The Six Nation Champions have come and gone. Whether they earned the respect of the Springboks and the South African supporters, that Warren Gatland wanted, is debatable. I don’t think I respect them any more than I did before they arrived. No team in the Northern Hemisphere can compete in the South and nothing looks like changing soon. And every time they leave they “showed fighting spirit” and “played above their potential.” Oh and don’t forget, “We lost the game in the last 20 minute”, or “They scored a lucky try.” A try isn’t won’t wipe out a 43-17 deficit. Stephen Jones (a full blooded English journalist) even wrote in The Guardian this week that New Zealand could probably lose 100 players and still put out a competitive team. I don’t know if we have the same depth, but let’s just say we beat the Welsh comprehensively without taking them too seriously and without too much effort. Yes, we’ll need to raise our game for the Tri-Nations, but a collective score of 80 – 38 for the two tests show that they were truly klapped. We all might have expected to see a bigger win in the second test, but I’ll leave it at that.
And now a depleted Italian side has shown up in Cape Town with absolutely no chance of upsetting or even bothering the Boks. I agree with Mark Keohane that we should discredit the game as a Test, call it an International match, call the team a South African XV, AND make the tickets cheaper. At least Newlands has made their prices a lot cheaper than the two previous stadiums. Forking out 150 bucks for the cheapest seats, plus 40 for parking and some more for beer to watch Italy B in the rain is a bit harsh. Having said that, we’ve organized a spitbraai and lots of alcohol before the game so it’s something I’m really looking forward to at this point.
The team selection for the Italian try feast is pretty interesting. And of course the main point of debate is Frans Steyn. Ever since he played that brilliant game at 10 for The Sharks against Western Province at a wet ABSA Stadium, he has had people talking. The Chosen One should by now be used to the attention. Once in a while a special talent comes along that dazzles spectators, that makes the opposition sit up and watch. From a young age they show a special brilliance and ability to perform miracles. And obviously stupid mistakes do occur once in a while. But you always know that he will conjure something out of nothing. At the end of the 2006 tour to Britain, where SA had a pretty average tour losing to Ireland and England, SA Rugby used the following for their front page…
The photo and the heading caught my eye and I still haven’t forgotten it. The tour wasn’t good, even though we didn’t send a full strength side, but that didn’t matter because we found a gem. We finally found something that had been lacking from our rugby. There was light at the end of the tunnel. Someone with the potential to be a magnificent 10. For 2 years since then he’s been played in various positions and finally on Saturday, we’ll give our game breaker the chance to do what he decides at flyhalf. I know Butch will probably be flyhalf until after the Lions Tour in 2009. He’s playing the rugby of his life. And I feel really sorry for Peter Grant who must have been sure that he was the second choice for the last few weeks. But the mercurial Steyn’s talent is so highly rated that when asked by The Moustache what his preferred place was, he was put in ahead of Peter Grant to showcase his skills. Now this might not even work and Peter Grant might push Steyn out of the side again. But I just have this feeling that it’s the beginning of a new era. An era where Steyn at flyhalf, takes us to the next two World Cups. He isn’t in such good form at the moment so maybe we mustn’t expect too much of him, but I’m happy to watch him settle into the no. 10 position and to take over from Butch next year. I hope I’m right…
Here is the rest of the team too, just in case you were starting to wonder if Steyn was taking on the Pavarotti lovers on his own. Another player I am looking forward to watching is Ryan Kankowski. It’s gonna be great watching him together with Watson and Smith.
A prediction? Even in the rain, SA 62 – Italy 13
Bon appetite Bismarck!!
1. Mtawarira
2. du Plessis
3. van der Linde
4. Botha
5. Matfield (c)
6. Watson
7. Smith
8. Kankowski
9. Januarie
10. Steyn
11. Habana
12. de Villiers
13. Bobo
14. Ndungane
15. Jantjes
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Italy, Rugby, SA vs ITaly, springboks, Springboks vs italy
