Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli will be well aware that the excuses have to stop on Saturday. The former Sharks coach returns to King’s Park for the Test against New Zealand with successive defeats on the road having failed to raise the ire of an unusually understanding public.
SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer has been fighting fires recently. Suggestions that the end of the Newscorp contract in 2005 might usher in an era of South African alignment with Europe have been met with a dead bat. But Oberholzer’s pronouncements of Tri-Nations solidarity sit uncomfortably with last week’s events in the Antipodes.
It is never a good idea to suggest that the All Blacks are there for the taking, but beneath the confident veneer lies a team unsure of itself.
The euphoria following victory in the Under-21 World Cup, together with the goodwill generated by the Supersport Club Championships and the 39th Craven Week for high schools will not last much longer.
It is just over seven years since South Africa last played Samoa and things have changed.
Viljoen’s successor, Rudolf Straeuli, may appear like pragmatism made flesh, but beneath the bluff veneer beats the heart of a born risk taker.
When Rudolf Straeuli sent the Springboks to the Police College in Pretoria, part of his reasoning was that adversity tends to bring people together. Saturday’s win against Wales in Cape Town suggests that he is already reaping the rewards.
Rudolf Straeuli is trying to reinvent Springbok rugby.
The final round of the Super 12 has four teams fighting for two berths.
The final straw has been clutched; the camel’s back has been broken. The penultimate round of log action in the Super 12 is upon us and finally we can say without fear of reprisal that no South African team will contest a semifinal spot this year.