Springbok Fever!

South Africa is gearing up for this weekend's clash between the Springboks and the rejuvenated defending World Champions from England in the finals of the rugby World Cup. South Africa should be the heavy favorites, though Springbok coach Jake White, taking a page from the playbook of coaches the world over, insists his team must be seen as the underdogs.  

It is hard to believe that until very recently, White was so beleaguered that the rumors were rampant that he was on the verge of losing his job  with his successor all but chosen. It is hardly easy being the South African rugby coach. In addition to the pressure to win — very few national programs in any sport have fans that are are any more demanding than those who don the green and gold, and the fact that the country won the World Cup in 1995 is never far from the minds of fans or even players — White has to deal with the inevitable pressures of racial reconciliation, an especially tough task given the Springboks longstanding status as a symbol of white supremacy and a nexus of Afrikaner nationalism. 

White is well aware of these issues and the ways that they compound the expectations for victory:

“No other country comes close to resembling the South African scenario,” said White, who will be taking charge of his 53rd Test in the final against England on Saturday.“South Africa is the only country where if a winger is injured, you are obliged to change the prop (should the injured player be black or coloured).

“But I accept that as this is my country,” added White, who has rejuvenated the team since replacing Rudolf Straeuli after the debacle of the 2003 World Cup.

“The racial changes could be an immense bonus if they were well implemented,” said White.

“France has Serge Betsen, Thierry Dusautoir, Yannick Nyanga, who are selected on merit, England has Paul Sackey, Jason Robinson, again chosen on merit.

“These countries have a black minority. How can we, with 40 million blacks (85 percent of the population), justify a white team? If we are really being serious about making an effort, it's impossible,” added White, who is likely to have just two coloured players in his starting line-up in wingers Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen in the final.White, though, said that all his players knew he did not racially discriminate when it came to selecting the starting XV.

“I’ve been lucky because I’ve had some of these players as juniors, and at Under-19 and Under-21 level (he coached South Africa to the Under-21 world title).

“They know me and know that I never want to be strong-armed into playing a guy because of the colour of his skin.

“That is a dreadful thing to do to a player. With me it's a case of if you deserve to be in the starting XV or not. And the coloured players are aware of that.”

On that basis, the Springboks will have one more coloured player in their starting XV line-up on Saturday than their 1995 winning side, who only had winger Chester Williams.

That 1995 victory still resonates.

“Winning in 1995 was massive,” said White. “People asked me, when I was resting my players, and being very strict on conditioning: why are we putting so much emphasis into a World Cup?

“But people forget, 1995 changed everything in South Africa.

“It changed the country, the politics, the people. It didn't last, true, we didn't use it as a wonderful thing to carry on with.

“For that time, you wanted to make a movie, you couldn't make it better: everything clicked on one day. And it only happened because of one rugby game.

“But rugby wise, 1995 did not serve us in a way, coming from isolation. Playing amongst us, we thought we had always been the best, and we came back, we won in 1995, so that was just confirming it.

“Had we lost, our coaches would have been going overseas, travelling the world, and seeing how to get better, to catch up.

“In 1999 we pushed the future world champions Australia into extra-time in the semis, lost at the death on a Stephen Larkham drop goal, so we could think we were still there.

“The big realisation that we weren't who we thought we were, was 2003 (South Africa lost to New Zealand in the quarterfinals).

“And we’re lucky we have a second chance, that's what I said to the players.”

South Africa deserves to be the favorites coming into this game. They have pummeled England three times this year, including once in the Pool round of this tournament.  The Springboks will have to handle the pressure that comes with being favorites and with representing South African rugby. The whole country is behind them — even the country's Premier Soccer League is adjusting the schedule of its game so that fans and players of the country's most popular sport will be able to watch the World Cup Final.

I’ll write more about rugby in the run-up to the game, but I continue to believe that the Springboks are the best team in the world. They play a bruising, brutal style that is especially well suited for World Cup play, they are more talented than their British counterparts, and they have beaten the defending champs and scored nearly 150 points in three games this year. It is customary for people like me to predict close games in situations such as this. And a close match may well happen. But I still foresee a blowout. My viewpoint may change, but as of right now I’d predict that South Africa wins going away, 36-14.

Amobokoboko!