Jake cranks up green machine

By MIKE GREENAWAY


Ellis Park is a curious beast. In many ways it is a dinosaur. A huge behemoth stranded in a derelict ghetto of Johannesburg.

In a long-ago era, Ellis Park was in a fashionable area, the centre of a hip district where affluent whites lived, shopped and watched great Transvaal and Springbok teams demolish visiting teams that were intimidated by the sheer size of Ellis Park and the voracity of its crazed supporters.

Times changed. The country was turned on its head. There was full-scale white flight from downtown Jo'burg when apartheid's "undesirables" abandoned their outer-city compounds and moved into the CBD.

The white rugby fans who had previously ruled Ellis Park thought twice about attending games. Your car would be stolen, they thought. Or if you left the ground after dark you would almost certainly be mugged.

This perception lingers into the new millennium. The Lions (formerly Transvaal) and the Cats of the Super 12 seldom get crowd figures beyond 10,000.

But there are occasions when the dinosaur comes alive. Every now and again fans throw caution to the wind and roar new life into the usually dormant beast.

It is only a visit from the All Blacks, and to a lesser degree the Wallabies, that can give this life to the anachronism that is Ellis Park.

For South Africans, the rivalry with the All Blacks is just about defined by a showdown at this 65,000-seater venue - and this goes back way beyond the 1995 World Cup final victory here.

The Boks grow an extra arm and a leg at Ellis Park. They believe they will win, no matter their form or the calibre of the opposition.

And seldom in Ellis Park's epic history has there been such enthusiasm for an encounter with the old enemy. This match was sold out weeks ago.

You have to be South African to understand. Imagine if your team had lost nine consecutive games to the Springboks. You have no idea how it hurts.

But the suffering looks like it could be over. South Africa believes the Boks will win. The mood here is unmitigated optimism. For once, the belief is not based on sentimental hope but on form on the paddock.

The feeling is that a raw Springbok squad went overseas and, although they lost their matches, have returned as a team.

Their hunger to prove themselves was evident in Christchurch and Perth. In the Bok camp this week the focus has been this: If the promise overseas does not build into victory at home, then it has all been for nothing.

Nobody knows more than the Boks that they have won nothing in the 2004 Tri-Nations. So much effort for nowt. The new era under Jake White is at a watershed. A third consecutive loss will suggest yet another false dawn.

South Africans are so sick of defeat to New Zealand it is frightening.

It goes without saying, then, that Springbok resolve will be vigorously renewed on Sunday morning (NZ time). The hunger is huge.

Fans have warmed to White's consistency in selection, to his honest explanations for the teams he has picked, and for the passion the players have displayed.

White's predecessor, Rudolf Straeuli, picked 70 players in 18 months and never fielded the same team twice running.

How on earth could you have confidence in a coach who was using the shotgun approach - it seemed that he was hoping that maybe, just maybe, he would stumble across something that worked. It never did.

Straeuli compromised the value of the Springbok jersey by creating so many one-cap wonders.

Thank heavens White has a plan for the Springboks and is entrusting it to a select group of players.

The coach's humility is winning him no end of praise. He ended the long-running Victor Matfield saga by the most sensible method - he has restored him to the Bok second row.

Matfield has been embroiled in drama since it emerged that Sarfu president Brian van Rooyen did not want him in the team because he was in a legal battle with the union over a contractual issue.

Matfield was sent home from Australia last month because of injury but then promptly turned out for his province in the Currie Cup. It was then said that White did not want Matfield near a Springbok team because he had a "bad attitude".

Matfield is the only one who knows the truth, but the bottom line is that White called a meeting with the player, sorted it out and picked him. He is South Africa's best lineout forward. The Boks needed him and White did what was necessary for his team. I can assure you that very few other Springbok coaches would have stooped to meet disaffected players.

In the way of the Boks on Sunday is an All Black team that seems to have suffered from having too many wise heads in control. Too many cooks spoiling the broth?

The two tries in three games suggest a game plan that does not suit the world's most talented backline, and perhaps this is an overreaction to that World Cup semifinal loss.

For once, the Boks are stable and single-minded in purpose when it comes to their game plan. Can the same be said for the All Blacks?

* Mike Greenaway is the chief rugby writer at the Natal Mercury in Durban