'The standard was shocking' - Springbok Showdown fails to meet expectations as South African fans get reality check
The Springbok Showdown was billed as South Africa’s answer to North vs South and a chance for new Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber to gauge the readiness of the nation’s players after more than six months without play.
The ‘Green vs Gold’ fixture ended in a comprehensive 25-9 win to the Siya Kolisi-led Green side, but the spectacle itself left much to be desired. The game was marred by errors and was described as ‘difficult to watch’.
In just the second week of professional rugby for the country, South Africa’s players struggled for combinations and consistency in the new-look teams with a lack of a time to prepare. The uninspiring contest led fans to pour water over the Springboks’ Rugby Championship hopes, with some suggesting this showed why the team should not travel to Australia.
One Springboks fans online claimed that the ‘future doesn’t look bright’, another suggested ‘the standard was shocking’ in a game that was ‘never going to be a classic’.
The #SpringbokShowdown was a tough watch but always good to have rugby back on our screens! Looking forward to Super Rugby Unlocked ?
— Brandon Lee Portnoy (@BrandonPortnoy) October 3, 2020
A dog's breakfast – that is what you get when your top players do not play in your top competitions – Supersport infused for exposure and money trade-off with SA Rugby – should have been a Barabarian match not 2 Commissioners playing tiddly winks but sold a a World Chess final
— Schalk Burger (@skalabrak) October 3, 2020
any way , our players has not played for 6 months and this is only their second match in that time and guys is already complaining and having a go . rugby really is back 🙁
— Oom Rugby (@Oom_Rugby) October 3, 2020
I am not happy with the #SpringbokGold they didn't show any fighting spirit but a string of errors. The future don't look bright #SpringbokGreen #TeamSiya #Springboks #CastleShowdown #SpringbokShowdown #
— Themba Kaebis (@Themba_kaebis) October 3, 2020
The “BokTrial” was never going to be a classic. 80 minutes game time under a lot of these players belts over the last 6 months, can’t expect much. Gives the Bok management a chance to see what’s out there locally, that makes it worthwhile. #GREENvGOLD #BokTrials #goodexercise
— Graeme Peacock (@graemepeacock05) October 3, 2020
Agree very rusty and poor quality match , even with game time not convinced enough International level quality on show ? Probably 30 top level players playing overseas will be needed to compete against Lions ?
— Wayne Gabb (@gabbo1961) October 3, 2020
Even though a preseason game, the standard was shocking. A classic case of no combinations in key positions and a clear lack of practice time. Not convinced it achieved anything?
— Andrew Bradford (@Andrew_B1971) October 3, 2020
South African journalists offered some explanations to dampen the fans disappointment, with Brenden Nel comparing the clash to a Super Rugby pre-season game.
With more rugby under their belt, he wrote, the players will be better in three weeks time. It seemed many fans were expecting a North vs South type fixture that was held after 10 weeks of Super Rugby Aotearoa which had created unrealistic expectations for players who’d only notched 80 minutes of rugby the week before.
Jon Cardinelli wrote the game was ‘very much a pre-season hitout’ where the players were untried and learning new combinations while Craig Ray wrote this is confirmation SARU needs to pull the pin on this year’s Rugby Championship.
Anyone who has watched a pre-season game for a super rugby franchise will know this is a familiar sight – these mistakes. Expect the players to be much better in two to three weeks time.
— Brenden Nel (@BrendenNel) October 3, 2020
Those comparing this to NZ north south game a bit of perspective. Theirs at the end of 10 weeks of rugby. This one after some – not all – have played 80mins of rugby in 6 months. Not a good first half but not surprised.
— Brenden Nel (@BrendenNel) October 3, 2020
Very much a pre-season hitout. Lots of untried combos, plenty of mistakes. Scrums were a battle, and the pattern re kick chase and defence on both side was evident. #GreenvGold
— Jon Cardinelli (@jon_cardinelli) October 3, 2020
Takeaways from this game:
EVERYONE: 'Boks can't catch or pass'
RASSIE AND JACQUES: 'We're gonna scrum and maul everyone else to smithereens!'#GreenvGold— Jon Cardinelli (@jon_cardinelli) October 3, 2020
Quite obvious watching this, Boks should not be going to Rugby Championship. It is the confirmation coaches and SARU hierarchy need. Expect an announcement to confirm soon. #greenvgold #rugby
— Craig Ray (@craigray11) October 3, 2020
Speaking on the post-match broadcast, Springbok legend Schalk Burger said that ‘no one’ stood out from the contest, which he found difficult to digest as a viewer.
‘No one stood out, it was a hard watch throughout.’
‘Siya and his boys defended well and the difference between the teams was that his side took their chances while their rivals did not.’
The amount of kicking in the contest was widely criticised by fans but captain Siya Kolisi said that the side operated like it was a test match, leading to a 6-3 scoreline at halftime.
What's the idea behind kicking for poles in a game like this? @SuperSportTV #SSRugby #greenvgold
— Michael McLaggan (@MclagganMichael) October 3, 2020
Why are we kicking for 3 points when that can be practiced on the field any day? This is a non-competitive match. Go for set pieces! #SSRugby #greenvgold
— Ricardo da Costa (@rgdacosta) October 3, 2020
The players will get the chance to find better form when they return to their club sides next week for South Africa’s resumption of Super Rugby.
Super Rugby Unlocked commences next Friday, including the four current Super Rugby franchises, plus the Cheetahs, Griquas and Pumas to prepare for the proposed Rugby Championship, which Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus said a decision will be announced no later than October 10 on whether they will take part in.
Comments on RugbyPass
Great insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
1 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
4 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
35 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
5 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
5 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
5 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
35 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis 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”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
3 Go to commentsBut 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.
35 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
35 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
2 Go to commentsThanks 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
35 Go to commentsNo way. If you are trying to picture New Zealand rugby with an All Blacks mindset, there have been two factors instrumental to the decline of NZ rugby to date. Those are the horror that the Blues have become and, probably more so, the fixture that the Crusaders became. I don’t think it was healthy to have one team so dominant for so long, both for lack of proper representation of players from outside that environment and on the over reliance on players from within it. If you are another international side, like Ireland for example, sure. You can copy paste something succinct from one level to the next and experience a huge increase in standards, but ultimately you will not be maximizing it, which is what you need to perform to the level the ABs do. Added to that is the apathy that develops in the whole game as a result of one sides dominance. NZ, Super, and Championship rugby should all experience a boom as a result of things balancing out. That said, there is a lot of bad news happening in NZ rugby recently, and I’m not sure the game can be handled well enough here to postpone the always-there feeling of inevitable decline of rugby.
35 Go to commentsNo SA supporter miss Super Rugby - a product that is experiencing significant head wind in ANZ - the competition from rival codes are intense, match attendance figures are at a historical low and the negativity of commentators such as Kirwan and Wilson have accelerated the downward spiral in NZ. After the next RWC in 2027 sponsors will follow Qantas and start leaving in droves.
4 Go to comments