It was good, but not the best ever
Went out early, took the dogs* and it happened again. (With a nod to Kate Atkinson’s novel with a similar title).
A casual acquaintance who loves to chat about “THE RUGBY” gushed “wasn’t that the best test ever by the Springboks!?” – referring to the Boks’ record 43-10 victory over the All Blacks in Wellington.
Well, no, it wasn’t, I replied, which elicited the usual puzzled expression and “what do you mean?” lift of the eyebrows.
Simply that. It was a good performance and a shock score but it wasn’t the best-ever test by the Springboks. As I remarked a couple of times as the blow-outs against the Wallabies at Ellis Park and against the All Blacks at Eden Park quickly faded from memory to be replaced by euphoria at the wonders of “tony-ball” and more veneration of Rassie, “I have been present at much better performances, much better tests, by the Springboks.”
I suppose folks can’t be blamed given the scourge of sensationalism that has overtaken TV commentary and (mostly) online reporting.
The hyperbole of the reporting on the Wellington victory surely played a role in how the proletariat perceived the test. I saw it described as “arguably the greatest ever by any Springboks (sic) team,” and “the greatest Springbok performance in living memory.”
As a crusty old sub-editor growled at me when I was finding my fingers on the keyboard, “you have to be very old, my boy, to invoke living memory.” Either that or you must have read a lot, know a lot and remembered to always acknowledge what went before.
Wellington was an excellent performance by the Boks but, record score or not, the worst-ever defeat suffered by the mighty All Blacks or not, it was not the best ever.
There were too many errors in the first quarter, too many botched opportunities, too many potential flaws not exploited by the All Blacks for the test to be rated as a perfect all-round performance, but the purveyors of purple prose were blinded by the score.
Without having to resort to trawling the records books I could easily bring to mind overall performances that were better.
For instance. The last test at Eden Park in 1937 (I wasn’t there!), won 17-6 (five three-point tries to nil) which caused Phil Nel’s touring side to be described as “the best rugby team ever to leave the shores of New Zealand.” If you don’t believe me do try to see Michael Charton’s riveting illustrated talk that brings the tour and the team to life.
Other tests that could be in the all-time gallery were the 44-0 defeat of Scotland at Murrayfield during the 1950/51 (as the chirps went at the time - the Scots were lucky to get nought!) and in more recent times the 61-22 demolition of the Wallabies at Loftus in 1997; 52-10 over France at the Parc des Princes in Paris in 1997, when the French crowd started cheering the Boks; the 24-23 comeback victory, after having been 5-23 down, over New Zealand in Durban in 1998; the brilliant 36-0 obliteration of England during the 2007 Rugby World Cup at the Stade Francaise; 35-7 over the All Blacks at Twickenham in 2023.
There are many more that come to mind when solid ingrained basics, natural speed and strength, all-round interplay, superior tactics and brilliant individuals just clicked and produced 80 minutes of relentlessly faultless rugby.
Having been irritated by the immoderate praise for the Springboks it was a relief to see that within the camp the error-strewn first quarter in Wellington was not forgotten in the appraisals that would have taken place.
Rassie said there’s no need to celebrate too much; Tony Brown cautioned that while it was a good performance the Boks still had a lot to do and pinpointed some of the poor execution and Cheslin Kolbe said “we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.”
Perhaps a better postscript to the Wellington test might have been “that was one of the worst performances I have ever seen from an All Black side.” I know, I know, I know… you’re only as good as you’re allowed to be, but…
With Argentina up next a Bok mindset to “stay grounded” is spot-on because the Pumas, on the evidence of how well they’ve done by beating both the All Blacks and Australia coupled to the way they’ve played, are arguably the best running side in the competition.
And with the Springboks still set on moving the ball more it could make for a spectacular classic at King’s Park. Of interest to me will be whether the Pumas can outflank the narrow defensive configuration plus in-tackling, leaving space on the outside, the Springboks have adopted which both the Wallabies and the All Blacks seem to have spotted but were unable to exploit.
And, as so often happens, the strange workings of co-incidence came into play as I started to sift through boxes of mementos that have been stored for years, hardly looked at again, and now occupying space that is needed – among them many programmes and posters.
One of the first dusty items extracted turned out to be this one (don’t you love the spelling?) commemorating the Springboks’ first overseas tour after the end of isolation when they went via Argentina to the UK and France.
