Smitty holds the key

It was a night, oh what a night it was, it really was such a night. October 20. The Stade de France. Paris. The Springboks brandishing the Rugby World Cup in triumph. Can it really be just three months ago?

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some time-warping device, so favoured of movie-makers, which would enable us to spool back and start again.

Let’s see. The final whistle goes. The Boks celebrate, the fans rejoice, people in South Africa, including numerous parliamentarians dressed proudly in Springbok jerseys, go mad as President Thabo Mbeki is hoisted into the air.

It was arguably the greatest moment of triumph for Springbok rugby and also one of the few moments the aloof, then, leader of the ANC was warmly embraced by all his people.

Now it seems so far away. The bunglers of SA Rugby immediately poured acid on the burnish of the golden cup and the president, of the nation as opposed to the one of rugby, has fallen off the mountain.

Jake White’s book has been sold in record numbers and caused one to wonder how on earth the Boks managed to win the Webb Ellis Cup; Heyneke Meyer was submitted to equally scandalous and, it would seem, dishonest treatment and Peter de Villiers has been appointed coach of the national team.

Numerous times I have been asked my opinion on De Villiers and I have to be honest (a Jake phrase!) that I don’t know him that well. Short of a couple of TV interviews while he was at the Falcons and pleasantries exchanged in passing at rugby functions De Villiers is pretty much a stranger to me.

He is an engaging personality and I have to say he comes to the job with pretty much the same track record that White boasted when he took over early in 2004.

De Villiers, just like White, works well with youngsters and, as colleague Gavin Rich has pointed out, seems to have a less structured approach than White.

This being South Africa we move on and, while feeling pangs of sympathy for Heyneke Meyer, I am willing to give De Villiers a chance.

And I think he is going to need all the goodwill he can get because of a single major difference between him and his predecessor – a rugby one and not the obvious one.

White took over at a desperate time for Springbok rugby after the embarrassment of the 2003 Rugby World Cup campaign and was able to re-build the national team on the backs of his under 21s.

De Villiers however takes over the world champions; the IRB’s No1 ranked team and a side packed with some of the most senior and respected players in the world.

It is a vastly different proposition to the one faced by White and the key for De Villiers is going to be winning the confidence and, later, the respect of players such as John Smit, Victor Matfield, Schalk Burger, Bakkies Botha, Juan Smith, Danie Rossouw, CJ van der Linde, Wikus van Heerden, Fourie du Preez, Butch James, Jean de Villiers, Jaque Fourie, Francois Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen and Percy Montgomery, Jannie and Bismarck du Plessis who have transcended being mere Springboks and are highly thought of, and in demand, wherever the game is played.

These players will, quite understandably, believe they know a good deal more about international rugby, and all it entails, than the new coach and unless there is an arrangement of mutual respect the Boks will be on a slippery slope – as many believe they already are.

The onus is on De Villiers to reach out. He is the new boy in a side that became a family in France and much will depend on how he approaches matters.

Already there are signs that De Villiers is not being given the support one would expect from someone in his tricky position. His appointment was hardly endorsed by Oregan Hoskins and there have already been one or two media statements he should rather not have made.

Fortunately he is in luck. John Smit, to my mind the key man in the Boks’ march to victory in France, just happens to be in South Africa at the moment.

Because of a knee injury suffered while training at his new club, Clermont-Auvergne, the Springbok skipper, who joined the ranks of great captains with the way he marshaled his troops – especially when White was obsessing with his own issues - in moments of crisis, is recuperating at home.

I have seen how the Springbok side works and I know the influence and status of Smit. If Peter de Villiers has not already done so he needs to be booking a flight Durban to have a heart-to-heart with South Africa’s most-capped Springbok captain.

If De Villiers is to succeed he needs Smit on his side and my belief is he needs to make the first approach, but I fear that might not be the advice he is getting from those who claim to be running rugby.