High rugby drama on the highveld

BY RICHARD KNOWLER

It doesn't have Cape Town's beautiful mountain or Durban's sub-tropical weather and beaches, but Bloemfontein will always hold a special place in New Zealand rugby's history.

The last time the All Blacks played the Springboks in the Free State capital, a land-locked city on South Africa's highveld, was in 1976 and the snow that fell on the eve of the highly charged second test was a stark contrast to the white-hot atmosphere of the test played out in front of 71,000 fanatical fans the following day.

For the All Blacks it was do-or-die. Having lost the first test in Durban, they were only too aware they needed to win at Free State Stadium to keep alive their hopes of winning a series in South Africa for the first time.

Skipper Andy Leslie didn't need to be reminded of hopes and expectation back home. Defeat would have spelt disaster with two tests remaining to be played in Cape Town and Johannesburg. And when the All Blacks, on the back of a conservative game plan that involved screwing the scrums and first five-eighth Doug Bruce repeatedly kicking for position, triumphed 15-9 the captain was hardly in a celebratory mood.

"My reaction was one of relief more than anything," said Leslie, who is in Bloemfontein for Sunday morning's Tri-Nations test between the All Blacks and Springboks as a tour guide. "I was actually violently ill, I vomited. I think it was more the relief that we were actually still in the series."

Such tours are now a bygone memory and this epic journey involved 24 matches, including four tests, played over 11 weeks. This was an era where the players could not rely on a plethora of TV cameras and a citing commissioner to sift out any foul play you either stood up for yourself or you got spat out by your opponent.

While the Bloemfontein test did not involve any of the roughhouse play that plagued some other matches notwithstanding Springboks lock John Williams having to leave the field after copping an elbow in the face and All Blacks lock Peter Whiting having to punch opponent Boland Coetzee for holding him in a lineout there was no lack of drama.

Many New Zealanders will fondly recollect the only try of the match, scored by Joe Morgan, but for Leslie and prop Billy Bush the try-saving tackle launched by Whiting on Coetzee less than a metre from the corner flag was just as memorable.

"I think that was the defining point of the game. He [Whiting] was a stunning footballer," Leslie said.

Twenty-four years later, Bush, who will also be in Bloemfontein this weekend, is still impressed by the tackle: "I didn't know `Pole' had it in him. He just took off like a bloody jumbo jet and hit Coetzee."

The first-half try to Morgan, who died after an accident at a Whangarei construction site in 2002, involved halfback Sid Going flicking him a pass from a messy scrum. The midfielder did the rest by screaming through the defence and past the covering tackle of Dawie Snyman.

"I remember that completely," Leslie said. "The whole move was planned it was something we talked about."

To cater for the huge crowd, temporary stands were constructed and the All Blacks quickly learned how parochial the crowds could be, although Leslie noted they also appreciated good play.

"It was hugely intimidating. But they loved their rugby and were very knowledgeable and appreciated good rugby from both sides. There wasn't so much of the booing there was a bit more respect for the game."

Bush added: "They loved you but for 80 minutes during the game they hated your guts.

"Everyone did the players, the lot. They just wanted to see you go. They were bully bastards that was how they were."

Leslie was disconsolate after the All Blacks lost the final test in Johannesburg and said the players' reaction after that match was no different to that of those New Zealand sides that had suffered the pain of bombing out of World Cups.

He likened the sombre mood of the All Blacks' changing shed after the 2007 quarterfinal in Cardiff to the atmosphere at Ellis Park in 1976.

"South Africa back then was like the World Cup is for us today. Someone said to me, `Have you ever been in a dressing room like that [in Cardiff] before?' And, yes, I had.

"When we lost the series in South Africa, that exact feeling was there. It was the pinnacle in rugby, and when you are a competitor you don't like coming second. It was no different at Ellis Park. People were upset and disappointed."

THE TOUR was not without controversy. The New Zealand Rugby Union's decision to forge ahead with the tour resulted in some African countries boycotting the 1976 Montreal Olympics because of South Africa's apartheid policies.

Leslie said the players were aware of the controversy but genuinely believed their sport could somehow break down the barriers of South Africa's policies. "We were under a lot of pressure because of the Olympic Games thing but, when we arrived there, and I remember this quite vividly, Mauritius, who had led the walkout of the Olympic Games, were actually in South Africa participating in sports themselves.

"That's what we found terribly confusing. No one would have ever condoned what was going on but we thought that was the way you could deal with some of the problems."

Some players, such as Bush, found it difficult to stomach the South Africans' attitudes to non-whites and centre Bruce Robertson refused to play against the Springboks when they toured New Zealand in 1981.

The All Blacks were stunned at the size of South African players and Bush said it didn't matter if it was a provincial team or the Springboks, they were hell-bent on using their bulk to tickle up the tourists.

"Peter Whiting, who was our biggest player, was probably about the size of their smallest. When you looked at them man for man, you wondered how you could compete against such big people. We were like pygmies against them."

If the All Blacks forwards thought the South Africans, provincial or test representatives, were going to give them an easy ride because they were wearing the black jersey they were soon jolted out of their dreamy state.

They had to be prepared to stick up for themselves or be swamped, and Bush quickly learned to hang one on an opponent if he appeared eager for a scrap.

"I used to get in first and I got the bad name of being a mongrel. They could accept it but they could also dish it out. They probably dished it out more."

Much of the "action" took place as the scrums engaged and the All Blacks front-rowers quickly discovered the opposition locks had a penchant for unleashing punches while their arms were bound.

Bush soon wised up to such skulduggery and wasted little time in giving them a swift message to signal he was not a soft touch. It had another positive spin-off.

"They would be shit-scared to come into the scrum, so it helped me a lot they didn't have much weight. That's how it was you would get locked up today. Things used to go on in the front row and if you don't get one in first, you got belted. That's how it was.

"I'm a very passive fellow I don't like fighting but no way was I letting them get the better of me."

Leslie agreed: "You `handled' those situations but the game was not under such scrutiny then. They were physically hard, but that was part of the game."

HOW THEY LINED UP

New Zealand: Kit Fawcett, Bryan Williams, Bruce Robertson, Grant Batty, Joe Morgan, Doug Bruce, Sid Going, Andy Leslie (captain), Kevin Eveleigh, Ian Kirkpatrick, Hamish Macdonald, Peter Whiting, Billy Bush, Tane Norton, Brad Johnstone. (Batty replaced after 54 minutes by Bill Osborne).

South Africa: DSL Snyman, JS Germishuys, IW Robertson, CF Pope, JJ Oosthuizen, GR Bosch, PCR Bayvel, M Du Plessis (captain), JHH Coetzee, T Stofberg, JG Williams, JL van Heerden, DS van der Berg, RG Cockrell, JCJ Stander. (Williams replaced after 22 minutes by KBH de Klerk).

Scores and scorers:

New Zealand 15 (Morgan try; Bruce dg, Going 2 pen con)

South Africa 9 (Bosch 3 pen).

Referee: G Bezuidenhout.

Series details: The All Blacks' win levelled the series 1-1 after South Africa won the first test 16-7. However, the hosts won the next two tests 15-10 and 15-14 to take the series 3-1.

- © Fairfax NZ News