Under Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber, the Springboks have a 46% win rate against top-tier opponents. MARK KEOHANE can’t understand why Bok fans don’t seem to have a problem with it.
In his Sunday Times column written prior to the world champions suffering a 30-26 reverse against France in Marseille on Saturday night, Keohane writes that the result doesn’t matter “if winning isn’t important and each match in the four-year cycle is an experimentation and excuse for the winning of the World Cup.”
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“The current Springbok coaching leadership of Rassie Erasmus and Nienaber have been in charge since 2018 and Saturday night’s Test against France in Marseilles was their 50th. This column has been written pre-Test because of the late kick-off and newspaper deadlines, but victory against France will take their record to 64% and defeat will drop it to 62%.
“But if you dig a bit deeper, in Test matches against their primary opposition, they average a winning percentage of 46.6. Against England they are 3/6 (50%), against Australia 3/7 (42.8%), against New Zealand 3/8 (37.5%), against Ireland 0/1, against Wales 4/7 (57%) and against France (pre-Saturday evening) it was 1/0 for a total of 14 wins from 30.
“For every Test they get right, they get the next one wrong, in result and, by extension, in selection.
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“But the duo won the 2019 World Cup and because of this they have enjoyed a secondary tenure in which it is considered a crime to second-guess them.
“I consistently get told that it doesn’t matter what happens between World Cups.
“If the Bok leadership is unfazed at the result, then why charge an entry fee to the Test match and why expect supporters to invest financially and emotionally in the occasion? Why give the 50-plus Tests in between World Cups Test status?
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“If winning isn’t important and each match in the four-year cycle is an experimentation and excuse for the winning of the World Cup, then whatever happened in Marseilles (win or lose) is irrelevant.
“I can never buy that, just like I don’t buy the ease with which so many supporters have given the Bok coaches a licence to fail for four years in the name of possible 2023 World Cup glory.”
Photo: Johan Rynners/Gallo Images
