The Springboks suffered an injustice in the Test played again the All Blacks this past weekend.
I am trying to ensure that the fact that I am a South African does not cloud my judgement in writing this, but they were really undone by the way that they failed to respond to the challenge.
I believe that it is true the Springboks have been on the receiving end of some dodgy calls since re-admission to international rugby, perhaps more so than some other teams.
I think it is possible that because the Springboks are regularly and unfairly dubbed bullies because of the physical nature of the way they play the game, there is a stigma or perception that has attached itself to them.
This does perhaps cloud the view of Northern Hemisphere referees; referees who do not have the relationship that the Southern Hemisphere referees have with all the players from the Tri-Nations/Rugby Championship.
Whether the South African perception of being unfairly targeted is true or not, the Springboks (and their fans) must use the experience to build character and resilience.
They must accept that this may be the status quo, and plan for how they will deal with it in the heat of battle.
Indeed, all teams and all fans should prepare for when things go wrong like this. Referees and officials are human.
They make mistakes, they have ulterior motives, they see things differently. Subjectivity is a human reality. Life is nasty.
However, games are won or lost by what goes on in the top half of the players’ heads. Adversity is supposed to make us stronger, but throwing our hands up and bemoaning an injustice will not fix the situation after the fact.
Adversity happens to everybody. Life is not fair. How we respond is the difference between winning and losing.
To expect an IRB angel to descend, wave a wand and fix the result, fix the injustice and fix the referees is just silly (particularly fixing the referees. It’s easier to time travel than fix that lot).
My point is, an injustice does not excuse giving up or responding with inarticulate rage.
An injustice is not license to throw your hands up and hope that somebody will come along and fix your problem for you, because the moment you do that you become a victim.
When the odds are against you, it is time to regroup, rethink and respond appropriately. I don’t believe the Springboks did that.
I think they let themselves get rattled, and they lost focus.
I believe that if an All Black had been unjustly red carded, the All Blacks would have played themselves into the ground – they would have used the injustice as fuel and they would have thrown everything at it.
That’s what makes them a great team.
The same goes for fans of both teams. There has been too much said, and too much of it has been angry, bitter and goading to the point of vileness.
True, much of it was by trolls from New Zealand and South Africa looking to gloat or vent, rather than The Roar’s regulars – but what did any of it accomplish? Absolutely nothing.
The doctors must have been dispensing a lot of blood pressure tablets in both countries. Anger hurts nobody but the angry person.
Instead of anger and recrimination, the message to the Springbok team (and any others who suffer an injustice, including the All Blacks) should be:
1. How will you use this to make you stronger?
2. How will you plan for this in the future, because it will – it will – happen again?
Everybody knows that anger clouds judgement and actually damages your health. There is a Chinese proverb that goes: “If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow”.
It happens, but the mark of greatness is whether you get off that canvas and, with dignity and respect, whether you keep moving forward.
This applies to Wallabies because they are in the doldrums at the moment, to the Springboks because they were treated unfairly and to New Zealanders because when you’re the best everybody wants a piece of you.
In the words of Rocky Balboa: “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, it’s a very mean, and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees, and keep you there permanently, if you let it“.
That’s not all he says, but never a truer word was said.
Time for everybody to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and keep moving forward.
supertrooper
Guest
strums why do you feel sorry for us did we send your player off? did we force your team to play 70% of the game a man down?should liam messam apologise for attacking your mans elbow with his throat, heres the rub mate i bet if the all blacks had lost a man early they would have ripped in even harder and i would like to think the majority of ABs supporters would be a whole lot less churlish about the outcome than you cry baby bokkies have been,ellis park win or lose no more damn excuses please
JimmyB
Guest
Richard, I acknowledged that Johnson had his moments, but we will have to agree to disagree on Dallaglio. I'm not sure which incident you're referring to, but one incident doesn't make a player dirty.
richard
Guest
Benny - v France RWC Final; Kaino,getting up off the ground,is punched in the side of the head by Nallet for no apparent reason.Ref mustn't have seen it.
richard
Guest
Dallaglio,not dirty.Don't make me laugh.Go to the 1999 RWC,game v NZ.Lomu scores a try,watch what Dallaglio does,and then come back and tell me he was clean.The same goes for Johnson,who cynically took out two AB halfbacks.Normal practise in the Woodward years.And that with a fawning English press who completely ignored their actions. The irony is that they were all fine players,and didn't need to engage in dirty play.
Brett Susan
Roar Rookie
I think you answered your own question
Colin Kennedy
Roar Guru
II'm proposing anything but amiable losing. I'm saying stuff happens and you've got to pick yourself up and keep moving forward, because crying about it solves nothing. Get up, hit back.
jk
Guest
Very well said bebop. you have very real concerns and frustrations re your team that are reasonably eloquently voiced which makes me pay attention to your thoughts. if it helps at all i believe rugby fans do know it is definitely a new SA and actually many of those elements have been there for for some time and now you have a coach to match. your leaders reacted with such class that it spoke volumes. and i appreciate your efforts to 'clean up your side of the street'. i wish there were some kiwi's out there like you trying to help put our own ship in order. i am as passionate a rugby fan ( apparently for some, fandom and passion are mutually exclusive from the ability to absorb another point of view without a violently myopic reaction) as any but i am starting to think we kiwi's are the worst of the bunch on thse message boards and the worst of us are just bloody embarassing C'mon kiwis , class it up a bit!! and to those thoughful posters that already do, a big thank you
David
Guest
Thanks I have the same number (12 per 100 in 2007) But ranked 50th in the world Australia is at 15 guns per 100 and Number 42 New Zealand 22 per 100 and Number 22 It is true we have among the largest private security forces in the world. (thanks to an ineffective police force) Those numbers are all in the stats. But of course the contention I queried was South African's (Joe Public not people that do it as a job) carrying firearms. And it is a huge exaggeration. I would venture that by far most of the gun owners dont carry them. It is interesting that you are no longer here (when did you move) because life wrt guns has changed a lot since the 1980s and early 90s I remember NZ rugby players being astounded that SAns checked their guns in like you check in a coat. Back then I knew one or 2 people that carried guns. I notice these things because I am seriously anti-gun. A lot of the ownership is a carry over from the state of emergency and the early 90s Even in the last few years there has been a some fundamental changes in gun licencing. Still being implemented but its not so easy to get a license anymore On the flip side I see you support the Sharks so you must be OK. I am from Durban myself (lived in Durban North and went to Uni there) I now live in Cape Town
JimmyB
Guest
+1 Bebop
allblackfan
Guest
still better than a crushed windpipe!!
Wii
Guest
Do you also believe in South African fans threatening the children of Liam Messam? I can understand Bok fans being upset however every time some take it too far. Threatening his kids is utterly disgraceful!
jk
Guest
colin, thanks for a terrific article and for trying to slap down a few trollers. as suggested HM and JCV seemed to have a very clear approach and message. their dignified and graciuous responses were very impressive to all of us (and hopefully make SA's proud) but it is also actually quite ominous for us kiwi's as it has the hallmarks of an ''on message'' team coming together in the right way and putting the right building blocks in place for the future. i was also proud as a kiwi of DC's no nonsense clarification tweet and some other correct responses. Why can't we all use the best exmaples of the aforementioned much loved players of our own teams as a baseline for our own maturity levels on these message boards?
Bebop
Guest
There is never any excuse for unpleasantness by players, coaches or supporters. I think the way HM and JdV have handled the whole thing has been brilliant. And the supporters who have voiced their opinions using social media in a respectful way are entitled to do so, and should do so. We live in a world dominated by the power of social media and consumer choice. And after the Bryce Lawrence incident and one or two others, the SA public is clearly reaching a point where things are being taken seriously. Hardly anyone I know even spends time on Twitter - our data communication in SA is slow and expensive and Twitter hasn't really caught on yet. But it did on Saturday and since. That should say something. Like it or not, social media allows the collective views of nations, consumers and now sports supporters be very clearly heard. It is a good thing, and not something that should be criticised. SA has by far the largest supporter pool in the rugby world and growing, and contributes the most to bodies like SANZAR. Yet because of our history many seem to enjoy villifying us still. We aren't the boers, thugs or whatever that we admittedly (Twickenham 2003 for example) once were. The less exciting statistic that no one likes because they don't make for good articles is SA's penalty count. Look at it in the RWC final in 2007, for example, and indeed the entire tournament. Let's remember the Samoa game in RWC2011 - if there was a situation where a few boks seeing red mist was likely, that was it. And none. Nonu's tackle was worthy of a ban, but it was again a stubborn refusal to even consult the TMO on BdP's tackle that resulted in him being sent off. Poite made other bad calls - the first AB try was sketchy but he asked the question in the negative and therefore was awarded.Etc. So when supporters (not coaches and players mind you, but supporters who pay for tickets to Super Rugby and Rugby Championship games) express their grievances to SANZAR and the IRB, then it draws attention to this ongoing misperception that the Boks are bad, which has a very real cost to us on the pitch. All of that said, the vitrioloic and disrespectful comments from many SA supporters ashames me. It's up to us to keep our side of the street clean and follow JDV's example as far as engaging on that level is concerned. In that case, users of social media should have their rights revoked etc. But absent that dynamic, the more that supporters express very real and legitimate frustrations, the better. The game will evolve and we will be better for it. We are not football. (Grammar intended)
JimmyB
Guest
You're not wrong, I don't think Barnes is well liked anywhere, certainly not in England, funnily enough most Poms feel that he blows smoke up the SH countries asses and in turn he has a bit of hatred for England, mainly because he is still bitter about being Rob Andrews understudy for years. It's funny how different nationalities can dislike someone, but for completely different reasons.
JimmyB
Guest
Simon Shaw, despite being sent off was/ is definitely not a dirty player nor was Dallaglio. Johnson certainly had his moments, although he had the good sense to grow out of it, by and large. Grewcock is a different story, he was an absolute monster, even his own team mates had to watch out for him, it was a shame because he was a very good player and his indiscipline cost him his England career. Woodward got fed up with him and cut him loose. The less said about Hartley the better, he's a lost cause. Last ban was for calling the ref a cheat, cost him his Lions spot.
richard
Guest
Lawrence Dallaglio,Simon Shaw,Danny Grewcock,Martin Johnson ring a bell. Oh,and Dylan Hartley on McCaw.
Colin Kennedy
Roar Guru
Sorry David, a bit of an exaggeration. Most of my nephews and cousins are armed, though its apparently 12 people in every 100 - which is still large (SA is ranked 17th in the world for gun ownership). Security companies, armed guards, cash in transit - a far higher gun presence than in many countries. I no longer live in SA by the way, but still have business interests there.
Colin Kennedy
Roar Guru
Thanks Yujio, I suppose there is a bit of sensitivity and laager mentality with South Africans no matter where we travel in the world, which I am sure will change with time.
moaman
Guest
+1
David
Guest
Colin, not sure if you are just teasing but I live in SA and I don't know a single person that carries a gun. I know perhaps 2 or 3 that own a gun and they are kept in gun safes. Back in the 80s I knew a couple that carried a gun. They don't anymore.