RWC: The champions are champions

The All Blacks are world champions and deservedly so. But I have to admit I got very excited when Le Bleus (wearing white, how were the jerseys this WC? England: looking like All Blacks, playing like England!) started working them over in the second half. Once again, in spite of consistent world domination during the interim four years, when it came to the crunch, the ABs looked vulnerable indeed. I can only imagine the host nation’s second half agony as Francois Trinh-Duc (what a revelation he was!) lined up and missed one of the few kickable second half penalty offered by SA ref Joubert. The French, who had been impossibly poor during the tournament, losing two matches in scraping through to the finals, suddenly found themselves within a gasp of what would have been the greatest upset ever in world rugby. What this encounter tells us is that the World Cup is a fickle lady and, on the day, any one of the big teams can ambush the other and put an abrupt end to four years of intense planning and effort. I felt for Wales. One tackle ended their dream. They deserved to have played the final against the ABs.

Adjudication of the rules continue to blight the game of rugby. While the South Africans felt hard done by New Zealander Mark Lawrence, the French moaned about Craig Joubert. “Kaino made a heap of fouls, McCaw was doing whatever he wanted and he wasn’t penalised,” one of the French players said. I don’t blame the referees. The rules need to be simplified. We have always been told that the ever increasing textbook of rules will enable more tries to be scored and thus ensure a more entertaining spectator game. Bulldust! The excitement of rugby is not measured by number of tries, but in the quality of the contest. 8-7. Just two tries, but what a game! Let’s bring back the old rules, when the contest began in the tunnel and the first set piece was awaited with huge anticipation.

For South African rugby the question is this: are we going to bumble through four years of international matches, gradually eroding the proud Springbok record, to gamble it all at the wheel of World Cup fortune? It didn’t work in 2011. One slip against the woeful Wallabies made a mockery of the much bandied line — judge us at the World Cup. Winning the odd Test at home by a slim margin is not good enough, we need to start dominating seasons.

Let’s look at the two records between World Cups: (played/won/lost/percentage success)

SA 44 27 17 61%

NZ 48 39 9 81%

(Interestingly of New Zealand’s nine losses, five of them were against the Springboks. It’s a great pity that these two teams have not squared up in a World Cup game since 2003.)

Add to these gloomy between-Cup results, a chilling statistic: the last four IRB Junior World Championships have all been won by New Zealand (38-3, 44-28, 62-17, 33-22). South Africa has not made one of the finals! Imagine the depth of young talent coming through in Kiwi land. We are going to need seven Pat Lambies and eight Heinrich Brussows to combat that lot.

Let’s start by choosing the right coach. We are hearing Allister Coetzee. Even with all the Springboks back, he couldn’t get Province into the final. Whether the Lions win or lose the final on Saturday, John Mitchell has shown us how to inspire a rugby team.