The Outsider: Welcome to South Africa

A former high-ranking Australian rugby union official once remarked: ‘that the best thing about South Africa was QF 64′. In other words, the flight home!

The comment, which was made within the earshot of several players, drew a laugh at the time; but it also probably served to sum up why the Wallabies haven’t been as successful in the Republic during the professional era as they should have been.

Simply, the country intimidates.

Many a past Wallaby simply couldn’t get away again soon enough.

Just four wins from 21 starts since 1996 is pretty pathetic – the gap between the two teams has never been that great.

It’s certainly not the sort of form that would inspire a Melbourne Cup tilt in the spring – and the epidemic hasn’t just afflicted the national stable.

Of the ten appearances by Australian Super Rugby sides in South Africa this year, just two wins were gained (the Waratahs beat the Stormers and the Force beat the Cheetahs), with the Aussies collectively shipping 286 points across these games, which included five scores in excess of 30 points.

The latter statistics are arguably of even greater concern than those of the Wallabies, given that the habits and attitudes developed within the state arena, where the players spend their most time, invariably carry over to the national team environment.

Why is it so hard?

South Africa, for the uninitiated, is one of the most intense rugby destinations you can visit. Such is the voracious appetite for rugby that there is nowhere to hide.

Invariably wherever you go off the field, locals will know who you are, much more so than in Australia.

The level of knowledge among the percentage of the population that follow the game is so good that there is a fair chance of encountering punters who know individual’s games – and their shortcomings – almost as well as the person concerned does.

And they all have an opinion and are not frightened to share it!

While this is not something the South African rugby population has to its own, with the New Zealand and Wales populations equally as passionate and knowledgeable about the game, there is usually a level of reservation socially in those two countries that doesn’t apply to South Africa.

The Kiwis and Welsh might identify high-profile rugby players when they see them about but most leave them to their own devices.

South Africans are different.

Such is their passion and desire for knowledge and interaction, you can find yourself having the same conversation with a number of different people on the same day. Try it yourself sometime.

Once you are chewing over the same material on your third or fourth occasion, it can wear a bit thin.
The locals mean well, but invariably conclude by fanatically declaring the mess the Springboks are going to make of their opponent on the weekend!

The ‘warmth’ of the welcome brings with it other temptations that can, and have, easily tripped visiting rugby players.

While instances of late night hi-jinx among Australian players in South Africa have tapered off in recent years, this has, at least in part, been the result of the institution of local security men.

They have travelled with the teams both at national and state level, through the last six years, picking up on an approach the Kiwis have been applying for ages.

The men concerned are all ex-South African special police services, and have all served in such wonderful tourist ‘havens’ as Afghanistan and Iraq!

While they keep a low profile around the team, they know their stuff, can see trouble a mile off, and generally extricate their charges from situations like at nightspots, before problems arise.

Of course, they can’t be everywhere and their presence doesn’t prevent every issue: a Welsh national team player got himself into an Oscar Pistorius-style altercation at a nightclub a few years back and wound up having a shot fired in his direction!

Then there was the Shawn Mackay tragedy during the Brumbies’ 2009 tour, where the team’s security man was still inside the establishment extricating the stragglers when the incident occurred on the road outside.

But it’s not just at the pubs and nightclubs where the distractions lie.

The economics can be alluring too.

At times, some Australian visitors have seemed more intent on making money, than focusing on their preparation for the game.

One senior player on a trip I participated in had the use of a car for the duration, supplied by a personal ‘sponsor’, which he also accessed during Super Rugby visits.

He spent much of his spare time organising evening social ‘engagements’ for younger team members at various establishments, from which he was no doubt collecting a commission off the restaurants and bars concerned.

Speaking engagements provided another lucrative avenue for additional income.

While such activities are all quite legal, and players are entitled to do as they wish with their spare time, the business ‘activities’ did tend to reflect a focus for the trip perhaps not where it should have been.

One could sense that the game was almost the excuse to go to South Africa, enjoy the social life and make some extra cash!

Fortunately, this mentality does seem to have died off among the newer breed, although the challenge of winning in South Africa remains, with the Boks shooting for three in a row at home against the Wallabies after Australia gave as good as it got for a while.

Newlands is one of the more intimidating South African venues to play at as well, because the crowd is close to the playing surface on all sides.

Consequently, it’s not too hard to hear the abuse being shouted in your direction.

Cape Town, wonderful city that it is, is also the hardest place to get to.

The transit in ‘Joburg’ after the 14-hour haul from Sydney is seemingly endless.

When you are already knackered after the main flight, waiting for and then sitting through the extra two-hour domestic leg to the Western Cape is a real punish.

Hence I was slightly surprised to see that the Wallabies didn’t leave Australia until Monday. That meant they wouldn’t have reached Cape Town until Monday night [SA time], would have needed to recover on Tuesday, and so would only have three meaningful training days on the ground in South Africa with which to prepare.

One would suspect those would have been light training days anyway, given the squad has now spent a fair bit of time together for the year.

Their strategies and tactical approaches should be well established.

So they’ve done the work.

Now it’s time for what is historically one of the biggest Tests!