Ken Borland

The second World Cup, hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France, was a more competitive affair which featured a qualifying system for the first time and concluded in a scrappy final won by Australia, who beat England 12-6 at Twickenham.

That 1991 Australian team had the makings of a top-class outfit, featuring a powerhouse backline including Nick Farr-Jones, Michael Lynagh, Tim Horan, Jason Little and David Campese and with future legends such as John Eales, Ewen McKenzie and Phil Kearns in the pack.

England were a quality team themselves with players like Will Carling, Jeremy Guscott, Rory Underwood and Rob Andrew in the backs and a tremendous pack spearheaded by the front row of Jeff Probyn, Brian Moore and Jason Leonard, but they made a fatal mistake in the final by switching from a forward-orientated style of play to a running game which suited the Wallabies down to the ground.

Australia made a slow start to the tournament, with their biggest test in Pool 3 coming from debutants Western Samoa, one of the qualifiers. The Wallabies edged them out 9-3 in Pontypool, but the islanders pulled off a sensational 16-13 win over Wales at Cardiff Arms Park to also progress to the quarterfinals. The incredible upset prompted the quip that Wales were lucky they were only playing against the western half of Samoa!

Zimbabwe, featuring future Springbok prop Adrian Garvey, who scored two tries against Scotland, were Africa’s representatives with South Africa still in isolation. They were in Pool 2, which the unbeaten Scots topped to go through to the quarterfinals with fellow Celts Ireland.

Reigning champions New Zealand were with England in Pool 1 and beat them 18-12 in the tournament’s opening game at Twickenham, but the Red Rose systematically crushed Italy and the United States to ensure they reached the knockout stages.

France topped Pool 4 as expected, but Canada upset the applecart by beating Fiji 13-3 in Bayonne to also go through. The mercurial Fijians fell apart thereafter, also losing to Romania to prop up the pool.

Campese was the focal point of the quarterfinals as he scored two brilliant tries to put Australia ahead against Ireland, but then his major error led to Gordon Hamilton racing away for a try that gave the hosts an 18-15 lead in Dublin as the match drew to a close.

But he made up for it by making the break that led to Lynagh finishing the last-gasp try that kept the Wallabies alive.

Campese would score again in Australia’s 16-6 win over New Zealand in the semi-finals and, although he had a quiet final, he arguably won them the game because he taunted the English style of play to such an extent that they changed it for the showpiece game!

England beat France 19-10 and Scotland ended the Samoan dream 28-6 to set up the other semi-final.

England scraped home 9-6 in Edinburgh, Scottish fullback Gavin Hastings missing a penalty from in front of the poles, which he subsequently said he should not have taken having just been smashed by Mike Skinner in a tackle.

As rugby rapidly hurtled towards professionalism, the second World Cup was seen as a success, with increased attendance and viewers, and was viewed as a major global sporting event for the first time. Of course, the absence of the Springboks meant there was still debate for at least another year as to who the best side in the world really were.

Whenever a governing body hands a coach a long-term contract it is an expression of faith in that person’s ability to succeed, whatever the vagaries of sport or that old chestnut that there are only two types of coaches – those that have been fired and those that are still going to be fired. Remembering of course that the longer a contract, the bigger the payout should it be prematurely terminated.

So to say SA Rugby have faith in new Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is an understatement, given that they have given him a six-year contract, the longest in any sport in the world, longer than Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho.

But their extraordinary decision has certainly had a positive effect judging by the bravery with which Erasmus and his team approached their first four assignments.

Given that he has such job security and knows his buddies in the SA Rugby boardroom want him to have the job, Erasmus was able to make some bold selection calls against Wales and England, and his courage certainly seemed to have rubbed off on the players, given the ambitious rugby they produced and the way they bounced back from big deficits to win the first two Tests against the English.

The fear of failure that characterised the Allister Coetzee years has seemingly gone and a young, inexperienced team showed signs of blossoming into something wonderful. Coetzee had good reason to believe the administrators were waiting for him to fail and it showed in his conservative selections and game plan.

Judging by his first month as coach, it seems the Springboks are in good hands with Erasmus.

The players certainly seem to have enjoyed his coaching and, most importantly, you had to give them 10/10 for character with the way one of the most inexperienced sides in Springbok history overcame a horror start at Ellis Park and another poor opening quarter in Bloemfontein.

Which is not to say everything is perfect in the Springbok camp ahead of the Rugby Championship starting in August. But given the number of players who are just starting out on their international careers, who knows whether what we saw against England is 50% or 80% of their potential.

Probably the area which requires the biggest improvement is the mental side of the game and their ability to adapt to conditions that don’t suit them. Although it was heartening to see the intensity and pace with which they played in the first two Tests, there are times – such as when Newlands is a sodden quagmire – when you have to play the percentages better.

Ellis Park and Bloemfontein – both on the highveld and with weather suiting a quick game – are obviously very much in the Springboks’ comfort zone. The indiscipline and basic errors of the Newlands display indicated a team that was just a bit freaked out by very different conditions.

Since the last World Cup, South Africa have won just three of their last 14 games away from home. The challenges of playing in Mendoza, Brisbane and Wellington lie ahead. Mendoza is the heartland of Argentinean rugby and they pump up the passion even more there, making it a hostile place for visiting teams. The Springboks have won just once in 12 attempts in Brisbane and they have not been able to beat the All Blacks in Wellington since 1998.

But given the honesty of the straightshooting Erasmus in dealing with the negative aspects of his first four games in charge, I’m sure he will not be shying away from the tough questions that need to be asked in order to sort out the Springboks’ issue with playing in foreign conditions.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-kzn/20180630/282574493816989

Nielsen Sports, the provider of analytics for the sports industry, recently gave their annual presentation on the biggest trends in sports business and the two major talking points over the last year are the rise of e-Sports and the fact that sports bodies and their sponsors have to know who their fans are in this rapidly evolving marketplace.

Their research shows that, on average, only 10-15% of any sport’s fans are actually ‘game experts’ – people who have intimate knowledge of the rules, history, players, tactics etc. So any sports body or sponsor that only targets this section of the fan base are clearly missing out, for instance, on the 30-35% of ‘connection fans’ – for them it’s about the big event and they are the people packing out the stadia for Pink Day, the Cape Town Sevens rugby or the Durban July.

In the past, the relationship between a sport and a brand was based on the sponsor wanting visibility and the sport just wanting money. But this relationship is now much broader and the rights a sports body sells need to be more flexible and more tailored to their specific partners. Sponsors these days want to own stories and content rules in this digital age in which internet advertising spend overtook that for TV worldwide last year.

It was disappointing to hear that our traditional sports like rugby and cricket are battling to grow in this environment. In South Africa, 25% fewer millennials are interested in rugby, and cricket has seen the same drop in support.

The fastest growing sport in the world is e-Sports, which is basically what professional, competitive gaming is called, and unfortunately, rugby and cricket just don’t have games on the market that are good enough. Research has shown that there is a strong crossover between people who play the virtual game on their computers and supporting the actual ‘live’ sport. For instance, Fifa’s eWorldCup drew seven million gamers last year and Formula One enjoyed similar success with their eSports Final, the winner of which gained a one-year contract as a simulator driver for McLaren.

That e-Sports is rapidly evolving into a major player in the sports industry is shown by the fact that one-third of all their fans came onboard in the last year and they are typically millennial men with money to spend. Which means major global brands like Gillette, C-Smart and Mercedes are moving into that space, the higher LSM also attracting sponsors like Audi and Mountain Dew. Gaming is a $32 billion industry now and at the competitive level it is a mega-production, a whole show with adverts, sponsored decks and kids packed into stadia.

This year’s Overwatch League features 12 franchises based in cities like Boston, London and Shanghai who paid $20 million each to participate. The broadcast rights were sold for $90 million and the average audience is 280 000 per minute.

Speaking of broadcast rights, this field has also become extraordinarily broad for sponsors and sports bodies. Pay TV’s influence is still stable, but there are disruptors now in the picture, especially tech giants like Amazon and Facebook and even Twitter.

The cellphone has become a way of life and we are living in a mobile-first generation. Although high data costs hold us back in South Africa, 20% of local football viewers watch via internet streams, with 69% of those people watching the game live and 42% of those watching the whole game.

Rugby has 25% of its viewers streaming the game, 68% of that watching live and 48% for the whole game; cricket’s figures are 22% streaming, 78% of that live and 40% watching the full game.

The sports industry is certainly a very fluid environment for rights-holders and sponsors to get their heads around.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-kzn/20180623/282484299488829

Temba Bavuma is the new captain of the Highveld Lions and the Proteas batsman warned that the franchise is dead-set on returning to their previous status as one of the powerhouses of domestic cricket.

The 28-year-old Bavuma is back at the Lions after just one season away with the Cape Cobras and, linking up with new coach Enoch Nkwe, is the sort of inspirational, high-profile figure who can drive a renaissance in Central Gauteng cricket.

“Enoch’s expectation is excellence and we will do everything in our might to fulfil that. But the players have their own expectations and we want to get back to the levels expected of us, get back to the top. We need to put up a performance and fight for the brand of cricket we want to play. We’re coming!” Bavuma said when he was unveiled as the new skipper at the Wanderers on Wednesday night.

Rassie van der Dussen, the leading run-scorer across all formats last season, has been named as the official vice-captain and Bavuma’s Proteas commitments means that he will have a vital leadership role to play as well.

Bavuma said that his return to the Lions was primarily motivated by personal reasons – his fiancée lives in Johannesburg – but it is clear that even though he left to play at his birthplace, his heart remained with his old team-mates.

“I really missed being part of this team and it was quite painful to watch their performances from the side. As captain, I won’t be doing anything different, I’m there to serve the team and inspire the players to perform their best. I know all the guys, we have a good relationship. But I’m not one to speak a lot, my focus is on just going out and doing what we have to do.

“It’s a massive honour and privilege to be given the responsibility of captain. I played under Alviro Petersen and Stephen Cook and I learnt a great deal from them and will try to live up to their legacy. I will have a strong hand in the culture of the team, how we go about achieving excellence starts there, and we have to do that on a daily basis,” Bavuma said.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-kzn/20180622/282226601449013