How should I feel about a crap All Blacks side?
At what point does schadenfreude morph into pity? For how long can one look upon the misery of a fallen adversary before feeling the sharp pang of sympathy? Perhaps these questions are nonsense. Maybe one’s joy is inversely proportional to the suffering of a foe. All the better yet if that foe once ruled the world.
These tangled conundrums have filled my head this week as the South African Springboks host the New Zealand All Blacks on Saturday. As a journalist and observer of the game, I am paid to be neutral, to cast a dispassionate eye on events and report the facts as I see them.
But that is a challenging task when these two teams meet. I am a South African, I am a sports fan and I was raised in the early years of the self-branded ‘New’ South Africa. I was seven-years-old when Joel Stransky nailed a drop goal to hand the Springboks the 1995 Rugby World Cup. I was intoxicated by the belief that sport had the power to change the world, as Nelson Mandela told us, and tightly wrapped myself in the rainbow-nationalism that the former president espoused.
But every hero needs a villain and the All Blacks, those monsters under the bed who’d snatch me away in the night if I didn’t finish my vegetables, were the boogeymen of my deepest nightmares.
They terrified me. But more than that, they fascinated me. Watching them was akin to witnessing a natural disaster in full flow. A Jonah Lomu rampaging run was a volcano erupting. A Zinzan Brooke tackle was a tsunami. The haka was at once sacred and malevolent, like the rumbling incantations of druids .
Beyond any awe or fear I carried, the enduring feeling I had was respect. Every match against these Goliaths felt significant. All the well-worn sporting tropes came alive before these showstopping set-pieces. There were no dead rubbers. Form went out the window. So often it came down to the finest of margins.
We’ll all have our standout moments against the All Blacks. Mine is Richard Bands’ try in Dunedin in 2003 that included a mighty hand-off on the great Carlos Spencer. But more than any individual event or piece of skill, my favourite thing about this rivalry is that it exists. That it’s so often a meeting between the two undisputed powerhouses of the game. That it brings together a collision of brute force and electric guile, a thunderous whirlwind of emotion that knocks the breath out of spectators half a world away.
Which brings us to this week’s contest, the 102nd in 101 years. The All Blacks are currently ranked fourth on World Rugby’s metrics. Read that again. Fourth. Three teams are ahead of them. This is unchartered territory. They’ve just lost consecutive Tests on home soil for the first time in more than two decades. The ravens have left the tower. The wolves are circling. This lot have already been branded the worst All Blacks side in history.
How am I supposed to feel about this? Should I be joyous that an outfit that has inflicted so much heartache on my team has finally been brought low? Should I remind myself that it was New Zealand rugby that made the South Africans feel like unwelcome guests in Super Rugby and so accelerated the decline of what was once the best domestic competition in the world?
I’ll be honest, I do feel those things. But I also feel a degree of sadness. I can’t help but liken myself to a young Gaul in the seventh century, looking up at the crumbling Roman aqueducts and wondering what giants built these wonders.
We’re not there yet. This is an empire on the wane rather than one in ruin, but a chastening defeat to the Springboks in both Tests could prove disastrous for New Zealand. And, to be frank, the Springboks really ought to pulverise them.
I’m not buying the cliches this time. I’m not entertaining the tropes of wounded tigers or the comparisons with cornered Spartans at Thermopylae. The Springboks, the world champion, Lions series winning Springboks, cannot waste their best ever opportunity to rub the All Blacks’ noses in a mess of their own making.
And this is why I am worried. What if New Zealand rouse themselves from their sleepwalk and send a reminder to the world of their former greatness? What if the Springboks saunter into the fight bloated on false impressions and get walloped by a side with a score to settle? Neither team can afford to lose in Mbombela but the South Africans have even less wiggle room than their guests.
Malcom Marx’s inclusion in the starting XV for only the second time since the 2019 World Cup is an indication that coach Jacques Nienaber wants to get at the All Blacks as soon as possible. Like most Springboks matches that matter, this one won’t be pretty. They won’t look to replicate the eye-catching patterns so astutely executed by Ireland. They’ll be direct and forceful. They’ll set themselves up to bully the bullies.
In doing so they’ll heap even more misery on an organisation that once only dealt in triumphs. I wonder how we’ll all feel after that.
Comments on RugbyPass
The fact that the press were largely to blame for his taking a break is nothing short of disgusting. He’s made a few mistakes but what player of any substance and that gives it a full go hasn’t also made mistakes. On behalf of a large number of Bokke fans, bring back Farrell !!!!!
1 Go to commentsPSTD is a fantastic flanker. He could benefit from a bit of self-promotion / flair and he is not quite the danger man that Ardie is. That said, he is my 1st pick to build a backrow around. His speed and hustle made up for Duane who got quite a bit slower at the 8.
2 Go to commentssurprised, disco lights haven't been banned by world rugby board
19 Go to commentsToo many changes. Too often. I’m tired of this WR administration. How do we vote these fockers out? Bill needs to go.
19 Go to commentsDu Toit, 2 time W.Cup winner yet rarely mentioned a “Great “…if one looks back on his stellar carrier perhaps someone will one day elevate him to “Richie” status…a quiet, polite yet devastating loose forward that knew action speaks louder than words..
2 Go to commentsI like the offside rule, but this won't affect my team because all their kicks gets chased and that putts everyone on side. Lekker manne!
19 Go to comments20 minute Red Card is untenable. If you don’t punish the whole team, coaches won’t be sufficently incentivised to pick players with, or coach better tackle technique.
1 Go to commentsI can only think of One time ever a team has opted for a scrum from a free kick… Why the law change I wonder
19 Go to commentsYeah, its not going to work. But we see you World Rugby.
19 Go to commentsLove the reaction after last 2 W.Cups re rule changes…maybe good for more for more of a “ league” type running game( which I personally don’t like) but seems Rassie is definitely in ther heads…
19 Go to commentsGreat. More unwanted changes. Because these always work out well.
19 Go to commentsI’m sure South Africa’s opponents will rejoice at World Rugby minimising one of the Boks’ most potent weapons, but you just know Rassie is cooking something up with free-kicks that no-one else has thought of. Let them play checkers. Rassie’s playing chess. 😂
19 Go to commentsAfter a fairly simple Pac4, the BFs will find out a lot about themselves in September when they face the rampaging RedRoses at Twickenham in front of a record crowd. After that they will face them again in Canada in WXV1. They also have France to contend with. Will be interesting to see what Australia have to offer with Jo Yapp at the helm.
1 Go to commentsSuper Rugby Pacific has been better as a spectacle due to the emphasis on speeding the game up and I’d look at taking things a step further. Instead of giving teams 90 seconds to take a conversion, let’s bring that down 60 seconds. You could also look at allowing 45 seconds for a penalty goal. Maybe teams could get 20 seconds instead of 30 to form a scrum before the ref then starts the engagement process. However, this year the most pleasing change is the added competitiveness in the Trans Tasman matches. What does frustrate me is how the rugby media in Australasia allow the the whole ‘‘rugby is boring’’/’’rugby yawnion’’ narrative to take hold from from vindictive league types, the chairman of the ARL commission and News Limited Australia. Stick up for the game and shift the narrative!
22 Go to commentsIt’s not new for nines to be the key playmaker. For the Boks it has been common, with Fourie du Preez and Joost vd Westhuizen being obvious examples. It's also not that recent for nines to be box kicking, covering high balls in the back field, and tackling in the defensive line. For example, Faf de Klerk has been doing all of that for years.
6 Go to commentsThe hell with this constant regurgitation of what this pretty boy is doing. For all I care he might as well be doing a Jamie Oliver cooking course. Rugby is not a progression toward the NFL, which, given its prominence in your reporting, you appear to regard as the ultimate contact sport. It has virtually nothing to do with rugby, and forever may that remain the case. I know that if I don’t like it I don’t have to read it, but I’m sick of seeing this dishwater-dull nonsense.
2 Go to commentsGuys Eben did not mean it in a ugly way as it’s just a feeling he had. We Safas rate the All Blacks and no Bok player wants to play NZ in a Knockout game
148 Go to commentsHe basically described who Aaron Smith also considers the GOAT 9….the one & only Fourie du Preez😎
6 Go to commentsI’m hoping that the Reds can win their last 4 games with a couple of try bonus points. The pessimist in me wouldn't be surprised if the Drua and the Tahs knock the Reds over. The Reds may end up ruing the fact they were distinctly 2nd best against the Force and just so clunky against Moana Pasifica. The Brumbies should win all their remaining games with some bonus points giving them at least a top 2 finish as the leading Kiwi sides will take points off each other. How the Brumbies handle the fact that they will be expected to beat the Crusaders will fascinate me. You’d probably have to go back to 2001 for the last time the Brumbies would go into a game against the Crusaders odds on to win.
8 Go to commentsFree to air is the key to fan expansion. I attended last weeks game at Suncorp (Reds v Blues) and the total cost is prohibitive to most people that wish to attend. Two tickets $130, parking (event day gouging) $75, road tolls $20, dinner beforehand $130, plus some petrol and a beer inside the stadium and a single game starts to cost $300-400. Who can afford that week in week out, I’d love to go more but could only afford this one game to see the Blues, I’d have loved to have seen more NZ teams here but I’d need to stop eating or sell a kidney.
22 Go to comments