I am sure you are as disappointed as I am that our Boks did not score the bonus point last Saturday. Close, but the leader board shows that we now need to beat the All Blacks with a bonus point and hope then they do not get any bonus point. Against the best team in the world this might not be the easiest way of winning the Rugby Champions Cup.
What are the odds? I believe the Boks can do it just because they are playing at Ellis Park. This stadium is as daunting to the All Blacks as Dunedin is to the Boks.
SA Rugby did well to arrange the All Blacks test at our 1995 RWC victory grounds. Memories are great for us, and as a former test referee, I can promise you that this is the best stadium to referee in, in the world, when it is packed full with 70 000 passionate SA rugby supporters.
As CEO of the lions in 2006 we hosted the Mandela Cup game between the Boks and the Wallabies at Ellis Park. When the Aussies, led by George Gregan, came out of their change room walking down the tunnel, he turned around and said to Larkin: “Mate, you can’t win here!
We will play the Boks and 70 000 crazy SA rugby fans. This is a rugby graveyard for visiting teams!” The end result was a great victory for the Boks, where on paper the Wallabies was a much better rugby team. Let us hope that the Ellis Park nightmare can continue for the All Blacks, as we do not have a “Suzie” to help us.
Interesting fact about rugby is that there are more Varsity rugby players in total than rugby players in the whole of NZ. At one stage Stellenbosch rugby club with all its teams and hostel rugby sides had also more rugby players than all of NZ. Scary fact if you put that in perspective that NZ is the world’s best team and Stellenbosch cannot even win the Varsity Cup. Is this due to coaching? Or is it due to the natural physicality and size of the NZ players. I believe it is because the brilliant coaching programmes they have as a whole in NZ.
Bokke please make us proud – our blood is green and we support you fully.
