Cape Town – The
Springboks will be responsible for one of those rare-as-hen’s-teeth moments in
our rugby annals if they manage to knock over greatest foes the All Blacks in
Wellington again on Saturday.
Not only
would they become the first Bok outfit to beat them twice in a row at the same
New Zealand venue – the Westpac Stadium “Cake Tin” – but also just the third to
be able to boast successive triumphs against them on their own soil.
Even
once-off wins in post-isolation times there have become desperately infrequent:
South Africa’s strike rate since 1992 in the Land of the Long White Cloud has
been four wins (plus one draw) from 26 encounters … so they only win a sobering
15.38 percent of the time on the enemy’s terrain.
But if they
can repeat last year’s dramatic 36-34 Wellingtonian victory, they will
simultaneously become just the second post-isolation Boks to prevail twice in a
row in New Zealand, and third in all bilateral Test history stretching back 98
years to 1921.
The first
occurrence was in South Africa’s second tour of Australia and New Zealand in
1937: a mission which saw them earn the laurel of “The Invincibles” as they
came through the gruelling, fully four-month trek with a 2-0 triumph in
Australia and 2-1 result in the onward leg in NZ.
Under the leadership
of Natal’s Philip Nel, later to serve in World War II, those Boks had to come
from behind in New Zealand for the series spoils (they had been beaten 13-7 in
Wellington).
But they
bounced back at then-Lancaster Park, Christchurch, for a 13-6 triumph and then
won the decider at Auckland’s Eden Park 17-6 three weeks later.
Another
iconic figure on that tour had been Danie Craven, the scrumhalf who was a
pioneer of the dive-pass and would later become both Bok coach (1949-56) and SA
Rugby president for a marathon period between 1956 and his passing, aged 82, in
1983.
The second
and only other instance of “back-to-backs” in New Zealand for the Boks was
split between two seasons of the Tri-Nations (now Rugby Championship): in 2008
and 2009, and both during the Peter de Villiers coaching period.
While South
Africa ended bottom of the 2008 competition with only two wins from six, a
pleasing feature was their first victory in that country in 10 years, and
straight off a clear-cut 19-8 reverse to the All Blacks only a week earlier in
Wellington.
A game made
famous by chunky scrumhalf Ricky Januarie’s devilish chip-and-collect for the
match-swaying try in a 30-28 outcome, the Dunedin tussle featured input from
two current Bok squad members: utility back Frans Steyn and hooker Schalk
Brits.
Steyn, who
is also on the splinters on Saturday, appeared as a substitute in the 47th
minute, while Brits got a fleeting six minutes or so of his own in the
close-out.
Then, in
2009, leaders South Africa played the pivotal final match of the tournament in
Hamilton, where they won a similar heart-stopper 32-29 to take the title,
eventually with a handsome eight points to spare on the log. (It also completed
a 3-0 sweep of the All Blacks that year, following earlier triumphs in
Bloemfontein and Durban.)
Steyn began
that match, in the fullback position, and was responsible for some booming
early penalty successes off the tee and a no less impressive dropped goal from
a long way out.
It also
featured a fast-developing Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira, who ran out in the No 1
jersey at Waikato Stadium; like Steyn, he is primed for some activity as a
reserve this weekend.
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