When Dale Steyn’s shoulder went pop, thud and cracked last week, I informed the world - with an assurance born of an assumption wrought from frustration squeezed from sadness from the loss of one of the best sports men I have had the pleasure to watch - that that was that. The Test was over as a competition. The game was up. The rest of the match would be nail-biting, a severe case of one-arm-man-with-an-itchy-arse survival. Strap in, good folk. This could be ugly.
What. An. Utter. Twit.
I seem to have got that wrong.I don’t like to be wrong. No one does, but I have woken up on the wrong side of right more times than I care to admit. I blame social media, the maddening scramble to be first to make a grand statement. The daftness of wanting to be first all the time. It’s not even like it was a scoop. I just thought of it quickly and typed it before I had thought it through. Fact. Steyn was out. Fact. South Africa had just two seamers left. Fact. Those seamers were Kagiso Rabada and Big Vern Philander. Facts not properly factored into equation: those seamers are Rabada and Big Vern, and their captain is one Faf du Plessis.
Jacques Rudolph, now part of the SuperSport panel, speaks softly, but carries a big shtick (subs: correct). He deliveries his jokes with a straight face and his insights with a straighter face. South Africa’s comeback has been down to many things: Rabada, Big Vern, Bavuma, Maharaj, Duminy, Elgar, De Kock, Big Vern again and, perhaps most importantly, Faf du Plessis.
“Faf is a very calm individual, I’ve grown up with him,” said Rudolph. “This team is showing Character and resilience, and that comes from leadership.”
Du Plessis fought to play for South Africa. He left for England to play County cricket, impressed the Poms with his ability to eke out runs off mud flats and to fashion scores from middle-paced frustration. He came back to South Africa, but, indeed, he had never left. Australia was where he proved his worth some years back. He is guiding this team with a wise and knowing touch. Back home, some twit is gagging on a daft tweet.
For you, Anthony
I like the odd beer at a pub called Giles in Craighall Park. Many of you will know it. One of my occasional drinking companions there is a good man by the name of Maurice Egan, once of SAB and now of his own free time. He spent some of that time in Chicago on Saturday and the lucky fella got to watch Ireland beating New Zealand for the first time in 29 attempts.
He also got to watch the touching tribute by the Irish to the late Munster coach and Ireland international, Anthony Foley. The team stood in a figure of eight before the game in tribute to Foley. CJ Stander, once of this parish and now wearing a different shade of green, stood in the front line of figure of eight as Ireland faced the Haka at Soldier Field.
“We made a figure of eight; for me personally, Murray and all the Munster boys to stand at the front, that was big,” said Stander. “He meant so much to me, he was really the rock in my rugby the last four years. He showed me a lot about what he’d learned over the years. I think he pushed me to the next level.”
Stander scored a try in the win. As fine a tribute as you could wish for.
Over and out
I will not be making any rash judgements about the chances of the Springboks against England next week. Instead, I will turn to Billy Vunipola of England, who told the Guardian it would not be easy to beat the Boks: “South Africa are a straightforward team. They have got very big players who are skilful and the rugby they play means that, if you do not stand up to them, you are going to get beaten. Eddie said they like to try and break teams down by playing on top of them. You have to stand up to that and I would rather someone ran at me rather than round me.”
Billy, I would say you could guarantee they will try to run over you.
Independent Media