Saturday 19th May 2007
Niki Moore from Durban

South African Rugby Is The Ultimate Winner. . .

It was going to be a challenge right from the start, with a nasty hot wind gusting through Durban on Saturday afternoon that at times was like a helicopter’s down-draught. Both the Sharks and Bulls have superb kickers in Derick Hougaard and Percy Montgomery, but the pernicious wind would rubbish any prolonged kicking-game - and so it proved.

The Blue Bulls ran into the ABSA Stadium as the narrow favourites to win, but as  the game progressed it looked as if the Sharks, those apex predators, would keep the trophy in Durban. And despite the pre-match excitement (Durban was an ocean of black and white all week as cars, people, buildings and shopping centres sported Sharks’ flags) the tension in the stands and the fever-heat of suspense, it was a workman-like game between two well-matched foes. The  most dramatic thing that happened in the first half was a high tackle by Brian Habana of the Bulls that threw the Sharks’ Percy Montgomery head-over-heels. Only the clear horror on Bryan Habana’s face when he realised what he had done saved him from - at the very least - a yellow card. A red card would have rewritten history. For it was that very same Bryan Habana who, in the dying seconds of extra time, scored the try that led to the conversion that clinched the match - for the visitors - by one point! 

The faces of the supporters in the stands said it all. At any stage of the match it could have been anyone’s game, it was always that close. The Sharks played more dramatic rugby, but they also made silly little mistakes. The Bulls, just as their name suggests, plugged away doggedly at any opportunity they got and kept the scores relatively even. As the hooter went at the end of the game, it looked as if the Sharks would win by a decent six-point lead. And then came the unexpected run that stole the game from right under the Sharks’ noses and led to a stunned silence from the black-and-whites while the blues went crazy.

Sharks’s coach Dick Muir said the team were ‘shattered’ by the loss. And well they might be - the Sharks have been the runners-up all too often. Judging by form, they should have won the Super 14 - they were the first to make the finals in 1996, they set the tone with the most victories this season, they were the first SA side to top the log, and until last weekend they were the only SA side to feature in a Super 14 final. And they have always played elegant, classy rugby.

But to be fair, it was fate (and that wind) that lost the game for the Sharks. A one-point difference almost makes no difference. It is useless to look for blame or to find reasons why they lost - in fact there were no real losers. Both the Sharks and Bulls can hold their heads high. And the real winner was South African rugby. We are the Super 14 champions, and have set the tone for a super 2007.

  Sharks 19 - 20 Bulls  

But talking of losers, the gong must once again go to the rugby administration. Just as the whole country was talking rugby and getting excited about the game, the lunatics who run the asylum in government decided to impose a player on the rugby selectors and make headlines for all the wrong reasons. Stormers’ captain Luke Watson, who had initially been left out of the Springbok squad, was forcibly included by order of SARU supremo Oregan Hoskins, raising all sorts of spectres at the feast all over again. This can only be a lose-lose situation for everyone concerned. Luke Watson, by all accounts, is not a team player, being a bit of a law unto himself, and doesn’t mind shooting his mouth off about the national team. There is no love lost between himself and coach Jake White. Watson is also not popular with other Bok team members. This will immediately affect the rapport and team spirit between the coach and players. It also undermines White’s authority with his team.

The government and SARU have immediately jumped on the defensive, saying that Watson was only overlooked because of his father’s ‘struggle credentials’ (Watson senior protested the whites-only policy of the pre-1994 Springboks by refusing to play for them, and has lots of friends in the current rugby administration). If only those who should be paid to keep quiet will remember one thing: the best way to promote a sport across an entire country is by fielding a winning team. No township kid will ever dream of becoming a member of a losing side. The amount of nation-building that took place during the Rugby World Cup of 1995 still echoes to this day. Instead of developing the game in rural areas and township schools - which is what is its mandate - the government rather takes the easy option and interferes with the sharp end of the game. 

And of course the biggest loser is Watson himself. He will always be labelled the player whose daddy got him the job, and he is never, ever, going to be allowed to have a bad day at the office.