Ken Borland

South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus posted a classic put-down on social media before the series against the British and Irish Lions about a lion not concerning himself when a sheep offers an opinion. Despite the Springboks proving those naysayers wrong with their brilliant effort to win the series, the critics somehow remain.

The bitter losers up north have been complaining non-stop about the ‘boring’ style of play of the Springboks, forgetting that it was the Lions who set the tone for the series when they dominated the second half of the first Test through their kicking game and driving maul.  Australasian critics have deliberately ignored the massive intensity and physicality of the series by saying the rugby was boring; maybe for the neutral, but certainly not for the supporters of the two teams.

Erasmus himself has been roundly criticised, and charged with misconduct by WorldRugby, for his video expose’ of refereeing mistakes in the first Test. Again, it has been forgotten that Lions coach Warren Gatland started that war by disgracefully questioning the integrity of a South African TMO who had to fill in at late notice due to Covid travel restrictions. Gatland denies doing this, but how did multiple British journalists have the same story? There is no doubt it was a calculated strategy to put pressure on the TMO, and Erasmus responded in kind a week later.

Rugby at that level is often brutal and the mind-games and off-the-field tactics are not for the fainthearted either. It is just a game, but we are not talking about hugging fluffy bunnies here – the Lions brought a manic determination to win at all costs and the Springboks were also extremely fired up to prove themselves and also bring some happiness to a society that was fraying around more than just the edges.

It was all very reminiscent of the 2009 Lions series. The tourists brought the same streetfighting attitude and had the same backing from their embedded one-eyed media. It brought out the best in the South African management, although Rassie’s video was probably not his finest moment.

But what Erasmus achieved was the same as what 2009 Springbok coach Peter de Villiers ensured. Following a predictable outcry from the touring media about dirty play by the Springboks, De Villiers took all the pressure off the players by making himself the lightning rod for all the attention with his comments about putting on tutus and doing ballet.

The players loved Snor for that and it was one of the prime examples of what a good man-manager he was. Erasmus did the same ahead of the crucial second Test, allowing the Springboks to produce one of their greatest second-half displays.

From the high point of 2009, when the Springboks also won the Tri-Nations Championship, their fortunes began to drop off, culminating in their nightmare years of 2016 and 2017. And then Erasmus arrived to give the Springboks their meds … turns out there was nothing wrong with their bodies, it was all in their heads.

Following the triumphs of 2007 and 2009, the same old chorus of boring Springboks echoed around the rugby landscape and, unfortunately, we listened. The Springboks must play more like the All Blacks, was the consensus. And we believed the narrative, which was always meant to take the Springboks away from their strengths. No-one can copy the All Blacks, that is their own, brilliant style, forged in their rugby-DNA.

The All Blacks now loom large in the Rugby Championship and I am sure the Springboks, rapidly regaining their confidence and peak conditioning, are not going to be distracted by the many words being published which are somehow trying to belittle their remarkable achievements.

By many accounts, the All Blacks were fortunate to win their last meeting, in the opening game of the 2019 World Cup, and since then they have lost record-breaking coach Steve Hansen and great players such as Ryan Crotty, Sonny Bill Williams, Ben Smith and Kieran Read.

This is not the same imperious New Zealand team and, although they are trying to rediscover the same high-intensity, high-tempo game as before, they have been spluttering over the last couple of years. And the ferocious Springbok defence, set-piece excellence and strong kicking game is a rather large obstacle for them to overcome.

No wonder they want the Springboks to change the way they play.

Each and every Proteas supporter will have their own view on how the team is performing and where it is heading, and many are not shy to share that on social media, but national coach Mark Boucher said after the T20 series loss to Pakistan that public opinion is not something he listens to.

“I would have probably hanged myself long ago if I was worried about public opinion. We will stick to our guns, the players themselves came up with the way we want to play. But I take a massive amount of responsibility for our defeats, I won’t shy away from that. If you can’t handle the pressure then you should get out of the kitchen, but I am looking forward to getting the first-choice squad back.

“I am extremely hurt by this series loss but I am not going to panic because I understand there have been trying circumstances. The injuries to Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen were big losses on top of the five players going to the IPL. But we were dealt those cards and I have to try and win with those. It’s been very frustrating to not win more series and I understand how the public feels,” Boucher said after South Africa lost the last T20 off the penultimate ball to lose the series 3-1.

While the series reflected positively on the abilities of Aiden Markram, Janneman Malan, Lizaad Williams and George Linde to step up, there is still the nagging doubt that South Africa’s fringe players have the necessary skills for the Proteas to return to being powerhouses of international cricket. Boucher said the next couple of months will be spent on up-skilling players.

“I’ll have a week or so break and then I’ll get back into it. This break is not really going to be an off-season, it’s an opportunity to up-skill ourselves and build up the fitness levels so we have the intensity and energy required to match the best in the world. There will be a lot of skill work in this short period of time and hopefully our efforts will start showing in the West Indies in June.

“My wish is that we get back to winning again and I do believe we will do that when we get our full-strength squad back. Quite a few of these players can hold their heads high, but we can see the next group of players is quite rough around the edges – they are good in patches, but in international cricket you can’t afford that, you need to be polished all round,” Boucher said.

South Africa’s Rugby Championship participation is obviously dependent on government approval, but player welfare is also a major concern for Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus and his personal opinion is that the Springboks are going to be underdone in terms of game time.

South Africa’s opening Rugby Championship game is against Argentina on November 7 and they have to arrive in Australia by October 18 in order to quarantine for two weeks, but that means the members of the Springbok squad that are based in South Africa will only have a maximum of 240 minutes under their belts – SuperFan Saturday, this weekend’s Green v Gold match and the opening round of Super Rugby Unlocked.

“We desperately want to play because it would be terrible to have a year with no Test rugby. But we’ve had no clear answer from the English clubs about their semi-finals and final, we have to take a massive squad because you need four players in each key position and we all have to arrive at the same time because of two weeks quarantine, during which we can practise together.

“The science tells us that the players need five or six games, 400-500 minutes, before playing Test rugby is safe because of the injury risk and player welfare. It’s a tough one because we know we have to go, but we just don’t know how it’s going to be possible. And we don’t have much time to sort it out, the decisions all have to be done by October 10. It’s a matter of high performance and player welfare, we want to be competitive but 240 minutes is the most our players will have,” Erasmus said on Monday.

It’s fortunate that the players don’t have to be isolated in their hotel rooms, stuck on their cellular phones and gaming devices, for their two-week isolation, but even playing intra-squad matches between themselves is fraught with risk.

“We’ll be lucky if most of them have more than 200 minutes game time when we arrive in Australia, but we can probably still play against each other, a 46-man squad means we have two teams of 23. So if we play twice then that adds another 160 minutes, takes us to 360, which is nearly there. And there may be more intensity than usual because the guys will be playing for spots. “But then there’s also the risk of more injuries. And it’s not just your 15 players that you are worried about, it could be any of 30 guys on the field at any given time. Plus all 46 of the squad have played less than 200 minutes and have been under strict Lockdown, the toughest in the world. So there are a lot of problems with that as well! But ultimately the decision will be made for us,” Erasmus said.

Ever since leading the most transformed Springbok side yet to World Cup glory, Siya Kolisi has gone beyond being merely a sports star and has become a powerful symbol of change and unity in South Africa, so it was no surprise to hear SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux say the national captain has every right to express his opinion.

Roux was responding to questions over how SA Rugby would respond to Kolisi’s social media post this week in which he supported the Black Lives Matter movement and spoke of his difficulties in fitting in with the Springboks and their culture. He said his culture was not represented in the team and he felt he had to conform in order to be accepted. Kolisi added that “the next generation can’t suffer like we did”.

Kolisi also pointed out that World Cup-winning coach Rassie Erasmus had addressed the issues and transformed the Springbok team both in terms of personnel and environment.

“Siya is his own person and he got to where he did by himself and led us to the World Cup, so it’s not for me or anyone else to tell him what he must say. We must give people the opportunity to tell their stories, and people will either support or not support what they say, but that is always the case. Personally, I respect his comments.

“Black Lives Matter is basically about respect for others and how we treat people on a daily basis. That should be first and foremost, whether we are talking about BLM, Farm Attacks or Gender-Based Violence. We’ve seen that rugby can have an influence in society and we need to own up to those issues and not steer away from those conversations,” Roux said this week.

Roux made the call for more discussions over improving opportunities for Black people in the sport.

“Let Black people tell their stories and what’s more important is for us to listen and hear what they are saying. We must not shy away from awkward truths. We must continue dialogue and figure out together how to bring change. Is our transformation plan robust enough? These are very serious matters that transcend way beyond sport.

“Maybe some elements of our plan do need change, for example when it comes to Black coaches. Rassie has presented a plan to fast-track Black coaches and we need to look at that more seriously. I’m the first to acknowledge that things have gone wrong, even if we have made some very good progress in transformation. As a federation, rugby has been very good at acknowledging our sins of the past,” Roux said.