Mike Greenaway: Springboks take a beating on and off the field

Opinion

It has been with considerable admiration but also a strong tinge of envy that Springbok supporters have watched the rock-solid build-up to the Tri-Nations of the Wallabies and All Blacks.

For every sure step forward by their Antipodean rivals in the June internationals, the Springboks have staggered backwards, to the extent that they leave for Brisbane (before next week's match against Australia) with public expectations at their worst ebb since Jake White took over from Rudolf Straeuli after the 2003 World Cup shambles.

How can this be? The Boks won the Tri-Nations in 2004 and last year made a good fist of defending their title, coming within four minutes of beating the All Blacks in Dunedin in the championship decider.

Yet here they are in crisis. The Boks have major injury problems, they do not have a flyhalf to speak of, their coach has waged a confidence-sapping contract dispute with his employers and their performances in their home matches against Scotland and France were woeful.

The year had started promisingly enough. White made encouraging proclamations on how he was going to field experimental teams in the June tests and said that this would be the year the Boks added innovation on attack to the strong defence and set-piece play that underpinned his first two seasons in charge.

And, true to his word, White picked a second-strength team for the match against the World XV last month in Johannesburg. Sadly, the uninspiring match (narrowly won by the Boks) exposed some uncomfortable truths, notably that the Boks' depth was poor.

So White rapidly abandoned his experimentation and the following week picked his best team for the first test against Scotland. The Scots were crushed, but a week later they matched the Bok forwards and almost won the second test.

The South African backs had been weak, and they were dreadful the next week in Cape Town when France ended the Boks' 13-match unbeaten home run under White, scoring four tries to one.

That match was an embarrassment for White. His dull team bore no resemblance to the effervescent side that beat the All Blacks on the same pitch last year.

Something was very wrong. Perhaps the players had got wind of their coach's application for a position at England's RFU?

This matter was made public a few days after the loss to France and White's subsequent negotiations with the South African Rugby Union over his future (he wants his contract extended beyond the World Cup to 2009) knocked the morale of the rugby public, not to mention the players.

It emerged that White had good reasons for wanting to move on. For instance, the constant intervention of ill-informed politicians on the issue of racial transformation in rugby has been driving him crazy, as has the failure of the Super 14 coaches to assist him by either not picking some of his Boks or by playing them out of position.

A major problem in South African rugby is that the provinces contract the players, not the governing body, and there always seems to be a drama between the provinces and SARU over compensation for the use of players.

It is true that an elite group of 24 Boks also hold SARU contracts, but this is not ideal because White constantly has to address pay issues between contracted and non-contracted Boks.

And while the bickering has been going on off the field, the Boks have been suffering setbacks on it.

Key players such as flanker Schalk Burger (the IRB Player of the year for 2004), centre Jean de Villiers, flyhalf Andre Pretorius and lock Bakkies Botha are out of the Tri-Nations with serious injuries and wings Bryan Habana and Breyton Paulse are in serious doubt.

These players are vital to the success of the Boks and White knows that they cannot be adequately replaced. The back-up players are not in the same league.

The injury to Pretorius is worrying. Jaco van der Westhuyzen has been playing in the No 10 jersey with little success but he is White's only option.

The best South African flyhalf in the Super 14 was a Kiwi, Tony Brown (Sharks), and the other franchises chopped and changed in that key position because nobody was putting their hand up.

The Springboks' preparations for the Tri-Nations couldn't have been worse. But it is also worth noting that the Boks seem to thrive in a backs-to-the-wall situation.

Mike Greenaway is a rugby writer for the Natal Mercury