the answer is to base all the play-offs in one country, alternating countries each year.
Of course, there are those who will tell you that fairness should be the last thing on anyone’s minds. The competition is long enough to sort the sheep from the goats and the top two teams deserve the dice to be loaded in their favour. The Stormers and Reds have had a week off at home to prepare for the semis and if they don’t both win they will have no one but themselves to blame. The only people who want to tamper with the competition’s format are the neutrals who naturally side with the underdog.
In many ways it would be a shame for the Crusaders’ season to end on Saturday, but from the perspective of the Stormers it is vital. Last year the Stormers made it through to an all-South African final and lost to the Bulls. Western Province then made it through to the final of the Currie Cup and lost to the Sharks in Durban. The union needs a trophy to acknowledge the things it is doing right.
There has been a marked upward curve since Rassie Erasmus was tempted away from Bloemfontein to become director of rugby in the Cape. Erasmus is an original thinker and has a fine eye for quality players. He has galvanised the Stormers and Province tight five over the past three years, thus fixing the weak link that let both sides down for years.
Then he persuaded two great Springboks, Jacque Fourie and Bryan Habana, to leave the Highveld and campaign at sea level. Fourie, when fit, is the oil that makes the backline motor run. He is the best defensive organiser in the country and the straightest runner. Habana is so good that he can play poorly and still score match-winning tries. When he plays well he lifts the teams he plays for and the nation.
The two “finds” of the season have been hooker Deon Fourie and lock Rynhardt Elstadt. Fourie held the fort for two months while Tiaan Liebenberg worked his way back to fitness, and now the Stormers have two hookers to go to war with. Elstadt benefited from the great form shown by his lock partner, Andries Bekker, and looks like a future Springbok, perhaps not far in the future either.
When the side has encountered difficulties it has been at half back where injuries have cut a swathe. But when fit, Peter Grant and Dewald Duvenhage have been as good a halfback pair as any in the tournament, with the possible exception of Will Genia and Quade Cooper at the Reds.
The season should end in Brisbane next week and the Stormers should be flying out of Cape Town this Sunday. If that is not the case one or two things will have gone horribly wrong.