Tank Lannings Rugby Championship Round 4 review

Are JP Pietersen deals the future?

Players making themselves available only for certain games? Danie Craven must be turning in his grave! Call me an old school fuddy duddy, but this concept does not sit well with me.

The moment of the weekend for me was the post-match talk by Richie McCaw prior to presenting Jean de Villiers and Bryan Habana with their gifts for playing 100 Tests.

Given the amount of Tests played these days, notching up a 100 caps for your national side is becoming fairly common place, but the genuine respect that McCaw showed for both Boks was special. You do not get much tougher than the All Black vs Springbok rivalry, but fighting tooth and nail on the field while maintaining respect for your opponent off it is what makes rugby such a great sport.

It is something the New Zealanders do particularly well. Perhaps it is the central contracting system that sees them all fighting for a common good, or perhaps it is the tall poppy syndrome that sees most Kiwis abhorrent of arrogance, but they have managed to maintain an incredible respect for both the sport and that black jersey. A jersey that players borrow knowing full well that they are expected to return it in a better state than when they received it.

The ruling that sees only players plying their trade in New Zealand being available for the All Blacks just adds further to the aura of the jersey, as it means that only those willing to sacrifice the big bucks being earned in Japan or Europe in order to stay and build the game in their own country, get to play in that jersey.

It’s a practice quite clearly not employed by the South Africans, given that they have replaced the injured Ruan Pienaar with JP Pietersen, who plies his trade in Japan, but through some skilful negotiation by his agent, is now available for the Boks in these last 2 home games of the Rugby Championship.

Players making themselves available only for certain games? Danie Craven must be turning in his grave! Call me an old school fuddy duddy, but this concept does not sit well with me.

Sure players only have a limited time in which to make the most money they can from the game, so I do not begrudge them one second of time in a Toulon jersey earning Monopoly money. It’s the coaches that pander to their every need that I find fault with.

The obvious and no doubt more mainstream thinking sees a coach wanting to select his best possible side on every occasion, and if that means picking certain players only when their overseas contract allows, then so be it. It’s the soccer model, and a model that most people see as an inevitable one for rugby to follow.

I see the logic and perhaps Heyneke Meyer is the visionary here.

But I also see the incredible culture that the New Zealanders have built. A culture that sees their global super star players remain humble and massively respectful to the game, former All Blacks and the silver fern adorned black jersey. It forms part of a collective “Gees” that cannot be coached, is almost impossible to cost, and might just add more to a team than a super-star player who chooses when he will be available for the side.

Not that the Boks are short on “Gees”, though!

The All Blacks enjoyed 60% possession and 56% territory against the Boks on Saturday. They ran 1188 meters to the Bok's 458, carried 116 times to the Bok's 57, made 236 passes while the Boks made 88, and offloaded 15 times to the Bok's 2! But the Boks made 183 tackles - 100 more than the All Blacks, and that almost burgled them the game!

Sure defence is about structure, but mostly it is all about heart.

Perhaps the truly dreadful exchange rate (which is ten times worse than the Aussies or Kiwis) forces their hand when it comes to JP Pietersen type deals … And if they can maintain this sort of heart while doing so, it is difficult to argue against them!

Tank Lanning