Hakwa, dont ever mistake passion for whinging. We are a passionate bunch of supporters.
Step back and take a look at what it is like to be a bok supporter. AB's supporter is easy. Your best team plays every week. In SA, we have some top talent leaving, we have systems in place that often dont allow the best players to play. Look at what Jake White had to overcome just to get to the 07' WC nevermind win it. Read his book if you have not already.
Through all that, we remain positive. Your boys lost to France in 07' and couldnt come straight home so they had to take a week elsewhere until things died down, then, to this day, being South African in NZL, I take flack for some mysterious lady called Suzy who poisoned the AB's in 95'. Awesome poison that allows players to go for 120 mins of rugby?? But you call us whingers?
Jake White to me, is rugby's answer to Sir Alex Ferguson. He should have been given the next 12 years at the helm of the Boks irrespective of results because we would know that he was doing whats best for SA rugby. He should also have been given free reign on team selection without politics. Had that been the case, no team in world rugby would come close. Jake's brain ticks rugby and he knew what was needed (Eddie Jones) to make Bok rugby the powerhouse it was. Graham Henry is not half the coach Jake is. He just had a good group of players over many years that were never going to lose their home WC after the draw they got. Their first "tough" game came in the Semi's...Had that been the Boks, Graham Henry might not be the "hero" he is around here.
NZL are a much smaller country than SA and much less players to choose from. Only thing that has stood in SA's way since becoming professional is behind the scenes politics and greedy money grabbers ruining the game. If we were allowed to be as "clear cut" as NZL in the sense that we chose the best man for the job and let him get on with it, we would not have so many smug kiwi's.
