The evolution of a rugby rumour

Machiavellian… that’s what it is. Cunning, deceitful, underhand and unscrupulous. I’m talking about rugby’s rumour mill that has once again been turning over and spewing out flaky little bits of gossip.

This time it involves speculation about a rift between Cats coach Laurie Mains and Cats captain Rassie Erasmus that came to a head in New Zealand and, allegedly, caused the player to be demoted.

The story first surfaced last Saturday when I was told some of the details while peddling the Super 12 treadmill in the SuperSport Zone’s offices.

The information given to me was that Mains and Erasmus had fallen out and this had led to the gifted Springbok flanker first asking to be relieved of the captaincy against the Blues and next refusing to play in the Cats’ final tour game against the Reds.

Recalling that Erasmus had once also renounced the Springbok captaincy I was not inclined to give too much credence to the tale, but said that if the person who had this information was able to verify the facts he should write the story.

The dispatches re-emerged on Sunday and in making my calls on Monday I heard it again – there’s trouble in the Cats’ camp.

Then, on Tuesday, I was told an article about a stand-off between Mains and Erasmus had appeared in a Cape newspaper. The “facts” were essentially the same. I found it interesting that the same rumour had emerged in both Johannesburg and Cape Town – especially the latter city where rugby writers really have no brief to be following the fortunes of the Cats.

I had my suspicions as to the source of the rumour and the trail led to the manipulative little group I have jokingly come to refer to as “Harry and the Advisors.”

I may have been, and was probably, completely off-beam but that’s how rumours work. They draw you in, they cause your mind to run up alleyways and there had been a pattern of this particular newspaper getting the breaks on Springbok stories.

Of course one is a little jealous. It is the nature of newspapermen to see sinister manipulations where there aren’t any, but far be it from me to suggest that someone in Harry Viljoen’s coaching set-up might have been stoking the Rassie fires.

Next, though, I received another little snippet about E-mail traffic between one of Viljoen’s functionaries and Springbok captain André Vos… allegedly in an effort to get more information on Erasmus.

Interesting, I replied, but give me the facts.

But then the story of the rift appeared, in spite of denials from the central characters, and Mains was forced to defend himself. He alluded to a Cape conspiracy aimed at destabilising the Cats, which we duly reported, even though my gut-feel was that whatever was going on was being aimed at the former All Black coach rather than at his team.

Now to the phone calls… to both Erasmus and Vos. A good reporter checks his facts – how it was drummed into me – but all I was able to do was leave messages asking the pair of Springboks to get back to me. I did not expect they would, after all it was their week off, but naturally their refusal to communicate raised my suspicions… as silence always does.

They say there is never smoke without a fire and right now there is a distinct plume rising over Bloemfontein. Erasmus is there but he’s not talking. Others are.

The latest piece of intelligence to emerge in the saga is that Erasmus and Mains had a strong disagreement over the coach’s instruction for the team to run hard 150m sprints at a practice session and that the Cats’ skipper was forced to face a disciplinary hearing at which he was stripped of the captaincy.

According to this piece of gossip Erasmus was told to say he had an ankle injury and that he became so angry at the treatment meted out to him that he withdrew from the game against the Reds – to the great disadvantage of his team. In this instance the name of another one of Harry’s stooges was mentioned as a source.

I have no idea whether this is true. These are rumours after all. Erasmus is not speaking. Neither is Vos… and Mains has categorically stated there is no rift. I do find it difficult to believe, though, that a team as packed with senior, experienced players could stand by and allow such an injustice to be visited upon their captain without objecting.

Is it true? I don’t know. Who’s involved? You tell me. That’s the trouble with rumours. They bubble and they brew and they grow. Let’s just hope that this one does not impinge on the Cats’ excellent chance of winning the Super 12.