Reading and hearing some of the guff out there, it seems all the Springboks have to do is rock up at Twickenham on Saturday and flick Wales aside to advance to the last four of the World Cup.

Hubris is a bugger and we must hope that this loose talk isn’t shared by the Boks. Complacency has felled many a team, the Boks included. Just think back to Durban a few months ago, or the shemozzle of Brighton more recently.

The Boks have always been big grunters seldom lacking in the muscular department, but they’ve been known to freeze and get rattled. Mentally, they are a world away from the All Blacks and even Australia.

This is precisely why they need to be switched on tomorrow. Razor sharp.

Wales are decimated and will be swathed in bandages, but they’re a proud bunch who will hit hard and often at the Boks. Neither team is especially creative or dynamic, so it may develop into a furious arm wrestle.

You might fancy the Boks chances in such a contest, but don’t forget what happened when pesky little Argentina fronted in Durban. The Boks were smacked around.

Wales were magnificent against England – in England’s back yard, no less – and for big chunks of last week’s match against Australia, they dominated. And the Wallabies have been the best performing team at this World Cup by some distance.

The Boks have a mean backrow, but it isn’t the quickest, which is a pity. Dan Biggar is Wales’ key man and if you get him, you get Wales. You’d wanna set the hounds on him, fast and early.

France had pretty much the same thing in mind against Ireland last week, getting rid of Johnny Sexton with a Louis Picamoles piledriver that was felt halfway around the world. France never got the result, but Ireland were shaken.

We’re all loving the Boks on the back of three successive wins, but each comes with a caveat.

Little Japan had their number and the B teams of Scotland and the US enjoyed prolonged periods of solid play. It even took a while to subdue Samoa, who were rubbish this time around.

Almost everything favours the Boks, but there are three critical factors that demand we respect Wales:

1. Warren Gatland. Cunning as a fox, he will have a damn good plan. Bank on it.
2. Wales are desperate, perhaps more so than South Africa.
3. Their defensive game is rock-solid.

I’ll be watching this with a jittery hand on my SuperSport remote.

Of course I expect the Boks to win, but it would be no surprise if they didn’t.

 

He’s got something of the giraffe about him, all loping legs and unrestrained power beneath an ungainly body.

But looks can be deceiving and in becoming South Africa’s most effective World Cup player, Lood de Jager has added steel and sass to the Springbok pack.

Few would admit it, but De Jager was seen by most as a standby player until the next Victor Matfield came along, presumably Pieter Steph du Toit. Too bad De Jager never played along – he’s become the Boks’ best ball carrier, doing duty alongside fellow heavyweights Eben Etzebeth and Duane Vermeulen.

De Jager may have cherubic looks and a gentle personality, but he’s a man transformed when he is in Test-match mode. He’s a ferocious defender, often making tackles in double digits, and he attacks the gainline with a fury that belies his 22 years (although being on the right side of 120kg helps). He’s also that most important of things: a team man. Known as much for his sense of humour as his rugby smarts, he has become a vital cog in the Springbok engine.

De Jager comes from solid East Rand stock – he attended Hugenote in Springs – but might not have been vying for the World Cup had it not been for a fortuitous meeting with an ex-Amanzimtoti schoolboy.

Rugby scout Andre Tredoux was at a big schoolboy derby in Johannesburg and sent his wife Janesia to keep an eye on a rugby day in Potchefstroom where he was in charge of the Pukke u-19s.

On his way out, Andre joked to his wife that should she spot a useful two-metre-plus lock, she should give him a call.

(Janesia had once advised him to sign Jaco Taute, who she saw play at a St John’s Festival, but Andre, to his eternal regret, did not).

Five minutes into Hugenote’s match, Andre’s phone rang. “I’ve just seen the next Andries Bekker,” his wife told him.

Andre had his doubts, but a few minutes later, he took a call from friend Hendrik Truter, the former Transvaal fullback. “You’ve got to see this laatie,” Truter enthused.

On the Monday, Tredoux called De Jager’s father. Father and son were in his office on the Tuesday and a Pukke contract was signed on the Thursday.

“We never got the first choices at Pukke, so we tended to focus on the smaller schools,” said Tredoux, who played for College Rovers before leaving Durban aged 19 to study for a sports science degree in Potchefstroom.

Playing for the Leopards u-19s, De Jager helped engineer a 21-20 defeat of the Sharks, at which point Tredoux realised his wife was bang on the money. “Not many men would trust their wives about rugby, but she was right,” he quipped.

De Jager hadn’t even played for a Craven Week Academy team, but Tredoux could sense he was special. Indeed, when Tredoux was appointed chief scout of the Cheetahs juniors in 2013, De Jager was the first player he signed. There was no messing about either – De Jager went straight into the Super Rugby line-up, settling in quickly and formidably.

Tredoux hasn’t been surprised by De Jager’s emergence. “He’s a very intelligent kid and very talented, but his story is about hard work and perseverance. He has a wise head on his shoulders, and he’s worked helluva hard. I’m very chuffed for him.”

There are many lessons in the De Jager narrative, not least of which is that the pipeline to Springbok rugby doesn’t always follow the traditional route, and nor does it have to. De Jager got lucky – spotted by a teacher wife of a rugby scout – but you would hope that the Potchefstroom feeder system would have spotted him anyway.

Another lesson is how De Jager has knuckled down and hasn’t stopped working since his schooldays. Playing out of the unfashionable East Rand, where few favours are given, De Jager always had to do a little more. The rewards have followed.

He already has 16 Test caps. Given that he is still learning his trade and will doubtless fill out in the years to come, his potential is scary. At 2,06m he’s already frighteningly large. Giant in size and, soon, giant in stature too. – © Sunday Tribune

 

 

Having smashed through Fortress Twickenham last weekend, Australia will feel at home tomorrow (SS1, 3.30pm) when they play Wales at England’s HQ.

At stake will be the best of routes to the semifinal, a quiet meander compared to what faces the loser – a match against the rejuvenated Springboks next weekend.

South Africans, to a man, will be quietly hoping for an Australian win. It may be sacrilege to applaud anything Australian, but anyone hoping the Boks crack the last four has to back the Wallabies.

That way, our lot avoid them in next weekend’s quarterfinals, playing the Welsh instead. Wales have built up a nice head of steam, but they’ve been decimated by injuries and have danced a little too long with Lady Luck. They are surely heading for a fall tomorrow, not least because tradition says so. The Wallabies are 10 from 10 in recent history. They are in fantastic form and would be odds-on favourites against the Boks in a playoff game. Here’s hoping Wales do what they are meant to do and bow out as courageous losers, as they so often do against southern hemisphere giants. Two wins in 28 games against the big three under Warren Gatland says this is so.

The other vital game of the weekend is France against Ireland in Cardiff on Sunday (SS1, 5.45pm).

The loser has the unenviable task of playing New Zealand in the following weekend’s quarter-final. Neutrals will be hoping Ireland win on Sunday, for a France-New Zealand match will set the senses alight. France could lose by 30 points just as they could tear the All Blacks to pieces. It depends entirely on their mood.

For New Zealand, such a game would represent the ultimate gut-check. Richie McCaw and his cohorts haven’t exactly stretched themselves so far. A looming game against the Tricolors would surely concentrate their minds.

The winner then takes the high road, meeting the Argentine Pumas, a decent enough side but lacking the all-round class of potential winners.

France haven’t needed to get out of second gear and have quietly built a good momentum. They could be dangerous this weekend, especially as Ireland flattered to deceive against Italy in their most recent game. The Irish have everything going for them, but they lack a cutting edge. If it exists, it best manifest itself on Sunday. Again, this one could depend on which France decides to pitch up.

The Boks have the luxury of watching from afar as Australia and Wales batter each other. They’ll be off playing golf and pushing prams while players from these sides are nursing bruises.

When they get down to hard business on Monday, the mad defeat by Japan will seem a lifetime away. Happily, that result didn’t portend a Springbok spiral, instead flicking a switch in every player.

Against the US, they were confident and cavalier, putting a B-grade side to the sword. In recent times they would have indulged part-timers, but there was an encouraging brutality to their approach.

There are still problems with discipline and backline alignment, but when their nostrils are inflamed and they’re in the mood to rumble, the Boks can be fearsome.

Long may it last.

TONIGHT

NZ v Tonga (SS1, 9pm).

TOMORROW

Samoa v Scotland (SS1, 3.30pm).

Australia v Wales (SS1, 5.45pm).

England v Uruguay (SS1, 9pm).

SUNDAY

Argentina v Namibia (SS1, 1pm).

Italy v Romania (SS1, 3.30pm).

France v Ireland (SS1, 5.45pm).

USA v Japan (SS1, 9pm).

 

 

In racing to 64 Test tries last night, Bryan Habana not only drew level with legendary David Campese, he edged closer to righting what is widely seen as a wrong in many rugby circles.

Habana and Campese are joint second on the all-time list behind little-known Daisuke Ohata of Japan. Chances are you wouldn’t recognise Ohata if he walked in the door, but officially he ranks as the most prolific finisher of all time.

Ohata played 58 times for his country, including two World Cups, but what’s lacking in his remarkable record of 69 Test tries is context. Only a quarter of his matches came against Tier One opposition with the bulk against the like of South Korea, Portugal, Hong Kong, Spain, Russia, the Arabian Gulf and Chinese Taipei. Even being generous, none of these could be termed rugby heavyweights.

Campese is said to have never heard of Ohata when the record was mentioned to him and it doubtless stuck in his craw that a man who played in the backwaters owned the record.

Campese, of course, earned the vast bulk of his 64 tries by playing against South Africa, New Zealand, the home unions and the Lions in a remarkable 101-Test career.

Habana is much the same, with 16 of his tries alone having come against Australia and New Zealand. Of the rest, only a handful (Uruguay, Namibia and the US) could be considered soft touches.

It’s perhaps a bit harsh to criticise Ohata – he did what he had to do – but there needs to be a weighting in such cases.

There’s a similar story for the most prolific try-scoring forward. You might guess Schalk Burger or Richie McCaw would be in the lead, but instead that honour goes to Diego Ormaechea of Uruguay.

The encouraging thing is that Habana is still 32 and enjoying an outstanding return to form after seemingly losing his way a few years ago. His appetite and instinct is still razor-sharp and he never needs to ask for directions to the tryline.

He has become one of the senior statesmen of the team, a position he clearly enjoys, as was evident when he congratulated Rudy Paige moments after he made his debut in London.

Another six before World Cup’s end may be reaching a little too far for Habana. But it will come, and when it does, a giant will sit atop the rugby pantheon.

 

Only the small-minded (and the few Australians among us) were willing England to lose on Saturday night.

Granted, it’s a tough call to choose between rugby’s equivalent of broccoli or cabbage, but for the sake of the tournament to retain its vibrancy, England were important.

The World Cup will continue without them, but a party without its host is just weird.

England deserve enormous credit for the tournament they have presented thus far. Stadiums have been heaving and by all accounts the frippery on the sidelines has been good-natured and hearty.

The English haven’t always been very good at the sports they claim as their own, chiefly rugby, cricket and football, but they’re good sports. In rugby, at least, they embrace the opposition (and their supporters) and give sustenance to their efforts. As the 2012 London Olympics proved, any excuse to have a party will bring the best out in the English.

Not to single them out, mind, for Scotland’s treatment of last year’s Commonwealth Games was much the same. They were brilliant, welcoming and warm.

England stands out for the remarkable levels of support offered rugby across the land. Games featuring tier two teams like Georgia, Romania and Namibia have been packed, not to speak of bigger matches. Last weekend’s England-Wales fixture soared past 81 000 spectators.

It gets better.  Ireland against Romania, hardly the most appealing of fixtures, set a world record crowd of 89 267 at Wembley. You suspect that the English would pay to watch Outer Mongolia contest the toe-wrestling championships. Good on them.

The irony is that this World Cup is the single most expensive event for spectators in sports history with average ticket prices pitched at £104.17 (about R2206). That’s R212 more than the average ticket price for last year’s football World Cup in Brazil.

Those people with tears in their eyes? They’re the South Africans trying to get by on their puny Rands.

There’s a big lesson here for SA sport. We make much of being a fanatical sports nation, but when did we last boast a full house for rugby or cricket? Beyond Kaizer Chiefs against Orlando Pirates, which other football fixture packs the stands?

Even in a tough economy, local prices are manageable for most, but we still see swathes of empty seats at major internationals. We talk a good game, but few bother to watch one live.

There’s talk of South Africa being on standby for the 2019 Rugby World Cup with the Japanese struggling to meet construction deadlines, but matching England’s offering would be a tough sell.

Only matches against the All Blacks threaten sellouts locally. For all the apparent appetite that abounds, South Africa’s passions are narrow. Who would trek out to Rustenburg or Polokwane to cheer on Tonga or Canada in the dead of night? Especially with South Africa’s appalling public transport.

England has matched fixtures to stadiums perfectly, using compact soccer grounds like St James’ Park and Villa Park which has allowed locals to soak up the events and also spread rugby’s gospel. The game appears to be in rude health all across England.

You wonder which similar grounds South African rugby would utilise. Few suggest themselves as sumptuous arenas that could do justice to a World Cup. Perhaps only Outeniqua Park in George or Boland Park in Wellington.

You could ask the same questions of the Commonwealth Games, which will be on our doorstep before long. Athletics might be a big Olympic sport, but its profile locally barely registers a blip – and it’s the most appealing Commonwealth offering. Forget the spin. It’s a big ask to expect 54 000 people to rock up at Moses Mabhida for an athletics session.

You could say the same about swimming. Despite boasting great swimmers like Chad Le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh, the sport’s ardent followers are largely members of the close-knit swimming community. Durban, and indeed swimming itself, best pull up its PR socks to sell what is an outstanding spectator sport.

For many, the local stadium experience remains a wretched one. England, with its energy and vibrancy and good humour, offers a profound lesson in hosting major sport.

South Africa could learn. – © Sunday Tribune