This is asking for trouble

As one of the few countries that is as passionate about rugby as our own, it was good to see Wales ascend once more this past weekend to the throne of rugby in Europe by winning the Six Nations title, and in so doing complete a Grand Slam along the way.

There is something special about watching an international match in Cardiff. Maybe it’s the fact the Millennium Stadium is placed slap-bang in the middle of the city, maybe it is those Welsh voices that never fail to make you feel emotional before the kick-off. So when I watched the decider against France on television, I did wish I was there to watch the Welsh people celebrate first hand.

It says something about how quickly time seems to fly these days, and how much rugby we get to watch, that I got it hopelessly wrong when someone in the pub I was in asked when last the Welsh had won the Six Nations. I knew they had done it quite recently, but I placed it back somewhere in Graham Henry’s time, around 2000 or 2001.

In fact it was far more recently than that, and it was a Welshman, not a New Zealander, in charge. For those who like me require a memory refresher, Mike Ruddock was the coach when Wales won the title in 2005. He then resigned the position when pressure mounted against him following a losing run less than a year later – another way the Welsh are similar to us, they forget their winners very quickly.

Warren Gatland’s success as Welsh coach might be an indirect little pep for another southern hemisphere coach who is interested in working in the northern hemisphere. England surely have too much talent for them to just accept also-ran status and Jake White has to be a much better long-term bet than Mike Ashton.

But what should have been of concern to most of White’s countrymen when watching Wales win the other night – and 29-12 over France is an impressive result – is the knowledge that the Springboks are the next in line for the stirring giant from the Principality. And Gatland, who coached Ireland to South Africa in 1998, is already starting to talk about that two test tour with the eagerness of someone waiting for the release of the next Harry Potter book.

It is not so much the strength of Welsh rugby, or this Welsh team, that should be the worry. After all, the Springboks are the world champions, and there is plenty of new young talent starting to make waves in the Super 14. It would take a lot to convince me that despite England’s appearance in last year’s World Cup final, the southern hemisphere is not several steps ahead of the rest when it comes to rugby union.

The problem though is that the people that side of the equator are playing a different game. A game, let it be added, that is about to be reintroduced to us when the Welsh arrive here at the beginning of June.

In a recent conversation with referee Jonathan Kaplan I was reminded of how much of an adjustment might be necessary. Kaplan, who at the time was about to head out to the northern hemisphere to officiate in the Six Nation, told me that he was spending several hours a day pouring over the old laws so that he would not get caught out.

To make doubly sure, he was also booked to referee a club game in Edinburgh the week before his first Six Nations engagement.

The Springboks are due to make a similar adjustment to the one that Kaplan was forced to make, and they are going to have to do it after a full three months, and maybe as many as 15 matches, played to the ELVs. As far as I know, there is no warm-up game scheduled.

Sorry, and this may be an instance where it is hard to pinpoint someone to blame, but this sounds crazy. It sounds like a recipe for disaster – and we are talking about Peter de Villiers’s first engagement as Springbok coach.