ON THE BALL: As the referees with their yellow and red cards plunged rugby into a darkness worse than load shedding, the magic of Siya Kolisi still brightened up the weekend, writes Lucky Maree.
It has long been acknowledged that Siya Kolisi is an inspirational rugby captain. In fact, Siya’s hero status has reached a level where it may become dangerous.
Remember the controversy when Springbok coach Nick Mallett took “match winner” Bobby Skinstad to the 1999 World Cup as eighth man instead of Gary Teichmann? Some say it cost South Africa a World Cup victory and it almost certainly contributed to Mallett’s fall from grace as coach.
Further back in rugby history, flyhalf Naas Botha reached such godly status that it was feared the Springboks couldn’t play without him. Naas, being Naas, didn’t dispel the fantastic legend in spite of some of the best Springboks of all time playing in the team.
One guesses that Siya Kolisi’s journey to the pinnacle of the sport was too tough for him to ever lose touch with reality, but the bright lights can be awfully tempting.
This weekend, Kolisi lifted his game to a new level. It is tempting to say that he is currently one of the best loose forwards in the world.
The weekend’s Heineken Champions Cup produced very little good rugby. There were just simply too many “interventions” by refs imposing the match-destroying cards.
In the match between the Cell C Sharks and Bordeaux Begles in Durban, Kolisi at full speed collected the ball a few inches from the ground, and ran about 10 metres before passing in the tackle to Marnus Potgieter to score.
It was a few seconds of rugby magic that Kolisi can celebrate for a long time to come.
A few minutes later, Kolisi broke the line and passed a perfect pass to Phepsi Buthelezi that eventually led to Marnus Potgieter’s second try.
On Saturday, a great captain turned into a great player.
Unfortunately, a weekend that produced positive results for South African teams also produced a performance of pandemic proportions by the so-called “man in the middle”.
The Bulls match against Exeter Chiefs produced “only” one red card handed out by referee Mathieu Raynal when Henry Slade was sent off after 54 minutes. The Bulls went on to win 39-28.
In the match between the Stormers and London Irish referee Ludovic Cayre delivered a much more limelight-grabbing performance. The London Irish played a great deal of the match with 13 players being red-carded twice in addition to two yellow cards. Studio commentator Schalk Burger was honest enough to say: “I feel the second half was a waste of 40 minutes.” How much joy can the Stormers take out of their 28-14 win?
Referee Luke Pearce put in a man-of-the-match performance with the whistle in the match between the Sharks and Bordeaux Begles, handing out four yellow cards, three to Bordeaux, one to the Sharks. Bordeaux played for a long period with 13 men. The Sharks would have enjoyed their 32-3 win a lot more had it been a fair fight.
The referees say, and rightly so, that they only apply the laws – but do they have to do it with such obvious delight? The problem, of course, lies with the laws and the lawmakers. Will we go to the World Cup in September with the evil card system still in place? The sad answer is, yes.
Siya Kolisi. A great captain becomes a great player.
Pic: Evening Standard
