Volatile Bok shares

There has often been talk about SA Rugby going public and being listed on the Stock Exchange as a means to circumventing many of the problems the organisation is beset by but one wonders who would be fool enough to invest in a share as volatile as the Springbok?

With the brand itself yet again under threat the test against the Wallabies followed by the impending match against the All Blacks emphasised how quickly Springbok fortunes can change.

Travelling to and moving around Cape Town for the international against the Australians I was amazed at how buoyant rugby supporters were about the Springboks’ prospects against the only nation to have won the World Cup more than once.

To suggest the Boks might struggle was, in some quarters, tantamount to being traitorous for the consensus was that the Wallabies would be soundly thrashed.

Arguments in favour of the Wallabies that South Africa had often managed to pick a good national side in spite of a poor performance in the Super 12 or 14 were simply dismissed; or one’s knowledge of the game called into question.

Even after the Boks had pulled off a somewhat lucky win I stepped on a landmine while descending from the top of the Railway Stand to the ground floor in an elevator.

Asked what I had made of our team’s performance I answered that I was most concerned about the standard of our back play. Innocent, bland answer I thought. But not to a bloke standing in front of me who swung round and snarled: “And what will you say when we win the World Cup?”

There were no expletives and no personal insults but my were they implied. Anything other than fulsome praise is obviously considered disloyal; logic and a touch of realism traits to be frowned upon.

So much for the blinkered. The 22-19 victory over the Wallabies, as thrilling as it was, contained a massive wake-up call to all concerned in this year of the sixth Rugby World Cup.

The Wallabies fielded a side who will not be counted among their best, yet the Boks struggled to beat them; eventually having to rely on the fearlessness of precocious youth and scoring points without penetrating the Australians’ 22-metre line.

While the Boks’ ball retention was superb – could that be down to the work being done by Rassie Erasmus? – our scrum was yet again short of the awesome bracket while there were danger signals everyone time the ball was kicked over our heads and our back play was sterile.

With that much possession we should have been a good few points up but whereas the Wallabies moved the ball with guile the Boks were just so predictable – as we have been for a while now.

Watching from an extremely elevated position it was easy to see the spaces, but sadly also just easy to see how little variation there is in the Bok backline. We seem to have a “give it to Jean,” “give it to Jaque” mentality and let’s see what they can do (especially with Bryan Habana injured) rather than an assortment of attacking ploys based on the boundless options contained in width, depth, angle and kick.

Ironically there was also an element of the biter bit with the Boks unable to make headway against the Wallabies’ “rush” defence. With match officials Wayne Barnes, Alain Rolland and Hugh Watkins modifying the off-sides line to a good metre ahead of the hindmost foot the Aussies were quickly up and into the Boks, plus their tackling was superb, and the Springboks had no counter.

For too long the Boks have relied on the pressure of their defence and counter attacks to score tries and on the evidence of the Aussie test not much has been done to improve matters.

And, looking ahead to France, Newlands provided another reality check as the injuries started to mount. With Habana already having gone down it was the worst luck to have John Smit (after an incredible run of unbroken tests), Gurthro Steenkamp (perhaps the most critical injury of all given other considerations) and Juan Smith also pull up lame.

These are the realities of winning a World Cup. You have to be lucky and, if not, you have to have great depth. Saturday’s test against the All Blacks will provide a searching test of where we stand on all these issues.