ON THE BALL: For the next six weeks the Six Nations rugby tournament will happen in Europe – and it matters to Springbok rugby, writes Lucky Maree.
Watch carefully – just like Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber will be doing. The Six Nations tournament starts this weekend and it may be the most important six weeks for international rugby, and for South African rugby, from now until the Rugby World Cup in September.
The Six Nations tournament has, in many ways, managed to retain an old fashioned feel about it.
Modern sport, rugby included, adheres to the principle that “if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing to death.”
Even the smallest tournaments are spun out to extend over months of never-ending rugby to maximise the revenue stream. There are home and away matches, pool stages, playoff matches and finals. Eventually the players look like broken, used-up World War II veterans returning from the battlefield, but no matter! The money is in the bank.
In the United Rugby Championships and the Heineken Champions Cup players spend hours on aircraft to play in near tropical heat one week and sub-zero temperatures the next. Shipping the properties (sometimes, but not always, referred to as players) from one end of the earth to the other must be a logistical nightmare.
With the Six Nations the teams play each other over once over a period of six weeks. It is not a home and away system. There are no finals. The nation with the highest number of tournament points wins. After Italy joined in 2000, the longest flight is from Rome to Dublin, about three hours.
Why does all of this matter to the Springboks?
France, Ireland and England are officially the favourites but whether this is really the case, is now on display.
Can France, the favourites, play five winning matches in a row? They did last year, but these days, the teams of Scotland, Wales and Italy are so far behind that the arrogant French might see those as practice matches. To win the World Cup requires eight matches in a row. The old adage of “which French team pitches up” has to be a big question in September.
Nobody knows what will happen with England, but they can’t be written off. Firing Eddie Jones may have been a fatal error, but they still have some of the best players in the world and Steve Borthwick is probably the best coach they could have appointed. He did a great job at Leicester Tigers and his calm approach may just be the thing to get them going.
Ireland have been steaming along quite nicely with Andy Farrell steering them quietly into the top of the rankings – where they belong right now. But the rankings, come September are irrelevant. As with France, can they keep their motivation going for eight solid weeks at the World Cup? The Six Nations will give us some solid clues.
Are there any dark horses? Scotland under Gregor Townsend just don’t seem to have the grunt. Warren Gatland will have to perform miracles to get Wales into the top three but with guys like Alun Wyn Jones they know how to fight – although they also know how to lose. Expect Italy under New Zealander Kieran Crowley to upset a few apple carts, but win? Nope?
Delicious questions all – and all very important for Springboks rugby. Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber will certainly be watching.
Saturday:
Wales vs Ireland
England vs Scotland
Sunday:
Italy vs France
Caption: Six Nations. Wales vs Ireland on Saturday
Image source: Twitter
