Bob's leadership disproves doubters

When Nick Mallett spoke during his tenure as Springbok coach of the possibility of making Bok Skinstad his captain, it was an idea that drew an incredulous response from listening journalists.

The argument that was thrown back at Mallett was that Skinstad was a much reviled figure outside of Cape Town and the upcountry players, not to mention those up the coast in Durban, would never accept him as their leader. The general consensus was that he was too unpopular among his fellow players.

There was nothing incorrect about these assumptions. That Skinstad was at the time the target of much envy, jealousy and distrust was a matter of fact. Even Mallett did not try to deny it.

But in defending his view, Mallett made a point that may have been vindicated in the past few weeks since his successor as national coach, Harry Viljoen, made what was initially an unpopular decision to instal Skinstad as his new captain.

"The other players will dislike Bob until they have played under him. Once they have had a taste of his captaincy style they will be drawn to him and they will support him," said Mallett.

Mallett's words reminded me at the time of the reaction of Natal and Western Province players to the captaincy of Francois Pienaar. The big Transvaal skipper was never a popular figure among players from Durban and Cape Town - until they had played under him.

I well remember approaching one young WP player who had never spoken particularly highly of Pienaar when they were on opposing sides at Currie Cup, Lion Cup and Super 10 level. It was shortly after the player had made his debut for South Africa. I asked him how he had enjoyed the experience.

"It was made so much easier by the captaincy of Francois Pienaar," he said. "I cannot believe I am saying this, but that guy is brilliant. You know I never liked him before, but I can tell you now, he is the best captain I have ever played under."

The player in question never played for the Springboks again but that did not change his exhalted opinion of Pienaar as a leader of men.

The epistles being sent back from Perth in the buildup to the return test against the Australians, plus the evidence of the way the players responded to Skinstad's leadership in Pretoria and to a lesser extent the week before that in Cape Town, suggests a similar dynamic may be at play with the current Springboks.

Make no mistake, few of the senior players in the current team would have accepted Skinstad as their leader a few months ago. Some of them told me as much. But unless everyone has become very good at play acting, that has changed quite dramatically now that the Stormers No8 has put his leadership skills on display.

In some ways the transformation is human. Put simply, that smiling face and trade-mark extended tongue must be damn irritating when it belongs to a member of the opposition. When you are on opposing sides of the trenches, it is easy to dismiss much of Skinstad's demonstrativeness as arrogance.

Alan Solomons once told me that he felt one of Skinstad's biggest strengths was his ability to withstand the most unbearable pressure on the field and still stand there smiling as if he was completely unfazed by it. To an opposing player throwing his heart and body into an all out attack that can be soul destroying.

But the way that Skinstad appears to approach the sport is what makes him so alluring as a figure to those who are on his side. Seldom has a crowd or a city warmed to a player like Newlands and Cape Town did when he was at the zenith of his powers at the helm of an excellent Stormers team before his injury in 1999.

When the initial selection was announced, I had my doubts about whether Skinstad would be welcomed at places like Loftus and Durban's ABSA Stadium. For if he has been unpopular with opposing players at provincial level, he has been even more so with many of their fans.

But sport is a fickle business and I had my answer during a visit to the gents during halftime of the test at Loftus. The air had been thick before the game with cynicism about the Boks and Skinstad was the butt of many jokes.

Those jokes had been replaced in the long queue of Loftus fans waiting outside the door by excited babble about "Bobby's try". It was Bobby this, Bobby that all over the place. Suddenly it appeared that Skinstad had become Pretoria's favourite son.

There is much of Pienaar in Skinstad. The way he switched to Afrikaans to address the crowd had a class touch to it, in much the same way as Pienaar's memorable quote about the "43 million people" after the World Cup final at Ellis Park in 1995.

Of course, the mood can swing quickly. If Skinstad's team loses the next few games and he disappears as a player, as he can when opposing forwards get on top, there will be many people jumping out of the closet saying "I told you so".

And lest it be forgotten, Pienaar's popularity did not outlive his career as captain. His turn-around in the whole World Rugby Corporation saga that nearly tore the game apart at the end of 1995 fetched him many enemies among players who felt he had sold them out. The same sort of thing might happen in time with Skinstad.

But let's not deal now with a history which is still in the future and may never happen. For now it appears that the coach made the right decision in installing Skinstad as his captain. He has brought a breath of fresh air to the Boks and there is a decisiveness and certainty that was missing before.

My sources in the camp say that there have been two fundamental reasons for the new sense of purpose among the Boks - the one is the power given to Tim Lane as assistant coach and the other is Skinstad's captaincy.

I was one of those who doubted Viljoen's timing of the selection. Skinstad seemed like the right man to lead the Boks in 2003, but he was only just making his way back after a long injury induced lay-off. He needed to play himself back into form and had his own personal battle to fight before taking on the additional responsibility of the captaincy.

Skinstad has himself admitted that the timing was not great. When he was offered the captaincy, he phoned his mentor Solomons for advice. It was after some soul-searching that he decided that the Springbok captaincy was not something that you turn down.

But while his hands still let him down more than they would have back in early 1999, Skinstad showed at Loftus that he is fast returning to his best form.

Doubts over his ability to be a factor in a tight game have been partially off- set by the huge improvement he has made to his defensive game.

He has also developed as a crucial source of lineout possession, while his lay- off did have one silver lining in that he is now much physically stronger than he was before. You still get the impression the Boks have to dominate the forward exchanges for Skinstad to perform, but he has the muscle now to contribute to the tight loose exchanges if asked to.