Bob Skinstad’s ‘I’m not going to pull any punches’ verdict on Springboks’ World Cup ambitions after ‘bump in the road’ against All Blacks
The Springboks stand dejected during their loss to the All Blacks at Ellis Park and ex-Boks skipper Bob Skinstad (inset).
Bob Skinstad insists a World Cup hat-trick remains within reach of South Africa and, armed with a perspective shaped by recent tragedy, has urged fans not to panic.
The double world champions, well beaten by New Zealand a week ago, cannot lose Saturday’s second Test and win the inaugural Greatest Rivalry series between rugby’s top two ranked nations.
They have been stripped both of their year-long winning streak and number one status and invited questions as to the ability of an ageing side to make it through to the World Cup in Australia.
Skinstad is in Béziers, the ancient city in southern France where the rugby club he bought as part of a consortium kicks off the new Pro D2 campaign tonight at home to Oyonnax.
It is a huge 72 hours for the former Springbok captain who admits: “South Africa played the wrong game-plan last week, New Zealand played the right one.
‘There were some questionable decisions’
“I’m not going to pull any punches here. I do think there were some questionable decisions, and not only by the Springboks in what they did when they had the ball.
“I think the ruck and tackle area was treated completely different to how it’s been treated in the last 18 months. I’ve got no doubt that was from a very good and very well put together narrative from the All Blacks to all the guys on the field, the adjudication team.”
Rassie Erasmus’ reaction to losing has been to pick the most experienced ever Springboks side, with 1012 caps in the starting XV. Even if that pays off can a group so long in the tooth really go another year at the very top?
After all, team captain Siya Kolisi is 35, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter Steph du Toit, Damian de Allende all 34. Cobus Reinach is pushing 37, Deon Fourie turns 40 next month.
“We have senior players who’ve been in this team a long time,” Skinstad acknowledges. “We’ve also got three starting line-ups that we could put out going forward for the next 18 months at least.
“So we’re in a good position. People think a bump in the road or a step backwards is something that stops your momentum. I think it galvanises you to get better in the areas where you dropped.
“I’m not an extremist or an absolutist like that. We’ve seen South Africa lose 57-0 in New Zealand and come back and be ready to win a World Cup a year later.
“For me, rugby turns on a ticky. It’s about the long-term planning that you keep in place during the hard times. It’s not what you do because of the storm, it’s what you do in the storm.”
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Skinstad says South Africa need to be smarter this time, they need to work harder and make better decisions.
‘That was not smart rugby’
“I mean, four scrums in a row, then giving away a penalty and all of your advantage and not gaining a yellow card, while you yourself pick up two,” he adds. “That was not smart rugby.
“We’re now up sh*t creek without a paddle. We’ve got to go and win two in a row just to be in with a chance to win this thing.”
John Smit, South Africa’s 2007 World Cup-winning skipper, spoke on Wednesday about how his countrymen “quite easily go from zero to catastrophe” when the Boks lose.
Skinstad recognises that. But a tragedy, on the training field at Béziers last month, has reminded him that sporting disappointment should not equate to life and death, no matter what Bill Shankly once said.
On July 10 Luqobo ‘Bibo’ Makwedini, a 20-year old South African prop, collapsed and died following a training session. SABC News reported that he had suffered heatstroke.
“Bibo passing away has absolutely rocked me and our club to the core,” Skinstad says. “I don’t think we’ll ever get over it.
“He was a young guy who wrote chants for the cheerleaders at his high school. A young guy who had a circle of friends bigger than I’ve ever seen. Just a really super young man to be around.
“Ten days before, I’d been high-fiving him at training, talking about his high school in South Africa and what kind of season they had been having, because my son is at a rival school.
“Saul Loggenberg, his adopted father, was working with us to right the ship in terms of the administrative state of the club we inherited. So this is a difficult time. It has really hit us hard.”
Skinstad was on holiday with his family in Mallorca when the tragedy happened. He flew back immediately to be with Makwedini’s older brother, who recently joined the club from Leicester.
Asked to what extent Béziers would be playing for their fallen team mate, he replies: “There’s already a universal acceptance that Bibo’s spirit is living within all of us.
“That we’ve got a duty to train and perform to the highest level we can because someone who was part of us doesn’t have that opportunity anymore.”
Skinstad has recruited former Springbok team-mate Gurthrö Steenkamp to the role of head coach at a club which last season came perilously close to relegation.
Malakai Fekitoa, the ex-All Black, and Wales back-row Mackenzie Martin are among the new recruits and, with 14,000 having turned up for a friendly with fierce rivals Narbonne, expectation is high.
Skinstad distracted by Greatest Rivalry series
As France’s second tier competition gets underway Skinstad, like all proud South Africans, finds himself distracted by the Greatest Rivalry series.
Schalk Burger, his former team-mate, caused a stir by claiming arrogance cost the Springboks the Test at Ellis Park.
Burger did not elaborate, leaving others to ponder what, specifically, he based that assertion on.
Was it blindly continuing to scrum rather than take three points; believing a Test against the All Blacks was the place for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to play himself into form; or, simply, a sense that it would just happen for the Boks because of what they did to New Zealand in Wellington on their previous meeting?
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“I didn’t see that from Schalk,” says Skinstad, referring to Burger’s post on X. “But he would know, because those decisions by the Boks you have to be in a certain mindset to make.
“If you are feeling a bit arrogant, then you end up probably over-indexing on your own ability. And I do think the Boks did that a few times.
“But I might over-index how good a dad I am on a daily basis. My kids might under-index how good I am. We’ve always got to be setting that record straight!
“This series was never going to be a four-nil job,” he continues. “It’s okay to dream that. It’s like me, as an Arsenal fan, hoping we win the quadruple at the start of each season.
“But we have to understand New Zealand are an absolutely outstanding team of individuals, with quality in every position.
“We don’t have a right to win every game. We have to earn the right. I know the Springboks are humble enough to recognise that.”
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