If you love sport, living in South Africa is a dream come true. Our various codes seem to muddle along, with cricket at the moment enjoying a burst of optimism at the top.
Rugby is at the other end of the scale and our soccer, by far the most popular of our offerings, continues to punch way below its weight. Sundowns’ desperately poor performance at the Club World Cup was as disappointing as it was expected.
Occasionally we get a massive boost - as with Wayde, Caster and Brad Binder - but however welcome, these are few and far between on the international stage.
However, for the true sports fan, the world of sport is the thing, not just narrow parochial allegiance, and in this we live in a veritable television chocolate factory owned by Charlie. If you have DStv with the sports bouquet, turn it on at random. It is amazing. Day or night there is always something world class on live or in highlight.
Visiting the UK recently reminded me just how ridiculously lucky we are. Over there you pay to watch sport over and above the high cost of general service. Thus you tend to be selective and often frugal with your choices.
Here, for a modest fee, you can watch the world’s greatest events in almost all the major sports live at the touch of a button.
The other day I channel hopped at random and found the European Rugby Cup tie between Montpellier and Castres. I watched for five minutes and was hooked. The game was competitive, the Montpellier crowd engaged and the rugby tough and uncompromising.
The presence of a number of South Africans was an added attraction. There was Francois Steyn, as dominant as ever and kicking goals all over the place. There was Jannie du Plessis causing mayhem in the scrums as usual. Paul Willemse also had a good game at lock and Demetri Catrakilis came on as a sub.
There were several grizzled Georgians in the home pack and Rory Kockott was at scrumhalf for the visitors. In fact, Castres looked like winning at the beginning and then, one of the aforementioned Georgians got a red card for a ruck shoulder charge and you felt it was certain. Then, amazingly, 14-man Montpellier hit their straps.
It was forward dominated but with turnovers, they could run the ball as well. Nick White, the Aussie scrumhalf, was the controller and at the end he scored a wonderful individual try.
The point is that at all stages, Montpellier looked organised and efficient and had a game plan that was pragmatic. And they won by a street. Recently they had also beaten Leinster, one of the top sides in Europe. They are now serious contenders.
Then the cameras panned to the coach. I had forgotten this is Jake White’s side. Remember him? In fact, he is serving out his notice. The locals don’t like him. He brought in South Africans rather than French players and he fought with local legend François Trinh-Duc, who went off to Toulon. White spitefully dropped him from the squad for the final game last season after 13 years of loyal service.
Jake didn’t learn French either and that alienated him from the owner and the fans. He is to be replaced by Vern Cotter, the Kiwi who coached Clermont Auvergne and then Scotland. Jake also annoyed the locals by admitting he would like the English job. No wonder that at the game he was sitting on his own, like Jack Horner.
What is it about Jake White? He seems to annoy just about everyone as his sides improve. He won the World Cup in 2007 but had to fight to keep his job. He took the Brumbies back to the top after being on the verge of folding and has had great success at Montpellier. Yes, he didn’t set the Sharks alight when he returned here for a while but was he given the chance?
The Springboks have a coach who seems to be the most liked person in the country and yet his results and lack of improvement this year have been a disgrace. He seems to have blamed everyone and everything except himself. It looks like there is no organisation or plan. People seem to be on the verge of changing their Bok jerseys for those of the Blitzboks. It is desperate.
Maybe the answer is there in front of us. Professional rugby is not about winning hearts and souls but winning games. Maybe it’s time to place a call to Montpellier.
* Robbie is a former Ireland, British Lions and Transvaal scrumhalf.