Give our boys a fair crack
South African teams always start four league points down in the Super 14.
Once again it is down to two rounds in the Super 14 and one league win that separates teams two and seven.
Once again those who devised the structure of the tournament are commending themselves because any tournament in which the play-offs only get determined in the last week has to be a good one. At least that’s the self indulgence you will hear.
But the Super 14 is not a fair tournament. It favours the New Zealand and Australian teams because of travel determined by geography and it also gives half the teams a more favourable draw each year, which in essence means it is not a fair tournament.
The Super 14, like the Super 12, is weighted against South African teams.
This is not a gripe but a fact and yet we wonder why we continue to fail more than succeed.
Let’s take the Lions as an example. They are fair game and All Blacks legend Sean Fitzpatrick gave them a bollocking for their shabby performance against the Hurricanes in Wellington last weekend.
What Fitzpatrick did not say was that the Lions had been on tour for five weeks, jetting between New Zealand and Australia.
At most, New Zealand teams play three games in South Africa. Australian teams get two. Occasionally a New Zealand team will get an Aussie team on the way over or one on the way back and when they do you never hear the end of how demanding the schedule is.
This brings us back to the South African teams, for whom a short tour is four weeks.
The South African players in time have improved and learned to enjoy Australia and New Zealand, but no matter how much you enjoy a place the difference between three and five matches is a fortnight away from home and in all probability eight league points lost on the road.
When you consider that four league points have historically separated teams four and eight, you get to appreciate the impact of the additional two weeks away from home.
Given the circumstances and the disadvantage of the draw (based on geographics) the fact that South Africa invariably has one team in the semi finals and on most occasions two in the top five is a credit to the boys.
The reality is South Africa does not have the depth for five teams and neither does New Zealand. Australia also does not have the depth for four teams. But outside of the depth issue, the best South African teams do bloody well.
I don’t think we give them enough credit and I have been as guilty as the next person. Our expectations are high and we demand success every weekend. But the reaction too often is over the top.
Because of this South African inferiority complex, which too many still have, it seems improper to object to the schedule because then South Africans are accused of being an extension of Pommy whingers.
The obvious solution is for South African teams to play in Europe, but that doesn’t ever seem likely. South Africa, by playing in the Super 12, have improved New Zealand and Australia’s development of players, to the detriment of their own.
If there is to be an expansion to the Super 14 then it has to ensure the teams all play the same amount of games overseas and spend equal time away from home.
Otherwise we will be wasting our time again and continue to be the whipping boys of New Zealand and to a lesser degree Australia.
The point is the Kiwis are not that good and we are not that bad. But when we continue to give them an eight point tournament head start we will never know how good we can be in this tournament or just how ordinary their teams can look.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:22 am
#225 skopskiet:
yes skop – on this occasion we agree wholeheartedly.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:26 am
#220 ET: The Stormers “consistently the best” from SA? What on earth have you been smoking? They’ve never even been in a final! They’re consistently a mid-table mediocre side. But they DO win a few on the road. That’s because they enjoy touring rather than see it as an ordeal somewhat like travelling to Mars where everyone speaks a foreign language like English.
The Afrikanerboy teams from inland just get chicken-hearted and draw in a laager of fear and panic as soon as the plane leaves your OR Tambo Aerodrome.
It’s not a travel disadvantage. It’s a phobic mental handicap. Send them off in a fuzzy haze of Prozac to fight off their recurring nighmare demons of heading overseas for yet more snottings.
Bunch of whiny cry-babies, if you ask me. Not hard enough to hack it with the Anzacs in their own backyards.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:42 am
#221 munkiboi: I don’t agree that holding our position in the center of the rugby world, which geographically includes Europe, is stupid. That’s a harsh response.
Joining with Europe may not work, because of the seasons. But holding our center and ensuring level playing fields should be the overriding principles. We have lost the plot and paid a big price by sacrificing these age-old principles. We are sacrificing ourselves year-in-year out. At some point, not recognizing this, becomes stupid.
I do agree that making changes to the existing competition could work as well. It may be better.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:44 am
Keo’s enjoyed his recent few weeks in France, and just wants more excuses to go back there. What’s the SA tax system like – presumably if its work-related, the travel expense is tax deductable? Keo wants the Tax Man to pay some of his holiday bills!!
May 9th, 2008 at 4:47 am
#228 Jake: I like this idea. I think it could work. It’s a paradigm shift.
We must not sell ourselves short again, out of hubris. Essentially, I think this was SARU’s mindset when it was a party to creating the Super 10.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:20 am
#251 sglazer:
Europe may be similar time zones to SA, but it is still an overnight flight away. We will not avoid the travel burden given that we are relatively isolated unless we enter into a comp with zim and namibia.
I am one of those devil you know versus devil you dont kind of people, and joining the Heineken Cup for example would not be viable in my opinion. Our travel burden would be worse – and it would be mroe costly. currently we have 5/16 teams. In a euro league we could potentially have to play: 4 from england, 4 from france, 3 from wales, 2 from ireland, one from scotland, one from italy? assuming we still had 5 teams that would be 5/20 teams in the comp.
assuming that it is split into 4 pools of 5 – top 2 from each pool progressing to the QF. Home and away against each team in your group – so 8 games. an sa team would (assuming no other SA team in their pool) play 4 games in SA and have to travel to europe for 4 games. their opponents would play 7 games in europe and 1 in SA.
Now how on earth does that make for a level playing field…??
May 9th, 2008 at 5:40 am
#254 Good analysis munki
The grass is not always greener on the other side
(in fact, its often mud up North, and not grass at all!).
Keo and some of his acolytes on this site should think things through more clearly. If they want to win more, perhaps address the management and coaching side of things. Bring those up to a more professional level, so that the SA teams are better prepared for the early part of the system (and are better supported by a cohesive central rugby body – rather than the rag-tad operators that seem to have run the joint for the past few years.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:41 am
rag-tad = rag-tag (oops)
May 9th, 2008 at 5:47 am
sglaser @ 253
Speaking of “hubris” – what makes you think that the “North” actually WANT SA teams playing there anyway. How many teams do you think that they would let in to their Comp? Would they drop other teams to field some SA teams?
You may end up supporting only 1 or 2 teams – the Coast (Sharks, Stormers, Spears) and the Veldt (everything above 5000′!!). Certainly not the 5 you have now.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:52 am
#254 munkiboi: Time zones are the main variable when it comes to travel.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:56 am
#257 BillTong: We need to explore it, at least, with the central guiding principle being level playing fields.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:01 am
#250 TheTackler: This is bigotry at its worst. Bigotry creates a small mind.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:10 am
#260 sglazer: Bull. It’s the truth. Deal with it, crybaby.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:41 am
#261 TheTackler: The Afrikanerboy teams from inland … . That’s bigotry.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:43 am
sglazer – forget it, you’ll never win. Tackler is beyond redemption – move on with your life.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:44 am
#261 TheTackler: “Deal with it crybaby”. That’s domineering and demeaning. Contracting energies that weaken the mind.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:59 am
#263 BillTong: Thanks
May 9th, 2008 at 7:00 am
#262 sglazer: They’re Afrikaners. Is this demeaning? They’re from inland. Is this demeaning? So, what’s possibly demeaning about calling an Afrikanerboys from inland “Afrikanerboys from inland”?
Also, they totally suck at rugby away from SA. Well, if I were one of their number I’d be embarrassed about this too.
So they’d better stop whining and griping about their so-called “travel disadvantage” and just harden up. Rugby’s not for sissies.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:11 am
#266 TheTackler: Tackler, sometimes we’re blind to our own negativity. I have been more times than I want to remember.
The travel schedules are not even. This is fact. Simple arithmetic.
There are many scientific studies that show the effects of crossing time-zones on the mind and body. To illustrate the point, this has led to people with mental illnesses being strongly advised not to do it. This shows that there is good reason to have level playing fields in sport competitions taking place across time zones
May 9th, 2008 at 7:20 am
#266 TheTackler: … otherwise, for the victors, victory is hollow. And for the supporters, delusional, a pretense.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:02 am
#23 tight head: The studies already exist. They’re in the medical journals, well known in medical circles.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Seems as we have become more sophisticated we have in turn become more in tune with our weaknesses, traveling across time zones in years gone by never raised any issues, now that we have measuring tools to determine how this affects or mental, physical and psychological well being it has become a convenient excuse.
Whats the fuss about, we have to play more away games than they do, so perhaps its a little lop sided in terms of its structure, a logistical issue, but to start with sports science institutes and the like demeaning the nature of the competition sounds more like whining and excuse finding to me.
How about we toughen up and lift the bar in terms of our preparation and training, maybe restructure our own internal weakened structures and coaching techniques, once we start winning, sports science won’t have that many gripes to find fault with time zone travel.
Stormers lost their first 3 games at home, one against a team from NZ who had ‘travelled’ across time zones to whip both the SA adversaries, and once at altitude to boot, once Stormers got overseas they started winning, argument falls flat on its face imo.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:31 am
#270 skopskiet: How can objective, scientific studies be excuses? This doesn’t make sense.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:49 am
if there is any ’science’ to this time travel stuff then the stormers are the team to consult, they bucked the trend and won on the road. only the sharks performance on the road supports the time travel theory. the rest of the sa teams were krap home and away.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:48 am
272, Yes there is considerable science to this, Mongrel
Your daily sleep rhythm gets disrupted by east-west travel, especially travel East which unfortunately our teams do when they go to Oz and NZ
Its called jet lag because it became a recognised phenomenon only once people started travelling across time zones in jets. Before that your brain could adapt more to the slower forms of travel – one time zone per day is what the brain likes
So travel north south as Keo suggests (crossing at most 2 time zones) to play the 6N countries won’t have this added burden
May 9th, 2008 at 11:51 am
ALL sides that travel East have to return home travelling West, and ALL sides going West have to return home going East. And ALL sides will play games on each side of their travel. So it balances out equally.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Aust and NZ teams visiting Cape Town have to deal with Stellenbosch and having their teams on the piss for a week
so whats the big deal – it all evens out in the end
May 9th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Keo
When the Aussie cricket side go to England for an 8 week tour, 5 Test matches and a bunch or One Dayers and warm up games how many matches / points are they behind at the start ??
May 9th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
#274 TheTackler: It doesn’t work like that, Tackler.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
#274 TheTackler: That’s made-up logic, without reason. Refer to the medical journals on the subject. It is well documented.