Don’t cheer too soon

The superb performance by Western Province in the semifinal of the Absa Currie Cup campaign, and an amazing fight back by the Free State Cheetahs to ensure that the final against the Blue Bulls would go down in history as one of the finest of all time, have underlined the depth in South African rugby.
So the northern hemisphere tour of the Springboks should be about maintaining the South African momentum and ensuring that the Green and Gold strengthen their grip on the position as the trendsetters in world rugby, the number-one nation. Right?... Think again!

That fact was underlined, according to McCeechan, by their convincing thrashing of the Boks in the third test, when the Lions held sway by 28-9.

He may be wrong, of course, and everyone in South Africa remembers how the Lions took the last-gasp penalty of Morné Steyn, which gave the Boks an unassailable 2-0 lead.
Were the utterances of McGeechan those of a sore loser?

Could be, but remember how the strength in depth of the South African Currie Cup teams has been devastated by their exodus to the French and English leagues who, with the euro at their disposal, could pick and choose which of the best South African players they could lure to Europe.

The Cheetah team of 2006 and 2007, which drew with the Bulls in the Currie Cup final and won the coveted trophy against the Lions the following year, was particularly on the receiving end, as 12 members of that group left these shores to England and France.

The Bulls, Western Province and the Sharks all suffered at the hands of overseas poachers, but not to the same degree as the Free State.

Point is, many senior players in South African rugby – including Marius Joubert, Phillip Burger, Gaffie du Toit, De Wet Barry, Gary Botha, Jacques Cronjé, CJ van der Linde and Butch James – left South Africa to embark on a professional career in England or France.

This matter will obviously have a bearing on the northern hemisphere tour by the Springboks, where the nine newcomers to the South African group will be under scrutiny.
If South Africa is to lose a number of incumbents to injury or loss of form, who would replace them for the Rugby World Cup team?

Take Victor Matfield (32) and Bakkies Botha (30), for example. Both are young enough to be fielded in the Springbok team in two years’ time, but what happens if Botha were to injure a knee, or Matfield carry a troublesome hamstring injury?

South Africa surely lacks depth in the position of the enforcer lock such as Botha, and his predecessor Mark Andrews – players who had the qualities to dominate with their aggression and physicality, or clean out rucks in ways that made the opposition locker room panic.

In the number-10 position, there are equally a number of question marks. Morné Steyn has entrenched himself as arguably the greatest match winner in international rugby in 2009. His cool temperament under pressure and his ability to convert opportunities from 55 metres out in the dying embers of the game to win matches have set him apart.
His second-in-command, Ruan Pienaar, has suffered a mini crisis of confidence. When Pienaar misses his vital first kick, he seems to lose his way emotionally or mentally.
To add to his trepidation, his provincial team, the Natal Sharks, has selected Pienaar not as flyhalf and in the pivotal position of dictating backline play with the boot – but as scrumhalf.

Another position that may become increasingly troublesome for the national selectors is that of fullback.

Frans Steyn has decided to play in France, but his immediate replacement, Zane Kirchner, lacked that extra spark or that special quality that makes someone a "footballer", as Dr Danie Craven once described.

With Percy Montgomery retired and Steyn not eligible according to the national coach Peter de Villiers, South Africa may consequently lack extra depth in reserves at number 15, as may also be the case with number 10 and number 4.

If the Boks do not act quickly and Pienaar, Kirchner or Danie Rossouw (as reserve lock in the enforcer role) do not provide the answers, McGeechan may gleefully and spitefully smile as the Boks stumble to defeat on the northern hemisphere tour.

Judging by the performances produced by the Cheetahs and Western Province in defeat, there is no need for panic yet.

Pienaar requires a morale booster and some confidence, while Rossouw is a remarkable athlete who, according to the former Blue Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer, would have been a world-class lock and a starter at number 4 in every other rugby nation in the world but South Africa, had he been given a decent opportunity.

A fullback at school, Rossouw possesses the sort of footballer quality that once made a certain Frik du Preez such a household name in international rugby.

Let us hope Meyer is correct, that Pienaar does not suffer another rugby implosion like earlier in the Tri-Nations and against the Lions where he failed miserably with his place-kicking; and that Kirchner produces that spark and magic which made Frans Steyn such a remarkable performer during the recent Vodacom Tri-Nations.

A final word about Steyn, James and Jean de Villiers, who now ply their trade in England and France: Gerrie Swart, an agent of Steyn, says that Pele played for a New York club team during 1966. That was 43 years ago. It is ancient history now that Pele was the pivot for Brazil and that he represented this soccer team at Soccer World Cups in 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970.

If memory serves us correctly, he was one of their great playmakers during another successful World Cup campaign. But if he were a South African rugby player, he would have been discarded and deemed a ‘traitor'. Brazil might never have won the World Cup, and Pele would not have been a soccer legend and an international icon.
The fear is very real that this may happen to Steyn, who is only 22 years old and able to produce a number of magnificent kicking and running performances to become an icon and cult figure in South African rugby.

Let us hope South African rugby changes its collective mind on this issue.

• 09/11/2009 06:04 - Religion in schools
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• 03/11/2009 05:10 - Opinion – The Reitz Four
• 02/11/2009 10:24 - The Malema factor
• 02/11/2009 09:59 - Government Spending

• 02/11/2009 06:24 - Worth a read