Boks must learn from their mistakes

No South African would have enjoyed seeing the Springboks lose on Saturday, but seeing they did lose, I must admit to a perverse pleasure that the man who did the damage was Clyde Rathbone.

There was so much rubbish written about Rathbone, and how the Boks should go out and “get him”, in the buildup to the Perth test match, that the irritation did prompt me to confess on Saturday morning to a colleague that if the Aussies were going to win, let it be Rathbone who scores the winning try.

Some might consider that treasonous, but note the qualification: IF the Aussies were going to win. The comment just illustrated my feelings for the contemptible, narrow-minded and xenophobic rubbish that I had heard said about Rathbone and seen written about him. Much of it bordered, in my opinion, on just plain childishness, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why so many South Africans are so hit up about Rathbone’s change of allegiance.

In light of some of the bile sent in his direction, it beats me why he is seen as any different to the other many young South Africans who have opted to further their careers overseas. Why is Rathbone seen as any different to an artisan or professional who goes to Australia or to England because he sees better opportunities?

Like many expatriates inevitably do, Rathbone may yet come to regret his decision, or he may look back and see it as the best thing he ever did. Only time will tell whether he was right or not, and in the end it all comes down to personal preference. Clyde Rathbone has become Australian because he chooses to live in Australia, much in the same way that John Robbie has become South African because he chooses to live in Johannesburg and not the Ireland of his birth.

Rathbone has moved on, he is playing for another country. Those who don’t like it must learn to live with it, or, to use the popular colloquialism of modern times, they must just get a life!

Maybe South Africans should just follow the Aussie lead and realise that a little outside influence can be a good thing, and does not always have to be bad.

For now we can be certain of one thing, and that is that Rathbone has started as a winner. Whether he remains a winner depends to a large extent on the Springboks, and how their management would have reacted to another narrow defeat. For while it is undeniable that the Boks under Jake White are far more competitive and together than they were under his two most recent predecessors, it is possible after the away leg to say that there are some things VERY South African that have not changed.

Firstly, we continue to assume that the Bok pack is going to dominate both the Aussies and the All Blacks just by being bigger, stronger and more aggressive. As has been the case recently, both those packs proved this assumption to be wrong. And as has invariably been the case, we also have to again doff our caps to the Aussies and acknowledge that they are far cleverer than we are, which was the main reason they won in Perth.

Another thing we continue to do is to take out the old 12-bore shot-gun and shoot our own feet. Okay, maybe it is not quite as bad as it was in the past, but try and tell me again that the Boks would not have been far better off with Victor Matfield playing in the second row rather than sitting in Pretoria.

Blue Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer phoned me late last week to explain why he left Matfield out of his team for the Currie Cup match against the Cheetahs. Meyer told me that Matfield’s absorption back into his team’s pattern would take time, and he could not bleed the player back, after an absence of almost two seasons from any team that Meyer has coached, without it taking time.

The Bulls are into a critical stage of their season, and Meyer’s side does play a very structured type of rugby. So I take his point about wanting to ease Matfield back. But he did say that if he was working for the Boks, who had Matfield in their squad system for two months before he returned home, he would have tried everything to ensure he was available.

There are few better lineout exponents in world rugby than Matfield, and this was an area where the Boks suffered on Saturday. For the sake of South African rugby, let’s hope that White is saying it like it is when he says that Matfield will be considered for a recall and that nothing personal is being held against the player.

That said, there is plenty of reason for the Boks to feel upbeat. This weekend will be crucial when it comes to their Tri-Nations challenge, for an All Black victory over Australia in Sydney will virtually secure them the title and turn the rest of the competition into a battle for second place.

If the Kiwis don’t manage it, and history is on the Wallaby side here, there is every reason to believe the Boks, who picked up two bonus points for losing by less than seven in their two matches, and who return having scored six tries against five in 160 minutes of rugby, can do what is required in Johannesburg and Durban.

But it will require a bit of cleverness to go with the brawn, for the All Blacks and Australia have shown that nothing is a given when you pit your big men against them.