A week is a long time in rugby, but for the Springboks, the last two weeks have been like a holiday in Stalingrad. Cold and bitter with the creeping, foreboding isolation getting under one’s skin and wrapping its deathly fingers deep down into the psyche. In short, uncomfortable and unpleasant.
It’s tough being a Springbok in the last two weeks.
Having been hailed as the dominant rugby team in the world, the Springboks pulled out a seemingly abstract and bewildering first up Tri Nations performance against the All Blacks.
The Boks were pressed to hold back a frightening and pitch perfect performance by a rampaging New Zealand team. Scribes rushed to gush about the All Blacks, but the second week decider was the opportunity for South Africa to respond.
The most capped team in Springbok history went down with a second bonus point try haul by the All Blacks and a shell shocked Bok team left with nothing more than a bloody nose, battered ego and a slow, painful bleeding away of their mojo.
The senior players and the coach have been firing shots over the bow aimed squarely at the IRB and their referring programs, with veiled and not so veiled accusations aimed also at Richie McCaw.
But it smells distinctly of bittersweet, and the Boks would have even more problems than those on the surface if the senior players really believe this propaganda.
Mostly, the verbal bombs are to raise questions over their performance, that it may perhaps, even hopefully, be viewed as less of a devastation than it was – and to give heart and hope to their dedicated fan base.
Peter De Villiers has been treated as an oddball for his semi-delusional verbal dialogue that seems to belong to a man that talks before he thinks – but in a sort of possessed by a mustached Chucky Doll scary type of way.
But then his team starting winning, his Yoda speak starting to almost make sense, and whispers grew louder as he seemed to pull out superb strategies from his fingertips, most particularly his bombing aerial attacks backed by strong waves of ground attacks of 2009.
But time and rugby rules are not stagnant and as the new sun dawned in 2010, something was amiss in the land of the Bok and De Villiers looked like a man without a plan who had just stepped out of a time machine from July 20, 2009.
And that is the Boks as of today.
They are grizzled warriors whom time has eroded: the speed has gone from the legs, the bones are creaky, the fire has dimmed. If a Tri Nations opener in New Zealand against the All Blacks is unable to ignite the soul of a rugby player, then little will.
The Springboks play the Wallabies and a win in Brisbane will make a difference to their fan base and their confidence. A loss will surely spell the end of the line for a number of the aging figureheads and new blood will undoubtedly replenish the Bok power.
Sometimes the call for wholesale changes is premature, but now that clarion call may be too late for 2011.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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