Rugby College: The game will suffer if the Boks can"t spring an All Black ambush at Ellis Park

By

Chris Foy

PUBLISHED:

22:30, 3 October 2013

|

UPDATED:

23:59, 3 October 2013

For the greater good of the world game, the All Blacks must trip over the final hurdle in their quest to retain the Rugby Championship title on Saturday. Correction â€” they must be smashed off their course at Ellis Park.

All those with the bigger picture in mind will surely hope to see South Africa find a way to deny their Kiwi visitors what appears to be their destiny in Johannesburg.

If Heyneke Meyerâ€™s men can conjure a win with a bonus, and leave their vaunted opponents pointless in the process, they will have done so much more than merely snatch the prize for themselves.

Decider: Bryan Habana (centre) and Co take on the mighty All Blacks on Saturday

A Springbok triumph of this magnitude, on the last weekend of the tournament, would rescue the southern hemisphereâ€™s annual Test showpiece and the whole sport from tedious predictability.

Variety is the spice and all that, but it has been sadly lacking in the global hierarchy.

The stats are startling. In the last decade, since Englandâ€™s World Cup success in 2003, New Zealand have re-established their perennial status as the No 1 team in the IRB rankings, with the odd brief dip down to No 2, before returning to the summit.

In that 10-year period, they have played 125 Tests, losing 16, drawing one and winning the other 108. It has been extraordinary supremacy.

If Steve Hansenâ€™s All Blacks clinch the

title on Saturday they will have won the Championship and its previous

incarnation, the TriNations, seven times in the last 10 attempts and

this would be another clean sweep to match their efforts in 2012.

Dominant: New Zealand have gone from strength to strength since winning the World Cup in 2011

The Boks must prepare the sort of irresistible onslaught that they unleashed against England at Ellis Park last June when the tourists were all but pounded to dust.

The destroyers-in-chief on that day, Bismarck du Plessis and Willem Alberts, are both starting on Saturday but they and their team-mates are up against visitors who have Richie McCaw back to lead a line-up armed with a tally of 729 caps.

In the interests of generating renewed fascination and uncertainty, intrigue and nerve-shredding tension â€” pre-requisites for elite sport â€” it is time for this experienced and brilliant team to be subjected to another ambush.

England did that to them last December, based on forward ferocity, just five months after their first-half mauling in Johannesburg, so South Africa have it in them.

The All Blacks are magnificent standard-bearers but rugbyâ€™s top order needs a shake-up.

Stunned: England beat the All Blacks at Twickenham on December 1 last year

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has been assailed by the usual glut of untimely, early-season injuries ahead of the autumn series at Twickenham, but in one area he is witnessing a heartening expansion of his options. Lancaster, Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree were at Franklinâ€™s Gardens last Friday, to watch first-hand as Sam Dickinson ran amok once again for Northampton, to maintain his emergence as a credible Test contender at No 8.

While Billy Vunipola of Saracens has hit the ground running in the Aviva Premiership to further threaten Ben Morganâ€™s pre-eminence at the base of the scrum, others are in the mix too. Leicesterâ€™s Jordan Crane is displaying enhanced handling and awareness to complement his carrying clout, while Zimbabwe-born rookie Dave Ewers has been a stand-out figure in the Exeter pack in recent weeks.

For so long, Nick Easter was all but unchallenged as a specialist in this position but now Lancaster has a veritable embarrassment of riches at his disposal. They will need that sort of depth in all departments in the countdown to the next World Cup, not least next November, after the RFU announced on Thursday that the national team will face New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and Australia on successive, gruelling weekends.

In contention: Northampton

In contention: Northampton’s Sam Dickinson has had a fine start to the season

Islands on the map

These are heady days for Pacific islands rugby. On Saturday, Fijiâ€™s Under 18 team claimed their first victory over their New Zealand counterparts, including Warren Gatlandâ€™s son, Bryn, who was playing at fly half for the Kiwi Schoolboys.

That victory in Sydney for the Polynesian teenagers followed a 74-10 win over a New South Wales Country U18 XV. That landmark result was followed by news that the coaches of New Zealandâ€™s Super Rugby franchises have called for the inclusion of a Pacific islands team, based in Auckland, as part of a tournament expansion from 2016.

On the face of it, that would be a hugely positive step to provide a convenient focal point for talented players emerging from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Yet, it must be hoped that these young Fijian stars and the islanders who would represent the proposed new franchise do not become easy targets for the Kiwi talent poachers.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

1: Leicesterâ€™s director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, delivers a scathing medical bulletin: â€˜Ryan Lamb broke his hand fighting on Monday night in the A team game when he got sent off. Heâ€™s been banned for a week. Iâ€™ve made a big dog-house and heâ€™s sitting in it.â€™ Asked if the injury was definitely caused by throwing a punch, he added: â€˜Well, he didnâ€™t have it when he went on the field and when he got sent off he had it, so…â€™

2: Northamptonâ€™s director of rugby, Jim Mallinder, on Cockerillâ€™s touchline ban, covering Saturdayâ€™s East Midlands derby at Welford Road: â€˜Heâ€™ll be there somewhere; his little cheeky face will be peeking out! It might be a bit quieter from behind that (coaches) screen though.â€™

Ban: Cockerill will have to watch his Leicester side from the stands once more

3: Welsh Rugby Union chief executive

Roger Lewis, asked if it was time for â€˜back-door diplomacyâ€™ to end the

European impasse: â€˜We have to use any door, or window or chimney!â€™

The last word…

As the stand-off over the future of European club rugby rumbles on and on and on it is vital to find bright spots amid the bleak outlook, even if it means succumbing to inappropriate mirth.

Thus, this column was highly amused to see that the Scottish launch of this seasonâ€™s Heineken Cup, organised by ERC â€” who have a new TV deal with Sky to protect â€” was marked by what amounted to perfectly timed ambush marketing. Glasgow captain Alastair Kellock and Edinburghâ€™s Greig Laidlaw were pictured holding the trophy, with the BT Sport logo emblazoned on their shirts.

Just 48 hours earlier, ERC chief

executive Derek McGrath had suggested that the Premiership clubsâ€™

breakaway initiative was motivated by their lucrative deal with the new

broadcaster on the rugby scene, so he wonâ€™t have enjoyed the logo ordeal

in Edinburgh one bit. Meanwhile, for those still awake at the back,

thereâ€™s still no sign or prospect of peace in our time. Donâ€™t hold your

breath.

Blunder: Kellock (left) and Laidlaw with their BT Sport logos in full view