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Springboks in pole position for prize they haven't held in a decade - but does Rassie Erasmus care?

By Tom Vinicombe
Rassie Erasmus has the Rugby Championship within his reach - but does he even want it?(Original photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images for Barbarians)

With the World Cup dominating the airways and a host of international warm-ups taking place over the coming weeks, it’s no surprise that the Southern Hemisphere’s premier international competition has been all but forgotten.

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New Zealanders and Australians have turned their attention to the Bledisloe Cup. Those in the Northern Hemisphere, who normally have no rugby of their own to watch during this period, suddenly have a glut of test matches to look forward to.

Perhaps then it’s only fans in South Africa who are still salivating over the culmination of this year’s Rugby Championship.

Yes, the Rugby Championship may not be quite as major an accomplishment in a World Cup year – but it’s still a trophy that no Springbok captain has ever hoisted above his head in celebration.

Jannie Du Plessis, John Smith, Bismarck Du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira of South Africa celebrate with the Tri-Nations trophy in 2009. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Since Argentina joined SANZAAR and the Tri-Nations became the Rugby Championship, New Zealand have topped the ladder in six out of the seven campaigns. Australia managed to pip NZ in the 2015 tournament, but the Kiwis have still held a stranglehold over the Rugby Championship since its inception, losing just three games over the seven-year period.

Barring an upset in Salta this weekend, South Africa should become the third nation – and the last of the original competitors – to etch their name on the Rugby Championship trophy.

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You have to rewind to the Tri-Nations days to find the Springboks’ last successful season – way back in 2009.

Annus mirabilis

2009 was an exceptional year for South African rugby – on all stages.

First, the Bulls took out the Super 14 with a momentous 61-17 win over New Zealand’s Chiefs in Pretoria. To this day, that’s the biggest ever win in a Super Rugby final and the odds would be slim on the 44-point margin ever being eclipsed.

Bulls and Springboks halfback mastermind Fourie du Preez scores in the 2009 Super 14 final, despite the best effort’s of Chiefs and All Blacks fullback Mils Muliaina. (Photo by Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

The Springboks then picked up where the Bulls left off, whitewashing the All Blacks 3-0 in the Tri-Nations and slipping up in just one match – away to the Wallabies.

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Beating New Zealand in South Africa will perhaps never be the greatest accomplishment for the Springboks – victory at home should be the expectation for one of the world’s most successful teams. Doing it twice in one season, however, and then besting the All Blacks in their own backyard a month later, is something worth celebrating.

Victories in New Zealand have come rarely for South Africa. Since the dawn of the millennium, they’ve managed it just three times – in 2008, 2009 and 2018. 2009 saw them at their best, with Morne and Frans Steyn constantly punishing the All Blacks for their ill-discipline and Heinrich Brussow dominating the breakdown.

2019 may not have seen quite as impressive performances, with a win against a poor Australian side and a draw in Wellington two weekends ago the two results they have to show for their efforts. Regardless, if the Springboks trump the Pumas in Argentina this weekend, their name will almost certainly end up on the trophy – and that’s all the record books will show.

Like his fellow coaches, Springboks head honcho Rassie Erasmus is probably significantly more concerned with results at the end of the season than with whether his team comes out on top this weekend.

Building for something bigger

In the first match of the year, Erasmus chose to send out a weaker lineup against the Wallabies, with the majority of his first-choice team travelling to New Zealand in advance of the game with the All Blacks.

Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jesse Kriel are probably the only members of that first match-day squad who would expect to be starting in the World Cup knockouts – but they were still able to easily overwhelm a relatively full-strength Australian side.

The top side then fought back a week later to claim a well-deserved draw against the All Blacks in Wellington. The two rivals have shared their results evenly since Erasmus took as head coach, with a win, a draw and a loss a-piece.

South Africa now have just three games to play before they officially kick-off their World Cup campaign against New Zealand on September 21st. They’ll battle it out with Argentina over the next two weekends, then take on Japan shortly before the World Cup commences.

Comments from Erasmus indicate that he’ll continue to rotate his side in the lead-up to the flagship tournament. Perhaps we won’t see quite as many changes from match to match as we did between the Republic’s first two games of the Rugby Championship – only Makazole Mapimpi, Etzebeth and du Toit backed up for those fixtures – but Erasmus will inevitably still be trialling some combinations and tactics before D-day. He’s only been the coach of the side for fifteen matches, remember.

Which brings us back to this weekend’s match.

Victory no sure-thing

In two of the last three matches that have been played in Argentina, the Pumas have come out on top of the Springboks. The vast majority of the Argentinian side have spent the entire year together under the guise of the Jaguares and went close to winning a maiden Super Rugby title. They pushed the All Blacks close in Buenos Aires and were just metres away from stealing a first-ever win over the World Champions. They will have also received a bit of a rark-up during the week after playing well below their potential against the Wallabies.

The Pumas celebrate after tipping over South Africa in Durban in 2015. (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

This isn’t going to be an easy match for the Springboks and, despite the fact that it’s been criminally undersold this year, the Rugby Championship title is still very much on the line.

Erasmus may well be in his final year as head coach with the Springboks before he moves into to a more overarching role with South African rugby. The World Cup is obviously the biggest prize on offer, but the affable coach may still want to bank some goodwill and claim the trophy that his side already have one hand on before he cedes control of the national side. If that’s the case, then expect to see a close to full-strength side rolled out this weekend. If Erasmus instead opts to run with a fairly experimental side, then you couldn’t ask for any clearer sign that the Rugby Championship, and international rugby in the Southern Hemisphere as a whole, has largely lost all meaning.

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Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

40 Go to comments
A
Adrian 12 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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