Entertainment is winning
15 Mar 2010
The Bulls and Stormers are playing intelligent rugby, writes Keo in his weekly Business Day newspaper column.
There are good rugby times in SA — traditional times with the added allure that everyone is included in the festivities; not just a white minority.
The good news is that the Bulls (read Northern Transvaal) loom as giants of the game, while in Cape Town the Stormers (read Western Province) are rediscovering an ability to maul, scrum and play with pragmatism and flair. The northern-southern derby can’t come soon enough because it should be the game of the tournament and hopefully there’s a second one to come in the playoffs.
Both teams are playing the best rugby in the competition and, as the cliché goes, when the Bulls and Province are strong, so too is South African rugby.
The Sharks continue to frustrate themselves and disappoint their followers, but this is a province and now a Super 14 franchise that has rarely grown talent, but rather bought success, even though the millions spent on out-of-town superstars has yielded only one Currie Cup title in 15 years and not one Super Rugby title.
The Sharks, in the days when they were known as the Banana Boys for slipping on a peel every time they challenged for Currie Cup A-section status, never earned promotion to the Currie Cup through performance. It required a competition format expansion to accommodate the Durbanites, and when they finally made it into the big league of South African domestic rugby they proved the leaders in the era of shamateurism; that’s when the game was still amateur but the odd team treated it as professional and paid big money to build a team.
The Sharks were this team. They created a culture of expensive player imports, with the occasional dud buys. It could explain why the mercenaries of Durban have always teased more than pleased when it comes to winning competitions.
It is annoying to watch a team with so much resource fail so often. Watching the Sharks is like watching Real Madrid in the European Cup. They have the stars but too many of them have to be taught the local culture instead of being born into it, and in moments of stress there is a trend for these imports to stumble more easily than fight.
After all, the Sharks are a team for too many and a home for too few.
With the Bulls and Stormers there is enough emphasis on homegrown talent and the integration of big names is balanced with investment of locals.
Heyneke Meyer, after a turbulent start, returned Bulls rugby to its core values of power, precision and a kicking No 10. As the side grew and evolved, so did their all-round game. Where the Bulls have taught themselves to be expressive, the Stormers have allowed themselves to be taught to be conservative when the situation demands this kind of rugby intelligence.
Defence has always been a strength of SA ’s best teams, as has a forward-based game. Overseas commentators criticise it because their teams have little means to counter it. So they rely on the perceived fragile South African psyche and inferiority complex to condemn it as dinosaur rugby.
When South African teams try to play like Australian and New Zealand teams and base everything on attack, they invariably take a pasting (read the Lions) and it is no coincidence that they also become popular tourists because they pose no threat.
The Bulls, in the past five years, have lost this inferiority complex and the need to be liked. They do what works for them and not what will make them popular. The Stormers, with Allister Coetzee the hands-on influence in this year’s coaching set-up, have finally adopted a similar approach. Entertainment, says Coetzee, is winning. Supporters want a winning team and in Pretoria and Cape Town they currently have them. Long may both continue to win — and entertain.
Defence is 50 % of the game because half the game is played without the ball. South African supporters should take pride in matches won on defence and not irresponsible attack.
The Bulls and Stormers in the competition have played with intelligence and belief in their style of play, which has substance and is bringing success. The Lions, as gets written every week, have bought into the illusion that attack, regardless of its merits, is more important than the result.
– In the new issue of Business Day Sport Monthly magazine, FREE with this Friday’s newspaper, Keo explains why overseas-based players should be selected for the Springboks.
416 Comments
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16 Mar 2010, 00:08 am
@charo: 393. Maybe it Ni*g*ria – bunch of prawn (D9) eaters.
16 Mar 2010, 00:09 am
@Heavens Game: it is
16 Mar 2010, 00:10 am
Night chaps – wife crowing from upstairs
16 Mar 2010, 00:12 am
@Heavens Game:
that was one of the best movies i’ve seen for a long time.
even my expat pom mates here loved it – even though they did not get the full irony
16 Mar 2010, 00:12 am
@SodaJoe: LOL.
16 Mar 2010, 00:12 am
For one thing Genia and Giteau gave our bok’s including Fdp and Morne Steyn a rugby lesson just 7 months ago in Brisbane, same as they did in same stadium in 2006.
So if you asking what has Genia won, well he’s had Fdp’s scalp once already, lets see next time out who comes our top of the pop’s
16 Mar 2010, 00:13 am
@Heavens Game: I agree, It’s not me backstabbing John Smit, I did not write the immortal lines “turbo-reverse” first.
If he was a cricketer he would not be scoring runs.
If he was a golfer he would not be making par.
That is all I am commenting on. Nothing more. He is simply not good enough to play for the Springboks – he was, with distinction, he isn’t any more.
This is not a Gary Teichmannesque exercise. A captain discarded too soon, and we paid the price.
That’s it. And to win international rugby games you have to have a team that can do EVERYTHING brilliantly, not just some of the things some of the time.
16 Mar 2010, 00:15 am
cheers hg
@skopskiet:
skoppie, agree, genia is one helluva rare talent and gits defies the laws of rugby players for his size
16 Mar 2010, 00:15 am
@charo: 396 Just hanging out with my mate.
16 Mar 2010, 00:15 am
out, its late, g.night
16 Mar 2010, 00:17 am
Ok girls. I have to go. Be good. See you all through the window.
16 Mar 2010, 00:21 am
out as well.
thanks for the good banter this evening.
**** me i needed it after the slow chinese torture from my principals
16 Mar 2010, 07:13 am
One of the best articles of 2010.
16 Mar 2010, 07:21 am
37. 4thWiseMan :
March 15th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
@Zulu_baby:
Yeah, but you had to see the calibre of the NZ/Canes supporters. The bottom of the gene pool barrel at best
Speaks volumes about the locals who *choose* to support Kiwi teams…
The Highlanders supporter I watched the game with on Saturday was positively revolting. Filthy mouth and sh*tfaced drunk.
16 Mar 2010, 07:49 am
The Sharks were the province which embraced the modern era best. Whilst the traditionalists sat back with blinkers on, content with the status quo, it was the Sharks who changed their name and attitude to fit in with the big changes that were about to happen.
First to introduce a modern game of multi phase rugby through Ian Mac they were revolutionary in their approach. Loads of what we see today was introduced by the Sharks. Small examples like the cheerleaders. Nobody had them until the Sharks bought their flashers out. Quirks like the remote controlled car bringing on the kicking tee etc. WP and Noord Transvaal were so slow to adapt. And their results mirrored this conservative approach.
So I take great umbridge with Keo hacking into the Sharks when they were a team that dominated the 90’s. But it was a sensational article filled with piss and wind so I have already taken the bait no doubt. Great journalism then, ey. I am also a bit late on this response so fek it.
16 Mar 2010, 14:23 pm
@Predawn: @414
those supporters are everywhere, dont tell me Loftus isnt overflowing with them. Its a generational thing, not a national thing, and can be very selective. I recently visited Lancastr Park for 1st time in 20years and the crowd behaviour was impeccable to a man.
Piet van Zyl anyone ?
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