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It is a long and drawn-out subject, almost as old as sporting culture itself. Its protagonists have recycled their arguments so much that the colours have long faded; its antagonists holding to the “anti-reverse racism” card dearly – brandishing it confidently like a policeman would a warrant of arrest.
Some dread hearing and reading about it, skip the page at the mere mention of the word in the headline. Others, believe it or not, dread having to bring it up but they know that raising the issue is the only influence they have if they want the issue to go away.
It sounds crazy, but that’s the nature if the Catch22 of South African sport.
Itembelihle Comprehensive teammates before a game against Molly Blackburn High School in Uitenhage. Rugby is hugely popular among black people in the Eastern Cape, but gets little official backing Picture: CARLOS AMATO
The transformation in sport issue will not go away until a deliberate attempt is made to empower players of colour in sports such as rugby and cricket.
Over the last month, after the talk shop that was the “Transformation Indaba”, I’ve come across some insightful pieces of writing that I wish more people could see. They aim to uncover why, after so many years of national unity, the levels of black representivity (plus black total pool of players still developing) are still at an unsatisfactory level.
We know that our rural and township schools don’t have gyms, cricket pitches, rugby polls, even rugby balls. It is a monumental struggle for black kids to make it to Springbok/Proteas level if they did not go to schools such as Grey College, Grey High (PE), Dale College, Bishops, Paul Roos, Affies and the like. Of course, some have done it before and hats off to them.
But there are few explanations for some of the nuances that tend to lead to scepticism, if not annoyance, in the black spectator. Being on twitter, you get to receive this scepticism first hand when, say for example on a Wednesday morning, a Springbok starting XV is picked. In it a tortured Francois Hougaard, playing at wing, wishing, hoping to play at his natural position, scrumhalf.
And the camera zooms onto the bench to find an obedient Lwazi Mvovo, also hoping, waiting, wishing for a chance to get into that number 11 jersey. Why pick a No 9 at 11 when you have a No 11 on the bench, I ask?
Will the transformation debate ever go away? For the sake of our sport, I hope so but until then, enjoy some excerpts on the matter:
White people and affirmative action. It seems so simple, yet so many white South Africans are still grappling with it.
A case in point was when ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe last week made certain comments about the number of black players in the Springbok team.
Mantashe was recently quoted in a Sapa news story as saying that there were several black rugby players good enough to play internationally and they should be selected for the team by Bok coach Heyneke Meyer.
The context of the comments was the conclusion of the South African Rugby Union’s transformation indaba last week.
One has to ask the question: Why did it take Saru 20 years to launch such an initiative? After all, the Springboks have been back in international rugby since 1992.
But getting back to Mantashe’s comments, they naturally caused a public outcry from white South Africans across the country as they scrambled to accuse the ANC leader of being racist.
A quick scan through the comments under the story, which was run on the SuperSport website, provided ample evidence of the vitriol that followed.
“Make everything black, let’s paint the field black and the ball too and let’s not allow whites to attend the sport, I swear this country can pull anything into a race war, what does it matter what color the players is, watch the sport and support the country,” said one ignoramus.
“Why are there so many black players and no white players in Bafana?” cried another, with what has become an all too regular response of white South Africans who cannot accept the need for affirmative action in sport.
But what infuriates me the most is that the players whom Mantashe wants to be selected, such as Lwazi Mvovo, Siya Kolisi, Elton Jantjies and others whose names have been mentioned, such as Gio Aplon and Juan de Jongh, are all in the running for a Springbok berth on merit.
They are great rugby players who have excelled at different times for both their provincial teams and the Springboks.
These are not quota players; they are fully fledged Springboks who have earned their place among the elite of South African rugby.
click here for full article
I admire the fact that SARU is committing to the development of the game in South Africa but I can’t help but feel that we are looking at the problem in the entirely wrong way. Granted, SARU may do a great deal in the short-term future regarding development, but if one is to look at their track record the probability of failure is unavoidable.
To illustrate my concern, I put together the following statistics with regards to representation. I guarantee this will open your eyes.
| 2011-Mid Year Estimate |
South Africa |
|||
| Male Population |
Non-white |
|||
| Age |
African |
Coloured |
White |
Total |
| 20-24 |
2 052 918 |
194 879 |
157 556 |
2 405 353 |
| 25-29 |
1 858 498 |
180 483 |
150 937 |
2 189 918 |
| 30-34 |
1 639 101 |
182 233 |
143 492 |
1 964 826 |
| Total |
5 550 517 |
557 595 |
451 985 |
6 560 097 |
| % of Total |
84.61% |
8.50% |
6.89% |
|
|
93.11% |
6.89% |
|||
*Taken from Stats SA’s 2011-Population estimate
The above table represents males from the three race groups which traditionally make up our rugby playing population. I specifically broke it up into the age group which plays rugby professionally, i.e. Ages 20-34. For the sake of comparison, I simplified the race groups into ‘White’ and ‘Non-White’. What this now gives us is a cross-section of the population which could, potentially, play professional rugby.
| Currie Cup |
Full Squads |
2012 |
||||
| Team |
Non-white |
White |
Total |
Non-white % |
||
| Bulls |
11 |
38 |
49 |
22.45% |
||
| Cheetahs |
9 |
35 |
44 |
20.45% |
||
| Griquas |
5 |
34 |
39 |
12.82% |
||
| Lions |
9 |
33 |
42 |
21.43% |
<-2 foreigners of colour | |
| Sharks |
8 |
34 |
42 |
19.05% |
||
| Western Province |
15 |
36 |
51 |
29.41% |
||
| Total |
58 |
210 |
267 |
21.72% |
||
*Currie Cup squad lists taken from SARU’s website.
In stark contrast, the overwhelming majority of Currie Cup players are White, 78.28% to be exact. Ask yourself this question, how does a mere 6.89% of the potential rugby playing population account for an astounding 72.28% of the Currie Cup playing population? To add to this, a great deal of the non-white players do not even start on a regular basis.
click here for full article
For more than a decade as an international cricketer he carried the hopes of the majority of South Africa’s population. Most of the time, he did that alone. He was even expected to continue doing it when he no longer played at the highest level.
Weeks after his retirement, Ntini was named a Cricket SA ambassador. He was going to receive assistance to start an academy in Mdantsane township, in Eastern Cape, which would become one of the best breeding grounds for black African players. None of that has happened.
With that in mind, whether or not some of the fault lies with Ntini, it is understandable that he has become disillusioned.
Development structures are producing black players. Evidence of that can be found on Corlett Drive, where the Highveld Lions fielded four in their most recent One-day Cup match against the Knights, but higher up those players are not being recognised.
Imagine if that had happened to Ntini. (click here for full article)
IT IS time to swallow a dry, lumpy, spiky object and admit that Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer hasn’t provided the “fresh start” many were hoping for. The Springboks are stale and Peter de Villiers’s leftovers are starting to cause a foul smell in the (relatively) new coach’s fridge.
After going through a turbulent marriage with Div, when the highs were intoxicating but the lows suicidal, culminating into a bitter non-renewal of vows, Meyer was supposed to be everything the Springbok ex wasn’t.
But five matches into his tenure, some Bok fans are realising that Meyer keeps forgetting to put the seat down, wash his own plate or take out the rubbish and have started noticing other little nuances that remind them of the ex.
Div would never drop Morne Steyn, Pierre Spies or Bryan Habana when the trio were horribly out of form. He didn’t know what to do with the talented Pat Lambie in his squad (the trend with Springbok coaches is to bench or drop the talented ones and start the statues).
In 2012, the year the world is apparently coming to an end, it appears that the world is in fact carrying on as usual and a Springbok coach still doesn’t know what to do with the most enterprising member of his squad.
There was supposed to be some sort of ceremonious cleansing after the World Cup, it hasn’t come.
Let's stop the competition right now, the All Blacks have already won it
Initially, Meyer did everything right and said all the sweet nothings when he was appointed, going all out to please everyone and getting everyone to support his “win every game” philosophy. It was refreshing to have a Springbok coach that didn’t have illusions about winning a World Cup in four years time and subjecting us to rubbish rugby in the interim.
Meyer is his own man. At the Bulls he did everything according to his style and made the club his Man Cave, where he could pick all the battering rams he wanted and forced them to play according to his style. And it worked.
But Meyer has yet to adjust to his marriage to the entire nation. He can no longer treat the Springboks as his Man Cave. Just a hint, there are uses for players in other unions other than the Bulls.
Meyer is a brilliant coaching coach but, as I quietly suspected, he botched the chance to give the Springboks a fresh start during the England three-match test series.
When the Boks crashed out of the World Cup last year, it was a painful, but the young talent that we had coming through the national team – that Div didn’t really know what to do with – made the pain easier to bear. There was hope of a fresh start.
I’ll acknowledge the inclusion of locks Eben Etzebeth, Juandre Kruger and flanker Marcell Coetzee as some sort of signal of newness. But on the whole, the team, especially in the lame draw against Argentina, smelt of Div’s stale socks, which I thought we threw away when Meyer was moving in.
Much like in the final two years of Div’s tenure, the Springboks made the process of scoring a try about as odious as getting a pay increase from a Platinum mine boss.
And what about set plays? Have we forgotten how to cut open defences with four quick, purposeful passes intersected with diagonal runs that confuse the opposition to a standstill?
I’m beginning to wonder what Meyer meant when he said the Springboks should play “winning rugby”.
By his definition WINNING RUGBY is the process in which a flyhalf should ignore all other avenues of attack, resist temptation to draw two or more defenders towards him in order to fling the ball wide to the wings, who will then enjoy an overlap, but MUST ONLY launch the ball high and aimlessly off his boot and hope for the best.
The worst is when this statue game plan cannot even eke out a win against Argentina in our most important rugby competition other than the World Cup.
I, for one, had dreams of the below combinations, being tested against England this year:
Forwards:
or 6. Francois Louw 7. Marcell Coetzee 8. Willem Alberts
or 6. Keegan Daniel 7. Willem Alberts 8. Pierre Spies
Understandably, injuries to Schalk Burger and Duane Vermeulen soured things but as a proud rugby nation, we can do far better than Jacques Potgieter. No offence bruv but there’s no space to take a run-up in test rugby and without a run-up Potgieter is as useful a Brutal Fruit cider when you really need a beer. I wonder, if Meyer has any regrets, now that Siya Kolisi is out for the rest of the season because of a broken thumb he sustained in the Currie Cup when he should have been in Argentina stopping Julio Cabello from getting his paws in our ruck. Moving on …
Backs:
11. Francois Hougaard 14. JP Pietersen
15. Zane Kirchner
or
9. Francois Hougaard
10. Pat Lambie
12. Jean de Villiers
13. Juan de Jongh
11. Bryan Habana 14. JP Pietersen
15. Frans Steyn
or
9. Francois Hougaard
10. Elton Jantjies
12. Frans Steyn
13. Jean de Villiers
11. Bryan Habana 14. JP Pietersen
15. Pat Lambie
And again, injuries to Jaco Taute, Johan Goosen (thank God he’s back) and (recently) JP Pietersen have done their bit to spoil the honeymoon.
Had some of these combinations been tested against England, we wouldn’t have been left not knowing what to do in Mendoza last weekend.
Note: Please add your own possible combinations that you would have liked to have seen being trialled and please agree or disagree with me in the comments below or on twitter @Sbu_Fundraiser.
As Sonny Bill Williams celebrated his try by jumping into the crowd in his last Super Rugby game during the Chiefs’ demolition of the Sharks in the final, it got me thinking: What legacy has he left behind, especially in the mind of the South African schoolboy rugby player?
The New Zealand inside centre said his good-byes to his country and the competition last month, much to fans’ dismay and rage, for the financially luscious pastures of Japan before returning to Rugby League – NRL – in Australia next year.
But what is the offload king leaving behind?
Will we see another deadly offload in the Southern Hemisphere again?
It was perhaps fitting that on the same day I watched the Chiefs gut the Sharks, I went to Pietermaritzburg to watch the old KZN school rugby derby between Maritzburg College and Glenwood High School – which ended in a thrilling 27-all draw.
I got some perspective.
On Saturday morning I watched Sonny Bill Williams create havoc in the middle of a Sharks defence that was valiant at first but started disintegrating pretty quickly. SBW, as he has been nicknamed, broke two tackles in the move that created the Chiefs first try – scored by Tim Nanai-Williams – before offloading, of course, to Robbie Robinson.
The Sharks, it became obvious, had thrown all their punches during the Stormers game and were smashed to all parts of Waikato Stadium. SBW, Aaron Cruden and Sona Taumalolo (also playing his last game for the Chiefs) the chief culprits.
Don't lie, that SBW jump into the crowd was totally awesome, right?
SBW wrapped up his enthralling contribution to the match, Chiefs and indeed SANZAR rugby, by diving through untouched and throwing himself to the fans, who hugged him and thanked him for his contribution.
But that contribution came under heavy scrutiny last year when one man called Peter de Villiers was Springbok coach. De Villiers was quoted as saying, about SBW’s show-offy and outrageous ball releases during tackles:
“He’s doing everything wrong what rugby principles require of you in the game.”
“Backhand passes shouldn’t be the norm… it has become the norm, now everyone wants to do that kind of nonsense.”
“This kind of non-rugby stuff he’s doing, if it comes off it’s brilliant, but do you have control over these kind of things? If you get to the international level where people work you out, then you have to be in control of what you’re doing.”
Div said a youngster watching SBW in Super Rugby would get the wrong impression of the core skills needed. That’s Div for you, never one to nurse people’s feelings.
“I’ve got a simple reply for him [Div]. I am flattered that he would go to the lengths he did in dissecting my game. If I can change the face of rugby with the way I play, then so be it,” SBW apparently replied.
But was Div right? Or did he just want to ruin the fun for everyone?
To get the answer, you have to go to a school rugby game. As so I did.
I was lucky to catch the Maritzburg College 3rds vs. Glenwood High School 3rds and then the 2nd teams faced each other before the grand finale.
If one could have picked up anything from the fixtures, it was that the boys love throwing the ball around. Which of course they must. They are young, restless, fearless and careless. There were about as many knock-ons and turnovers from spilt ball as a result of failed offloads as there were spectators at the school. The referee’s whistle can get nauseating sometimes, so I was all too happy when the 1st XV’s ran onto Goldstone field.
The first teams promised more structured play.
Maritzburg College 1st XV
I decided to be daring and count how many attempts at releasing the ball while caught in a tackle the lads made and how many they actually pulled off.
As if the Glenwood boys heard the voices in my head, they scored a 2nd minute opening try that was sparked by two brilliantly executed offloads and caught the home side sleeping.
Glenwood boasted generally bigger players – and I pray that they are all within the school rugby age limit – and therefore bossed the contact situations. Their players were taller, leaner and thus tried offloading more often than the College boys did.
The way I remember College, from my high school days, was that they never had the biggest nor the most talented rugby players but they played with a lot of heart and played until the final whistle.
College came back from 22-6 down midway through the second period to lead 27-22 before a late unconverted Glenwood try made sure that the boys shared the spoils.
My offload tally told an interesting story at the end. College attempted 12 offloads the entire game, ten of which went safely into hand while two went astray – one even created a gap from which a try was scored. Glenwood attempted 18 offloads and managed to safely secure half of them, the other half went the way of handling errors.
It seems that the most telling thing is that the “Sonny Bills” help the kids create gaps in midfield and if they succeed more than half the time then where’s the harm in trying one?
I saw more pick and go’s, something that Div considers “rugby stuff” than I did offloads. So let the kids be kids, I say. And if in the process we produce an attacking genius like Sonny Bill Williams, we would have done exceedingly well. But don’t dismiss Div as a grumpy old man, he’s got the interests of the SA rugby future at heart.
Glenwood High School 1st XV
One final thought, when SBW first started playing Rugby Union, who decided to put him at inside centre? Was it Tana Umaga? That man is a genius.
Farewell SBW – current World Cup and Super Rugby title holder.
Catch my thoughts on rugby and other sports matters on twitter @Sbu_Fundraiser
Super Rugby finals have, over the years, delivered scintillating spectacles. But one man uses the fixture for a place on the legend’s table and wins the trophy for his team.
The Sharks could do with a match-winner when they face the Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday morning. Below is what you might call, the memo:
1. Bryan Habana – Bulls 20 Sharks 19, 2007
This encounter will always be remembered by the Sharks fans as the day Habana stole the Super 14 title for the Bulls. Substitute lock Albert van den Berg scored a try for the hosts with two minutes left of the game, ‘the fat lady’ has cleared her throat. However a young François Steyn missed an easy conversion, which would’ve put the Sharks eight points clear. After the restart, and across the final hooter, the Bulls mounted an attack that seemed to go on forever, until, to the delight of the away fans, Habana weaved his way through the Sharks defence to dive over for the score that took them to within a point. Derrick Hougaard slotted the conversion for the historic win.
This is what heartbreak looks like, Sharks will want to wipe the tears vs Chiefs
2. Mark Gerrard – Brumbies 47 Crusaders 38, 2004
The Brumbies were explosive in this final and the fourth minute try by Mark Gerrard signalled their intent. 19 minutes into the encounter and the hosts were 33-0 up with Gerrard scoring his second of the match after winning a chase from a George Smith chip-kick. Two minutes into the second half Gerrard out-ran Crusaders Ben Blair from a Stephen Larkham kick though. “Big games are about taking your chances. We took everything,” Brumbies coach David Nucifora said after the game.
3. Daniel Carter – Crusaders 20 Waratahs 12, 2008
It was Robbie Deans’ last game in charge of the Crusaders as he was bound for the Wallabies top job. The Crusaders were out-scored two Lachie Turner tries to one and were 12-11 behind at halftime. But the boot of Daniel Carter shone through in a game that was a defence spectacle. Carter painstakingly slotted four penalties and a drop goal that took the game away from the Waratahs, who failed to trouble the scoreboard in the second half.
He is the greatest
4. Carlos Spencer – Blues 21 Crusaders 17, 2003
He dropped a pass in the Blues’ in-goal area that resulted in a try by Crusaders hooker Mark Hammett. Other than that unfortunate moment he was sublime. This was his breakthrough season where he top scored 143 points throughout the whole Super 12 competition. It was his flair however that earned him hero status in this final. He matched Andrew Mehrtens for tactical kicking and distributed like a machine. He contributed four penalties and a conversion to the score line but was majestic in open play.
I used to love watching this guy play
5. Andrew Mehrtens – Crusaders 20 Brumbies 19, 2000
The Brumbies were in front by two points with three minutes remaining on the clock. Then referee Andre Watson awarded the Crusaders a penalty from 40 metres out. A composed Mehrtens duly slotted the penalty, handing the Crusaders their third Super 12 title in the process.
6. Will Genia – Reds 18 Crusaders 13, 2011
At 13-13 with just over ten minutes of the final remaining, you’re thinking a penalty will break the deadlock. But Will Genia produces a bit of magic. Crusaders spill their own ball, inches inside the Reds half. Genia, the opportunist extrodinaire, recieves a pass at first receiver, darts past a few Cursaders defenders and runs and runs and runs for 50 metres for the decisive touch-down. Cooper was there, obviously, to be the first one to embrace him.
go man go
7. Who can do it for the Sharks?
a. JP Pietersen – He’s turned on the style in recent weeks with damn good performances
b. Freddie Michalak – Destroyed the Stormers last weekend and it’s his last game for the Sharks, you can bet he wants to steal the show
c. Bismarck du Plessis – He’s Bismarck du Plessis
d. Willem Alberts – If the Chiefs can stop him, they’ll get close to winning, if not, someone if going to get hurt
Also see:
If newly signed Cheetahs centre Johann Sadie continues to believe his own hype, he will forever live in that precarious and ever contracting space between potential and greatness. A second chance awaits him in Bloemfontein but, like with most things in life, there is no guarantee of first team action.
How did a talented SA under-20 player, who had featured in all provincial and national age-group teams since under-12, end up clubless and so desperate that he was willing to settle for a pay cut at a union that battles to finish in the top half of the Super Rugby table?
Many would have thought by now that Sadie would be basking in the delight of being the first Springbok cap recipients under the Heyneke Meyer era with the likes of Marcell Coetzee, Eben Etzebeth, Juandre Kruger and Jacques Potgieter.
Why did he suddenly leave the Bulls, a hugely successful union domestically and internationally, barely six months into (what was supposed to be) a lucrative contract.
To understand Sadie’s conundrum, you must first understand his time at Western Province and by extension, the Stormers.
At Newlands he was the brightest young spark waiting in the wings of the one of the greatest Springbok centre pairings – that of Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie. His first team game time was therefore limited in Super Rugby but during the Vodacom and Currie Cups he was often the star of the show.
I remember a game between the Stormers and the Blues in Auckland in which the 23-year-old, alongside Juan de Jongh, starred in a brilliant display to dispose of the then title challengers. If there is one game that can show you what Sadie can do, what the Stormers had been nesting him for, it is this one.
Stormers lineup vs the Blues in 2011 was a glimpse into what the future would look like
Blues vs Stormers – Auckland – Super Rugby 2011
De Jongh, to make an example, waited patiently for the chance to establish himself at any of the two centre positions even when he had had a brilliant season standing in for De Villiers, who was playing overseas, in 2010. When De Villiers returned last year to partner with old pal Fourie, De Jongh was relegated to the cold bench. This year De Jongh picks himself onto the team.
But things didn’t go as planned for Sadie or moved as quickly for him as he would have liked. First team action at the Stormers seemed a distant pipe dream. It is rumoured that through the sheer ridiculousness of the nature of his demands when negotiation a new Western Province contract, including of course the guarantee of first team action, the union begrudgingly, yet necessarily, had to let him go. Someone even suggested he demanded that he not share a hotel room with a team-mate on tour.
And well, believing his own hype, he took a contract with the Bulls, which to be fair were in desperate need of a quality outside centre last year. Instead of blossoming, he has lived in the shadow of the lanky frame of JJ Engelbrecht, also a former Stormer.
Sadie claims the structures at the Bulls didn’t suit him therefore he had to force an early release on his two-year contract. If I was him, I’d have gone back to Allister Coetzee, apologised and asked for my old job back.
Sad-ie: He was supposed to lead SA's rugby revolution this year, that didn't happen
Few players who have ever really been something on the rugby field have never had to wait for their turn to own a position in the starting fifteen every week and as talented as Sadie is, he’s just going to bounce from one union to the next looking for “guaranteed game time”.
It will be interesting to see if Cheetahs fans will value the potential in Sadie over the commitment of local hero Robert Ebersohn (a player that plays his nads off every week on the grassless Bloemfontein Stadium pitch without expecting much in return but to put smiles on the rugby mad oupa’s)
Now we wait to see if Sadie’s expectations from the Cheetahs will be met or if he’ll meet theirs.
I say this almost like a friend from varsity who has just walked in on you while you’re lying face first on the concrete floor of your dorm after yet another night of binge drinking: Get your ish together man!
Or you’ll always be one of those kids we pub critics speak about that could have been Springbok greats but fizzled into nothing in the end. The country is crawling with those kids (and those pub critics by the way), we don’t need another one.
Don’t walk into a pub in East London and scream the Sharks have the best balance of skills, game plan and talent of all the South African teams or you might meet hardcore Stormers fans ready to shut you up, Bheki Cele style.
Of course I’m speaking from experience.
My argument was that, although the Sharks have lost six matches to the Stormers’ two this season and have practically lived on the brink of elimination for second half of the season, coach John Plumtree’s men have the tools to beat anyone, anywhere.
I made sure that I was at a safe enough distance to duck any beer that may be flung my way, of course, when I first presented my argument at the pub last Saturday morning. It didn’t help that the five passionate Stormers fans had already had more than six rounds each by the time the Super Rugby quarterfinal between the Reds and Sharks had even started. I suspect that the depressing Bulls performance against the Crusaders had a lot to do with that.
Nonetheless I proceeded to providing evidence for my assertion, while in my mind engineering a safe exit in case I failed to win them over to my school of thought.
I started with the guys that do the heavy duty work, the forward pack. The Sharks front row of Beast Mtawarira and Du Plessis brothers Bismarck and Jannie has been together since 2007 and established themselves as a fearsome trio this year following hooker John Smit’s departure. Beast was absent at the start of the season and it showed.
The Sharks form record, while Beast was out injured, read much like Liverpool FC’s last season form record: L-L-W-W-L-W-L-W-L. Such deep levels of inconsistency took the team to the brink of elimination.
Enter the Beast and suddenly the scrums were not longer going backwards resulting in the transformation of the form book: W-W-W-W-L-W-W-W (including last weekend’s win over the Reds). This may all seem coincidental but as any rugby coach will tell you, combinations are everything in this game therefore having an all Springbok front row would have had Plumtree jumping on his bed in delight.
I received a few disapproving grunts and moans and one oke used the time while I was speaking to order a refill and another dashed to take a leak.
I continued to the lock position, an area where the Sharks have traditionally been criticised, ridiculed and targeted by opposition teams after the retirement of the great mark Andrews and rightly so. But Steven Sykes and Anton Bresler have been steady for the Durban outfit. Throw in the ever-improving 20-year-old Pieter-Steph du Toit and you’ve got, well, locks that can get the job done.
The loose trio of Keegan Daniel, Marcell Coetzee and Willem Alberts has been nothing but sensational. And they’re been boosted by Ryan Kankowski’s recent return to form. By this point the passionate opinionists had stopped interrupting me and, I’d like to believe, were listening to me.
The backline has also been solid. Charl McLeod has distributed well, Michalak has been uncharacteristically consistent of late and JP Pietersen has been sensational.
All in all, the Sharks scored as many tries as the Chiefs and the Crusaders, 47, and gathered the most attacking bonus-points of the South African teams. Their defence has not been shabby either, having conceded only 31 tries. Only the Stormers (21) and the (30) have conceded less.
My point was made but the opinionists began pointing out that the Stormers had topped the log through the sheer determination of some capable back up players.
Siya Kolisi's "elated" face
Flanker Siya Kolisi was supposed to play a cameo role this season, shadowing the talismanic Stormers captain Schalk Burger. But when Burger got injured in the first game, Kolisi blossomed into the find of the season, the patrons pointed out.
Joe Pietersen’s reliability at fullback, Gio Aplon’s enjoyable running and Peter Grant’s pivotal role at No 10, they pointed out. Not forgetting SA under-20 prop sensation Steven Kitschoff. The Stormers weren’t pretty to watch, they admitted with slight disapproving scowls on their faces, but they had topped the overall conference and gave themselves a chance at a home final.
More slurry-worded evidence was presented. Eben Etzebeth, the 19-year-old boy thrown into a man’s job and excelling. Bryan Habana’s return to form. All this evidence indeed pointed to a very talented and effective team. One thing lacked: a balanced game plan. The Stormers have a defence that would have rivalled the walls of Troy but they don’t offer a dime on attack.
We agreed to disagree and shook hands. Someone suggested we meet at the same pub to watch the semifinal between the two sides on Saturday. A loud “heck yeah!” erupted. I made a note in my mind at that moment to make sure I didn’t miss my bus back to Durban on Monday.
