Opinion
South African rugby might strike many as boring and predictable but the same cannot be said for the colourful imagery that their assistant coach Mzwandile Stick used to decribe their critics on Monday.
As the Springboks prepared for Sunday’s match against the Wallabies, Stick produced a couple of phrases that had people laughing and wondering if he was taking lessons from the Rassie Erasmus School of Media Management.
After a very quiet 2020, the Springboks are sitting as number one in the world, the current World Cup holders and they recently just wrestled the British and Irish Lions into submission in the Test series in South Africa.
Despite all these accolades, the team is not immune from criticism and there are those who feel that the style that earned these impressive results is anything but beautiful.
To those critics, Stick would like to say: “There is also a saying I believe in, a dog doesn’t bark at the car that is standing still. He just pees on it.”
And the Springboks are much happier being barked at than peed, on one would assume.
Some of this barking has come from pretty respected places. Recently, Steve Hansen commented on the forward dominated nature of the recent Lions series by saying that the coaches just didn’t have any faith in what was going to happen if the ball was passed around a bit.
“It’s not a game that anybody wants to watch. And it turned a lot of people off,” said Hansen.
(Jono Searle/Getty Images)
With the All Blacks piling on the points against the Wallabies in the recent Bledisloe series – 128 points in three Tests – there are plenty who think that all teams should be looking to play the same expansive style of rugby.
Stick doesn’t agree and even took a little dig at the Kiwis’ style of play as well as reassuring the world that the Boks have no intention on changing their approach.
“They must just try and play that touch or champagne rugby,” Stick said. “We are not going to lose focus on what we want to achieve as a team. We know our strengths, we know our DNA, we know what works for us.”
Stick went on to challenge the theory that his team weren’t playing any sort of attacking rugby by reminding us of the talent that sits in the South African outside backs.
Makazole Mapimpi has scored 16 tries in 18 matches while Cheslin Kolbe has scored nine from 18 and is a constant threat who gives defence coaches nightmares.
The Springboks might be boasting the title of world leaders currently but that doesn’t mean that they are treating their match against the Wallabies this Sunday as a foregone conclusion. They are well aware that their success in Australia has been far rarer than they’d like – just give five wins from 30 Tests since 1993.
To achieve a sixth win though, it’s clear the Boks aren’t planning on doing anything differently and with the likes of Stick and Rassie Erasmus recent media extravaganza, it sounds like we can look forward to plenty of more entertaining press conferences from the management team.
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