Bad Super Rugby time no worry for De Villiers
PLAYERS from South African franchises will be sitting back watching the Super Rugby semifinals this weekend without any real attachment for the first time in 12 years.
The last time a South African franchise failed to make the last four was in 2003, which, as it happened, was also a World Cup year.
That season’s World Cup campaign was the worst in the Springboks’ history. The Boks lost two games and were eliminated at the quarterfinal stage by New Zealand.
But winning franchises from a country do not automatically translate to World Cup success either.
In 1995, Queensland won the Super 10 but Australia were bundled out of the World Cup in the quarterfinal stages.
Four years later, the Crusaders and the Highlanders contested the Super Rugby final but New Zealand were eliminated in the semifinals of the World Cup by France.
In 2003, New Zealand had three franchises in the last four of Super 12 and the Blues and Crusaders contested the final. The All Blacks were sent packing at the semifinal stage of the World Cup by Australia.
In 2011, the Reds won Super Rugby but the All Blacks won the World Cup.
The only anomaly has been in 2007 when the Bulls and the Sharks contested the final and the Springboks went on to win the World Cup.
But that year NZ pulled their best players out of Super Rugby for the first six weeks.
Given the trend, the chances of the world champions and Super Rugby champions coming from the same country in a World Cup year are 20%.
There has to be some comfort in that for Bok coach Heyneke Meyer.
As for Bok captain Jean de Villiers, he says: “I’m not concerned [about the poor Super Rugby performances]. It’s different when you get together as a Springbok team and put the green jersey on.
“It changes people and it changes them for the good.
“There are a lot of exciting things that came out of Super Rugby. You can look at the negatives and teams not performing, but, for me, a couple of youngsters really stepped up this year. There are guys who were on the fringes who stabilised their position in the Springbok squad.
“From a senior players’ point of view, some of them might have had bad Super Rugby seasons, but I’m confident because those guys have proven what they can do at test-match level.”
More than any of the three countries, the disconnect between South African franchises and international dominance is widest.
In some of SA’s worst seasons at Super Rugby level (1998), when SA franchises won just nine of 33 matches (27%) against Australian and NZ opponents, the Boks went undefeated in the Tri-Nations.
In 2004, when the Boks won the Tri-Nations again, SA teams won only 36% of matches against foreign opponents. This year the win ratio against foreign teams is 46% at Super Rugby level, underlining how the conference system and local derbies are the real cause of SA’s failure in Super Rugby.
SA teams regularly take points off each other, which is skewing the overall standings.