Suddenly it feels like there’s hope for the Boks

After a fortnight of negativity and gloom at the start of the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa, the weekend brought what felt like an incrementally brightening ray of hope for the Springboks ahead of the forthcoming three-match series.

The first glimmer of optimism arrived on Saturday evening when the Cell C Sharks, although well beaten in the end, sent out the message that although the 15 months of Covid-driven isolation from international competitions has clearly hurt South African rugby, it might not take that long to internalise the lessons and get up to speed.

Having experienced first-hand as a squad the intensity and tempo of the Lions game in the first match on Wednesday, the Sharks were far more composed and confident as a unit, even though they had made several changes and had to dig deep into their playing resources the second time around.

Four days isn’t enough to work miracles, and the odds would have been on the Lions still winning the game even before the contest was ended by the red card shown to Sharks scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse when the scores were locked at 26-26 after 46 minutes. The tempo of the Lions’ game would surely have got the Sharks in the end.

But they would have been competitive until late in the game and after what we’d seen four days earlier, and given the narrative that has been prevalent ever since the Bulls lost to Treviso in the Rainbow Cup final, you wouldn’t have expected them to be competitive at all.

MICROCOSMIC VIEW OF BIG DANGER TO LIONS

In many ways, the first half of the Loftus game presented the Lions with a microcosmic view of what for them is the biggest danger ahead of the series. The message that they should have absorbed by the discomfort they felt when the Sharks got in their faces and fed off their mistakes to score four tries was all about the perils of underestimating and being complacent against a South African opponent.

They certainly did look like they were trying to force the game in the first half in Pretoria, usually a sure sign that they were expecting a repeat of what the Sharks had presented in the Wednesday clash. The danger of doing that against a South African team is something the All Blacks would be well aware of after their experience in losing unexpectedly to the Boks in Wellington in 2018.

The Kiwis had posted scores of more than 50 in two of their previous three games against the Boks and it will be recalled that they started that Wespac Stadium test playing quick-paced, loose rugby. There were two quick tries and the All Blacks looked like they were rollicking along, only to make mistakes that let the Boks back into the game. And once the Boks got back into that game, they were a different animal, and have been a different animal ever since.

BOKS QUICKLY TURNED AROUND A BLEAK PICTURE

If the Lions had someone in the camp to translate the Sunday newspaper reports to them the morning after the Sharks game, which of course they do in the form of their wing Duhan van der Merwe, it would have been hard for them not to fall into the trap the All Blacks did three years ago by becoming a bit complacent ahead of the series.

The Rapport front-page story confirmed the extent of the Covid infection rate within the Bok camp, which had forced the hosts into retreating behind a wall of silence for an entire week.

Of the 26 infections within the Bok camp, there were 14 players who had tested positive, and among the players who were in isolation and doubtful for the first test in Cape Town according to the return to play protocols after a positive test, meaning the break from rugby should be around 17 days, were skipper Siya Kolisi, flyhalf Handre Pollard and several other first-choice players.

Confronted with that reality, it would be hard for even the most die-hard Springbok supporter to believe their team could win the series. And that was particularly so as there seemed no indication of when the Boks would be able to emerge from their self-isolation and start training again.

But momentum can turn quickly and imperceptibly at times in professional sport and the teams don’t have to be on the field for that to happen. And it might just have happened later on Sunday morning, when at last the SA Rugby communication team emerged from their own silence and sent out a press release stating the Boks were returning to training. Immediately.

According to the release, a “six-day preventative self-isolation period cleared a large group of players to return to the field”.

At the same time, it was made clear in the press release that the South Africa A match against the Lions in Cape Town on Wednesday would go ahead. This after there had been strong indications earlier in the weekend that the game would be swopped with the Stormers fixture, scheduled for Saturday, because of the Covid disruption and uncertainty.

SMALL THINGS CAN BE BIG DRIVERS OF A MOMENTUM SHIFT

There has been speculation too that there could be a second game featuring SA A before the first test, though there was no mention of that in the press release. After missing out because of Covid infections in both camps on their planned second test against Georgia, the Boks do have some catching up to do and need as much game time opportunity as possible ahead of the first test.

But at least they are back on the field, and who knows what mental shift the Lions might have had to go through when they learned that actually, the situation in the Bok camp isn’t quite as dire as thought after all.

It’s a small thing, just like the much-improved performance by the Sharks was just a small thing, but small things are often looked back retrospectively as big contributors to a momentum shift.

The Lions have scored 27 tries across just three games so far on their tour and there is no question they should be confident, but at the same time, their coach Warren Gatland might not have been as pleased as an opposing coach would normally be when the Sharks lost Hendrikse to his moment of madness. It robbed his team of what was shaping as a more sustained examination of potential weak points that he needs to know about.

THE ADVERSITY COULD WORK FOR SA TOO

The Boks have added Bulls prop Lizo Gqoboko and Sharks hooker Fez Mbatha as cover ahead of the South Africa A game.

With Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber still isolating because of his positive Covid test last week, national director of rugby Rassie Erasmus took charge of training on Sunday. He will also be up to answer the media questions when the South Africa A team is announced on Monday afternoon.

After last week’s uncertainty and silence, the mere fact a team is about to be announced is a huge step forward. Gatland has spoken about how the challenges his team has faced after one player's positive Covid test has united and galvanised his squad. The 'rub coal together to create a diamond' nature of adversity that former Bok coach Heyneke Meyer used to talk about might work for the South African camp too.

TOUR RESULT - THIRD MATCH AT LOFTUS

Cell C Sharks 31 British and Irish Lions 71

TOUR IN A NUTSHELL SO FAR

Lions have scored 27 tries in three games at an average of nine per game.

They have gone beyond 50 each time they have played and have an aggregate score from three games of 181 points - an average of 60 per game.

NEXT GAME

South Africa A v British and Irish Lions (Cape Town Stadium, Wednesday 20.00)