IN THE SPOTLIGHT: RUGBY365'S ACCLAIMED WRITER AND RENOWNED HISTORIAN PAUL DOBSON LOOKS AT THE BIG SPRINGBOK FLOPS DOWN THE YEARS.
Last Saturday afternoon, in Brighton on England's South Coast, in the first round of the World Cup, Japan beat South Africa.
Many would regarded it as the biggest, most humiliating flop in South Africa's proud rugby history.
It may be the biggest, but it is not the only.
What makes it so big is that it is the most recent, the best publicised and the most unexpected - leaving little Japan the only team with a success rate of 100 percent against the Springboks.
Overconfidence has ever been the besetting sin of South African rugby.
The Springboks are no good as favourites, but the best fighters with their backs to the wall.
Opponents know never to write them off, not since first they won a Test in 1896.
Let's look at some disappointing surprises, starting in 1903.
1. 26 August 1903
The English Touring Team, the forerunner of the B&I Lions, lost their first three matches on their tour of South Africa and had lost seven matches of their 16 matches on their tour when they came to the first Test at the Wanderers - the old Wanderers where the main station now is - in Johannesburg. The tourists had lost the match before the Test 14-4 but low and behold they drew the first Test of the series 10-10 and then the second 0-0 before South Africa won the third 8-0 at Newlands.
2. 1 January 1907
They were the first Springboks, captained by the great Paul Roos, enormously popular tourists to the UK, Ireland and France. On 1 December 1906 they played Wales who had beaten the All Blacks the year before and beat them 11-0 when both wings, Bob Loubser and Steve Joubert, and Klondyke Raaff scored tries. Playing in the centre was the great Gwyn Nichols, Prince Gwyn. But Japie Krige outplayed him. On New Year's Day the Springboks' played Cardiff - the club, not the whole city. It was virtually the same Springbok team that had beaten Wales, except that Krige was missing, having had an emergency appendectomy. Gwyn Nichols scored one of Cardiff's three tries on that muddy afternoon as the club won 17-0
3. 22 July 1933
In the 1930s Springbok rugby was at its strongest. They were undisputed kings of the rugby world, but they, too, slipped.
The Wallabies came on a five-Test tour that year - a mediocre team that won 12, drew 1 and lost 10 of their matches. The Springboks won the first Test at Newlands 17-3 but were nor popular for their dour kicking game under Bennie Osler.
The second Test was in Durban and Osler gave in to public demand and decided that the Springboks would throw the ball around. They scored four tries in the first Test, one in the second and lost 21-6.
4. 10 September 1938
Sam Walker's Lions came to South Africa, a team of moderate ability, on a three-Test tour. South Africa won the first Test 26-12 and the second 19-3 in Port Elizabeth.
The two teams sailed to Cape Town together on the Windsor Castle. The Springboks were housed at the St James Hotel down the False Bay coast and, lords of the rugby world, threatened not to play on Saturday if they were not moved to the Metropole in town, where the action was. They were move and lost the Test 19-16.
Craven was the captain and nit was his last Test, a disappointment that haunted him for the rest of his days.
5. 10 November 1951
The Springboks had whitewashed the All Blacks in 1949 and went on their popular tour of 1951-52. Like their predecessors in 1913 and 1931, they won all the Tests, in fact 30 of their 31 matches but they lost one, including a 25-3 victory over France in Paris. But they lost to London Counties at Twickenham, 11-9. They scored two tries to one but lost. And when the final whistle went, the Springboks carried off their opponents in a great gesture of sportsmanship.
6. 5 September 1953
The Springboks came to Newlands after 10 successive Test victories. The 10th had been the first of the series against the touring Wallabies when the Springboks won 25-3 at Ellis Park. It seemed more of the same at Newlands two weeks later when the Springboks led 14-5. But then came an amazing fightback and Hennie Muller chasing Garth Jones who scored the try that won the match 18-14 for Australia. The Springboks won the next two Tests - 18-8 and 22-9.
Again at the end of this Test the Springboks carried Wallabies from the famous ground.
At the end of the match, there was a picture of Hennie Muller, gaunt, exhausted and distraught. Rather like Jean de Villiers in Brighton 62 years later.
7. 26 July/16 August 1958
The first French team to leave Europe came to South Africa on an eight-match, two-Test tour. In the lead up to the first Test, they had played four matches, winning just one but they drew 3-3 with the Springboks at Newlands in the first Test. They lost two of their next four tour matches and then beat the Springboks 9-5 at Ellis park. The Springboks scored two tries to none in the series but lost it - their first home series defeat since 1896.
8. The Miserable Sixties
The Springboks won a home series against the All Blacks and then smashed Wales 24-3 in Durban. Then came the worst Springbok performances with seven defeats in a row.
It started in 1964 when France beat the Springboks in Springs in the worst Tests ever played in South Africa.
In 1965 they went on a five-match tour of Ireland and Scotland. They lost both Tests and did not win a match on the tour.
Off they went to Australasia where they lost both Tests against the Wallabies and then the first two against the All Blacks. Never had Springboks had their backs more firmly to the wall. They had lost seven Tests in succession and were down 16-5 against the All Blacks in the third Test. The scoring ended when Tony Naudé, the Springbok lock, dug the ball out of the mud to goal the penalty that gave the Springboks a 19-16 win.
The Sixties ended with the demo tour to the UK and Ireland when the Springboks did not win a Test. They lost to England and Scotland and drew with Ireland and Wales.
9. 3 April 1982
There was a team called the Jaguars -a South American combination made up mostly of Argentinians - in fact 21 Argentinians and two Uruguayans. It was a boycott-busting team, entirely paid for by South Africa.
They played the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld and the Springboks won 50-18. They then went down to Bloemfontein and played the Springboks a week later. They won - the Jaguars that is. It was 21-12 and the great Hugo Porta scored all 21 points, scored in all four ways - a try, a conversion, a dropped goal and four penalty goals.
10. 19 September 2015
Japan 34
Springboks 32
Pearl Harbour came to Brighton.
By Paul Dobson
@rugby365com
