Pragmatic Straeuli picks team to play game Viljoen dreamed about

One of the biggest ironies of the Springbok team announcement was the fact that it was Rudolf Straeuli, and not Harry Viljoen, behind the selections.

A few months ago, when the Sharks were being hammered by New Zealand and Australian teams and being made to look so stereotyped in the process, there were many who feared that Straeuli would take the Springbok playing strategy back into the dark ages.

His Natal Sharks had been criticised for being one-dimensional in two Currie Cups. When Straeuli was appointed there was reason to fear that there might be an over-emphasis on traditional strengths and not enough on flair in his selections.

But over the past few months the perception has gradually changed, with his first step in the right direction being the decision to retain former Wallaby backline guru Tim Lane as his assistant coach.

And now he has come up with a Springbok team that looks better equipped to play the new attacking game that his predecessor Viljoen paid so much lip-service to than any combination selected last year.

Indeed, if you consider the dinosaur game that Viljoen's Boks played at Twickenham last December, this latest selection is such a quantum leap forward that it does not belong in the same time period or age.

To be fair to Viljoen, there are players in this team that he would have loved to have available to him last year. He did speak privately of his desire to turn Andre Pretorius into the next Bok flyhalf, but the Lions player was injured at the time.

He spoke of Bolla Conradie as a great talent, but at the time the Western Province scrumhalf had yet to really establish himself and like Adrian Jacobs and one or two others he still had some growing to do as a player.

He did select one Joe van Niekerk and was pilloried for it. Well, stone the crows, it appears Straeuli also sees some value in the young Lions and Cats loose-forward.

Like Viljoen, he also takes Francois Swart's claim to be a future top flyhalf in the making quite seriously, as he proved by calling said player up to the national trial match.

That trial match proved a master-stroke for Straeuli. Had it been Viljoen this time last year choosing Brent Russell to the bench when he boasts no Super 12 experience, the coach would have been accused of being an incurable romantic.

But because much of the nation got to see Russell in action at Loftus, we at least know why Straeuli rates him so highly.

Now if there was any selection that completely sweeps away any remaining belief that Straeuli may be a rugby conservative, it was the selection of Russell.

What happened to the view that you needed a big flyhalf? In comparison to some of the players who have worn the Bok No10 jersey over the past five seasons or so, both Russell and Pretorius are midgets.

Let me be honest and say that there are still some lingering doubts in this mind about whether either of them will be able to stand up to the heavy traffic over 80 minutes in a test match (perhaps I am much more conservative than Straeuli is).

But Straeuli has been prepared to become most un-South African by concentrating on their collective strong points rather than being weighed down by the negatives. In short, he has backed talent.

With the exception of Russell's genius, he has also largely gone with players who have proved themselves over the past few months in the Super 12.

And that may be the biggest difference between Straeuli and Viljoen. The previous coach had a particular game in mind and he selected his team to play that strategy, regardless of whether he had the form players to follow the playing style in question.

In Straeuli's case it looks like he is going to mould his style around the team strengths, which on the evidence of the players he has chosen and the Springbok trials, is a running game.

Yet he has also said he will not neglect the basics. It is important to note that he has selected a pack that he believes will dominate the tight phases and ensure the backs of comfortable ball and ball that they will receive on the front foot.

Perhaps the biggest reason for the resurgence of the French in recent times is that they have at last realised that their attacking game can only really work if they have the big men up front to secure possession.

Too often in the past the French neglected the basics and as a result their record was poor and they became renowned around the world as perennial under- achievers.

Straeuli has under his command a team built to run, but one in which traditional, physical forward strength is still very much in evidence. The Boks were beaten in the opening test against France last year because they were being asked to play an adventurous new game before they had got their scrumming and lineout work right.

Without the ball it just could not work and they were on a hiding to nothing. Fortunately it appears that Straeuli is unlikely to make the same mistake.