And the overall loser this year was ... rugby
Simnikiwe Xabanisa | 20 December, 2012 07:150 Comments The All Blacks' best player this year was Dean GreylingImage by: PHIL WALTER / GETTY IMAGES previousnext
I HAVE a confession to make.
SAVE & SHARE
0inShare
RELATED NEWS
- It's time Treu moved on to better things
- Poms have only touched greatness
- Jean's the right man now
- World rugby hits new lows
When the Springboks finally played to their Four Nations draw with Argentina in Mendoza, I'd so long given up on the idea of being entertained by the game that I had taken to doing something else altogether.
Having given the Boks nothing less than my undivided attention since I discovered them in 1992, it was a sign of how dreadful the rugby has been this year.
But as a colleague once said, nobody buggers up on purpose. So we'll look back at a largely underwhelming year, with a couple of suggestions going forward.
The Grinches who stole the rugby season (Sanzar): We've had the longest season in history, yet most of us are left with a hollow feeling due to the quality, or lack thereof, of the rugby. Sanzar, with its insistence on simply piling on the games as a means of making more money for the broadcasters, is responsible for this. If we keep going on like this, the poor players will be playing murderball.
The play of the year (Saru): It was a little late in coming, but Saru's decision to open academies all over the country to unearth black talent was the first tangible sign of anyone doing something meaningful about transformation.
Player of the year (Bryan Habana): Anyone who can score seven tries in nine games playing for the Boks the way they were playing this year deserves a medal.
Coach of the year (Allister Coetzee): Sharks coach John Plumtree, thanks to making the Super 15 and Currie Cup finals, was in with a shout. But Coetzee won on the basis of what the Currie Cup final win meant for Western Province, who had not won a trophy since 2001. Failure to win would probably have seen Coetzee fired and Province embark on yet another rebuilding phase.
Unsung heroes I (Willie le Roux): It's not often that a team's flyhalf is actually the fullback, as was the case with Le Roux at Griquas this year. Many see his fantasy league skills as flighty, which means it'll take a while before he gets a chance at a higher level.
Unsung heroes II (Team doctors, physios and masseuses): It's been the kind of year where the medical staff of pretty much each team have been a squad of miracle workers. It was carnage out there.
Worst performance (Dean Greyling): McGyver or Wors's 30 minutes against the All Blacks in Dunedin was the biggest contribution ever made by a Springbok on behalf of the opposition. In that half an hour, Greyling was pinged four times, knocked on over the tryline, and got sin-binned for stupidly collaring Richie McCaw.
Proposed national team song (Mshini Wam'): Let's face it, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole and Shosholoza are a bit tired. Our spies in Mangaung reckon the president has done away with Mshini Wam' because he no longer needs it against the likes of Kgalema, so I can't think of a better song to rope in for the national cause. Come to think of it, the only way we can beat the All Blacks is to mow them down with AK-47s.
Look out for (Lizo Gqoboka): The Eastern Province tighthead prop is big, quick, explosive, and offloads better than the Bok centres in contact. Robbie Kempson reckons he'll be a Springbok.
Quote of the year (Heyneke Meyer): "I know people want us to get the ball at the back and runthrough the defence, but that usually [only] works in the movies." Myriad picks and drives later, we couldn't claim he didn't warn us .
