OPINION: In rugby there are fine margins and grey areas … Bok fans must get over it
· Citizen
People are strange. Rugby fans are stranger. And then you have Bok fans.
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Within minutes of the Springboks going down 33-16 to the All Blacks at Ellis Park on Saturday evening, in the first of four Tests in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, the keyboard warriors got stuck in.
“Grant was so slow …”, “Sacha’s no flyhalf”, “the ref was useless”, “the Boks were arrogant”, “the Boks were complacent”.
What utter rubbish.
Come on South Africa. The Boks were beaten by the more clinical team on the day over 80 minutes. That’s it. It happens.
It was not a great performance by the Boks, that’s a given, but to bash players all of a sudden is just not necessary.
For whatever reason the Boks were a little off. Maybe it was the All Blacks who asked more than anticipated. But it’s sport and that’s what competition is.
Bok boss Rassie Erasmus himself over-reacted a little after Saturday’s game by saying the Boks had been in “catastrophic situations” before.
All Blacks coach Dave Rennie’s assessment was far better, that “there was nothing in that game”. He’s spot on.
It could have gone the other way
The Boks missed three try-scoring chances, which on another day they’d have taken. They got unlucky with Grant Williams’ charge down – another referee might have not allowed it – and another ref would have allowed Eben Etzebeth’s charge down. It is what it is.
On another day the Boks would have converted all their chances, after dominating for large parts of the match, and the All Blacks wouldn’t have. And the outcome would have been different. The margins are tiny at Test level, and especially between these two teams.
You can argue the Boks should have kicked penalties rather than choose to scrum, and scrum again … only to eventually be penalised and lose momentum. On another day the Boks score a try and an All Blacks player gets a yellow card. It’s rugby. There are grey areas.
Almost exactly a year ago the All Blacks beat the Boks in Auckland and the next week lost 43-10 in Wellington. How does that happen? It didn’t make the All Blacks a bad team then, and Saturday’s loss doesn’t make the Boks a poor team now.
Come, Bok fans, be better.