Will the castle crumble when the guard changes?

I had a feeling that the “Springboks” were going to lose to the Leicester Tigers on Friday night. The fixture reminded me of the torrid time the Irish club side Connacht gave the Boks in the lead up to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Match feedback from that game recorded that the Springboks “played with bad techniques” and were “sloppy in all aspects”. Ring any bells? Ask Danie Rossouw, Ruan Pienaar, and Guthro Steenkamp. Fortunately, I taped the Leicester game, so my favourite night of the week wasn’t ruined.

This isn’t the first warning that the Springbok reserves don’t look much like the real thing. Over the last couple of seasons, the Springbok’s second best team, or rather, the players selected under this guise, have failed to convince that they’re worthy aspirants.

In World Cup 2007, after a full-strength Springbok team had dismantled finalists England in their pool game, a woeful Bok 2nd XV were all at sea against Toga in Lens, before coach Jake sent on the mainstream reinforcements. Ruan Pienaar, Wynand Olivier, Danie Rossouw and Guthro Steenkamp played that day; none of the other second stringers survived.

More recently, new coach Pieter de Villiers was castigated after the first Test against the Lions when he surrendered a huge tactical advantage (and lead of 26-7) to bring on a swath of replacements. It nearly cost the Boks the match and certainly gave the Lions momentum for the rest of the series. Later, with the series wound up, South Africa could afford to test their second string in the third Test. With 10 changes, the Boks were completely outplayed to the tune of 28-9 (equalling their biggest defeat ever against the Lions).

Maybe that’s why I felt pessimistic before the Tigers game. Look, losing a mid week game in the UK is not a national disaster. The 1969 Springboks lost a number of such games on their UK tour. But there is a strong sense that the current depth of Springbok rugby is not what it should be.

The 2009 Bok team is a formidable one with a number of players the best, or damn close to it, in their positions in the world. The year will rank as legend in Springbok history with three victories in a row against the All Blacks and a series win against the Lions. The likes of Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger and Fourie du Preez are not easily replaced.

But no great team rules forever. Remember the 1970/1 Springboks who beat the All Blacks and then went unbeaten on a tour of Australia? After those two epic series wins, without players like Frik du Preez, Mannetjies Roux, Dawie de Villiers, Piet Visagie and Hannes Marais (who returned from retirement to play the Lions), the Boks floundered and lost at home to an unheralded English side. And two years later Willie John McBride arrived to break all records against a Springbok side that was ravaged from Test to Test by speculative selections.

Now the same scenario looms. The trickle after the World Cup, starting with Os and Percy retiring, then CJ van der Linde and Butch James overseas, followed by Jean de Villiers and Francois Steyn. Add to that the brawn drain of other fringe World Cup players … Outside the First XV, who were the development players of the 2007 World Cup?

The overseas factor is a major headache facing the selectors. South Africa is not alone; Australia and especially New Zealand have also suffered. When talented young players are ruled out because of their overseas obligations it is a great loss to the country’s skill pool.

Fortunately, some sanity has prevailed, and the “powers-that-be” have had the foresight to recall CJ van der Linde from Ireland. How about an SOS to Racing Metro?

We need to have a good hard look at our depth. It is not sufficient to develop good players; they need to have potential for greatness. Nothing I have seen of Wynand Olivier, or the Ndugane brothers, has convinced me that they are better than the average Super 14 player. It would be interesting to calculate how many minutes of Super 14/Currie Cup rugby Friday’s team played this year. None of Chilliboy, Bandise Maku, Jannie du Plessis, Earl Rose, Danie Rossouw or Heini Adams were first-choice starters for their province. Ruan Pienaar played scrumhalf for the Sharks.

And are there players left at home that are better? It is hard to argue against the merits of the Free State front row. Or the first choice hookers like Kuhn, Strauss or Liebenberg … But overall there seems to be a lack of depth in the second tier, perhaps due to the number of key players now plying their trade overseas. Can we afford, for example, to lose the likes of Brad Barritt as a number 2 to Jean de Villiers? Barritt will probably end up playing for England.

The merits and demerits of a player selection have, and always will be, points of hot dispute. But we cannot ignore the poor performances of the Springbok reserves, especially at a time when our Super 14 sides have been extremely successful.

Development of young talent is a necessity. But when young players are catapulted into a Bok squad without the necessary skills or experience, and then dumped the following season for the next great hope, development can have the reverse result. I support the creation of a South African BaaBaas team, ala the Chick Henderson’s SA BaaBaas in the late 70s. The team should have their own brand of exciting running rugby and enhance the careers of quality young players. They could tackle the likes of Leicester Tigers and Connacht, not as pseudo-Springboks (to be maligned and discarded when they fail) but as legitimate players of the future.

Peter Church is the author of local thriller Dark Video now released in Australia.

www.peterchurch.book.co.za or www.darkvideo.co.za