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Super Rugby no springboard for Springboks

rugby30 April 2019 15:14| © SuperSport
By:Brenden Nel
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SuperWrap - week 11, 2019

There’s that great line in the Best Marigold Hotel that sort of sticks with you. “Everything will be alright in the end. If it’s not, it’s not the end.”

And while this may apply to the world in general, it’s a bit more difficult to accept when thinking of the schizophrenic nature of the South African franchises in Super Rugby right now.

After all, the weekly rollercoaster ride of ups and downs has affected all four franchises to such an extent that no fan is safe (nor their Superbru), with all of us left guessing as to which version of our side will pitch up this week.

Basically, it’s been rough being a South African rugby fan this year.

And we haven't even mentioned the off-field problems and injuries that seem to be a massive talking points on sport pages everywhere.

So is the glass half-empty then? Are we just all masochists, suffering through abusive rugby viewing for that brief high when our teams hit form to win a game when we half expected them to lose?

Well, I’m not a glass half-empty guy, but I am a realist, and in a World Cup year, the biggest question that keeps coming up is whether these performances will have any effect on the Boks going to Japan in September.

In a word - no!

Not that the Super Rugby season isn’t a six-month trial for the national team, but the longer it goes on, the more we realise that Rassie Erasmus has probably got his side pencilled in already, bar one or two names, and has worked out already what he needs if he is going to have a chance in Japan.

And believe me the Springboks have a chance, despite the rough draw, the doubters and their lowly world ranking.

So while you’re watching the mid-way games of a bruising Super Rugby season, know that it really doesn’t matter if our teams' results seem a little schizophrenic.

What matters, especially if you are Rassie Erasmus, is that individuals are playing well.

And they are. Mostly.

For once we can easily pick six props to go to the World Cup: Trevor Nyakane and Lizo Gqoboka have joined the list of Coenie Oosthuizen, Frans Maherbe, Wilco Louw, Steven Kitsoff, Tendai Mtawarira and Thomas du Toit. And that’s not even mentioning Vincent Koch overseas.

Hookers are there as well, so much so that Bismarck du Plessis isn’t being talked about. Locks – and it looks like most will be fit when selection time comes – are all in form with RG Snyman the latest to return to the field and show his worth.

We’re never in doubt in the loose trio department, and there will be a real bunfight to find the five names that will head to Japan.

The same out wide - the list goes on and on. Do your own sums, pick a Springbok team for the World Cup with six props, three hookers, three locks, one lock/flank utility and five loosies.

At the back three scrumhalves, two flyhalves, four midfielders, and four players for the back three. Remember, versatility is an asset.

You will quickly realise – even without factoring in the dozen candidates from abroad - that Rassie is spoilt for choice, even though the VSR team results have been less than we would have hoped for.

The key is to get the right mix and make sure players are in form. And then have two months to prepare them for the massive quadrennial battle that is the World Cup.

Once you are there, good luck can also play its part. We forget that in 2007 the Boks had some unbelievable luck – against Tonga and Fiji, and in the way other teams fell out of the tournament.

The glass is half full, and it is still under the tap.

So Super Rugby may frustrate and anger us, and cause us many Superbru meltdowns. A World Cup effort, though, is so much more than the sum of the parts.

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Let’s have a look at what happened elsewhere in the world of rugby this week.

Tries of the week:

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Best of social media:

Siya later...

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Fortunately it is a short week...

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Ant marching...

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Rugby was made for Xhosa commentary...

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Impaled

Sometimes the life and times of a coach are rough.

Take Nico le Roux for example, the Impala coach who won the Gold Cup against Durbell a fortnight ago. He hadn’t even finished celebrating the victory when his team had to take part in the new Volcano club-rugby cup in Pretoria last week.

With injuries and players leaving for better opportunities, the Impala team was a shadow of the side that won the national club championship, and faced an in-form Varsity Cup finalist side Tuks at Loftus Versfeld. They went from gold medallists to a 90-0 loss in a very short space of time.

But rugby can be like that. Impala’s hangover from the championship won’t last too long, and they will be back sooner than we think.

Bordering On Great

The SuperSport Challenge kicked off last week and it was wonderful to see Border field a team after they initially wouldn’t be in the competition because of the union’s financial troubles of late.

But some hard work behind the scenes by SA Rugby saw the Eastern Cape Government give R4-million to help kickstart a revival in the community and the Border Bulldogs were superb in hosting the first festival last weekend.

We can only hope it grows from strength to strength.

GRand plans

With a Springbok exodus to overseas clubs on the cards later in the year, it sometimes is difficult to comprehend how hard some officials are working behind the scenes to try and keep Bok players at their Super Rugby franchises.

As one official quipped to us this past week, “a second-division Japanese club can now offer more money than a provincial and Springbok contract combined.”

The exchange rate certainly hasn’t been kind and it seems local administrators need to find some novel new ways of keeping players in South Africa. We can only wish them luck.

Schoe, man it's cold.

A funny article in the Afrikaans paper Rapport last week on Pierre Schoeman becoming Edinburgh Rugby Club’s player of the year.

Schoeman waxed lyrical about his time there, but was honest about the weather, which was a challenge.

“We braai at WP Nel’s house a lot, but you can’t braai a proper braaibroodtjie,” he said. “You have to braai fast because it is cold. It isn’t a pretty braaibroodtjie, because to melt the cheese you burn the outside.”

We’re glad to see priorities are still there no matter how far from home Schoeman is.

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