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The All Blacks love them or hate them carry the game at heart. The reasons they play are purer and less clouded than any other nation. South Africans play the game for different reasons, just watch a SA derby in the Super14 and you will be lulled into sleeping if it's not your team competing. We are blinded by winning, yes its the only thing I know, but for the love of the game where is the skill in it. Thankfully we as a nation are attempting to play a more expansive game. But enough about us. This is about them...
From what I see and read things are looking pretty bleak in The Land of the Long White Cloud. Uncle Graham has picked up a very average bunch of players after his unlucky performance at the World Cup last year. Injuries to a few have thrown in some names even Jambles Charton may struggle to place. This is not what I have come to expect of this once mythical bunch in black. Playing the All Blacks has always been every South African players dream or nightmare whatever the result may be, but just recently there seem to be more in house fights than we have here at SARugby headquarters and now with the team coughing up pretty average performances, where are they going as a nation who loves rugby more than life itself ?
Dont be fooled into thinking South Africans love the game more than your average Kiwi, cause you are wrong. From what I hear every person you meet, be it at customs, the hair salon or your average pub, will debate the merits of selections and team tactics while always reminding you that you will lose to the beloved AB's. They still talk about the shed, the paddock and lads. Its pure down there, really pure. At least it was...
The reasons for the sudden decline are quiet obvious to see now but before the World Cup you would have been laughed out of the loony bin. But as we all know things change, and in this case, quickly. I have to mention Robbie Deans or ' Dingo ' as the convicts call him in this piece cause I feel like he is the Messiah to a lot of people and now even more so after giving his beloved country a bloody nose on Saturday. If they lose come Saturday it will be the knock out of a nation. Mark my words the shit is going to hit the fan. If Deans had been appointed Coach would this have happened, who knows. But I certainly don't see them playing like they are at the moment. Uncle Graham had his chance, yes it was one game but he blew it, be a man and move aside. He didn't. He put on a more grumpy front admitted to some mistakes and tried to please a nation by stopping the rotation policy so hotly debated in every corner of NZ. Losing the core of any team is hard to handle, almost impossible to be honest, teams take time to build. Experience is vital as Jake has shown us, why it took so long I will never know but that's another story, ask Ashfak. You need time and Uncle Graham has almost run out of it. So if the AB's lose against the convicts on Saturday take a moment to think about life over there. They take the game pretty seriously.
What worries me most is the continued drain to the North, its not good for rugby here or in NZ. I cant imagine having to watch that drivel week in and week out with some pompous chinless wonder telling me about the virtues of a 9-3 win in the sleet of who gives a shit. I like the Super14, rugby is a great game played this way. Heaven knows where we would be without it, somewhere near the 9-3 scoreline I guess. So come Saturday lets pray for an All Black win, I cant handle the convicts winning at their third most important sport or whatever they say. I really enjoy Robbie Deans and all he stands for, hell the man is a living legend, he has more Super14 Cups than we do as a country collectively. But I think even he would would quietly give a sigh of relief to his nation in these trying times.
The Ancestors will be watching...
