Kick Off games have people talking rugby again

That over used cliche about rugby being the winner has never been more aptly used than it would be to describe the latest round of a Kick Off 2021 series that continues to be as absorbing and exciting as it is entertaining.

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Yes, there’s that word - entertaining. Supersport commentator Matthew Pierce told us during the Emirates Lions/Cell C Sharks game in Johannesburg that he'd had an entertaining evening at Loftus the night before, when the Vodacom Bulls only just edged out the DHL Stormers. If he’d tried to tell us he was entertained during the Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked or Carling Currie Cup competitions that led South African rugby’s return to play in late 2020 and early 2021, we might have responded “Ja Matt, who you trying to kid”.

But now, three months into 2021 and three games into the preparation series, we might suggest he was stating the obvious. For if rugby enthusiasts haven’t been entertained by what we’ve seen since the South African teams returned from their short off-season, then they never will be entertained.

WHETTING THE APPETITE

Indeed, while these matches are intended to prepare the teams and players for the forthcoming Rainbow Cup (in the case of the four top franchises), the series of games could just as easily be renamed the “Whet the Appetite Series”, for that is what it is doing for spectators and would be supporters who were switched off by the kick-a-thon we saw in the closing weeks of the Currie Cup season.

This is not drawn from any scientific study and is purely anecdotal and drawn from personal experience, but for the first time in a long-time people do seem to be speaking about rugby again. The name Ntuthuko Mchunu was mentioned by an excited fellow runner in a group on Table Mountain on Sunday morning, and so was the good form of Frans Steyn and Ruan Pienaar.

Of course, those little sub-sets of players are polar opposites in terms of where they are in their careers. The latter pair are letting their experience rub off against players they are playing with and against, while Mchunu made television viewers everywhere sit up and take notice with the second of his two tries that nearly stole a draw for an experimental but enterprising Sharks team in Johannesburg on Saturday evening.

PLATFORM FOR NEW TALENT

That is what this preparation series is all about. Well, at least one of the things. Giving a platform to new talent to show what they can do. Mchunu, in three games played off the bench for the Sharks, has done that every time. In the first game against Griquas it was his scrumming, in the second against the Cheetahs it was his scrumming and his carrying, and in the third it was mainly his carrying and what a turn of speed he showed in powering over from 30 metres out to level the scores against the Emirates Lions.

Perhaps you’d expect that from a player who just two years ago was playing as a No8 at schoolboy level. But he’s producing in the primary role of the prop position he has been retreaded into too. Apart from one scrum that was a mess he didn’t do badly either in his scrumming duel with veteran Lions Springbok and former Sharks stalwart Jannie du Plessis.

His coach Sean Everitt reckons he will go on to become an even more legendary figure than another former Sharks front-row Bok, Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira, who was also switched from looseforward early in his career. That’s quite a statement considering Mtawarira won a Lions series, a World Cup and a Tri-Nations and played over 100 international games but right now it is difficult to argue against that assessment.

Mchunu was far from the only new player to impress. The list of players who have shown promise over the past three weeks is an extensive one, but one such player is Marcel Theunissen. The DHL Stormers are going to be a much more difficult team to play against if Theunissen continues to develop in the No6 role. And that is said noting that Nama Xaba, who is not playing currently, is the opensider that Stormers coach John Dobson is most excited about.

TSHITUKA IS THE BUSINESS

Speaking of flankers, Vincent Tshituka of the Lions isn’t completely new but he does look a different player to what we saw a few months ago. His game is developing as strongly as his body appears to have been developed over that period, and he’d have been my man of the match in the thrilling Lions/Sharks game. Not only is he a strong carrier, he’s become a good scavenger too.

Sharks newcomer Rynhard Jonker was another player to impress at inside centre, although admittedly that observation is drawn from one play that led to the Sharks’ first try. Boeta Chamberlain and Kade Wolhuter showed promise as flyhalves of the Sharks and Stormers respectively.

ADVENTUROUS ATTITUDE PAYING OFF

Above all though what was impressive was the adventurous attitude. Perhaps it is easier to run from your own line early in a game when there are no log points up for grabs and no trophy to play for, but the way the Sharks and Lions took it in turns to run in tries from counter-attacks that started near their respective lines was refreshing.

We’ve seen that late in games featuring South African teams in the past, but doing that when the play has opened up and you are forced to chase a game is one thing. Doing it early in a game is rare from the local perspective and those three tries showed that you can profit from it.

RUGBY WON BECAUSE THERE WERE NO LOSERS 

Why we would also say rugby was the winner is because apart from maybe the Cheetahs, who could be a little miffed at losing an unbeaten record to the New Nation Pumas in Nelspruit, no team that played this weekend should have ended it feeling unhappy. All four teams competing in the Rainbow Cup achieved the goals they set out to achieve from their games and the end results, which were all close and could have gone either way, didn’t really matter.

That our abiding memories of the weekend might be those counter-attack tries, or of Juarno Augustus losing the ball over the line for the Stormers off the last move of the match, or the excellent Wandesile Simelane being prevented from scoring a try because he was cramping, is a big positive for South African rugby. It is what will get people talking about the sport again.

WEEKEND RESULTS

New Nation Pumas 22 Toyota Cheetahs 15
Vodacom Bulls 34 DHL Stormers 29
Emirates Lions 43 Cell C Sharks 40