There was basically one thing that summed up the difference between the Springboks and the All Blacks in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final.
It wasn’t the fact that the All Blacks made more than double the amount of the metres than the Boks. It wasn’t the fact that New Zealand scored two tries to zero and enjoyed all the territory. It wasn’t the fact that the Boks never even looked like scoring a try or that they relied on defence as their primary weapon to try and beat their fierce rivals.
No, it was none of the above. In fact, the “thing” I’m referring to didn’t happen during the 80 minutes in which these two great rugby nations went toe-to-toe.
During the halftime break of Saturday’s match, when the rain started to fall on the hallowed Twickenham turf, New Zealand coach Steven Hansen cut his team talk short. He then ordered his charges to go onto the field in the rain and pass the ball around so that they can have a feel for the “new” conditions that had suddenly been dished up.
The Boks, who were in the lead at the time, decided to stay in their changeroom until the last minute, and only took the field shortly before the second half kicked off.
It’s because of that sort of awareness and out-of-the box thinking that New Zealand have left the Springboks behind since 2010.
It’s something as simple like a drill in the rain that may have been the two-point difference that got the All Blacks into Saturday’s final instead of suffering the ignominy of playing in the third-place playoff on Friday night.
The way our greatest rivals New Zealand and Australia approach rugby, the way they think about the game, it’s all with the mindset of trying to win and outsmarting the opposition. The Springbok and South African way of thinking is about not losing.
A few years back at Newlands, when the rain came pouring down in a Super Rugby match between the Stormers and the Waratahs, Rassie Erasmus, one of most gifted and rugby players of his generation and now SA Rugby’s technical manager, told his Stormers players “not to play any rugby” in the wet weather. Basically, get rid of the ball as soon as you get it. The Stormers lost that match, badly.
The great Bob Marley once sang “emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds”. But in the case of the Springboks, the best way to free our rugby minds is if we get either a New Zealander or an Australian to take charge of the team.
If we can compare the Boks’ current gameplan with dating: They managed to pick up good looking girls in 1995 and 2007 with pick-up lines that were popular in those respective years. But those corny lines aren’t going to get the job done in 2015. That’s why the Boks are coming home early from the prom.
But most people in SA Rugby don’t seem to understand that you need more than guts and power to reclaim the No 1 spot in rugby. A complete mindset shift is needed.
Heyneke Meyer tried to expand the Springboks’ repertoire over the last four years, but when the going got tough he reverted back to playing a brand of rugby which was neither effective or good on the eyes.
Foreign coaches with strong personalities will change that thinking, because they didn’t grow up with all this old baggage that defence wins titles. A foreign coach will also not be influenced by provincialism, and keeping his favourites around till after their sell-by date. But most importantly a foreign coach will open our minds and our hearts to the brand of rugby needed to compete with the best in the business.
I’m convinced a local coach cannot make the complete mindset shift of playing an all-encompassing game, because the last two Bok coaches changed their tune during their tenures in the top job.
There have been rumours that Meyer is set to continue for another four years, but that would be a step backwards, because he has achieved absolutely nothing in his four-year stint. In fact, he has taken the Boks backwards during this time, both in terms of results and the transformation of the team.
SA Rugby needs a new saviour, and I suggest they go look for him in New Zealand or Australia.
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