Ken Borland

There was always plenty of niggle between the Springboks and Sean Fitzpatrick, and the World Cup final victory 20 years ago at Ellis Park was one of the few occasions when the South Africans managed to get the better of the great New Zealand hooker.

And not just on the scoreboard either because, according to replacement eighthman Rudolf Straeuli, the Springboks managed to rub salt in the wounds of the disconsolate All Black at the final scrum.

Straeuli’s role in Joel Stransky’s famous World Cup-winning drop goal is not often mentioned but, having come on for Mark Andrews, it was he who picked up the ball at the back of that scrum and set in motion the move that sent the ball to the flyhalf, even though something else had been planned.

“I just remember going on to the field and catching a 22 kickoff. Then we had the scrum, it wheeled a bit and it was just instinct, I called a back-row move because we couldn’t go the side we wanted, you can’t play against the wheel. Joel then called for the ball and the rest is history.

“But there was still time left after that and on that last scrum, on our tryline, I remember even Joost [van der Westhuizen] joined in. And then the scrum opened up and we were able to give Sean Fitzpatrick a few shots,” Straeuli chuckled.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge for Straeuli since 1995, including his own spell as the Springbok coach at the 2003 World Cup that ended in failure, and he is now the chief executive of the Golden Lions Rugby Union, having also coached the Sharks with some success. But his memories of the World Cup are inextricably linked to another highlight in his life.

“Every time I think about the World Cup I remember my daughter, Rieze’s birthday, because she was born 11 hours after the Australia game, my first child. Morne du Plessis organised for me to go and see her, but there was a lot of emotion after the final because we met up with family for the first time in six weeks. We went to Midrand to celebrate …” Straeuli recalled, before adding that the memories are tinged with sadness because of the two integral squad members who have passed away since 1995 – coach Kitch Christie and fellow loose forward Ruben Kruger.

To prove that great memories never die, wing Chester Williams can even remember what call was made at the fateful scrum that led to Stransky’s drop goal.

“We were going to play Black – a move that involved Rudolf and Francois Pienaar and then Andre Joubert would run on the outside, but at the last second Joel saw that Graeme Bachop [All Blacks scrumhalf] was putting a lot of pressure on Joost, so he cancelled the move and went for the drop goal,” Williams said.

“When we arrived, with the amazing crowd, we all believed we could win, then 20 minutes before kickoff, Nelson Mandela is in our changeroom! This world icon, wearing our jersey, and he said he was here as our biggest fan. We then all followed Kobus Wiese at the haka, we decided to take on the challenge.

“My happiest day before that was getting back into the squad, but that day I saw people hugging, crying and embracing in the stadium and I saw the Rainbow Nation for the first time. It started before the final with coaching clinics in Khayelitsha and Soweto,” Williams said.

Francois Pienaar quote – “It’s amazing to think that it’s 20 years since I had the incredible privilege of standing on the same podium as Nelson Mandela. While the game was on, we had the sense that something big was happening, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that it would have such a deep impact in our country. We made big steps then, celebrating together for the first time.”

Judging by his performance at a SuperSport networking luncheon this week, Jean de Villiers definitely has a future as a comedian and television personality, such was the brilliance of his timing and the sheer sense and empathy with which he spoke.

De Villiers has made his name of course with the superb timing he displays on attack and defence in the Springbok midfield and let’s hope the 34-year-old’s next major appearance on SuperSport is as captain of the World Cup squad in England.

Coach Heyneke Meyer is certainly hoping so and, whatever the haters say about taking “old-age” players to the World Cup, experience is the common thread that runs through every winner of that tournament and Meyer would be stupid to undo the last three years of preparation in order to choose flavour-of-the-month players now that the curtain is about to go up.

The one certainty about the 31-man World Cup squad that Meyer finally announces is that there are definitely going to be some very unlucky, excellent players missing out.

Unfortunately, De Villiers’ centre position is one of the areas where the Springboks are relative paupers.

Assuming that the captain will be fit (and he certainly thinks he will be), then his midfield partner is likely to be Jan Serfontein or Damian de Allende. Meyer has already said that he will be taking 18 forwards to the World Cup, so that leaves space for just 13 backs, three of which have to be scrumhalves – Fourie du Preez, Ruan Pienaar and Francois Hougaard as a utility back.

Three flyhalves would also seem necessary with Pat Lambie, Elton Jantjies and Handre Pollard, who can also provide centre cover, the frontrunners. Someone like fullback Jesse Kriel, because he can also play in midfield, could provide additional cover and, if there is a new cap in the squad then the Bulls prospect will probably by the man. If De Villiers doesn’t make it, then Lionel Mapoe will probably be next in line, especially since he can play outside centre, where the Springboks are particularly thin.

JP Pietersen, if he can regain his best form, obviously brings the ideal combination of experience and versatility, being able to play wing, fullback or outside centre.

Lock is the other worrying position with Eben Etzebeth and Victor Matfield the only contenders who are currently fit. Meyer said he favours a split of four locks and five loose forwards in the squad, with nine front-rowers compulsory, so Pieter-Steph du Toit, who can play flank as well, is a vital selection and Lood de Jager, if fit, or Teboho Mohoje will be the other second-rower .

But injuries could mean Meyer is forced to include uncapped players like Jacques du Plessis or Ruan Botha.

The coach is going to be given sleepless nights by the conundrum facing him at loose-forward. How do you choose five from the wealth of talent that is available?

The Springboks have been well-served by Francois Louw, Willem Alberts and Duane Vermuelen as a starting trio, so who backs them up?

Schalk Burger will probably be one of the two extra loosies by virtue of his experience and ability to play all three positions, which leaves the fifth back-row spot to be fought over by Marcell Coetzee, Mohoje, Warren Whiteley, Nizaam Carr, Arno Botha, Siya Kolisi, Jaco Kriel and Pierre Spies!

The incumbent Springbok front row of Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis is going to be given a tremendous run for their money by Trevor Nyakane, Adriaan Strauss and Frans Malherbe, while the third complete front row required should be made up of Coenie Oosthuizen, Scarra Ntubeni and either Marcel van der Merwe, Julian Redelinghuys or Vincent Koch.

Probable Springbok World Cup squad – Willie le Roux, Jesse Kriel; Cornal Hendricks, Bryan Habana, Francois Hougaard; Jan Serfontein, Jean de Villiers, Damian de Allende; Handre Pollard, Pat Lambie, Elton Jantjies; Fourie du Preez, Ruan Pienaar; Duane Vermuelen, Willem Alberts, Francois Louw, Schalk Burger, Marcell Coetzee; Victor Matfield, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Teboho Mohoje; Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira, Frans Malherbe, Adriaan Strauss, Trevor Nyakane, Marcel van der Merwe, Scarra Ntubeni, Coenie Oosthuizen.

South African rugby players are normally like crayfish scrambling to get out of a bucket when it comes to fighting for a place in the Springbok squad in a World Cup year, which makes lock Flip van der Merwe’s decision to not make himself available for international rugby this year all the more inexplicable.

It’s unusual for South African rugby to be short of locks but Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer admitted on Monday that the second row is one of the areas he is most concerned about, Van der Merwe’s unavailability only making the situation worse.

Although Meyer revealed the Bulls lock’s shock decision, he was not at liberty to reveal the reasons for it, save that they are personal.

“Locks are a worry because you need specialists. If I had to pick the World Cup squad today we’d be in trouble – Eben Etzebeth has just recovered from injury and Pieter-Steph du Toit, Victor Matfield and Lood de Jager have all been injured recently as well,” Meyer said.

Having announced his decision to join French club Clermont at the end of this season, Van der Merwe has lost his Springbok contract, which could place him in the same awkward position as Francois Steyn when it comes to image rights.

Four of the six locks who attended the Springbok camp session at St Peter’s College on Monday have injury problems – Ruan Botha, De Jager, Du Toit and Matfield – and they largely sat out training.

While Meyer said centre (due to injuries) was also a worrying position, he said the toughest decisions he would have to make revolved around which loose forwards to take to the World Cup.

“The main difficulty is the loose forwards. We can only choose a 31-man squad and nine of those players have to be front-row forwards. So that means you either choose four locks and five loose-forwards, which most teams do, or three locks and six loose forwards.

“So I have to pick five players from 12-15 world-class loose forwards, which is going to be very difficult. Pierre Spies is a great player who’s been injured for two years so it’s been tough for him and he could still play better. There’s Jaco Kriel, who was brilliant against the Bulls, and Heinrich Brussow, so there’s a lot of competition. Willem Alberts has played two great games for the Sharks … “ Meyer explained.

The Springbok coach confirmed that he is likely to stick with the cadres he has been using for the last three years for the World Cup, although there is always room for the odd bolter to force his way into his plans this year.

“We’ve done a lot of research and spoken to the different coaches who have won the World Cup and the one thing they all say is to stick to what has worked for you. You don’t want to be too predictable though because the game changes every six months so you have to try new things, but you don’t want to change too much.

“Current form is important, but there are guys who have performed over several years, I’ve had three years to see how they perform under pressure. Test rugby is totally different to Super Rugby, especially in the Northern Hemisphere at the breakdowns and with the referees.

“I have some sort of idea of my first XV, but there are always guys who come in late, someone like Jesse Kriel is very close to selection. But it’s very difficult for players to peak from February to October, there are just too many games, and quality players don’t become bad overnight. There’s still time to get guys right, world-class players who have proven themselves …” Meyer said.

One of those players who will be given every opportunity to prove his fitness for the World Cup is captain Jean de Villiers, who has been laid low since November with a serious knee injury.

Team doctor Craig Roberts said De Villiers is “running very hard” at the moment and they are very happy with his progress.

Roberts added, however, that they are looking to provide some games for the centre to play before the World Cup in order to find his form and confidence.

As the Springboks return from a less-than-stellar European tour that has emboldened the prophets of doom once more, the 40^th anniversary of the infamous British Lions tour to South Africa has passed by with barely a mention.

Rugby is certainly a much-changed game from those days of 99-calls, wings throwing into the lineout and teams like the Western Transvaal Mielieboere and the South-Western Districts Volstruisboere being part of the mainstream game and playing against touring sides.

But there are still lessons and cautionary tales that can be drawn from that tour, which has been given a thorough going-over and a fresh perspective in Luke Alfred’s recently-published book, When the Lions Came to Town (Zebra Press).

The 1974 Lions tour to South Africa was meant to showcase the resilience of Springbok rugby in surviving the first shadows of isolation, to show that they were still a global power whatever the world thought of their shameful politics. It still makes me sick to the stomach to think that a leading Sunday newspaper saw fit to use a headline saying the Springboks had received a “K…erpak” in the 28-9 second Test hammering at Loftus Versfeld. Alfred reveals how the mastermind of that offensive headline is actually lauded as a progressive journalist and “anything but racist”.

But instead, in going through their 22-match tour unbeaten, winning the Tests 3-0 and drawing the fourth, the Lions showed that South African rugby was stuck in the past, gathering dust like a faded old trophy on the mantelpiece.

In many ways, the Springboks were meant to be the shop window for the National Party’s doomed social engineering project called Apartheid, but the insecurities of the nation were brutally exposed by a Lions team that not only physically dominated, but also out-thought, the South Africans and had more attacking flair, scoring 10 tries to one in the Tests.

It was, of course, a golden era for British and Irish rugby with the likes of Willie-John McBride, Ian ‘Mighty Mouse’ McLauchlan, Gareth Edwards, Phil Bennett, JJ and JPR Williams amongst the best players in the world.

It’s a delicious tour for a sportswriter to delve into, resulting as it did in seismic after-effects for South African rugby, and Alfred uncovers some extraordinary tales like centre Peter Cronje playing in the crucial third Test with a shoulder that was so badly injured that he could not lift his arm above the perpendicular; the two Lions players who commandeered a limousine outside a function and ended up taking Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith on a high-speed drive through the streets of Salisbury; and some of the ludicrous selections that the panicked Springbok management made through the series. At one stage the Test scrumhalf was chosen by all the candidates walking through a ballroom and playing out a set move … perhaps that’s why eighthman Gerrie Sonnekus was then moved to half-back!

While some accuse current Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer of metaphorically being the recipient of apples from his class favourites, at least the national team will go into next year’s World Cup with a pretty clear picture of what the best starting XV will be.

The loss of captain Jean de Villiers with an awful knee injury is obviously a major blow, but Meyer has ensured there is plenty of leadership in the team, one of the first pillars of success.

First and foremost, however, now is not the time for the sort of panic that saw the 1974 Springboks humiliated. It is, however, the time for astute planning because underestimating the Northern Hemisphere challenge is a recipe for disaster.