Rugby’s new dawn

Soon it will be Super 12 time again, but do you remember when George Gregan had hair?

Taking a page-ripple down memory lane I came across a picture to prove that the astute Wallaby captain was once also hirsute. That was in 1996, the year of the first Super 12.

What I also found, while flicking through the pages of the “1996 Sanzar Rugby Super 12 Media Guide” was a reminder of just what an historic moment in rugby was the playing of the first tournament a decade ago.

It was the creation of the Super 12, coupled with the Tri-Nations, which confirmed that rugby had become fully professional.

Spurred by the US$555-million television rights deal (negotiated by Louis Luyt and endorsed by South Africa, New Zealand and Australia) signed the year before rugby had relinquished the last vestiges of amateurism and the playing of the Super 12 represented the first verification of the game’s brave new world.

With a Super 14 now on the horizon it is hard to believe that nine tournaments, representing 621 high-on-adrenaline matches, have already gone by because some of the memories are still so fresh.

The Super 12 has been pure theatre with a cast of wonderful characters and it was fascinating to go back to the first year and check out the pioneers.

It was a time that David Campese invariably featured in the marketing campaigns;

That John Eales captained a Queensland Reds side that featured Tim Horan and Jason Little in the centre;

That Todd Blackadder was a strange name we were taking notice of; that Jeff Wilson had a baby-face and Norm Maxwell pimples;

That Christian Cullen was still waiting on his first All Black cap – along with Tana Umaga;

That Eric Rush played XVs;

That the Auckland Blues featured a gallery of legends called Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Jones, Zinzan Brooke, Olo Brown, Jonah Lomu – along with a 21-year-old Carlos Spencer;

That Joeli Vidiri was healthy;

That Francois Pienaar was still in favour;

That Kevin Putt was Natal’s scrumhalf and the Rolls Royce their fullback;

That Gary Teichmann was not yet rated as a superb captain;

That someone listed as Percivale Montgomery played for Western Province – along with Joel Stransky and Chester Williams;

That Kobus Wiese weighed 125 kgs;

That South Africa was represented by Transvaal, Natal, Western Province and Northern Transvaal;

And that Natal reached the Final!

New Zealand adopted what they called a regional system (later to be copied, disastrously, by South Africa) but which actually was a centralised system based around their big cities and turned the tournament into a massive All Black trial, while the Aussies took the opportunity to grow their game by establishing the ACT Brumbies.

Coached by a man we scribblers would learn spelled his name with a lower case ‘q’, Rod Macqueen, the Brumbies, named after a hardy breed of pony found in the Snowy Mountains around Canberra, would turn out to be a startling success given that they were largely made up of players discarded by Queensland and New South Wales.

George Gregan was there from the start, along with Stephen Larkham, Owen Finegan, Justin Harrison, Joe Roff, Ewan McKenzie (now coaching NSW) and Brett Robinson, in a team that took ball retention to levels not previously thought possible.

One of the standout features of going back to the beginning is to discover the amazing longevity of certain of the players. Some of the names already mentioned are still around while there are also Ben Tune, Nathan Grey, Brendan Cannon, Mark Hammett, Kees Meeuws, Anton Oliver and Ollie le Roux who have stayed for the whole trip.

Sadly, as wonderful as the tournament has been, the Super 12’s not been the best thing for South Africa. The travel bogey, forcing South African teams to go on longer tours than their antipodean opponents, has proved to be an insurmountable hurdle, regionalism has failed and none of our teams has emerged victorious - Natal, with appearances in 1996 and 2001, the only local outfit to have reached the final.

Still, it’s been an amazing ride and in a few days time we’ll once again be riveted to our TV screens. As in the past SuperSport will televise all 69 games while the SuperSport Zone will weigh in with live internet scoring, up-to-the-minute reports, comprehensive stats, the quickest updated log anywhere and the popular SuperWrap appearing on www.superrugby.co.za on Tuesday mornings.

You have been warned – take possession of the remote control!