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Ups and Downs

Monday, March 31 The past weekend began with the ball coming out of that quarrelsome ruck called the South African Rugby Union on the side of the incumbent president, Oregan Hoskins.  That it was by far the better of the two possible decisions open to those electing the new president was quickly made clear by the reaction of the comments of the loser afterwards.  Surely one of the attributes that anyone assuming the supreme administrative position in rugby in this country should be sportsmanship.  Take the case that a Springbok captain were to lose a test and afterwards in that obligatory TV interview say rude and derogatory things about his opponents, he would – and should – be severely reprimanded at the very least.  His suitability for the captaincy would be in serious doubt.  Make the comparison.  We rest our case.

Now on to the real field of play.  South African teams have had good weeks and bad weeks in the Super 14, ups and downs.  This weekend we can count as somewhere in between.  Two wins: Stormers and Sharks; and two losses: Cheetahs and Bulls.  

The exasperating aspect has to be that both those losses were cruelly and desperately close.  The Cheetahs could have won, should have won, came within one point of the Waratahs – but in the last few minutes gave away a penalty and lost 19-23.  How many times has that not been the pattern of Cheetahs matches this season?  They could have been at least halfway up the table by now, but instead they are fighting to avoid being in the Super 14 basement.  Only the ironically named Highlanders from the appropriately named House of Pain are below them, but have a match in hand.  Yet the Cheetahs are not a bad side and actually scored three tries (with one near miss to add even more frustration); the Waratahs scored only two.  

The Bulls looked much more like their old true selves against the Blues.  No one more so than Bryan Habana who had regained the electricity that has been his trademark.  But the Bulls experienced the same sort of frustration that the Cheetahs know all too well.  They also scored three tries to two and were a mere two points behind (21-23) at the end thanks to a drop goal by Nick Evans about seven minutes before full time.  

The Stormers continue to cheer us up.  They scored a spectacularly rapid first try – within 48 seconds of the kick-off.  The scorer was the spectacularly rapid Tonderai Chavhanga.  Ross Skeate took the ball; there was a driving maul; Schalk Burger took the ball forward, passed to Conrad Jantjes; Chavhanga followed up, that oval rugby ball bounced as he had hoped and he scored the try.  He scored another one later on.  The Stormers were making the cameramen happy.  In the second half Jean de Villiers produced yet another of his characteristic interceptions, sprinted through with no one near him, then loped and finally strolled over for the third Stormers try.  Brok Harris scored the fourth bonus-point try with the delight that only a prop can derive from such a feat.  Props are not meant to score tries, Genghis will tell you, but stolen fruit always tastes sweetest, he will also tell you.  So will the Stormers tighthead.  It was a good and necessary victory for the Stormers and Rassie Erasmus.  Their defeats in South Africa at the beginning were a largely self-inflicted millstone that has not yet completely lost its effect, but their successful tour record has put them with at least a fighting chance of reaching the semi-finals.  The Western Force are a formidable bunch; beating them in Perth was a considerable achievement, well worth packing for.  Not the least of the Stormers’ accomplishments was to use the long kick downfield properly.  There was determined and purposeful following up designed to keep play as much as possible in their opponents’ half, not just to present them with the ball and acres of empty field to exercise options in – which our teams have too often done.

The Sharks, still of course in this year’s Super 14 to have to go through the customs shed, won again and lie second on the log, though well behind the cruising Crusaders. Even more significantly they are ahead of the Auckland Blues, and they have a match in hand compared with both Crusaders and Blues. The Reds from Queensland, almost written off at the beginning of the tournament, gave the Sharks a hard time in the first half, and much of the second.  The match was more than three-quarters through before the Sharks scored the two decisive tries that took the score to 22-10.  Rory Kockott, the replacement scrumhalf, had something to do with the changing of the Sharks’ attacking pattern from prolonged siege warfare to the daring, darting commando raids that produced tries from Stefan Terblanche (another of Dick Muir’s durable Sharks veterans) and Bismarck du Plessis.  Du Plessis works harder every match and must now be the best hooker in the country.  This is so, more particularly as hookers are now primarily tough scrummagers as well as mobile loose forwards in their many spare moments. They used to be primarily foot-scraping contenders for the ball in scrums, but no longer now that the ball is fed into scrums with a decided bias.  They also, of course, combine at the lineout the skills of a champion darts player and a top-class off-spinner.  The Sharks never looked like losing, but at full time they knew they had been in a match.  The final twelve minutes were a fascinating match within a match, with the Sharks striving to score a fourth try for a bonus point and the Reds battling to score at least another try to gain that consolation bonus point awarded for not losing by too much.

One specific observation from the South African teams’ games:  There are at least three supremely speedy wings in our teams, Bryan Habana, Jongi Nokwe and Tonderai Chavhanga.  Each of them showed this week that there is no substitute for sheer pace.  They are out there on the wing, but please may they be given plenty of scope – and plenty of ball.

So there were both ups and downs this weekend.  Why is it that teams at this level continue to confound the prophets?  How does it happen that the Bulls and Stormers started the competition with a series of disappointments but are now showing marked improvement, the Stormers very much so?  The Bulls as 2007 champions had further to fall and did so, but are now showing signs of climbing back, almost certainly not right to the top but well in that direction.  The Lions and Cheetahs are still far too low in comparison with the promise in their ranks, and must be accused of shooting themselves in their feet far too often.  When you tell someone or some team that they are doing their best, is that good news or bad news?  In the light (or dark?) of the Lions’ and Cheetahs’ results this year it would be good news rather to believe that they were not doing their best!  One is reminded of a cruel cartoon many years ago of a patient lying on the psychiatrist’s couch and being told: ‘The trouble with you, Mr Smith, is that you are just inferior.’  The Sharks have been the most consistent South African side to date.  Long may they continue that way.  

Further afield that is also true in spades of the Crusaders.   The Blues have slipped a bit from their early heights.  The Hurricanes are sounding more warnings to others than they did at first.  The Chiefs are, like the Stormers, improving, but the Highlanders are perplexingly low down, and like the Cheetahs winless.  The Western Force have been, and remain, a threat despite their dip at home in Perth on Friday.  The Brumbies ain’t what they used to be in the Gregan-Larkham-Mortlock days.  The Reds are moving from down country to up country, and so are the Waratahs, though neither have settled there yet.  

Part of the fascination of the competition and indeed of the game of rugby itself is to speculate how and why these ups and downs occur.  Early season preparations vary.  Warm-up matches can help to go in with a bang, but can lead to injuries and an earlier onset of battle-weariness.  Injuries, especially to key players, matter a lot.  The Blues faltered without Nick Evans, the Bulls have not till now had full value from Habana. Fixture lists and travel patterns make a difference.  The Sharks have had the first six matches relatively easy, though the Stormers have benefited by being on tour together away from home.

The blame-others contingent will point to refereeing decisions – card awards; TMO allowing or vetoing of tries; offences punished inconsistently or not enough - as more than just bad luck or they will criticise bad selections.  Off-field activities are either not known to the fans or those that are derive from gossip or scandal.  Different players and different teams have varying thresholds of weariness and boredom, physical, mental and emotional.

Every fan is an expert on these things, every commentator, every reporter.  But if you can really explain, cure or even forecast these problems, there is a well-paid job waiting for you somewhere.

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