Supersport's Gavin Rich picks through the pieces of the Springboks' fruitless Tri-Nations travels.
"Once the decision to keep the key players in the anticipated World Cup squad at home to be rehabilitated after a long Super Rugby season and to work on strategy and aspects of conditioning under the watch of technical adviser Rassie Erasmus had been taken, the tour was always going to be one to just get through.
As in 2007, when Jake White made the same decision and took a side equally lacking in international experience on the away leg, the results became less significant. His team lost to Australia and New Zealand by similar scores to the ones that this team lost by, but there arguably wasn’t the same backlash from the public than there has been to the most recent trip.
Perhaps it is because this squad went overseas with heightened expectations, some would say unrealistic expectations, that this has been so. White's team in 2007 had already been outplayed at home by the All Blacks when they departed, so there was greater acceptance that the Tri-Nations should effectively be sacrificed.
But while it is true that, as Bok coach Peter de Villiers says, some of the form players from the Super Rugby season were in the group that toured, a close look at the team that lost 40-7 to the All Blacks shows this not to be the case."
RSS feed
