Boks dominate Tri-Nations composite team

The end of the Tri-Nations brought the curtain down on the SANZAR season for 2009, and no-one would quibble with the assertion that this was a year where South Africa dominated like never before.

Unlike 2007, there was only one local side through to the Super 14 playoffs this year. The Bulls were the side that went through following a Sharks implosion that was driven not by their inability to score tries, as some contended, but by shock defeats to the Reds and the Cheetahs.

But while the Bulls were alone in the top four, with the other three teams all from New Zealand, they more than made up for their being the sole South African representative by dominating both the Crusaders and the Chiefs on the way to their second Super 14 title.

After their demolition of the Chiefs in the final, it was clear that the Springbok rugby challenge should be built around the Bulls template – and for the most part it was. Certainly there was no coincidence that most of the key men in the Bok Tri-Nations win – Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Morne Steyn – were also part of the Bulls triumph.

The Boks ended up dominating the Tri-Nations almost as emphatically as the Bulls dominated the closing stages of the Super 14, thus leaving no doubt over which nation was king of the south, and thus world rugby, in 2009.

For obvious reasons there are no Bok barometre teams during the Tri-Nations season, with the SuperWrap, driven by the SuperSport Zone workers and contributors who are based in Johannesburg, being confined to the weeks of the Super 14 season.

My contribution is usually limited to only those occasional weeks where colleague Dan Retief is away, so I am not blowing my own trumpet if I remark in passing how on the mark SuperWrap was for most of the Super 14 season with regards Bok barometre teams.

Picked only on form, these teams were meant as an indicator of which players were doing well rather than as a Bok team that would play, but Heinrich Brussow and Morne Steyn were constant features of the SuperWrap SA barometre team.

This was not the case when the Springbok selectors assembled their initial teams for the British and Irish Lions series, with both of those players only being introduced once injuries had made an impact. But once Steyn and Brussow played, they showed their class. So maybe, contrary to what some people may think, rugby writers do know their stuff after all...

Perhaps before the selectors name their squad for the start of the next international season, they should consult with the selectors at SuperWrap and see that everything tabulates?

Anyway, I digress, for the real point of this column is to wrap up the Tri-Nations by naming a composite team to represent the three nations in what would surely be a hypothetical massacre of a composite team from the northern hemisphere.

The Kiwis have already got into the act, and unsurprisingly most of them have come up with teams that are dominated by Springboks.

Obviously no team of this nature can be completely devoid of personal bias, and where you are at a particular time you see a certain player, or how rabid you are as a supporter, does have massive influence.

For instance, the most impressionable time of your life is surely when you are young, and recently I set myself a test by attempting to draw up a composite Bok team from my years of watching the Boks (which started in 1976). To illustrate my point, here is my backline: Johan Heunis, Ray Mordt, Danie Gerber, Michael du Plessis, Carel du Plessis, Naas Botha, Fourie du Preez.

Many will question how it can include only one of the current Bok team that many are now writing up as South Africa’s best ever combination, but it is simple: The selection criteria was that the player had to be the best I had seen in that position in a Springbok jersey. Jean de Villiers would challenge at No 12, Henry Honiball at No 10, and Andre Joubert at fullback, but otherwise I am quite clear, based on my memory of those players, that this would be my combination.

Had the team that only just lost in New Zealand on the demo tour in 1981 stayed together as long as this current Bok team has, would they not in time have been as successful? No-one will know, just as my Tri-Nations composite team will never get to play together.

But if you want to get a measure of how dominant the Boks are in the here and now, take a look at my Tri-Nations XV from 2009: Frans Steyn (SA), Sitiveni Sivivatu (NZ), Jaque Fourie (SA), Jean de Villiers (SA), Bryan Habana (SA), Matt Giteau (Aus), Fourie du Preez (SA), Pierre Spies (SA), Juan Smith (SA), Richie McCaw (NZ), Victor Matfield (SA), Bakkies Botha (SA), John Smit (SA – captain), Bismarck du Plessis (SA), Tony Woodcock (NZ).

Smit is not included because he is the best tighthead prop, but because he was my man of the tournament and cannot be left out. Bismarck du Plessis was by far the best hooker, and if you watch videos of the Bok matches, you may notice that many of the turn-overs that Heinrich Brussow was credited for were actually the work of the Sharks front-row man.