Rugby that rocks

A fuzzy movie reel exits of Dr Danie Craven putting to the test, and proving, one of his favourite theories about the game of rugby – namely that the ball travels faster than the man.

It was made at the old Coetzenburg stadium in Stellenbosch, now the Danie Craven Stadium, and what brought it to mind was the exhilarating climax to the inaugural Varsity Cup tournament – the Final of which was held at the same venue.

The try that Morne Jooste scored to clinch the title for the Maties, after they’d had two other “tries” denied by the intervention of an experimental law, technology and match officials, was uncannily similar to the hypothesis Craven set out to demonstrate in the old coaching film – i.e. that the cover defence cannot move as quickly across the field as a crisply passed ball.

In the coaching film Craven plays a role. He takes up a position near the touchline with a full backline spread to one side of him and three loose forwards, in a huddle, facing him.

He then taps the ball at his feet to the scrumhalf which is the signal for it to be passed down the line (without a skip) and for the loose forwards to set off at a sprint to cut off the wing in the far corner - and on every occasion the wing gets to the goalline before the loose forwards can head him off.

The Maties scored their winning try by outflanking the UCT defence, mainly thanks to a beautifully executed skip pass by one of their centres, but Craven’s theory was nevertheless aptly proven – probably to the delight of the Doc whose spirit is said to watch over his beloved Stellenbosch.

What a tonic the Varsity Cup has turned out to be for South African rugby.

Watching on television has brightened up Monday nights and, judging from the crowd involvement, actually being at the matches must have been even greater fun.

Francois Pienaar certainly deserves credit for applying the funds of the bank he works for, drawing Steinhof into rugby and being the driving force behind an innovation that has energized a sadly neglected Varsities game and one looks forward to the concept being extended to a similar competition involving the top open clubs in the country.

Club rugby is in a calamitous state and a similar competition giving a different set of players the chance to perform on bigger stages and appear on television is bound to revitalize the game at that level too – especially as one could have regional play-offs to decide which club gets to play in the official Club Cup and, of course, there is the enticing prospect of the winner of this competition playing the holders of the Varsity Cup.

The first thing that struck when the Varsity Cup started was how young the players are.

In the pre-professional era when university rugby occupied an important place on the fixture list many of the players were fully-fledged seniors – in the case of Jan “Boland” Coetzee and Jannie Engelbrecht at Stellenbosch already edging into the “Oom” stage!

There were many epic encounters in those days – one of my favourites being a Stellenbosch vs UCT Intervarsity at Newlands that doubled as the WP Grand Challenge Final in the mid-70s – I am forced to be vague about the actual year because I’m not sure whether it was 1975 or 1976 and, such is the lowly rung occupied by club rugby these days, could find no list of Grand Challenge winners on the WPRFU’s website.

Both teams bristled with provincial players with the Maties heavily favoured – only to be denied by an inspired performance from the Ikeys whose team included names such as Dougie Claxton and Butch Deuchar (players who, in a different era would surely have been Springboks) and Peter Whipp and who scored a fine try by calling a move called the “Dugald” (after Dugald Macdonald) – engineered by a young Nick Mallett and finished, to his eternal glory, by a flyhalf called Tim Brukman.

Another big Varsity occasion saw the Maties up against a mighty Tukkies team fielding three Springboks and 13 players with Northern Transvaal experience (among them Wynand Claassen) at Coetzenburg. The match marked the resumption of rugby hostilities between the two great institutions after the fixture had been dormant for some seasons and the Tukkies needed to win to complete a streak of 50 consecutive victories.

The Maties were captained by Morne du Plessis but it was another move pulled by the wily old fox Craven that sunk the Tukkies as a little-known wing conjured up from the “Koshuis” leagues called “Slang” Kritzinger scored two tries to carry the home-side to a 14-3 victory.

During a spell as Sports Editor of the Cape Times in the early 80s I always made a point of watching a UCT side coached by Basil Bey and captained by a friend and later colleague of mine Peter “Bones” Munnik.

Bey was, is and continues to be an advocate of keeping the ball moving and it was so good to see the Ikeys return to this style under their new coach John Dobson, an old mate of mine and former editor of the SA Rugby magazine who grew up with “the beautiful game” on the dinner table thanks to the influence of his dad, that inimitable man of rugby lore and letters, Paul, and, of course, Bey at Bishops.

Rugby is the ultimate team game when the facets of technical skill, pace and flair are brought together and it was exhilarating to see a smaller side run bigger teams off their feet – an attitude that I’m sure will be re-visited when the Ikeys gather for training in the weeks to come and they realize that perhaps their biggest mistake against the Maties was to start putting boot to the ball as they clung to their 10-6 lead near the end of the Final.

In the end, however, it was the Ikeys who ignited the tournament and doubtless motivated the like of the Maties and the Pukke to show that they too can run the ball with panache and turn the game, as Craven liked to say, into an adventure.

Something good as happened at the right level in South African rugby and it was heartening to see that the thread between the “old days” and this new incarnation has not been completely severed for the Ikeys still belt out the Queen anthem “We will rock you!” which, students being students, becomes something a little different as the game wears on.

Indeed. Rugby that rocks!