A strong breeze brought cooler air down from the mountains and the oppressing heat of the day has subsided at last. Since coming to Monterrey, Mexico, a few days ago the daytime temperature gauge has stayed above 39 degrees Celsius / 102 degrees Fahrenheit consistently.
As I stand next to the hotel’s swimming pool with a three-quartered moon semi-transparent through scattered clouds and enjoying a cigarette after watching the Springboks/Wallaby rugby international that was played earlier today in Cape Town, I am left pondering what the Springboks must do to score more tries. After again being in total control of the match they could show only one try for their efforts. Will their inability to score tries and thus lack of getting an additional bonus point come and haunt them later in the Trinations tournament? Although I am reminding myself of Naas Botha’s words, “watch the scoreboard”, I am certainly not complaining about another win for the Springboks.
Heinrich Brussow is certainly the find of the season and Morne Steyn is certainly the savior of the Springboks in the last couple of internationals, but any serious South African rugby lover has to worry what will happen the day when penalty kicks go awry and the Boks have to rely on tries to win games.
In 2004 South Africa won the Trinations with its rush defense that forced opposition into mistakes. Those mistakes were quickly turned into opportunities and points. In 2009 they are well placed to do it again with 3 played and 3 won, but this time it seems their tactic is kicking up-and-unders with excellent chasing from the wings, again, causing the opposition to make mistakes and this time it is the boot of Morne Steyn that is a turnstile of points. That said, the overall game plan is more complicated than just kick and chase and their run of success is more based on their direct, hard-as-nails forwards suffocating their opposition upfront to deny them access to the ball.
At this point in time, without any complaints, I am happy to take the winning log points and denying the New Zealanders and the Australians any bonus points, but I have to wonder when the Boks will start scoring tries. It is not that I am ungrateful for the wins; I am just a lover of the total rugby game and the complete and total annihilation of the opposition with all the possible ways to score.
Maybe I am just greedy!
Even the minutest effort in this Mexican heat like getting in a car to cross a few streets for brunch at Starbucks and return to the hotel makes my genetically northern European body exorcise sweat like rivulets joining the Amazon River delta.
