The Springboks were last in action in the Rigby World Cup final, in early November 2019. Picture: David Rogers/Getty Images
Why do most sports fans get a thrill seeing champion sports teams or individuals lose or do badly – even if it’s only on the odd occasion?
It’s probably got to do with the fact that people like to embrace the underdog and for a long-reigning champion to lose just brings back that competitive edge.
I remember as a child how boxing legend Mohammed Ali was shocked by little-known Leon Spinks and when tennis legends like Bjorn Borg and Martina Navratilova dared to lose on the odd occasion. These upsets created news headlines and in similar vein the Aussie cricket team of Steve Waugh or the Northern Transvaal team of Naas Botha in the 80s and 90s were never supposed to lose.
I recall a day in 1983 when the lowly South Eastern Transvaal (now the Pumas) shocked the star-studded Western Province team 24-19 in the Lion Cup in Witbank – and it was a Province team with 13 Springboks in it and on a five-year Currie Cup winning streak.
Although not exactly in the same vein, it’s what will await the Springboks when they face the British and Irish Lions in July – they will have a target on their backs. That is due to them winning the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019, and beating the Boks will taste a little sweeter for the Lions, should they achieve it, because of this very reason.
Not too many days have passed that I haven’t read comments from UK fans about how the Lions are going to prove a point against the Boks who, according to them, are an overrated team and were fortunate to win the World Cup.
Comments have been made that if England didn’t bask in their glory after beating the All Blacks the previous week (in the World Cup semi-finals) they would have been more battle-ready for the Boks.
Although the Lions can hardly be described as an English challenge because they are, after all, made up of the four home unions, it doesn’t make the challenge for the Boks any lighter.
It will also, interestingly, be the third time in a row that the Lions face the Boks as the reigning world champions after the tours of 1997 and 2009, with the Boks having won the World Cups of 1995 and 2007.
The UK fans are also a little touchy about the fact the Boks have been able to hold on to their world ranking of number one despite not having played a single Test since that 2019 final.
The time is coming for the Boks to defend that champions tag. – Rudolph Jacobs
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