Nothing to learn
20 Aug 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in his weekly Business Day column, said the Springboks did what was expected of them at Newlands.
Expected win. Great win. Not a ‘good enough’ win. Just a win?
Why don’t we deal in reality?
Does it scare us? Does it make us think? Does it make us responsible? Does it confuse the escapism of sport because it forces us to be satisfied? And if we are satisfied, does it mean we can’t feel a different sense of satisfaction a week later?
The Springboks don’t lose against Argentina in South Africa. Traditionally they win by 20 points. There was one occasion when they won by a point. There was another when they won by 54. On balance it is 20.
They also don’t lose in Argentina. There was one occasion they nearly did but that was because Springbok coach Harry Viljoen in 2000 did the unthinkable. He challenged a mindset. He told his players they were not allowed to kick the ball and they produced rugby for 40 minutes never played by a Springbok team.
It was a masterstroke, but the point had been made at half-time. And instead of applying logic so the point could be made the next time, he refused to believe in the reality of the situation. The Boks were not conditioned enough to play a match of rugby for 80 minutes without kicking the ball. Mentally no one was conditioned to accept it was possible.
Argentina, who wouldn’t come out of their change room after half-time because of exhaustion in being forced to tackle for 40 minutes, defied the IRB rules and stayed there for 20 minutes instead of 10.
They knew the game could not be called off. They knew they couldn’t play without legs. We forget that. We call it a lucky win. The day the Boks kicked the ball for the first time on 73 minutes and Braam van Straaten kicked a 78th-minute penalty to win the game 37-33. The day it all nearly went so horribly wrong. The day Harry showed he belonged in business and not rugby, apparently. The day Braam’s kick restored sanity, stereotype and allowed our minds to rest.
We won. We should have lost. So South Africans said.
One British newspaper columnist wrote that it was the day the Boks defied the accepted norms about kicking and not keeping the ball; that it was about possession and not field position; and that it was about what we wanted to make it and not what others wanted us to believe it to be.
But he said it would never be remembered for how it all could have changed forever; it would be used as an example of why it should never change. Apparently we nearly lost when the story should have been about a victory of the evolution of the game and the mind of the player.
The Boks, 12 years later, beat Argentina with the tested formula of giving us what we have always had. Now it isn’t good enough. The social networks are a reflection of the comfort in what has always been done and not what can be done. A day before the Test, some feared the Boks could lose. Some said they just had to win. Some said it should be 20 points. And when they won 27-6 some said they failed because they did not score a bonus point.
Argentina said they were happy. They had been competitive. South African coaches were not happy but at kick-off they would have taken a 20-point win. Why not now?
The All Blacks, having beaten the Wallabies 12 out of the past 15 times, won for a 13th time in 16. They apparently had not won; it was the Wallabies that had lost.
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said his team were not where they wanted to be but they would be there next week. They will be in Auckland, where they haven’t won since Moses parted the Red Sea, but there will be condemnation in Australia when they lose on Saturday and outrage in New Zealand if the All Blacks don’t score the four-try bonus point.
What can we learn from Sydney and Cape Town? Nothing. What should we have expected to learn? Nothing?
The big guy simply strangled the little guy. Why dissect it? Unlike 2000, nothing was produced that shocked, surprised or made us think. And we remember 2000 for the day the Boks nearly lost, when it was the day rugby came so close to winning forever.
Mendoza and Auckland respectively will provide no new insight because it is still a big guy strangling the little guy and applying a formula that allows for the minds to be comforted and not challenged.
This weekend it will be 10 to the Boks in Mendoza and possibly 20 to the All Blacks in Auckland. It is expected, but it will not be good enough.
Rugby, as we want to know it, isn’t ready for the unexpected although too many are never satisfied with the obvious.
653 Comments
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20 Aug 2012, 17:07 pm
@sharks_lover-442: Sharks will be firm favorites for superrugby next year with F Steyn and Jordaan coming through….Stormers have issues , as always, at prop and fetcher….I love Kolisi, but like M Coetsee he ie either a 7 or 8….F Louw is a huge loss for Stormers and Boks now that Brussow is injured…..we actually need Steggmann to hit form now….
20 Aug 2012, 17:09 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-450: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
we should’ve met for drink @ Cubana on Sat…
@willievz-448:
20 Aug 2012, 17:10 pm
@grant10-451: “we actually need Steggmann to hit form now….” – seriously?
that guy doesn’t have not one decent bok game!
20 Aug 2012, 17:13 pm
@grant10-451: Don’t get ahead of yourself on the Sharks being favourites… the Stormers have been favourites for 11 years, I don’t want the luck to rub off, thanks.
20 Aug 2012, 17:14 pm
@goyougoodthing2-454:
20 Aug 2012, 17:15 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-449: love your sense of humour by the way…
20 Aug 2012, 17:17 pm
@Transformation-453: Thats how bloody desperate I have become for a fetcher….
The poms got me drinking red wine on a Monday I am so bloody wound up here!!
20 Aug 2012, 17:21 pm
@grant10-457: As long as it is not Kumala or Blossom Hill.
20 Aug 2012, 17:21 pm
@Transformation-416: Gonna be a looooong four years under Heineken and his team of hybrid coaches. I think I’ll just passively observe the Bok’s from now on and drastically lower my expectations.
20 Aug 2012, 17:22 pm
@grant10-457: Sprout injured, Steggies permanently non-existent…
20 Aug 2012, 17:22 pm
@goyougoodthing2-454: Too late, you team have been favourites since 2009!!!
chokers?
Sharks will fly SA flag
In his first weekly newsletter, Keo explains why the Stormers won’t live up to the hype this season.
To receive Keo’s newsletter, subscribe for FREE at the Keo’s Corner section on the home page. The newsletter will only be e-mailed to subscribers from next week.
I’m picking the Stormers to do the usual in 2009, which is to give a hint of why so many believe they will go all the way this season, but then to implode before the semi-finals. Anything less than a top four represents a failure but once again we find ourselves in Slaapstad expecting so much of a franchise that realistically has never done anything but boast the best support base in the competition’s history.
The Sharks, on balance, are an outstanding side and John Plumtree commands respect as a coach because his actions say much more than his words. Some coaches talk a great game, while Plumtree is from the school that prefers others to do the talking based on achievement of the team.
I’ve never liked the Sharks because I’ve never liked Durban and Durban has never liked me. There is no mountain and there is no loyalty from their rugby supporters when times are tough. You only have to do a check on crowd attendance in a poor season and compare it to when the Sharks are competing for a home semi-final. At least down in Mountain Goat country 35 000 still come out whether the Stormers are playing for the wooden spoon or missing out on a semi-final by points differential.
But because I don’t like the Sharks doesn’t mean I’m not picking them to be the best of the South African sides. Of course they are but to win the competition they have to be hosting a semi-final. Can they do it? To quote someone familiar with the Durbanites, there’s the lovely line of Bob the Builder … ‘Yes we can!’
20 Aug 2012, 17:23 pm
England is going to win this test.
20 Aug 2012, 17:23 pm
@Transformation-452: Next time you are down in the Cape, give us a shout.
@goyougoodthing2-454: I do believe the Sharks were heavy favourites pre-season, with the Stormers and Bulls expected to end 9th and 10th.
20 Aug 2012, 17:29 pm
@willievz-462: And that will be enough to make me violently ill for the next few days…..and once I am feeling hunky dory again, the Boks will take to the field in Mendoza with a quiver full of van Graan ‘attacking’ arrows, no fetcher, and no clue; which will make me violently ill once again.
I’m looking forward to the paralympics, SA success is guaranteed.
20 Aug 2012, 17:30 pm
Are SA playing Aus or England? 65 needed off 150 balls
20 Aug 2012, 17:31 pm
Oooh!! my GOD, what the hell are the Proteas doing, now I wont be able to watch Sky Sports for the next month
20 Aug 2012, 17:32 pm
Immy brilliant r/o!
20 Aug 2012, 17:36 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-463: No way, surely it was WP.
Remember they beat the Sharks in round 1 by a last minute dodgy penalty, Sharks had half the team out injured and WP proclaimed King of the World again..
20 Aug 2012, 17:37 pm
Smith proves again he isn’t a tactician. A captains rump. Lucky though.
20 Aug 2012, 17:37 pm
NOw its our match , **** atlast
20 Aug 2012, 17:38 pm
Habana clearly got few heavy knocks, he probably got on the plane to make up the quota numbers, can’t see him playing, addition of Vermaak may confirm Hougaard to 11, Ruan at 9
JJ is the guy to run at 14
Mvovo worked hard at Newlands, he is in a need for a break
20 Aug 2012, 17:38 pm
A no ball… wtf
20 Aug 2012, 17:38 pm
Morkel! Abomination
20 Aug 2012, 17:39 pm
@Hondo-471: JJ is 4 kindsofkak. Habana, despite me not liking him, played well on the weekend.
20 Aug 2012, 17:39 pm
Oh for fucksake, Morkel needs a visit from an under the influence Coenie.
20 Aug 2012, 17:40 pm
bowlingkak now
20 Aug 2012, 17:41 pm
@goyougoodthing2-472: Typical of MOrkel
20 Aug 2012, 17:41 pm
Who da fall guy here? Assuming . . .
20 Aug 2012, 17:42 pm
Paul Collingwood moment again??
20 Aug 2012, 17:44 pm
Where’s Hondo? If Vern saves the day with the new ball
20 Aug 2012, 17:46 pm
@goyougoodthing2-474:
Not match fit, he was badly hit several times in his 78m runs, in the heartland of the Pampas and a referee who will be scared for his well being it would be madness to play Habana, unless
20 Aug 2012, 17:49 pm
I guess this is where a “specialist” wicketkeeper would have made the stumping?
20 Aug 2012, 17:52 pm
This is insane, what a fantastic Test match.
20 Aug 2012, 17:53 pm
That site became erratic lately, jumps the typing at will?
@viewer-480:
I don’t follow cricket since 1995, way before Hansie’s scandal,I only recognise the names of Kallies and Kirsten (Gary, not Peter)but that’s about it
20 Aug 2012, 17:54 pm
Lightning strikes twice. 3rd ump
20 Aug 2012, 17:56 pm
Jeez driving back from the airport heard we had caught Prior just to hear it was a no ball by Morkel. Huge, huge pity that.
Anyhow hats off to England they have fought hard here.
20 Aug 2012, 17:58 pm
Philander does the job
20 Aug 2012, 17:59 pm
Philander has gotten Prior!
20 Aug 2012, 17:59 pm
Gone!
20 Aug 2012, 17:59 pm
Bowled Philander, caught Smith at first slip!
20 Aug 2012, 17:59 pm
Big Vern!
Come on you little beauty!
20 Aug 2012, 17:59 pm
Hondo and now???? Yaaaaa boet, dont let colour cloud your judgement my friend
20 Aug 2012, 17:59 pm
Well done Vern. Brilliant decision by Smith to continue giving him the new ball.
20 Aug 2012, 18:00 pm
Well played, Prior, well played.
20 Aug 2012, 18:00 pm
Come on Vern, get the fifer.
Come on!
20 Aug 2012, 18:00 pm
Steven has to do somefinn
20 Aug 2012, 18:01 pm
Philander gets his fifer!
20 Aug 2012, 18:01 pm
Vernon MOM no doubt as he takes thelast
20 Aug 2012, 18:01 pm
Vern on the Board!
20 Aug 2012, 18:01 pm
Vern you beauty!!!
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