Lions diary, day ten
With the match in the evening ahead, most of us enjoyed the closest thing we had to a day off on the tour. That meant going to see the Boks.
With the match in the evening ahead, most of us enjoyed the closest thing we had to a day off on the tour. That meant going to see the Boks.
They were fine – you'll read about it somewhere over the next couple of days.
What was far more intriguing was where they were staying. For those outside South Africa, the local television channel has created a place – at a swanky shopping and entertainment centre in Johannesburg – known as 'Boktown'.
It's a big square of wonderful old Italian and French architecture (all about five years old), with a monster screen in the middle of it. On one side is the team hotel, where about half the squad is currently residing while the other half gets over a Super 14 hangover. On the other side is a monster big screen, in front of which the locals gather of a Saturday afternoon and have a good old match-viewing party.
The squad announcement was on Monday night, with four of the players slouched uncomfortably across huge couches on a dais in front of their hotel and Breyton Paulse roaming among the huddled masses relaying questions from the fans to the four via a microphone.
It's not a bad concept and it's good PR, except for the fact that the whole shebang is televised and beamed out to the nation, meaning that all the little attention whores get their fifteen minutes while the players themselves squirm with discomfort at the banality of the questions they have to answer ('How do you enjoy being a Springbok' was one. Seriously.)
It's good that players interact with the fans. But turning the squad announcement for rugby's most historical and important tour into a Reality TV cavalcade is bad, bad, bad.
Before the game, players and coaches were naturally across the pitch, naturally looking a little restless as the adrenaline levels built. The players got it out of their system well enough, but how do the coaches do it?
Well, Ian McGeechan spent a few minutes chipping a ball up to himself and catching it, but surely the best was watching Shaun Edwards put his team through its final shadow run, practically running with the team in his blazer and tie as he did so! Suited and booted does not suit Mr. Edwards too much it seems.
Fans watch: It was good to see a few Northampton shirts roaming around in the crowd, while the Welsh were there in fine force, particularly the pair dressed in Welsh flags and cowboy hats.
But the prize for fans costume of the day goes to about 14 well-built blokes all dressed in immaculate blazers and ties, sitting near the half-way line about five rows up from the pitch, repeatedly letting themselves get photographed with their well-wishers and having a good old evening of banter. Yet another example of the friendly face of this tour.
Less enthusiastic seem to be the South Africans themselves, with Ellis Park little more than a third full for the game. Lots of people talking about the tour, but not many going at the moment – were the tickets too much? Were the tourists just too good? Has the Golden Lions' season been that bad? Let us know!
Maybe it was the teams being that bad though. After a superlative display of acrobatics by three female cheerleaders, somersaulting in the air before being caught in style by their male lifters, the Golden Lions came out and did some line-out practice. At the first one, a lock was heaved a fair few feet into the air… then dropped unceremoniously on his side!
Old school moment of the day: Mike Phillips responded to a question about the niggle between himself and Jano Vermaak thus: “He hit me off the ball at one point, so I had to hit him back.”
New school moment of the day: Stephen Jones responded to a question about a brief and heated discussion between himself and Brian O'Driscoll on the pitch thus: “It was a forceful discussion that will have future benefits.” Very slick!
A thank you to the reader who sent in the best suggestion for the name of the Lions mascot – Willie John McPride will be set before the tour committee tomorrow.
Wearing the pink underpants of shame for tomorrow will be the British journalist who, in the tipping competition, had the Golden Lions down as winning by 12 points!
Potentially sharing them – half a day each, before you ask – will be the Irish journalist who, enjoying a couple of free beers in the media centre after filing his copy, managed to fail to notice the mass exodus of the media corps and missed both buses from Ellis Park back to Sandton!
Journal kept by Richard Anderson