Chasing the Sun pressing the memory buttons

Watching a preview of the next edition of Chasing the Sun, which will be aired on M-Net on Sunday evening and focuses quite a bit on the Springboks’ opening match of Rugby World Cup 2019 in Yokohama, it pressed some memory buttons that made it hard to accept that it was over 12 months ago now.

The memories are still fresh, but the details are not as fresh now as they were then, so I am offering up my one of my tour diaries written in that week building up to the World Cup game as an opportunity for readers to perhaps join me in reliving it.

BOKS WILL BE PLEASED TO ESCAPE MICKEY MOUSE (written on the Wednesday before the game)

All kids love Disney and any adult who would begrudge them that would risk being lumped in the same hall of infamy as Scrooge, who didn’t like Christmas, but I wouldn’t blame the Springboks if they are longing for the moment where they can move as far away from their current hotel as possible.

They’re in accommodation that adjoins Tokyo Disneyworld. A great place to visit if you have your wide-eyed, excitable whippersnappers with you no doubt, and Pieter-Steph du Toit even admitted at the opening press conference of the week, on Monday, that he had spent part of Sunday visiting the famous play-park.

“It was very packed, we couldn’t do much, so maybe later in the trip we can go back when it is less busy,” said the flanker.

Later in the trip he may well get an opportunity, as although the Boks leave Disneyland on Thursday to take up residence in another hotel, they could find themselves returning here later in the tournament.

The competing nations don’t get to choose their hotels for the playoff stages, they get allocated them according to where they finish in their respective pools. The higher ranked teams get the higher ranked hotels. But apparently there are two potential hotels for the Boks in the playoff stages, or various stages of the playoffs - here near where Mickey Mouse hangs out or at Shibuya.

So they are likely to be back here at some point of the business end of the competition (note to reader: they did return in the week of the final), by which time frayed nerves might just find the never-ending stream of parents and kids moving through the area, and the fanfare that accompanies it, rather galling.

THE REAL REASON WHY THEY SHOULD WANT TO ESCAPE

Not that it is the carnival atmosphere and noise that will make the Boks want to get out of here. Instead, it is the number of times they have had to field questions at press conferences about Disneyland. Initially they were considered funny but they have just become progressively more stupid.

“How do you feel about meeting Mickey Mouse?” (There are Mickey Mouse characters wandering around the hotel foyer and general precinct)

The Beast was understandably non-plussed and unsure about how to answer that one. Has he gone across the road? “Gone across the road where?” He’s a rugby player for goodness sake, and on Saturday he’s playing one of the biggest matches of his career. I’d be a bit surprised if Beast phoned home to excitedly relate to his family about his day on the rides at Disney.

SOMETIMES MORE IS JUST TOO MUCH

It’s not necessarily the fault of the media people asking the questions, but perhaps a reflection of World Cup media protocol that dictates the number of players that each nation has to put up for press conference duties every day.

I’m normally a critic of rugby’s inability, or unwillingness, to do what is necessary to sell itself as a sport. But at the World Cup, it is borderline over the top, particularly at this stage of the tournament where nothing has happened yet.

It was noticeable at Wednesday’s press conference that the questions became progressively less serious as different coaches and players were presented to us. First up was head coach Rassie Erasmus and senior player Duane Vermeulen. Great press conference, great questions, serious questions, interesting answers.

NIENABER SHOULD FRONT THE MEDIA MORE OFTEN

Then came Jacques Nienaber, the Bok defence coach, who was flanked by Malcolm Marx and Franco Mostert. I honestly can’t remember if Franco was actually asked a question, I will have to listen to the tape again to confirm, but Jacques was great value.

The defence guru hasn’t done many press conferences over the years, and last week when the Boks were in their training camp on an island was one of his first, if not THE first, appearances at a Bok press conference. The only problem was that apparently there was no-one there.

On Wednesday there were lots of media there and Nienaber gave us great value, telling us of his own personal evolution from being someone who was perhaps too concerned about his own field of expertise, and thus scared of any risk implicit in the plans hatched by any attack or backline coach, to someone who now believes there has to be a balance.

And he also told us when his conversion from being shift defence orientated to his current press defence orientation came about. It wasn’t recently, and it didn’t start in Munster. He started it way back in 2016, when he was involved with the Boks under Allister Coetzee shortly before his departure for Ireland. That was during his previous stint as coaching organiser at SA Rugby.

But by the time Beast, Willie le Roux and Makazole Mapimpi were wheeled out to face the media, it had reached a point where it felt like all the questions not related to specific aspects of their individual games had been asked already.

How many times can you ask a player what it means to play for the Boks against the All Blacks and get the same answer before you just switch off? And why should we expect a different answer, maybe it’s a stupid question in the first place. Imagine if the interviewee answered thus: “It’s not much fun really. I have more fun watching hippos wallowing on the banks of a river.”

Anyway, maybe it’s in that context we should view all the questions about how exciting it was to be staying next to Disneyland. And the unusable answers.

If one of the players had answered that Disneyland was going to be the highlight of the World Cup for them, and the part of this World Cup they will tell their friends, children and grandchildren about many years from now, that would be news. If it does turn out like that though, it will mean this Bok campaign didn’t turn out very well.

SOME UNINTENDED HUMOUR

Of course, there has been some proper humour at the early press conferences, and doubtless the question asked of Mzwandile Stick by an overseas journalist on Monday has had plenty of airplay on social media back home.“Wales coach Warren Gatland is rubbing baby oil on his balls. I mean on his rugby balls…”

That had the place in stitches, and rightly so. It was well handled by Stick too. Stick had already told us that he hadn’t been to Disneyland because he hadn’t been out of his room since arriving at the hotel. Which had been a couple of days prior to that.

A DIFFERENT PLACE

It is stating the obvious to state that Japan is a very different place to what those South Africans who haven’t sojourned there as rugby players are used to. And of course, the fact that the writing looks nothing like ours is problematic.

In a place like Argentina, you can at least write down a word and present it to the person you are asking a question of. And when Spanish speakers greet you by saying “Hola”, it isn’t much different to the word we use. In fact I’m pretty sure that might have been the first word I uttered after coming out of the womb.

Ordering food has been fun. So far, some of us hacks have been choosing menu items by guess-work, which is also potentially perilous.

I’m a more adventurous eater than most, so it doesn’t bother me when someone tells me much of the fish in Japan is actually eel. And neither should it, for they are particularly ugly fish that might be better off dead and do happen to taste incredible.

But sometimes you do come across something that just doesn’t smell lekker. And then you get reminded that smell is actually a crucial part of the whole eating experience.

SPRINGBOKS AREN’T TOMMY TOURISTS, THEY’RE PROFESSIONAL SPORTSMEN

The Boks aren’t getting to experience the delights of the traditional Japanese cuisine. According to conditioning coach Aled Walters, they did get to sample some local fare during their training camp last week, but for the rest, it is a case of them doing pretty much what they do back home - in other words, eat what the dieticians stress that they should eat in order to perform at their maximum.

“I must compliment World Rugby on how they have impressed upon the need for specific diets to the various hotel chefs. All the teams will have the same demands and for all of us it is pretty much the same - we are eating what we would eat if we were on tour back home.”

FAT FARMING

Not that the diet would prevent what apart from the humidity and weather has become the other talking point of this World Cup so far - weight loss. Duane Vermeulen apparently lost three kilograms in a training session which was carried out on a relatively cool day. Jesse Kriel, who doesn’t look like he has an ounce of fat on him, lost four in one training session - you’ve probably heard the stories already.

What is important though, is that the professionalism of the Springbok operation when it comes to preparation, conditioning and diet negates the obvious concern I had when I heard of all this weight loss - it hasn’t sapped strength and energy.

The reason that interested me is because I have long held the view that the reason the Sharks so often struggle in the early part of their season is because they build up for it in the energy-sapping Durban humidity of January and early February.

“Everything is monitored now, from the amount of time we spend on our feet, what we put into our bodies, so there’s no danger of our training in extreme conditions having a negative impact…” said flanker Francois Louw.

Hopefully we won’t be revisiting that after the All Black game on Saturday night if the Boks deliver a flat performance, but given how meticulous coach Rassie Erasmus has been in his preparation, there shouldn’t be too much risk of that.

DON’T BET ON IT

Nope, if you are directly involved in the World Cup in any way, please don’t bet on anything. Just ask Welsh assistant coach Rob Howley, well now former Welsh assistant coach Rob Howley. The decision to send the former British and Irish Lions scrumhalf home in disgrace because he broke a law preventing people involved in the World Cup from betting on games or outcomes has taken everyone here by surprise. And although everyone wants to talk about it, no-one seems to know the full story.

Given that betting has suddenly become a talking point, however, the ears did prick up when Rassie Erasmus, when talking about how closely matched the two protagonists in Saturday’s match in Yokohama are, said “You wouldn’t want to bet on it”.

Indeed Rassie, it would be a very bad idea.

FEVER BUILDING

This being the first World Cup to be staged in a Tier Two nation, there is a lot of interest in how the tournament will go down with the local population. Only time will provide the answer to that question, but you can’t accuse the Japanese of not making a fuss of it and not advertising the tournament.

There are big banners, posters and even temporary rugby-related representations near all the major commuter hubs and if you venture into most super-markets you get presented with things like Rugby World Cup coca-cola in addition to the usual fans attire.

The overseas visitors are also starting to stream in, as certainly seemed obvious when I was in the Bok hotel earlier today. There again, they might’ve been there to see Minnie Mouse…