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, 12:53 pm
@Heavens Game-128:
Sounds like you are making a bid to join the Keo Captains of Industry.
We will assess the merits of your application but for now a Corporal you remain.
20 Aug 2012, 12:55 pm
@goyougoodthing2-147: They don’t? Hmmm… I reckon a revisit of CG Smith, Crookes and Hulett strikes in the late 80′s, early 90′s will counter that.
20 Aug 2012, 12:56 pm
On Earl Rose, it appears he smashed into a fish and chips shop in Gordons Bay at high speed with his Black BMW one the weekend.
Him and his wife were apparently coming from the Rumours night club – wherever that is – at around 3am.
He reportedly claimed that his wife had been driving, but CCTV footage allegedly shows him climbing out the window on the drivers side without a shirt on and screaming like a madmen next to the car.
Ai tog. Who would’ve thunk it.
20 Aug 2012, 12:59 pm
@Tacitus-153:
Sounds fishy to me.
Did he try and snoek away from the scene?
20 Aug 2012, 13:00 pm
@Tacitus-139:
I agree.
10000%
20 Aug 2012, 13:00 pm
oh dear Taylor run out.
just short of the crease.
ahem.
20 Aug 2012, 13:00 pm
@goyougoodthing2-146: ditto. just enjoying showing you up that’s all
“i spoke to some people” bwahahahahahahahaha
20 Aug 2012, 13:01 pm
@Tacitus-149: fill us in
20 Aug 2012, 13:02 pm
No one has told me what this Lonmin Mine digs out of the ground?
20 Aug 2012, 13:03 pm
@cane-159:
Platinum.
20 Aug 2012, 13:04 pm
@cane-159:
Platinum.
Is your kiwiki broken?
20 Aug 2012, 13:04 pm
@gunther-154: had a whale of a time.
@cane-159: platinum
20 Aug 2012, 13:05 pm
@Heavens Game-152: Woody… Yes, the police reaction was excessive… however they had to act. The sangoma stuff leading to the frenzy was another little nail on 40+ coffins… Union “rivalry” was a Lonmin “divide and rule” tactic that blew up in their faces….
And I suspect the ultimatum for workers to return today is a nail in the coffin of Lonmin as we know it… Simply put, spike in Platinum and drop in share value along with a belated rights issue – and bigger fish like Xstrata are circling… in turn to be chowed by Glencore….
20 Aug 2012, 13:06 pm
@trupisero-162:
indeed.
but he’s going to fry for lying to the cops.
20 Aug 2012, 13:07 pm
@Heavens Game-163: Not woody, rather Goody…
Sheezus now watch the multinics jump like popcorn
20 Aug 2012, 13:09 pm
@gunther-151: Naah… HG okay as Corporal… But a real Corporal he may be… Unlike some “Captains”
20 Aug 2012, 13:09 pm
@Tacitus-160: @gunther-161:
Thank You Cunther and Tactless.
20 Aug 2012, 13:09 pm
This is very weird. The Earl Rose article was all over the news earlier today, but now I can’t find a trace of it.
20 Aug 2012, 13:10 pm
And Trooper.
20 Aug 2012, 13:12 pm
@gunther-164: Female cop arrived at scene – wasn’t impressed. Tried to tuna it wasn’t him.
20 Aug 2012, 13:17 pm
@Tacitus-168:
Sounds very convenient.
Too convenient.
All I know is that a WP player was arrested at a roadblack in Camps Bay just after midnight on Saturday night.
(Camps Bay is very, very far from Gordons Bay, Tacitus.)
20 Aug 2012, 13:18 pm
@Heavens Game-150: I’m not disagreeing with you
20 Aug 2012, 13:19 pm
@WP-Forever-171:
Sigh. You doubting me?
This from Beeld:
Gordonsbaai. – Die polisie ondersoek ’n saak van roekelose of nalatige bestuur nadat die voormalige Springbok-rugbyspeler Earl Rose en sy vrou gister in die vroeë oggendure met hul motor teen ’n gebou in Gordonsbaai gebots het.
Die ongeluk het om 03:10 gebeur toe die twee glo die stopteken op die hoek van Sir Lowry’s Pass-weg en Wattstraat verontagsaam en in die Ooskus-vis-en-skyfies-winkel vasgejaag het.
“Ek het gehoor hoe die motor teen ’n hengse snelheid in die pad af kom,” het Johan Thiart, wat in Sir Lowry’s Pass-weg woon, gesê.
“Ek het geweet hy gaan iets tref en toe **** ek ’n harde slag. Die bestuurder het nie eens gerem nie. Ek het dadelik opgespring en daarheen gehardloop.”
Volgens die polisie het Rose al langs die motor gestaan toe hulle op die toneel gekom het.
Hy het aan hulle gesê sy vrou, Amor, het die motor bestuur. Sy het intussen van die toneel verdwyn, vermoedelik om hulp te gaan soek.
Die twee was na bewering op pad van die Rumours-nagklub in die dorp se nywerheidsgebied toe die ongeluk gebeur het.
Albei is ongedeerd.
Volgens Raymond Goldberg, die winkeleienaar, beloop die skade aan die winkel etlike duisende rande. Die Ooskus-vis-en-skyfies-winkel bestaan al die afgelope 38 jaar.
“Hulle is baie gelukkig om te lewe,” het hy gesê. “Die hele voorste muur van die gebou het ingetuimel eerder as om op die motor te val.”
Rose kon gister ondanks herhaaldelike pogings nie vir kommentaar bereik word nie.
Anthony Johnson, Rose se agent, het gesê die paartjie sou gistermiddag na die plaaslike polisiekantoor gaan sodat sy ’n verklaring kon aflê.
20 Aug 2012, 13:19 pm
@WP-Forever-171: that was another one – false licence plates…
20 Aug 2012, 13:21 pm
@Tacitus-168:
Here’s another article for you Tac.
Terre’Blanche gave me HIV – Mahlangu
Ventersdorp – The man convicted of killing AWB leader Eugene Terre’Blanche has claimed he is HIV positive, and believes he was infected by Terre’Blanche.
Chris Mahlangu, who was found guilty last month of killing Terre’Blanche in his farmhouse in April 2010, is due to be sentenced on Monday.
Clinical psychologist Henk Swanepoel, who compiled a report on Mahlangu, took the stand on Monday morning, eNews journalist Karyn Maughan tweeted from the court.
He said Mahlangu told him that he killed Terre’Blanche in self-defence, after Terre’Blanche allegedly lured him into his bedroom, grabbed him by the neck, ripped off his pants and raped him. He later told his wife he had been raped at gunpoint.
However, prosecutor George Baloyi referred to pathological and blood splatter evidence that Terre’Blanche had been attacked while sleeping. He also said Swanepoel’s report contradicted Judge John Horn’s findings that Mahlangu wasn’t raped.
The State argued that Mahlangu is a liar, his rape claims can’t be believed, and they aren’t grounds for mercy.
Swanepoel also testified that Mahlangu was orphaned at the age of 9, never educated, and was paid in cigarettes and alcohol by Terre’Blanche.
The case continues.
(news24)
—————————————————————————–
He probably got infected while he served his sentence for paralising the petrol attendant.
Looks as if he had a nice time in jail.
20 Aug 2012, 13:22 pm
@nama1-175:
Yeah. That one gave me a good laugh.
20 Aug 2012, 13:23 pm
@Tacitus-119:
Let me just correct Tacitus’s post for him, everyone.
Rapport did not in fact report that they have CCTV footage in their possession.
Rather, they reported than an “anonymous source” who apparently works at the Marikana mine approached them and and told them that there is footage depicting the alleged torture.
Lonmin’s spokespeople indicated they were not aware of any footage showing the security guards’ murder.
So at this stage it is all hearsay from an “anynomous source”.
But hey, anything to sensationalise, hey Tacitus?
20 Aug 2012, 13:24 pm
@WP-Forever-177:
Thanks for the correction.
20 Aug 2012, 13:25 pm
@WP-Forever-177:
I guess this means the police officers died of natural causes.
20 Aug 2012, 13:25 pm
@trupisero-170:
Indeed.
In the wrong plaice at the wrong time.
20 Aug 2012, 13:25 pm
@Tacitus-178:
Jy moet bietjie meer aandag skenk as jy daai verskoning vir ‘n koerant lees.
20 Aug 2012, 13:26 pm
@WP-Forever-171:
You wiki is broken.
20 Aug 2012, 13:27 pm
@Tacitus-179:
No, there were two separate incidents, Tacitus.
The two security guards were murdered and set alight in their vehicle on Sunday.
The two policemen were hacked to death on Tuesday.
Why don’t you read some first-hand accounts from people on the scene, like those published by Greg Marinovich or Charl du Plessis, and not take the word of that sensationalist gutter rag.
20 Aug 2012, 13:28 pm
@WP-Forever-183:
So the sum of your “correction” is that:
2 people were burned to death and 2 people were hacked to death.
How exactly does this paint the strikers in a better light?
20 Aug 2012, 13:28 pm
@WP-Forever-183:
Hacked to death/tortured.
Sounds like you are splitting hairs with a rusty panga.
20 Aug 2012, 13:29 pm
@Tacitus-184:
I was never trying to defend the strikers, Tacitus.
Only trying to correct your factually inaccurate statements.
20 Aug 2012, 13:30 pm
@WP-Forever-186:
In that case thank you for getting the order in which various people were burnt and hacked to death sorted out for us.
20 Aug 2012, 13:30 pm
@Heavens Game-152: Who knew you were such a lefty
20 Aug 2012, 13:36 pm
Pdv had a performance clause inserted as his own insistence
Its what saved his moustache in 2010
Along with the article above it also highlighted in PdV’s book
Of course if you choose to ignore both the media and the biography, well then aint f*ckall (apart from braai chit chat with the other rugby kenners & “inside men”) gonna make you think otherwise
20 Aug 2012, 13:37 pm
As long as PDV did not cut is Snor, he had a job.
20 Aug 2012, 13:41 pm
@goyougoodthing2-188: Haha. A Commie Capitalist…. But definitely no bleeding heart lily liberal here.
20 Aug 2012, 13:42 pm
@capetown-189:
Some people are like that.
They can’t help themselves.
20 Aug 2012, 13:43 pm
Friday, 10 August – around 3,000 Lonmin rock drill operators start an illegal work stoppage and protest march at the Marikana Western Platinum mine. Four employees attempting to report for work are assaulted, two of them are hospitalised for gunshot wounds.
Saturday, 11 August – the protest march continues. A further two Lonmin employees are hospitalised, also due to gunshot wounds.
Sunday, 12 August – two Lonmin security guards are murdered and burnt to death in their vehicle when a large group of protestors attempt to NUM offices.
Monday 13 August – violence continues amid a heavy police presence. Four Lonmin employees are killed; a group of policemen on patrol are stormed by a large group, with two policemen hacked to death (and at least one service pistol stolen) and a third seriously injured. Police responding to these killings then shoot at and kill a further three miners in self-dence.
Thursday 16 August – a group of strikers, most of them armed and some with firearms, storms a police line. The policemen open fire to defend themselves, killing 34 miners and wounding at least another 78 more.
20 Aug 2012, 13:45 pm
@WP-Forever-183:
Before someone feels the need to point this out, the two policemen were killed on Monday, not Tuesday.
20 Aug 2012, 13:46 pm
@WP-Forever-194:
I’m not pedantic like that. Monday, Tuesday, no difference to the bigger picture.
20 Aug 2012, 13:47 pm
Wiki fixed.
20 Aug 2012, 13:47 pm
@WP-Forever-193: Google is good, innit…
20 Aug 2012, 13:49 pm
@Heavens Game-191: Interesting to note that the evil mine is owned by: Cyril Ramaphoza
Oh why does this not surprise me. The ANC and its’ cronies…
20 Aug 2012, 13:49 pm
“They are not people Tac, this is the ’80s all over again”
“This is primal, law of the jungle stuff”
SA is changing,very slowly but at least not in the faux “rainbow nation” media creation. Be careful about placing a value on human life based on who’s life it is. There will come a day when 3 000 previously privileged miners take on the system & square off against the police. Lives will be lost in the stand-off. It only took several bullets & a couple of casualties to avert a civil war in SA when an outraged officer confronted AWB members attempting to invade Bophutatswana in the early 90′s. The incident shook some sense into the previously privileged minority, to the extent that they relinquished their resistance to a new political order.
Life is indeed changing – you would have seen a news story about the first previously privileged family to move into a State funded low cost housing home on Gauteng’s East Rand. They have no objection to their new neighbours
20 Aug 2012, 13:52 pm
@viewer-199: What are you rambling on about?
Humans who do not act very humanely when they hack people to death?
The sad thing is, it’s all political, ANC vs ANCYL… this is Malema and his cronies all over it.
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