COMMENT
Much like a healthy Sunday lunch, beating the All Blacks 3-1 in the recently concluded Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) left many South Africans satisfied.
We had tucked into a smorgasbord of vleis, rys and aartappels (meat, rice and potatoes). It was a tasty feast, one even dished up with a bit of familial drama, but it was not my favourite course.
Admittedly, I rather enjoyed the sneaky takeout before heading off to the main course when the Lions hosted the New Zealanders. Now, not all of the tour matches were of a similar quality.
The Stormers put up a mighty effort against the visitors, to be sure, but the Sharks and Bulls capitulated in their matches. The Sharks encounter — hampered by its midweek time slot, the selection of an inexperienced matchday 23 and some terrible weather — was no doubt the worst of the games.
They lost the game 54-0 — an embarrassing result. Along with the two other defeats for the Stormers and Bulls, the Durbanites' utter disregard for the tie rightfully brought into question the value of the tour matches and the long tour in general.
With the three franchises dispatched, things got serious with the first Test at Ellis Park at the end of August. There was both a sense of excitement and trepidation ahead of that match, built on the displays of the All Blacks during the tour matches, as well as the need to finally serve them their comeuppance after going unbeaten in the lead-up.
Although the Boks’ lead at half-time was narrow — 13-12 — there was a genuine belief around the stadium that the men in Green and Gold were finding their straps. Indeed, murmurs in the media tribunal from a handful of South African and Kiwi pundits argued that the Boks would easily put 50 points on their counterparts.
That did not transpire.
Instead, the All Blacks’ game management, along with a frustrating number of errors from their hosts, propelled them to a 33-16 victory and a 4-0 record on the tour.
That Bok defeat sucked a lot of joy out of the tour. Many Bok supporters left Doornfontein peeved, while others at home watched on angrily. Although there had been some niggle between the teams in the build-up to the first Test, the verbal jabs and banter thereafter between the nations got all the more hysterical and toxic.
The joy of the one side and the disappointment of the other were almost palpable — a near-tangible spectre of emotions hanging heavy over the entire series.
Enter a Lions team with nothing to lose.
Four days after the Bok defeat, they hosted a much-changed and more fringe-based All Blacks team. Unlike the Sharks, and to a certain extent the Stormers and Bulls, Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen chose the strongest matchday 23 possible available to him.
It included the likes of franchise captain Francke Horn, stalwarts PJ Botha, Chris Smith, Ruan Delport, JC Pretorius, Erich Cronje, Henco van Wyk and Quan Horn, while also featuring upcoming talent Haashim Pead, Siba Mahashe and Batho Hlekani.
They undertook the assignment before them with verve and enthusiasm, taking a shock 14-0 lead within the first 10 minutes, and led 21-17 at half-time. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, they scored a further two tries for an astonishing 35-17 lead.
The international pedigree of the All Blacks did come back to snuff out their chances of a famous victory, ending 41-35, but by that time the Lions had played some awe-inspiring and beautiful rugby. Their push-over try, dotted down by skipper Horn in the 50th minute, will live long in the memory.
After the disappointment of the first Test, deflated as South Africans felt, the Lions reinvigorated the tour and put a smile on the faces of all those who watched it.
Thereafter, the Boks would go on to dominate the rest of the Tests, beating the All Blacks 33-26 in Cape Town, 29-24 at FNB Stadium and finally 43-28 in Baltimore. Those victories were special ones, no doubt about it.
Now, I’m not saying the Lions saved the inaugural edition of RGR, but they surely played their part in bringing back a measure of delight to the series. Rugby, after all, is a form of entertainment, and throughout that game, we were thoroughly entertained.
So, for me, the best moment of the tour was when that plucky Lions team looked the monolith that is the All Blacks’ haka in the eye, and said: “Nou gaan ons braai.”