Our cup runneth over

What a difference a Cup makes. The Springboks win the Tri-Nations and it’s as if a whole game has been put on a course of anti-depressants.

In a few short weeks gloom and despair about the state of South African rugby has given way to optimism and buoyancy.

Whereas the question not too long ago was “what’s wrong with our rugby,” people now say, “hasn’t the rugby been good!”

Hasn’t it just. By winning the Tri-Nations (even though all three teams won two matches!) it’s as though a cloud has lifted as each week of the Absa Currie Cup produces a collective vibrancy and instances of individual flair which were missing a few months ago.

The run-in to the tournament is as exciting as it’s ever been and, with three weeks to go before the touring side is named, concern about the annual trip north has given way to a mood of confidence that the Boks can go over to Britain and Ireland and win the Grand Slam… oh, and we’ll also see of Argentina on the way home.

The transformation in the national (rugby) psyche is nothing short of miraculous and one has to marvel at the mistakes that were made that allowed us to get so low.

For when you survey the landscape, from the Bulls to Province, from the Cheetahs to the Lions, from the Pumas to the Sharks, we are indeed a country blessed with incredible talent and an unsurpassed passion for “rugger.”

This was forcefully brought home to me while discussing who might make Jake White’s Springbok touring team and someone remarked: “And to think that Gary Botha and Ettienne Botha are not Springboks.”

That, indeed, is a staggering thought and it set me on a quick little exercise to pick a team of “non-Boks” to see what we have bubbling under.

The outcome is a side that would not only turn some other international coaches green with envy but a XV who would fancy themselves to give the Boks a good run for their money.

The Springboks under White have a settled look (thankfully) but here is my team of first-class players who have yet to win a senior cap.

1. Gurthro Steenkamp (Cheetahs)
2. Gary Botha (Blue Bulls)
3. Ryno Gerber (Cheetahs)
4. Boela du Plooy (Cheetahs)
5. Kleinjan Tromp (Lions)
6. Luke Watson (WP)
7. Nico Breedt (Sharks)
8. Adri Badenhorst (WP)
9. Enrico Januarie (Lions)
10. Willem de Waal (Cheetahs)
11. Frikkie Welsh (Blue Bulls)
12. Ettienne Botha (Blue Bulls)
13. Bryan Habana (Lions)
14. Egon Seconds (WP)
15. Johan Roets (Blue Bulls)

To think that White’s squad already numbers some 32 players and all these are still waiting in the wings – plus the like of Pietman van Niekerk, Brendon Botha, Roland Bernard, Cobus Grobbelaar, Johan Muller, Fabian Juries, Paul Delport, Bobby Joubert, Wynand Olivier, Chumani Booi and a number of others, such as the under 21s and under 19s, who have the talent to make it into the green-and-gold.

The down-side is that there are still not enough players of colour in the mix – although former Zimbabwean Tonderai Chavanga will soon be eligible – while it is a concern that a young prop such as Ryno Gerber, a tighthead to boot, has chosen to seek his fortune overseas rather than wait in the queue.

That said, though, it is clear that few nations – other than perhaps New Zealand – possess the raw material available to South Africa and it should never again be allowed to happen that we sink as low as we were after last year’s World Cup.