Folklore has spoken … Boks by 15
27 Sep 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in Business Day Sport Monthly, writes it will be the Boks by 15 against the Aussies at Loftus on Saturday. At least that’s what history says.
Perception too often is accepted as fact. The perception of excellence in Springbok rugby is an illusion. The fact is the Springboks lose a lot of Test matches and have done so consistently over the last century.
They have a win percentage that has on occasion threatened 65% but is closer to 60%. It has always been this way. There have been some magnificent teams. Equally there have been some shockers, who have taken beatings abroad and been humiliated at home.
Time dulls the memory. Results are forgotten, folklore ensures only the good times are remembered and the good in one era become very good. The 30 metre kick to beat the All Blacks is now 60 metres. The tough men of the early 1900s were man mountains and when the current pretenders deliver a depressing result, the obvious is to hanker back to the days when Bok midfielders were more imposing than town marshalls – all 76 kilograms of them.
The modern player would not survive the amateur era. ‘In my day,’ says a player, who forgets he ever lost a Test.
‘Steak, chips and a bottle of wine,’ says another. ‘That was the pre-Test meal.’ Those were the days apparently when men were men, the Springboks were something mystical and pasta was something only the Italians ate.
And so we romance the game, listen to the stories told by those who were there, who saw the 60 metre kick, although it could have been 70 metres and take comfort that the Springboks, if not today, then most days were destroyers of opposition dreams and the ultimate challenge in world rugby.
‘You win in the Republic. Then you can call yourself a rugby player. The South African public acknowledges you can play … boy then you can play.’
You’ve heard them all …
‘A wounded Bok is a dangerous animal … There is nothing as imposing as a Bok team written off … Beware the mighty Boks … Wait till you get to altitude …’
Then we recall a glory moment when the Boks were given no chance of victory and won; when the world dismissed the challenge of those giants in green and gold and were forced to concede the greatness of those rugby men from the Republic.
The storytelling goes beyond rugby. Historically, it has been a life identity. A Springbok … it is what every white boy dreams to become. Post apartheid it is what every South African boy wants to be.
In sporting isolation the legend rose more than it grew. Mortals were immortal and no team could claim anything until they had proved it in the Republic.
Thus, for 20 years, the Boks were the best team in the world. Our rugby was of superior quality; our players dominated every South African media World XV.
Our boys kicked 70 metre penalties (forget the small matter of altitude). Those blokes overseas, they can’t even knock them over from 50 (forget the small matter of sea level).
The television images don’t lie.
The rugby media, be it in print, on television or radio, reinforce the legend.
‘You can’t call yourselves the world champions until you beat the Boks.’ That’s our response to New Zealand’s claim to have won the first ever World Cup in 1987.
And then we hosted the 1995 World Cup final and beat the All Blacks 15-12 in a final that went into extra-time. Andrew Mehrtens, ironically born in Durban, had the chance to win it for New Zealand with a drop goal attempt from 20 metres out and right in front. His kick, with less than a minute to play of normal time, missed and the game ended 9-all.
It was God’s will, said the older folk. It was written in the stars said the team management. There was no way we could lose, said the players. A greater force was guiding them.
And don’t forget that when a Jew plays for the Boks, that’s even greater confirmation defeat is never a consideration.
The All Blacks, a year later in 1996, beat the Boks four times in five, with three of the wins in South Africa. They won in Cape Town, Durban and in Pretoria.
But when they lost the last of the five Tests in Johannesburg, order was restored and the Boks had again shown the Kiwis and the world just who was the best.
As the legend grew, so too did the belief that nothing but an emphatic victory every Saturday would suffice. A failure to deliver was treated with disgust; apparently such was the rarity.
‘How? We are the Boks … We don’t lose.’
But we do, too often when reality is measured against perception.
‘Not in my day,’ screams a newspaper headline. Another of yesterday’s heroes has given up on the jersey he once wore as symbol of superiority in everything rugby and most things generally.
‘I don’t watch the kids of today. They’re soft. I’d rather mow my lawn.’
The media fuels the frenzy. Another of the all-time greats, with a Test record of nine wins in 17, says he is embarrassed to call himself a Bok if the lot that just disgraced the jersey are still called Boks.
He is so disgusted at the Boks losing to Scotland he tells the media he is considering giving back his Bok blazer.
‘Scotland!’
Our game is in crisis. Legends want to mow the lawn and give back their prized green and gold Bok jersey.
‘It’s the blacks,’ say some. ‘They’ve destroyed everything and now they’ve even destroyed our rugby.’
Another of those giants of yesteryear is inspired to let the nation know there won’t be a future for the Boks by the year 2000.
The team will be black, they will be called something else and they will play in another colour jersey is his prophecy. But he no longer objects because at least the legacy of the green jersey, the Bok and the King’s crown won’t suffer more embarrassment.
‘This lot … in my day … when the game still had scrums, when a punch sorted the kings from the queens and when players could run, pass, dummy, side step and tackle … In my day.’
Bok rugby is again in crisis, screams another newspaper front-page lead story.
Apparently another legend of yesteryear is embarrassed. He is even thinking of moving to Australia because if he had ever produced such a passionless display he would have fled out of fear for his life; alternatively he would have done what men of those days did and claimed himself unworthy of the jersey and all things South Africa. He too would have fled the country, but the measure of his quality is that it would have been before they kicked him out.
The great grandfather is sullen. The grandfather tells the son it is because of the hurt at the Boks losing to Australia.
The blacks and ANC government are no longer to blame. It’s the cash. Professionalism and money are the evils.
The players are spoilt and greedy. Then the grandfather tells the eight year old. ‘Ah you would have loved it … Victor Matfield (paaaaleeeeeese). He wouldn’t have lasted a minute. Frik du Preez, now that is a lock. A giant of a man. Taller than anything these days, stronger, heavier and quicker than Habana. He could run, tackle, kick and pass. And boy could he scored tries, and he could drink.’
The boy logs onto the internet and wishes it was Frik out there earlier in the day.
The Boks he believed could not lose were not the real Boks.
The headline demands change. The coach must go; those imposters in green and gold must go. Alternatively, rugby in South Africa, as it was once known, will be dead.
Another of yesterday’s heroes says he fears the rest of the world thinks of us as Wales. He says there is no future for the game and he gives his 10 point plan to restore order the next week. It involves kicking out half the team and replacing the coach.
‘In my day,’ he tells the reporter. ‘Doc Craven would not have tolerated this. That guy’s career would be over. Those were the standards Craven demanded. This legend then boasts about the physicality of the Boks of his era and the brutality of the tackles and the magic ways of the wings and the length of penalty goals our flyhalves used to have to kick … in the wet, with a heavy leather ball, into a wind (not the breeze we get today … a wind) and in conditions that were mudbaths … not the carpets you call a rugby field.
Oh, and in those days you played for 80 minutes, he adds. You got up after being knocked out and you played. You broke your collar bone and you played. That was what the jersey meant to him and his teammates.
Now guys last 50 minutes and even that is too much because it is so easy to play club rugby in Japan for outrageous sums of money. It’s rugby’s blasphemy.
This legend too is thinking of heading to Australia where rugby union’s not even the first choice sport; yet those okes still beat us. What next?’
The national coach fronts the media, as if on trial for treason. A nation has been lied to, betrayed and insulted.
The coach promises the players will work harder, restore credibility and be true to the history of the jersey.
We hold our breath, we pat ourselves on the back that even in these foreign and dark times we can show such loyalty and we vow to watch the Boks the following week.
The grandson asks the grandfather if we can win.
‘We are the Boks,’ he says. ‘We don’t lose.’
And the grandson smiles. Order has been restored.
The legacy of the Boks is not dead. The game apparently is no longer in crisis and we will not be the Wales of rugby.
He logs onto the Internet and smiles even more. The legends of yesteryear won’t be going to Australia after all and one of the finest legends has laughed off reports that the Boks are a team that historically loses 40 percent of their Tests.
‘Not in my day,’ he has told the reporter. ‘And definitely not on Saturday. Boks to take it by 15 because we never lose.’
– This article first appeared in the October issue of Business Day Sport Monthly. The magazine is distributed free with Business Day newspaper on the second last Friday of each month.
703 Comments
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27 Sep 2012, 14:14 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-449:
Was Jannie De Beer closer to Carter.
27 Sep 2012, 14:14 pm
@WP-Forever-447: “Jislaaik, oom George! It’s a car just like Anneline Kriel’s!”
27 Sep 2012, 14:14 pm
Hope Argies moer the Kiwis 6 love as well….
27 Sep 2012, 14:15 pm
@willievz-431:
The actor who played Long Drop Botha, Rufus Swart, played in other film classics like Dust Devil, Cyborg Cop and Captive Rage.
27 Sep 2012, 14:15 pm
@willievz-445:
My apologies Willy.
I thought you referred to Nasty Botha.
27 Sep 2012, 14:15 pm
@David-440: Been preaching that since the days when the original posters here were still posting on Super Sport rugby chat, in the early ’00 before Keo created this site. Your average poster really believes that players can be of equal ability therefpr the bigger one is better, what nonsense!!!, its ok when posters have this misguided belief but its sh*t scary when a national coach also believes it.
27 Sep 2012, 14:16 pm
@cane-455: Wish I could see him in full flight, Cane.
I also missed out on Grant Fox.
@WP-Forever-454: What a legend!!
27 Sep 2012, 14:17 pm
@willievz-452:
Sweet: (pointing to statue of a rugby player) “Who’s that?”
Short: “I don’t know, but it’s definitely not Naas Botha. This man is running with the ball.”
27 Sep 2012, 14:18 pm
@willievz-457:
You didn’t miss much with Fox.
27 Sep 2012, 14:18 pm
@cane-438: Even before my time,but there was a guy called Bennie Osler.Supposedly a genius.You might ask Terry
MacLean but he is probably dead too.
27 Sep 2012, 14:19 pm
@WP-Forever-458:
“That was the All Blacks and the Haka. Now the South Africans, and the SHAKA”
“Jy kan nie pale toe skop vir ‘n poep nie, ou seun”
27 Sep 2012, 14:19 pm
@Heavens Game-424: It’s Meyer’s perception of what mental strength is, that is at fault here.
27 Sep 2012, 14:20 pm
@willievz-452:
En natuurlik: “Nee man, jy kan mos nie pale toe skop vir ‘n poep nie!”
27 Sep 2012, 14:20 pm
@STBUR-420:
You sound angry.
27 Sep 2012, 14:21 pm
@WP-Forever-463: Is my gunsteling Leon-fliek van alle tye.
Loshande.
27 Sep 2012, 14:22 pm
@Heavens Game-396: why is Lambie missing from that list – let me help you here. Elton and Lambie are actually the same height.
What people do not know is that Heineken made all the players he had one on one sessions with stand against a wall, if your head was below the mark then tough.
Lambie failed the test but Elton passed because he had his hair standing up lekker with a ramp doo that day – let just say thay Elton passed the mark.
27 Sep 2012, 14:22 pm
My day just got made
Spies wont play again this year
——————————————————————————–
by Brenden Nel 27 September 2012, 13:35
Springbok no8 and Blue Bulls captain Pierre Spies will not play rugby again this year, even though surgery to his injured finger was successful.
There was hope that Spies would be able to play again in the latter rounds of the Absa Currie Cup, after being ruled out for between 8-12 weeks at the beginning of August, and if not that, would be able to make an appearance if needed on the end of year tour.
But those hopes have been squashed by Spies himself, who told supersport.com he was unlikely to play again this year.
“I was hoping to, but the finger is healing slowly, so next year is more likely,” he told supersport.com.
Spies sustained the fracture to the joint in his finger while playing Super Rugby for the Bulls, but only realised the full extent of the injury before the start of the Castle Rugby Championship.
He underwent surgery while the Boks were in Argentina and has been on a rehabilitation programme ever since.
While Spies has been running at Loftus and working hard to ensure his fitness levels don’t drop, the Bulls captain is not likely to push the injury.
Bulls team doctor Org Strauss agreed it was unlikely Spies would play this year again.
“It looks that way,” Strauss told supersport.com.
Bok coach Heyneke Meyer currently has Duanne Vermeulen at No 8 with Spies and Schalk Burger out with injury, and Ryan Kankowski plying his trade in Japan
27 Sep 2012, 14:22 pm
@willievz-461:
Hahahahaha – “En Dawid het vir Goliat op die kop getref, net hier…”
27 Sep 2012, 14:22 pm
@WP-Forever-458: @The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-462: @Jeraldjay-451: can you folks enlighten me as to why this deal never materialised
EP star heading to Stormers?
2009-11-16 06:54
Port Elizabeth – Promising Eastern Province flank Jacques Potgieter may play for the Stormers next year.
Potgieter (23) confirmed on Sunday that he is leaving for Cape Town on Wednesday for tests with other Stormers candidates.
“Rassie Erasmus (Stormers coach) contacted me a while ago about going there,” said Potgieter.
“I signed a two-year contract with Eastern Province, but got the green light from the union to play for the Stormers for the first part of the season.
“It can only be good for me to play with the likes of Schalk Burger and to be coached by a former Springbok loose forward in Rassie.
“I cannot wait and am very excited about the opportunity.
“We have already been training for two weeks at Eastern Province, so have not just been sitting around since our last game.”
Potgieter played his junior rugby in Eastern Province before a spell in KwaZulu-Natal. He has been impressive since returning to Port Elizabeth.
He is a fiery ball-carrier that can also be used as a lineout forward.
27 Sep 2012, 14:22 pm
@willievz-465:
Wel, ek het nogals There’s a Zulu on my Stoep ook geniet. Dit is tussen daardie twee.
27 Sep 2012, 14:24 pm
@WP-Forever-463:
Is this a Schuster movie.
Only made in SA rugby movie I can remember is the Bill Flynn /Paul Slabolepszy movie.
27 Sep 2012, 14:24 pm
@willievz-457:
Grant Fox was a tactician, a chess player. A sharp mind. NZ’s version of Nass.
Not the whole caboodle like Honiball, Carter or Larkham.
But then again, few are the whole caboodle, are they?
27 Sep 2012, 14:24 pm
@Transformation-469:
It appears sanitation prevailed.
27 Sep 2012, 14:26 pm
@willievz-452: “Anneline Kriel” isn’t that the MILF who was married to Sol?
27 Sep 2012, 14:26 pm
@Transformation-469: ***shriekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk***. How I celebrate the fact that it DIDN’T work out. Closefuckingcall it seems?
(I can take a guess as to why the deal didn’t work out though? He tested – he was kak – Rassie told him to pissoff?)
27 Sep 2012, 14:27 pm
@Jeraldjay-471: heel against the head?
27 Sep 2012, 14:28 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-475: @WP-Forever-473:
27 Sep 2012, 14:28 pm
kiwis cricket team getting on their moer …
27 Sep 2012, 14:29 pm
@grant10-467: I will rather keep quiet, as lady karma is a nastybitch when she’s in the mood and I have a dentist appointment at 3.30….. (any relief/happiness at anothers misfortune might not go down well the universe.)
27 Sep 2012, 14:30 pm
@RL-466:Son… Elton, probable future Shark I might add, has had even less playing time than Lambie under Meyer…
Elton is only there because of PdV’s statements referring to black mechanics and Mr Jantjies senior whining like a stuck pig…
Otherwise Elton would not even smell the Bok squad…
Lets be clear here.
27 Sep 2012, 14:30 pm
@WP-Forever-473: @The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-475:it seems rassie bagged siya around the same time then but look who is a Bok and who is not..
makes you think neh…
27 Sep 2012, 14:30 pm
@Transformation-474:
She was very hot when she was younger.
Farken realities of life pisses me off.
But men seem to look more distinguished as they get older.
27 Sep 2012, 14:31 pm
@willievz-445:
27 Sep 2012, 14:31 pm
@STBUR-420:
What “types” are you talking about.
27 Sep 2012, 14:31 pm
@Jeraldjay-451:
well lets just say he was closer to carter than he ever was to spencer.
27 Sep 2012, 14:34 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-479: Yes….true that. Been a great week for me so far…..now just need HM to look at the 13….9 …and restore Brussow to the squad and 2010 and 11 may fade into the mists of time….
27 Sep 2012, 14:34 pm
@grant10-467:
i’m surprised you act this way, grant
you think pulling another man down lifts you up..?..
pathetic
27 Sep 2012, 14:34 pm
@cane-472: Preferred Frano Botica, rest in peace, to Fox myself…
But I forget, you probably hate him for the money grabbing shyster he was, eh?
27 Sep 2012, 14:35 pm
@Transformation-469:
Dont make me skrik please man
27 Sep 2012, 14:35 pm
@Transformation-481: Makes one do more than think.
27 Sep 2012, 14:35 pm
@Transformation-474:
She was the 1st Princess at Miss World in 1974…
http://www.oocities.org/televisioncity/9699/mcmw70.htm
27 Sep 2012, 14:35 pm
@Transformation-469:
fark!
i dont think i ever want to see him used as a lineout option.
@cane-472:
cant believe you dont rate spencer, caner
@WP-Forever-473:
27 Sep 2012, 14:36 pm
I see AC hinting at some new player signings….says he will release details soon….
Hope 1 of them is Elton….and another F Louw….
Then its Xmas come early for me….
27 Sep 2012, 14:37 pm
@Transformation-481:
Ja neh
27 Sep 2012, 14:37 pm
@WP-Forever-491:
(of course Helen Morgan resigned four days later, so our Anneline was then elevated to Miss World…)
27 Sep 2012, 14:38 pm
@cane-472:
Watsup in the lower Hutts
27 Sep 2012, 14:39 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-487: Read the column you sensitive pansie….he is fine….but will not play again…..not like he has cancer or something you little wally….
Stop crying like a baby here all the time man….you set a bad example ….would hate the wallabie and kiwis okes on here to think all Saffas a real little whiney whinger like you are….
HTFU wally.
27 Sep 2012, 14:40 pm
@ryecatcher-460:
My Local Library was selling off old books a few months back.
And ……………………for the princely some of about 5 rand. ($1.00).
I purchased Keith Quinns, “A Century of Rugby Greats”.
There, he listed his Top 10 Boks of ALL TIME.
1………………………….Craven.
2…………………………..Frik du prick.
3…………………………..Francois Pienaar.
4………………………….Bennie Osler.
5………………………….Naas.
6………………………….Hennie Muller.
7………………………….Gerard Morkel.
8………………………….Morne du Plessis.
9………………………….Boy Louw.
10………………………..Chester.
27 Sep 2012, 14:41 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-487:
Regtig bloubuldoos
27 Sep 2012, 14:41 pm
@cane-498:
The Period under review was 1900-2000.
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