Braai Day could easily still become Bok Day

The Springboks are anchoring the bottom of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship table but it might not be wise to bet hard-earned cash against them being able to turn that around by picking up the premier southern hemisphere trophy in less than a month from now.

While the negativity swirling around the Boks is understandable given the expectations that have grown out of them being World Cup champions and the hype that comes with that, and there can also be no denying they are not on the top of their game, they are arguably still in with a better chance of grabbing silverware than they have been in most Tri-Nations or Championship seasons.

The All Blacks have tended to dominate the competition in its respective guises - Tri-Nations from 1996 to 2012 and Rugby Championship since then - and invariably the competition has been undermined by the one-sidedness of the race for the trophy. But this year is different, with Bok assistant coach Deon Davids being on the money when, in an online press conference on Monday, he spoke about the excitement levels that were being generated by the competitiveness of this year’s Championship.

“It has been a good competition this year and at the moment it can go any way. It shows the competitiveness between the teams and makes for a very interesting finish to the competition,” said Davids in referencing a log that has five points separating the top team, Argentina, from the bottom team.

The Boks have not picked up any log points since they beat New Zealand in their opening game in Nelspruit but the mission ahead of them is one that is not unfamiliar to them. At the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019 they were beaten by the All Blacks in their opening game and that left them needing to win six games to recover from that poor start and win the trophy. They did it.

This time they just need to win three, and if they beat Australia in the return game of the two matches being played Down Under in Sydney on Saturday, the Boks will have two weeks together on tour before what will be a crucial clash with Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Win that, and they will still be in the Championship race when they play their final match in the competition, which just happens to be on South Africa’s Heritage Day public holiday, otherwise known as Braai Day, in Durban. That is of course noting that the other teams are going to struggle to go unbeaten through their remaining three fixtures.

After Saturday, the Wallabies face the All Blacks twice, and they don’t have a good recent record against their trans-Tasman rivals. Argentina, though in good form at the moment, might struggle to go back-to-back against the All Blacks when they face them in Hamilton on Saturday.

Indeed, if you want to cast ahead and take a wager on how everything is going to turn out, don’t bet against it coming down to a count-down between the Boks and the All Blacks in the final weekend. In that regard, the bonus point the Boks surrendered in the final minutes of the Johannesburg test, when they conceded a try that saw them lose by more than the seven points that would have earned them a consolation point, might yet prove crucial. As might have been the bonus point the Kiwis picked up this week in losing by seven in Christchurch.

But for the Boks, through the apparent pall of doom that has descended on them after two consecutive defeats, do still have light shining at the end of the tunnel.

The coaches and the players will know that securing a trophy they have only won four times since the inception of the annual southern hemisphere international competition in 1996 will quickly turn the current negative mood into a positive one and will be the confidence boost they need as they head after that to Europe for a tough tour that includes games against Ireland, France and England.

After two successive defeats they are in a position that often brings out the best of the Boks - they have their backs to the wall and typically that is when they produce their most resounding acts of defiance. Such as when they lost to Australia on the way to New Zealand in 2018 and then won against all the odds against the All Blacks in Wellington.

There are five points separating them from the top teams but that could be erased in the next two matches. It will require them to play well, but then being behind the eight ball early on brought the best out of the Boks both in Japan in 2019 and against the British and Irish Lions last year. Braai Day could yet be Bok Day. Don’t bet against it.

REMAINING FIXTURES (All games live on SuperSport)

Saturday 3 September

New Zealand v Argentina (09.05)
Australia v South Africa (11.35)

Thursday 15 September

Australia v New Zealand (11.45)

Saturday 17 September

Argentina v South Africa (21.10)

Saturday 24 September

New Zealand v Australia (09.05)
South Africa v Argentina (17.05)

Log standings after three games:

Argentina 9 points
Australia 9 points
New Zealand 5 points
South Africa 4 points