Don’t fool yourselves
3 Sep 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in his weekly Business Day column, says South African rugby fans must keep Currie Cup results in context.
The rugby in Cape Town on Saturday was vintage Western Province; a reminder of a golden generation when Province were kings of the domestic castle. They smashed the traditional foe from the north, and they did it emphatically and they did it with style.
It was a fantastic performance from a team who a week earlier lost in Johannesburg to the Lions, who in turn lost at home to Griquas. It was a night of bliss in Cape Town, but it was one night. Enjoy it. Live the 80 minutes and celebrate the match.
If only.
Province, apparently, have turned the corner. Those players who are on national duty are no longer required. Jean de Villiers can head back to Munster and Allister Coetzee has finally broken the shackles of Rassie Erasmus’s supposed dictatorship and defensive diet.
The social network bloggers, predominantly with a Cape Town address, needed no second invitation to tell South Africa and the rest of the world that their team had scored five tries, played rugby apparently foreign to any other team and finally produced the blueprint for the future.
The only thing more painful than a losing Province supporter is a winning one. Win or lose, they remain demanding and nagging and fail to recognise the moment, live the occasion and celebrate the victory.
Defeat is never defeat and victory is never just victory. The passion is the positive, but the ignorance is too much of a negative because of an absolute disregard of context.
This was not a Super Rugby match and it was not a Test match. It was domestic rugby and it is no longer the measurement of our rugby. At least it should not be.
You only have to look at the Lions to know this. Champions of the Currie Cup last year, the Lions ended 15th out of 15 in Super Rugby.
But already the expectation is that Province, in the guise of the Stormers, will dismantle whoever visits Newlands in next year’s Super Rugby contest. Already every Province player is a victim of Heyneke Meyer’s alleged Blue Bulls bias.
Applaud what Province produced at Newlands. How could you not? But for goodness sake take into account the nature of the competition, the absence of so many international players and the fact that Currie Cup league rugby cannot be compared with Super Rugby; let alone Test rugby.
The love for the Currie Cup is a South African strength, but it is also a curse because it provides an escape every year from the reality of Super Rugby. It allows too many to quickly forget why South African teams may have failed when they were asked to consistently beat the best in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
The Currie Cup is the feeder to Super Rugby and the two competitions need to be separated, especially in assessing the performance of players.
The giants of the Currie Cup are too often the dwarves of Super Rugby.
Province were superb in beating the Bulls 42-6 in the Currie Cup. The Sharks were marginally better at home in edging the Cheetahs 34-32, and Griquas left Johannesburg victors after an explosive first 30 minutes. It all looked so good when viewed in isolation, just as our rugby always did when the rest of the world refused to play against us.
View the domestic performances as such and don’t make comparisons with Super Rugby and with what is being produced at Test level. It is unfair on the players on national duty.
South African rugby, more than any other southern hemisphere nation, has protected the tradition of its premier domestic competition. The supporters of the game in this country are the reason there is such an interest in the Currie Cup. But the Currie Cup of today does not compare with the pre-professionalism one and Super Rugby. It is secondary in significance and the greater prize is not domestic dominance and bragging rights in October. The greater prize is which South African team can claim glory in Super Rugby.
What happens in the Currie Cup is also no measure of what happens in Super Rugby, just as in Super Rugby, success offers no guaranteed positive in relation to Test rugby.
Which brings me back to Newlands and Johannesburg. Don’t be conned by a belief that the glory of a domestic night — when it all seems so easy and so perfect — is anything but a good night. The euphoria has to be contextualised just as the pessimism has to be bottled on the night of defeat.
Province losing to the Lions a week ago was meaningless in the context of anything beyond the Currie Cup. Equally so, beating the Bulls at home.
Recognise — and don’t confuse — the occasion.
149 Comments
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3 Sep 2012, 14:30 pm
@Taahirah-99: I think we are starting to fear them. If you want to beat this young Bulls team just take it to them up front. They are so use to front foot ball from the forwards when they play junior rugby that thet cannot play without it.
I think tthe Bulls should seriously look at paying big money to get Guthro, Bakkies and Danie Rossouw back. All of them have a few more years in them. In Guthro’s case he is probably in the prime of his career.
3 Sep 2012, 14:33 pm
@poppa69-100:
the conversation thread topic was specifically about various stadiums and the fans of the teams based there who boo visiting teams/players.
i was just adding my two cents worth you knobend and if you took the time to notice you would have seen me list the durban and pe booing of the bok team too.
it isn’t always about you chop, its a disgusting phenomenon (which really carries over from nz but that beside the point) everywhere in the world that it happens.
the difference between us is how we deal with it as compared to middle earth / mordor
3 Sep 2012, 14:35 pm
@Horings-101:
truer words could never be spoken.
the bulls need to go back to the future….
3 Sep 2012, 14:36 pm
@Horings-101: Indeed. Been following Bakkies Twitter-feed, he misses home.
3 Sep 2012, 14:39 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-102: and your comments re Reid? a bloke youve never met yet you feel justified to say the things you do?
were you just mouthing off again because your paranoia just cant be contained?
its great to see though, you just cant help yourself anymore.
does us kiwis consistently bettering you guys really hurt that much?
excellent…
3 Sep 2012, 14:59 pm
@poppa69-105:
huh? read specifically incited an entire stadium to do just that..boo and jeer the visiting team..? and this when the kicker was lining up to kick?
how is this not appropriate to the topic at hand?
or are you reacting to my comment about his not too exciting facial features?
the guy looks like a laughing orc monkee who’s had one of those v for vendetta facemasks transplanted onto him in a botched face transplant surgery… get over it…
3 Sep 2012, 15:06 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-106: yawn, again, you attack the player personally from your little man syndrome..
good to see, I hope it eats you up inside..
3 Sep 2012, 15:08 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-106: Sad, isn’t he
3 Sep 2012, 15:13 pm
Well said Keo, well said!! Aparently WP is now everbodies 2nd team (use to be the Cheetahs, until they won a Currie Cup or two). I’ve had call, BBM’s, SMS’s and postal pigeon messages from every man and his dog, regardless of provincial affiliation. Either the BB’s are much more feared than expected, or the win was akin to WP winning the RWC single-handedly!
3 Sep 2012, 15:18 pm
@poppa69-107:
alright, i take back the things i said about him personally.
do you agree on the things i said about him as a player inciting fans to boo and jeers being bad?
@Atreides-108:
for his actions, yes
for his looks, no (its not nice to say)
3 Sep 2012, 15:27 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-110: I meant Pooper
3 Sep 2012, 15:32 pm
@Atreides-111:
oh i see
3 Sep 2012, 15:41 pm
Does execut!on over !nnovat!on mean, play as you were told and don’t use your own !n!at?ve.
3 Sep 2012, 16:04 pm
Lanklaas so ‘n pot kak deur Keo gelees!! Goeie moer man, heel jaar al gee hy en sy floubul tjommies ons WP supporters kak oor ons spelpatroon en wat nog alles. Sy moer man, ons het julle al 3 keer die jaar getroef!! En dis ons voorreg om bietjie windgat te wees!!
3 Sep 2012, 16:42 pm
@Beast-109: Ag please, the only thing afraid of a Blue Bull is a cheeseburger…
3 Sep 2012, 16:54 pm
Please Keo, your article is like a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing… Yes it’s from Macbeth.
“But already the expectation is that Province, in the guise of the Stormers, will dismantle whoever visits Newlands in next year’s Super Rugby contest. Already every Province player is a victim of Heyneke Meyer’s alleged Blue Bulls bias.”
What a load of hogwash…by the way, except for the final Newlands game, no-one beat the Stormers at Newlands in 2012…already happened. Do you honestly think that anyone thinks that Province are now world-beaters? Bull-Bashers definitely, but the Bulls are hardly worth mentioning nowadays.
3 Sep 2012, 16:59 pm
This is an article from a man that tweeted the the Boks need more Bulls in the side !!! Sour grapes I guess.
3 Sep 2012, 17:23 pm
@Taahirah-104: do we reali need bakkies, give Elstadt, flip van der merve and Eben a chance. or pick johan muller
3 Sep 2012, 17:52 pm
@thesaint-116:
Hamlet, actually.
3 Sep 2012, 18:40 pm
Shakespeare nazi threadstopper
3 Sep 2012, 18:58 pm
@Dawn-120:
Is this a dagga that see before me?
3 Sep 2012, 19:05 pm
@David-121: I am agreed, and would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her
3 Sep 2012, 19:07 pm
Dawn doesn’t touch the stuff.
Grouse only.
3 Sep 2012, 19:15 pm
@Heavens Game-122:
Shrewd comment, although a little tame.
3 Sep 2012, 19:19 pm
@gunther-123:
The Scottish tragedy?
3 Sep 2012, 19:20 pm
:lol.
3 Sep 2012, 19:28 pm
@David-124: Hehe… Bait the hook well; this fish will bite. Much ado about farkall…
3 Sep 2012, 19:33 pm
keo’s just a bitter beck.. if it perchance it had been his vloer vreting bulletjies that smacked Province by 5 tries to zip a complete different scenario and braggadocio on top of bravado would have been gushing from his mushy mouse.
3 Sep 2012, 19:36 pm
@Heavens Game-127:
A ruse by any other name.
3 Sep 2012, 19:45 pm
@David-129: Romeo, doff thy name… Ban, Ban, Cacaliban… and beest a good moon calf
3 Sep 2012, 19:49 pm
119 – Nope, Macbeth… trust me.
3 Sep 2012, 20:03 pm
Big momma gonna bring the hurt down on to you boys.
3 Sep 2012, 20:34 pm
@KEO
Remember when all the Springboks came back and played in the currie cup semi final against the LIONS?
Your tweet was “Bye Bye Lions” – Jou dag en nag praatjies verskil baie.
And the Lions beat full strength super 15 sides.
And now that the Bulls aren’t performing you are looking for excuses.
If the Bulls had all the injuries the Lions had, they would’ve played with this very same currie cup side in the S15 – Please respond – you just a big WP/Lions hater
3 Sep 2012, 20:38 pm
Can’t wait for the Bulls to be raped in the s15 next year
3 Sep 2012, 20:53 pm
@thesaint-131:
You’re quite right.
3 Sep 2012, 21:00 pm
So in other words KEO says give the bulls a chance just like with Heyneke Meyer who lost 11/11 in the 2002 S12. It is ok for the bulls to lose all their matches, because its the bulls any excuse for them
3 Sep 2012, 21:35 pm
Alas poor Yorick
4 Sep 2012, 06:46 am
@Dawn-137:
Unsex me here
4 Sep 2012, 06:49 am
An article by Keo titled Don’t Fool Yourselves. Oh the irony.
4 Sep 2012, 07:23 am
Wp beat a bulls side 42-6 who the previous week beat a sharks side who klapped everyone! This win for wp was unexpected and it needs to be appluaded.
4 Sep 2012, 09:10 am
Ja wp played the rugby that made them stormers on saturday…. Apart from that… Players abroad who could have helped us just for this championship is
15-fsteyn
14-pietersen
13-jfourie-japan
12-jde villiers
11-habana
10-msteyn
9-du preez-japan
8-spies
7-alberts
6-louw-england
5-muller-ireland
4-rossouw-japan
3-j du plessis
2-britz/botha-eng/fra
1-steenkamp-france
7 capable players who could have eased the young ones for the eoyt… It is a shame if heineke couldn’t thought it out like this
4 Sep 2012, 09:11 am
@The truth-134: Jy gaan n rukkie langer moet wag ou bees.
A year back it was said on this side we would be cornholed this year and we made the playoffs with a very inexperienced side. how the fark do you reckon we’ll be ghoened next year…….The truth is ek dink jou kop is vol kak
4 Sep 2012, 09:12 am
@Sasuke-140: Indeed Sasuke. We got moerred hard Saturday by a superior team on the day. But as I said yesterday this young Bulls team cannot be written off just yet.
Well done to your team.
4 Sep 2012, 09:37 am
I watched the game again last night and I feel maybe part of the problem is that the Bulls players did not seem as committed as the WP one’s. There is not much separating the players and some of the Bulls backline players are future starts like Serfontein but the likes of JJ and Sadie looked out of sorts. They made very basic errors like forward passes and missed tackles.
The thing is , you can have all the talent in the world but if the attitude is wrong you might as well pack up , just ask Gaffie.
Having said all that , I must admit it was pleasant to watch vintage WP rugby. We may not have won the so called second rated CC yet but it sure will remain a highlight for me in what was a dull boring rugby year from a Cape rugby perspective.
4 Sep 2012, 09:42 am
@KWAGGA ROBERTSE-143: I agree , however the Bulls seriously need to find their own future stars. Little boys like the great Joost who grew up dreaming to play for them. Guys who breathed and lived BB rugby, I believe Joost was even a ball boy as a youngster. You just have to hear how the likes of JP Du Plesis talk about playing for WP against the Bulls at Newlands , its a boyhood dream for him.
The passion is just not there , I know its a professional era but I do feel it makes a huge diffs. Even the Bulls Captain on the night dreamt of playing for WP.
4 Sep 2012, 09:45 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-45:
Not sure why this event keeps getting brought up like a vrot fish. Everyone knows there is a low class level in Newlands at every game.
But since you feel the need to bring this up, why dont you also high light the booing of Percy Montgomery, in BOK colours, being booed at Loftus, during a springbok game?
Classy, real classy.
4 Sep 2012, 12:29 pm
And yet, in SA you can go from the CC B division, which is an elevator ride down from the CC A division, and step into the big world of Super Rugby and keo will be just fine with that.
Wonder who’s fooling who?
4 Sep 2012, 12:31 pm
@Paws-147: what from CC B Division to Test Rugby in a matter of less than 8 Super Rugby games!
Pottie is a LEGEND!
4 Sep 2012, 12:41 pm
Pottie was lucky because of injuries to others and a game plan that fits his ‘strength’ … had a good run in SR, but test rugby a step too far.
That is just one player … how about a whole team, that is not really a team yet getting a free ride, and keo is all for it …. mmmmmm king keo.
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