Time for 'old' Boks to produce

Okay, so maybe now is the time to start getting worried. Up to now judgement has been reserved on issues such as the form of the Bulls and of some of the top Springboks on the basis that it is a long season and much can change between now and September, when the World Cup starts.

But it is now no longer February, it is mid-April, and the failure of so many top players who were such a pivotal part of previous Springbok successes, cannot just be glibly ignored as part of a plan geared towards building slowly into the season so that South Africans are at their peak when the World Cup arrives.

If that was the plan, it hasn’t worked, for the Bulls looked a frustrated group of players against the Crusaders in Timaru, and it cannot be doing any good for the confidence of the so-called world beaters in the team that they are being made to look so rank average.

When Chris Jack played for Western Province two years ago, he was a well-liked personality in the team but his fellow players were mostly honest about the fact that while he could teach them something from his experience, as a player he was mostly a spent force. Yet there he was in the Bulls game outplaying Victor Matfield.

So who is the spent force? Maybe we should continue to reserve judgement on that one for now, but it is time to start wondering whether the problems are merely down to rust, which would mean they are temporary, or whether it is a case of Father Time just reeling some players in.

There is that old saying that form is temporary but class is permanent, that coaches love to use to justify the retention of a struggling player of former greatness, but it only makes sense when applied to young players. Barry Richards was a really classy batsman for South Africa, Hampshire and Natal three or four decades ago, but put a bat in his hand today, when he is in his sixties, and how classy would he be?

The problem with the Bulls’ performance against the Crusaders was that they were so completely outplayed on a day when the opposition were missing Dan Carter and by their own admission not nearly in their best form. Imagine what might have happened to the Bulls had the Crusaders been at full strength and really hit their straps?

It’s the denial that is troubling from a South African viewpoint. We keep hearing that Sonny Bill Williams will be found out and that a decent South African centre will stop him. But Wynand Olivier looked almost over-awed by the big fellow this past weekend, and he has played more than 30 test matches for the Springboks.

The thing about Williams is that we are starting to see the same argument springing up around him that used to be used by South Africans against Jonah Lomu. Everyone was very fond of talking about how Lomu had never scored a try against the Springboks, but how many did Christian Cullen score against them as a result of the effort it took to mark Lomu?

Robbie Freuan looks set to benefit from the same warped logic. When Williams was checked by the Bulls, his centre partner inflicted the damage.

The debate about whether the Bulls' playing philosophy is outdated has of course been around for a long time, but it intensified in the last Tri-Nations season, when the Boks employed the tried and tested formula and were pummeled by teams that had moved with the times.

I made the comment by SMS to another provincial coach during the recent Bulls/Hurricanes game that I felt I was watching rugby being played in slow motion. The Bulls, who did admittedly try more in that game than they had for a while, ended up winning, so the criticism was held off, but the Hurricanes’ record from the season – five defeats in seven starts with one abandoned game – tells you everything you need to know about where they stand at the moment.

The argument that you will hear from those in the Bok management or near the Bok management is that there isn’t too much to worry about at the moment as World Cups are won by teams that play conservative rugby. The pressure, or so the argument goes, counts against teams with too much of an attacking philosophy.

Well if that is the case – if some nations are encouraged to be boring in the hope that once every four years they will celebrate while the other countries enjoy themselves and entertain the rugby world for the other three – then maybe the World Cup is not good for rugby .

Regardless, though, of whether or not the Bulls' philosophy can survive, and to this point Fourie du Preez has not been the returning messiah everyone who supported that style of rugby said he would be, it is the form of the top players that is a problem. And it is a big problem if you consider how the current coaching regime has invested their hopes in the 2007 winners carrying themselves through to do the same in 2011.

I have defended Bryan Habana more than most but at some stage he has to start showing that he can return to his form of old or the talk of him doing so will remain just hot air.

And while John Smit may be indispensible as a team leader and may captain the squad at the World Cup even though not a certain member of the starting team, the country needs him to be a proud captain who can go to New Zealand with his chin up. That means he too has to start looking like an international class player again and not just a solid franchise reserve.

Until all these players start delivering, the disquiet that is starting to descend on a worried rugby public will only intensify.