Hearing a Springbok management member refer to Nelspruit as “Nelsproot” during an informal gathering in Paris was a refreshing reminder that the xenophobia that has often blighted South African rugby’s progress is finally being eroded.
Harry Viljoen, when he was coaching the Boks in 2000 and 2001, met with howls of protest from disgruntled media, officials and sections of the public when he included several Australians such as kicking coach Lee Byrne, assistant coach Tim Lane and defence coach Les Kiss, in his management group in his attempt to make the coaching more specialised.
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And in 2007 members of the South African Rugby Union executive who were unhappy at Jake White’s decision to appoint Eddie Jones as an adviser insisted that the former Wallaby coach be denied the right to wear the Springbok blazer.
He did finally get to wear a Bok blazer when the South Africans celebrated their World Cup success in Paris, but only because wing Bryan Habana gave him his.
Fast forward to 2013 and cue in Richie Gray, a lanky former blindside flank-cum-lock who wore a Bok tracksuit to the half-hour chat over coffee and has such a thick southern Scottish bray to his voice that one television reporter has suggested he might need to use subtitles at the bottom of the screen if he is ever interviewed for a South African audience.
He is employed in the management group as a breakdown coach, with Heyneke Meyer now turning to the degree of specialisation that Viljoen did all those years ago and which showed, as Jake White once said of him, that perhaps the often-misunderstood Viljoen was just ahead of his time.
While Gray could never be mistaken for a South African, and was the subject of much interest from the Scottish media in Edinburgh last week, there can be no denying both his commitment and his importance to the Springbok cause.
The Bok performance at the breakdowns has been crucial to the success achieved this year, and ironically, it was in the match against his countrymen that Gray saw the plan coming together.
“The Boks really struggled at the breakdown against Scotland in Nelsproot, so it was an intense focus for us going into the Edinburgh game. It was a match that offered us the opportunity to measure our progress, and I must say I thought the result was fantastic because we put in a highly clinical performance in the breakdown at Murrayfield,” said Gray.
PLAN COMING TOGETHER
Indeed, seldom has there been a better illustration of a plan coming together than the more than three minutes that the Boks retained possession as they patiently built up their attack straight off the kick-off last Sunday.
“I thought that was fantastic and an example of what I was trying to get through,” enthused Gray.
“We carried the ball through several phases, kept the Scots under pressure, forced the penalty, kicked for the corner, and drove over for the try. Perfect!”
Yes, and while the Scots did come back in the second half, when they enjoyed much more possession than in the first, it would be churlish to criticise them for that mediocre second 40 given the challenge they face on Saturday in Paris.
With the players facing only a six-day turnaround between Murrayfield and the big match of the tour at Stade de France, it was understandable that there was almost a perceptible release on the accelerator after halftime.
“It was still a very accomplished allround performance. And outplaying the Scots like that at the breakdown in those conditions took a special effort and showed that we have made great strides in our decision making and in the body position with which we approach the rucks,” said Gray.
The Scot has worked with many teams, including the Welsh side that was beaten by the Boks in the first match of the tour, in a long career as a skills specialist that dates back well over a decade.
In fact, Gray’s first exposure to South African rugby in a consultancy capacity dates back to the turn of the millennium, when he worked briefly for Alan Solomons at the Stormers before making his first acquaintance with Heyneke Meyer at the Bulls.
His taste of South African rugby aroused an interest in the Boks that saw him come into his current role well versed on what the weaknesses might be.
To put it simply, he felt the Boks’ aggression and intent shown at the breakdowns was blunted by poor decision-making and lack of accuracy.
This made all the huff and puff of the big men a waste of energy, and he resolved to set the situation right.
“I reckon that if you speak to any northern-hemisphere coach who has coached a team against the Springboks, he will tell you that one of his biggest messages to his team before each match was to take the South Africans below the waist because they weren’t flexible and athletic and wouldn’t be able to get into the correct body position needed to retain possession.
“But that is rubbish. The players are perfectly capable of getting themselves into a lower body position, and that theory has been proved correct in these past few months.
“I have been watching South African rugby for many years, and they’re very big and aggressive men, but sometimes they just haven’t been accurate. They will come flying in and try to clear a massive area when all they really need to do is clear a much smaller area. That is one of the big things we have worked on.”
So has body position, something that he believes needs to be constantly worked on and needs to be infiltrated down through all the levels of South African rugby.
He also believes it is something that needs to be worked on constantly, not just in the pre-season.
“Playing six inches off the ground is bloody hard work, but we’ve got guys who can do it now, and because of their physical size, if we can keep it consistent, those guys will be very difficult to play against.
“We’ve worked on techniques with balance and supporting your own body weight. I don’t want anyone off their feet. I remember last year counting the seconds when the ball was cleared by the scrumhalf to when the players got to the next ruck, and they’re managing to get there much quicker now by just staying on their feet.
“But this is not something that can just be got right overnight, and once you have achieved the objective, you need to keep working on it.
“I remember when we had a break before the Cape Town test against Australia, Jannie du Plessis came to me and said he felt like he was back up there (in the wrong body position) again. And when the guys came from from the Currie Cup before this tour we had to spend a week getting the body height back down to the right level.”
As Gray has worked with many different teams it says something of the Boks that he rates them as a special side with huge potential.
“The good thing about the Boks is that of all the teams in world rugby I reckon they are the ones that can still do the most growing and improving, and that is a scary prospect if you consider how much they have grown in the past year. They are already second in the world now.”
But Gray doesn’t know at this point if he will be around to see everything that has been worked on bring the plan to fruition.
“Officially the game against France is my last test. That is the focus now, and I don’t want to deflect any of the attention away from the task at hand, but I would like to carry on with what I have been doing for the next two years as leaving the group now would leave me feeling that I had stopped with only a quarter of the job done.
“There is still much to do.”