Let it rain . . .

I live in Johannesburg on the South African Highveld. There’s an old Afrik.aans saying that if it rains on the Highveld before Paul Kruger’s birthday (10 October which used to be a public holiday in “old” South Africa) then it’ll be a dry summer. Well, we had a bit of rain in September and the old saying seems to be true because I cannot think of an October in living memory where we needed rain as badly as we need it right now. Johannesburg is hot, dry and dusty. Jumping in the pool helps for a few minutes and then we’re baking again. Tempers are fraying, farmers are praying and everyone is on edge, wondering when the rains are going to come.

 

So what, you may ask yourself, has any of this do with rugby and why am I babbling on about rain? Well, the truth is, as dry and as parched as the Highveld is and as much as we need the rains to come, when I do a rain dance in my back garden it’s not for the Highveld, it’s for rain to fall at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon! It may sound bizarre that I’m praying for rain on damp and overcast old Mud Island but there’s method in my madness.

 

I think it’s fair to say that before the RWC quarterfinals last weekend, most of us thought that the Wallabies vs Scotland was the one predictable result and the other games were all in the balance. Australlia had looked the most impressive team of the tournament up to that point while Scotland had been hammered by the Springboks and nearly turned over by Samoa. There was no reason to think Scotland might give the Wallabies the fright of their lives but as it turned out, it was not the proverbial penalty kick many had assumed. Scotland competed in every facet of play, they hung in and even took the lead right at the end and only lost the game to a controversial refereeing decision right at the death.

 

So what was the difference? How could a team that had looked 2nd tier almost turn over the new tournament favourites? Before you say “Craig Joubert” let me suggest one other alternative . . . rain. It rained at the Millennium Stadium and as we all know, in rugby, rain is the great leveller. After Saturday’s quarterfinals where the Springboks scraped a dour and hard-fought win over Wales while the All Blacks showed the world how rugby might be played in heaven as they demolished the French in a wonderful display of entertaining running rugby, I was scratching my head wondering how on earth the Springboks could possibly beat their old enemy in the semifinal, but then the answer came to me after the Australia vs Scotland game . . . rain. Rain is how we’re going to beat the All Blacks! We need rain. Lots of it. Buckets of it!

 

Rain will nullify the fleet-footed Nehe Milner-Skudder, it’ll bog down the unstoppable Julian Savea, it’ll limit the options of the mercurial Dan Carter and it’ll keep the rangy Kieran Read closer to his forward pack. Rain will turn the game into a forward-dominated 10-man kicking affair . . . exactly the kind of rugby that the Springboks thrive on and the All Blacks spurn.

 

We’ll survive a few more weeks of the heatwave in South Africa . . . especially if we have a shiny William Webb-Ellis trophy to take our minds off the heat and the dust. Send us lots of drenching rain . . . but send it to Twickers!

 

Come on Bokke!!!   

Forecast for Saturday.
Link to BBC Weather

Looks like it could rain but how much?
I agree it will impact the game & will be a leveler. 

 From what I see its a fore cast for light cloud .Hpoefully it will stay that way .Rooinek you do realize that you tend to play more wet weather rugby in NZ than mst anywhere else ? 

Yes Wardad, I do know that New Zealand is another very muddy island (two very muddy islands strictly speaking), but you can't deny that the type of game that the All Blacks excel at currently requires good handling conditions. I hope it buckets down!

 Well Rooi, it rained for about 20 min in the Scotland test, but they were still very much in the runnings before the rain started. Motivation was the main factor for Scotty and complacency from Ozzy. And at this stage it doesn't look like enough rain on Saturday to really influence things much.

 yeah, the rain can be the only external factor able to stop the slaughter,..... but it has to be a heavy rain.

I checked the first 5 results on "DuckDuckGo" (I don't use Google) and only one, the BBC linked by JW, forecast heavy rain for saturday. Another one forecast a "patchy rain" and the rest 3 "clouds and sun" .
So we'll have to wait to know for sure if it's going to rain

The weather forecasts are all meaningless . . . I haven't done my rain dance yet!

Go Bokke!

 Now then mr Pepper when it comes to wet weather rugby a quick viewing of the infamous underwater test NZ vs Scotland or 'Das Boot " should be all you need to know .And the Faumaina try vs England last year at Twickers in the pouring rain against blokes with green mould behind their ears  is another example .Mud-pluggers us baby ! When we bring old Bill home I shall " make it rain " if you wish .

Great post Rooi, good to have you back  

This is a bit of a conundrum, because our style of rugby suites rainy conditions, but it is the NZ'ers that are surely more adept at playing in the rain! Rain does level the playing field a lot, but with our tactical kicking somewhat lacking lately, we'll need need to rely on forward dominance more than ever! Something we have only done a handful of times against the AB's lately. Let it be dry, and may the best team win! 

great post rooi
the facts are the nz forwards are just as big as our forwards and to be quite frank our handeling skills are not the same as nz's and lets not talk about tactical kicking as we have even our new flyhalf burger kicking the ball from broken play..
i do think a rainy game might suite the all blacks just as much and i dont really see a massive difference for us at all. unless it turns into a swimming pool likish type of rain which in london generally does not happen that often like it would in nz. nz will run in any case so lets hope the rain is permanent and makes it tough to run.
the boks dont play that much in the rain so how that would effect the chances of the boks winning i cannot say. in terms of the goal kicking carter might have the wood over pollard for sure. goal kicking will become vital in a rainy game and even one miss could cost us the game