It’s business as usual

by Gavin Rich | www.supersport.co.za | 11 March 2008 (10:45)

For those who didn’t pick up the note of glee in the weekend review on Monday morning, this past weekend of Super 14 action was particularly enjoyable for this scribe.

I had grown a bit tired of all the doom and gloom which seemed to be attending the South African performances in the early rounds of the competition, particularly the many questions from radio interviewers which went along the lines of “So what is going wrong with South African rugby?”

While it is patently obvious that the experimental law variations do play to New Zealand strengths more than they do to South African ones, at least until such time as we start using our brains and adapting to them, there was nothing in those early weeks to say, as someone did, that it is now embarrassing for South Africa to be considered the world champions.

How so? Because the Bulls, after realising they couldn’t win the game and missing several key players threw their hands up and surrendered against the Crusaders to the point that they eventually conceded 50 points?

Or was it the big Blues win over the Lions that prompted the appearance of all the sack-cloth? Their defensive effort was woeful, but let’s not forget how young and inexperienced the Lions are, and they are missing some key players.

The Stormers, in their only match against overseas opposition prior to this past weekend’s win over the Reds, went down 22-0 to the Crusaders. But we know how good the Crusaders are, and we also know, after watching the Brisbane game, how important Luke Watson is to the Stormers effort, not to mention the suspended Schalk Burger.

The Cheetahs conceded a lot of points against the Blues in Bloemfontein but then also scored quite a few. It was obvious where the Cheetahs were going wrong – they produced a tackling display that would have embarrassed a team of school kids. They got this aspect right against the Chiefs in Hamilton, where they showed a lot of promise.

As for the Sharks, by the admission of their coach Dick Muir, they had not played well in their first three matches. And yet before the Blues match they were one log point better off than this time last year. You have to have something going for you if you can play poorly against a team like the Bulls at Loftus and still win by 14 points.

Of course, there are concerns. If you run a line through all the South African performances against overseas opposition this season, you will notice an alarming tendency to fall away in the second half. Are we fit enough to play the faster game? And yes, some of the teams do need to move away from dinosaur rugby.

But ultimately we need to remember that it is the Springboks who won the World Cup last year, not the Super 14 franchises, and even in these unimpressive opening four weeks there has been more than enough emerging talent to push the established stars and give Bok coach Peter de Villiers heart.

No prizes for guessing that Keegan Daniel tops my list. Two tries against the Blues, a man of the match award against both the Blues and the Bulls. Enough said. Then there is Duane Vermuelen, the Cheetahs flanker who performed like a colossus against the Chiefs in Hamilton and who does look the part of a highly promising loose-forward.

Bismarck du Plessis showed that if for some reason John Smit is not able to continue as Bok captain, here is a world class player who can more than adequately replace him at hooker. There is not too much wrong with Tiaan Liebenberg either, and maybe the new coach can find an impact role for the sublime running skills of Schalk Brits.

Bradley Barritt and Waylon Murray are starting to gel again in the Sharks midfield, while Meyer Bosman is an underrated inside centre at the Cheetahs. There are not many local flyhalves excelling at the moment, but scrumhalves there are aplenty, with Rory Kockott of the Sharks the star newcomer.

At forward there are a number of good young props learning their trade, and ditto for lock, where Andries Bekker is starting to show his potential and Wilhelm Steenkamp looks a great prospect.

So why is there so much negativity? Yes, some of the local Super 14 teams will bomb out. But then they always do, even in years when the Springboks win the World Cup and the Tri-Nations. From the evidence of the early rounds, there is nothing to be too concerned about – adaptations need to be made, and it would be foolish to ignore this, but overall it is business as usual.