To be Mahlatse Ralepelle. “Chilliboy” to the okes. Talented schoolboy player with great leadership potential. Rose up the ranks smoothly enough, earning his stripes along the way and maturing into a better rounded player. Then out of the blue (a then) under-fire Jake White picks him to make a cheap political statement. Remember those days, before Jake was The Messiah? Seems like a lifetime ago. There is a lesson there about backing your coach.
The appointment of die Bokke’s first black captain, which everyone understood would take a fair while, was supposed to be one of those milestone occasions that would show just how far transformation had come in rugby. Instead it was reduced to a farce wrapped up in meaningless World XV jamboree. Nobody came out of that one smelling good.
It also didn’t help that “Chilliboy” only got a single half in the match to show his worth before being ushered off at halftime. Since then he’s been subjected to more scrutiny than any young developing sports star should. It doesn’t help that not all of it is positive. There are a fair number of people who’ll happily see him fail if it means they can crow about transformation being a misguided Mugabe-type exercise. Probably as many as those who want to see him succeed purely because the player and leader he is growing into will be a great bonus for Bok rugby. Same I suppose as with when Jake White picked Bryan Habana from relative obscurity to be part of his Tri-Nations training squad in 2004.
It says a lot about SA Rugby followers though that the likes of Frans Steyn, Schalk Burger and Big Joe van Niekerk did not have reactions half as vitriolic to their fast tracking. But let me stop before making metaphors involving automotive repair specialists.
Now after a fairly successful season with Die Bulle where he played a significant cameo role as understudy to the (underrated) Derick Kuun (who, while I rate him currently, doesn’t have the same potential as Ralepelle — sort of like Jannie de Beer and “Die Lem”) he finds himself in the Bok team as designated understudy to “The Bismarck” and in with a chance at getting a starting berth in the dead rubber third Lions Test on Saturday.
I for one hope Snor is brave enough to let the young man show how much he has grown in the last three years and also gain some valuable playing time before the pressure-cooker of the Tri-Nations.
The entire Bok fraternity stands to gain a lot if he comes through the Test.
Go Bokke!
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