Six of the Australian squad who did not participate in last Saturday’s 49-0 destruction of Fiji were sent to South Africa early to acclimatise ahead of this week’s opening Tri-Nations Test in Cape Town. Apparently they were warned to stay out of trouble.

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%.

Every year, we begin the Super 14 (or 12, and before that 10) with high hopes and every year it takes about six weeks for those hopes to be utterly dashed. On the occasions when one of our teams sneaks into fourth position it is forced to travel across the Indian Ocean towards inevitable defeat.

A former Blue Bulls player, Warren Brosnihan, uttered a prophetic line last Saturday afternoon. About three hours before the Bulls were due to kick off against the Reds in Pretoria, Brosnihan considered the fact that his former team needed to win by 72 points or more to host a Super 14 semifinal and said, ”72 points? Heyneke Meyer loves a challenge”.

It may never happen again, so let’s celebrate the fact that the final weekend of log play in the Super 14 features seven teams vying for four spots in next week’s semifinals. The mathematical conundrums would addle the brain of the most committed Sudoku addict, so let the certainties be dealt with first.

Remember the good old days when South African teams were winning Super 14 games all over the southern hemisphere? The rare days, the fair days, when Australian teams were taking regular hidings and 22 of the best players in New Zealand were only allowed to release their testosterone reserves in the gym.

If you believe the official statistics emanating from the refereeing department of Sanzar, then the number of scrums per game is marginally down on years 2005 and 2006, but the number of free kicks and penalties emanating from rugby union’s trademark has significantly increased.

Maybe it was because they played in white jerseys and resented the fact that the opposition were allowed to wear blue. Maybe the dinosaur jibes had finally struck home, and maybe the Waratahs are a directionless rabble, unrecognisable from the contenders of the last two seasons. Whatever the reason, last Saturday the Bulls scored four tries and climbed to third position on the log.

A funny thing happened in the press box at the Absa stadium in Durban about two weeks ago. The Sharks had just gone to the top of the Super 14 log by beating the Highlanders and coach Dick Muir sauntered in to take up his familiar position at the centre of a large, oval table.

Something intriguing appears to be happening with South African rugby in the second season of the Super 14. With the exception of the Stormers, our teams are learning how to play poorly and win. It is hard to overemphasise how important this is in a World Cup year.