Awaiting a new Watson
8 Dec 2010
RYAN VREDE writes Luke Watson will return to South Africa a transformed man.
I remember interviewing Springbok lock Andries Bekker just after Watson announced he was leaving the Stormers for Bath in late 2009.
Watson polarised the Stormers’ dressing room like he polarised the rugby fraternity. Senior players, mostly Boks, despised him, while some of the younger boys were attracted by his passion and energy. Nobody questioned his talent. His attitude, personality and agenda were the points of conflict.
Bekker, I gathered, was in the former category. He had established himself as an incumbent to Victor Matfield with the Springboks and was undoubtedly influenced to view Watson as the ‘cancer’ John Smit called him in his autobiography.
‘Will the Stormers be better off without Luke in the squad?’ I asked Bekker. ‘Definitely, no question,’ came the response. It didn’t need elaboration. Bekker’s point was made.
I could understand the deep disdain for Watson. He hadn’t endeared himself to senior Springboks and indeed those on the fringe of the squad in 2007, when, through his father Cheeky’s influential political connections, he was forced on then Springbok coach Jake White, whom he had slammed in a magazine interview just a year earlier.
South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins took the unprecedented step of adding his name to a 45-man squad despite the national selectors vehemently opposing the move. White first heard of Watson’s inclusion minutes before the squad announcement.
I remember the weeks that followed in Johannesburg. Watson cut a dejected figure as he ran with the reserves. Neither White nor the senior players interacted with him. At the end of training sessions he changed by himself and was the first on the team bus. He ate alone at a five-seater table and spent all of his free time pawing away at his mobile phone. I felt for Watson, even though I understood the sentiment.
Certainly it only served to fuel his bitterness towards the Boks.
Peter de Villiers, a family friend of the Watsons, was always expected to select Luke when he replaced White in 2008. But he would soon come to understand the complications associated with Watson’s presence and duly dropped him under pressure from the anti-Watson brigade.
Later that year Watson would recount his debut Test against Samoa at an awards dinner in Cape Town. Transcripts of the speech were released where Watson allegedly said that he felt like vomiting on the Springbok jersey because it represented a dark and forgettable past for black South Africans (Watson’s family were heavily involved in the struggle against apartheid).
He said that South African rugby was being run by ‘Dutchmen’ (a derogatory word for Afrikaners). He had already vexed the very soul of the senior Boks, most of them Afrikaners, and now had completely and irreversibly fractured that relationship.
He was lambasted in the media and in rugby circles. The youngsters at the Stormers who had been allies were now fearful of being associated with Watson. It all become too much for Watson, who accepted Bath’s offer.
By all accounts he has been an inspirational figure at The Rec. He refused the captaincy unless the players approved it.
The move to the Premiership has made him a better player, but most pertinently, the relative anonymity Bath has offered has allowed him to mature emotionally. That, more than any technical improvement, has been the city’s greatest gift to Watson.
He found himself in Bath, and it was a significant departure from the man he thought he was. South Africans, those open to having their perceptions challenged, in time will understand that Watson is a man transformed.
Gone are the impetuous statements that used to be a feature of any Watson interview, replaced by measured, thoughtful offerings. Gone too is his placid willingness to allow his father Cheeky to direct his thoughts. He still has great respect for him, but Watson is in every way his own man.
His decision to return to South Africa, to his hometown of Port Elizabeth, to the Kings, where Cheeky is president, was his own. It was borne from the belief that he could make a difference and elevate the franchise, which is promised Super Rugby participation in 2013.
Watson gives the Kings pulling power. He will be presented as a symbol of the franchise’s intent to mix it with the big boys, and no doubt will be asked to make calls to players who would otherwise have never considered a career in the Eastern Cape. He could be the difference between winning and losing crucial matches. Such players are invaluable.
The Kings offer a player of Watson’s calibre little in return. Certainly not the standard of competition that will improve him, or the ability to match what he was earning at Bath or could have commanded at an elite European club.
This makes Watson’s decision ever more perplexing, but undeniably impressive. In a culture where southern hemisphere players are always willing to worship at the northern hemisphere’s feet, Watson has, inadvertently, styled himself as a rugby anti-Christ.
Watson has again made headlines in South Africa. This time they are for the right reasons. Surely there will be those who will seek to revisit the past and discuss his Bok future in the hope they will expose Watson’s transformation as fraudulent. I hope they don’t succeed and I don’t believe they will.
– Read more blogs including why Watson won’t be the first Saffa to leave the Premiership, and why it was wrong for the European Rugby Cup to silence Brendan Venter on The Telegraph’s website
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1,272 Comments
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10 Dec 2010, 16:47 pm
Ulster to lose.
Bok veteran named Ulster captain
2010-12-10 15:15:01
Veteran Springbok lock Johann Muller will captain Ulster when they play Bath in Round Three of the Heineken Cup at Ravenhill in Saturday.
Muller takes over the captaincy from hooker Rory Best, who is ruled out after having sustained a fractured cheekbone during the November internationals.
Paddy Wallace, who was omitted from the side selected to play the Dragons last weekend (match postponed) due to a niggle in his lower back, starts at inside centre – with Nevin Spence filling in at No.13 for the injured Darren Cave (recurrence of hamstring injury), while Ruan Pienaar is preferred at scrumhalf this week over Paul Marshall who is named on the bench.
Up front Muller’s return from a neck injury sustained against Cardiff last month means that Tim Barker moves to the bench, while Willie Faloon makes way as Stephen Ferris returns to the back row.
Ulster, who did the double over Bath home and away in last season’s Heineken Cup campaign, will be hoping for more of the same this time around, with back to back fixtures in the run up to Christmas.
Pitch heaters have been in operation for the past 36 hours, working to defrost the pitch and Ulster Rugby are confident that the fixture will go ahead.
Ulster: 15 Adam D’Arcy, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Nevin Spence, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johann Muller (captain), 3 BJ Botha, 2 Nigel Brady, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Bryan Young, 19 Tim Barker, 20 Willie Faloon, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Ian Whitten, 23 David McIlwaine.
Date: Saturday, December 11
Venue: Ravenhill, Belfast
Kick-off: 13.30 (13.30 GMT)
Referee: Jérôme Garces (France)
Assistant referees: Laurent Cardona (France), Jean-Luc Rebollal (France)
10 Dec 2010, 16:47 pm
@stormersboy :
that would be seven habits of highly reflective people
10 Dec 2010, 16:49 pm
@Transformation : And like me he know never to believe the fibs… But, hell, you can’t help it if its “part of your culture”… Its not your fault…
10 Dec 2010, 16:52 pm
@WESTERN PROVINCE – SOUTH AFRICA’S BENCHMARK SINCE 1883 : tltltltl and you’re an authority on culture..
10 Dec 2010, 16:58 pm
@Transformation : Yeah, the fibbing culture… Its all anecdotal though, but that has never gotten in the way attributing fact to fallacy on Keo… You know it, amaXhosa are great at storytelling…. and running fast
10 Dec 2010, 17:18 pm
@WESTERN PROVINCE – SOUTH AFRICA’S BENCHMARK SINCE 1883 : better stick with ‘ecos’ my man & leave the culture alone
10 Dec 2010, 17:25 pm
@Transformation : 1256. Who’s “your man”…? You can call me “Bwana” or just plain “sir”…
10 Dec 2010, 17:34 pm
@WESTERN PROVINCE – SOUTH AFRICA’S BENCHMARK SINCE 1883 : cheers squire, i have to get into the friday swing of things…this what not being under the Banshee’s petticoat means
10 Dec 2010, 17:46 pm
@Transformation : Cheers. have a good one.
10 Dec 2010, 19:18 pm
where is my buddy jockbok?the oke is so easy,always have been.just bring up scots independence and a bit of ira admiration and the oke implodes big-time.used to bait him on this subject under my old nick lukeisbaas …same result.
10 Dec 2010, 19:38 pm
@capo :
Wow CAPO you are so tough, I am sure JockBok must be kakking himself…. NOT!
10 Dec 2010, 20:07 pm
This rainstorm at Centurion should blow over. It lasted 10 minutes here in Jhb.
Knights are still on course I reckon. Titans didn’t get enough.
11 Dec 2010, 05:18 am
This is probably the 3rd/4th pro Watson/EP Kings/Allan Solomons story on Keo since the little man shared a cup of tea with Cheeky in Edinburgh during the Wales test earlier in the year.
Reminds me of the night he shared a beer or two/three/four/… with Jakey during the WC in 2007. JW had to “save” his live after that, pulling him out of the way from an oncoming car. We all know how Keo sucked up to JW after that. Untill his “friend” took him to court this year.
So the question now is, why all this pro-Watson/EP Kings/Allan Solomon articles all of a sudden?
Something is brewing somewhere, I tell you.
Watch this space!!!
11 Dec 2010, 07:53 am
@nama1 : ah that ol coffee in paris story
didn’t big joe save keo’s arse too after he tried to jump over a gate and getting caught in it?
11 Dec 2010, 11:54 am
@Transformation :
Jake drinks coffee?
11 Dec 2010, 12:30 pm
@nama1 :
Hey Nama, hoezit?
11 Dec 2010, 12:34 pm
@Transformation :
Pedrie must come back to SA, Boks lack good quality loosies
11 Dec 2010, 12:43 pm
@Mighty Horua :
Sharp ouboet.
Jou kant?
The site is damn slow today. Is everybody on holiday already?
11 Dec 2010, 12:58 pm
@nama1 :
Orait aan my kant
Ja, all of that BullSharks and Lions fans are coming down to the Majestic Stormers region for their holidays – WP are truly the benchmark when it comes to holiday destinations
Well I cant wait for the Indians at Newlands
11 Dec 2010, 13:23 pm
@Mighty Horua :
Me too…can’t wait for the series to start.
Maybe I’ll take in a day or two at Newlands when they play there. Probably the 4th and 5th day if all goes according to plan.
12 Dec 2010, 18:06 pm
A changed man! does that mean he has had a gender change?
Dont even think about putting him in the Bok squad, he will be ostracised……should have stayed in Bath where, because there is no agenda, he played his best rugby.
12 Dec 2010, 20:46 pm
Transformed man…ironic choice of words. His dad would approve of anything to do with transformation…
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