Johannesburg - The announcement of South Africa’s Rugby World Cup squad on Tuesday provided a welcome relief from the news of the desperate stand-off in Cape Town between the government there and the taxi associations. Neither are prepared to give an inch – and the ANC-run national government is not doing too much to help, for the obvious low-hanging fruit it thinks it can pluck from a realpolitik that is devoid of either principle or the interests of the population.
The Supersport studios in Randburg provided far more fascinating fare, with the high drama of the shock omissions of World Cup heroes Handre Pollard, Lukhanyo Am and Lood de Jager because of injury and the low farce of behemoths having to almost prostrate themselves to be capped by SA Rugby president Mark Alexander.
Almost as soon as the squad was read out, the conspiracy theorists and keyboard warriors hit cyberspace with their theories and vented their spleen. We’ve apparently already lost the World Cup before the squad even gets on the plane later today. There are, apparently, ominous synchronicities between the make-up of this squad and 1999, when Gary Teichman was unceremoniously dumped as captain by coach Nick Mallet.
We don’t have recognised kickers. Perhaps Morne Steyn should have been called out of retirement. The gnashing of the teeth and the rending of the hair has only just begun. There will be much staring into the dying embers of the braai through tumblers of brandy and flagons of beer this weekend. Rasnaber (the coaching duo of Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber) then compounded it by choosing four scrum halves.
For those of us too young to remember, this must be what Area 51 and the moon landing denialism must have felt like. There was little thought for the incredible loyalty and transparency the Springbok coaching staff has shown their charges. We caught a glimpse of it when Makazole Mapimpi’s name was called out. It was matched by the steadfast support for inspirational skipper Siya Kolisi.
The tournament itself is five weeks away – and then runs for another seven. Erasmus is a master tactician; fans saw that when he took to the roof of the Free State stadium to call the line-outs for his team using paddles and lights. He pioneered the bomb squad five years ago in Japan and then took on world rugby over the standard of refereeing. He paid a huge price for going up against the old guard; international opprobrium and an unprecedented ban from the game. But now everyone is doing what he did.
And now this squad! We need not have worried; Eddie Jones raced to the rescue, culling his squad of Aussie legends, appointing a brand-new captain, only picking one flyhalf and chucking in an unknown for good measure. Then the French announced their side, with just a single number 10.
Has Rassie done it again? Is he one step ahead of everyone again? Will Pollard and Am be on the field to receive their winners’ medals on October 28 at the Stade de France?
We’ll find out.