Rugby: A tough place to tour

Pedrie Wannenburg's try helps make history at Phokeng. Photo / Getty Images

It was a tough old return trip from the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace. The All Blacks had the luxury of a police escort and a chauffeur in their air-conditioned bus, but they had to carry the dull ache of defeat away from their 2006 meeting with the Springboks.

It was a sloppy end to their victorious Tri-Nations campaign that season and a performance they would have to wait another few months to rectify when they left for their tour to Europe.

Meanwhile, we were battling pigs, cows, goats and other wildlife which crossed the unfamiliar, narrow, darkened path on our return from that test, the first rugby international at that stadium at Phokeng in the north-west province of South Africa.

The media were in convoy, which helped, but it still seemed like a game of motoring dodgeball as we followed some of our South African colleagues on the way back to Sun City.

The early-September afternoon journey out to the ground had been so much easier. There were the normal dramas about finding the right entrance and then persuading one of the white-coats to let us park the car where it might still remain when we had finished our post-match interviews and work.

The match programme was also different.

There was a welcome message from the 36th King of the Bafokeng, Kgosi Leruo Tshekedi Molotlegi, the leader of the 300,000-strong nation who asked us to share his vision about what it meant to be African in the 21st century. During the week he had hosted the All Blacks to a braai at one of his outdoor palaces.

"He was very engaging, very contemporary, a well-educated man who was working very hard for his people," All Black manager Darren Shand recalled. "The area is rich in platinum and he explained how they were using that to improve things for his people."

By 2006, the stadium had already won the rights to stage soccer matches during the 2010 World Cup and this weekend will host the start of the Lions' first tour to South Africa since 1997.

The ground was built two years after that Lions tour and despite being off sport's main trunk line, has been used as a home ground for the Kaiser Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Jomo Cosmos. It was used to stage the ANC's centenary celebrations and there are plans to expand the sporting complex.

Its capacity has been boosted, but three years ago the ground was still a soccer pitch bordered by an athletics track which had to be covered with astro-turf in-goal for the All Blacks test.

A week earlier, the All Blacks had won the Tri-Nations series with a hard-earned 45-26 victory against the Springboks at Loftus. They adjourned from that test to the Sun City holiday retreat and some of that restful atmosphere seemed to invade their play as they lost 20-21 at the Sports Palace.

The All Blacks had made a few changes, Doug Howlett was used at fullback and Jimmy Cowan at halfback, but those selections were not causes for the defeat. There was a general lethargy and lack of sharpness throughout, while the Springboks were in rousing form.

Their captain John Smit drew personal inspiration from returning to the area where he attended primary school in the final years of isolation. In those days, it was impossible to imagine the All Blacks and Springboks would play a test in the Rustenburg region.

Before the match, Smit spoke about his hope that a change of venue from the traditional test stadia at Ellis Park, Loftus or Newlands would bring a change of fortune for his team.

"Maybe doing something out of the ordinary will be a great pep for us," he suggested.

It was, just. Victory came three minutes from time when Andre Pretorius goaled a penalty after Rodney So'oialo was picked up for an offside at the breakdown.

It was not a night for much All Black pride. The lineouts were a disaster, the side made numerous breaks but could only finish two, and, to compound his messy match, So'oialo was penalised for obstruction when Andrew Hore thought he had scored.

As we finished our stories to file for Sunday newspapers in New Zealand, our world collapsed as well. At least the communication lines did. The volume of local telephone traffic meant we were unable to hook up long enough on our laptops to send our stories.

It was the same for all the journalists, an exasperating end to the historic match. After about an hour we managed to get through to New Zealand but the deadlines had passed.

The explanations would have to wait. We had to negotiate a few sticky All Black interviews and a drive demanding all our concentration for an hour past squatter villages and roaming wildlife, through the hazy smoke from outdoor cooking, to our hotel from where we could file our version of events.