After this past weekend’s Super Rugby action, Springbok fans have every reason to be concerned ahead of the Rugby Championship.
With the Lions ending regular season at the top of the log - and let’s be honest: those guys are basically the Springboks - SA fans would have been confident heading into the Championship.
I don’t think that’s the case anymore.
Ask anyone who watched their quarterfinal clash against the Sharks on Saturday.
Disguised in red and in front of what was a disappointing crowd at Ellis Park, they struggled to beat a Sharks side that only made the playoffs because of a flawed tournament system.
The concern here would be complacency.
From where I was sitting, it looked like the Lions thought that they could just pitch up and would automatically be awarded a place in the semis.
With a klompie Bok stars in their squad - Andries Coetzee, Ross Cronje, Courtnall Skosan, Malcolm Marx, they simply didn’t look like world beaters.
Then later in Cape Town, it was the Stormers' turn and their stars’ chance to shine.
Now I’ve written about Dillyn Leyds’ outstanding season so far. It stopped when the round-robin phase was done, though.
Twice oupa Stephen Donald showed up Leyds on defence and if he was going to have any chance of being a starting wing in the Rugby Championship, that would have disappeared after this game.
In big games, big players stand out.
Not like a sore thumb, though, and here I want to klim into Bongi Mbonambi and Pieter-Steph du Toit again.
If you have a Springbok hooker and two Bok locks, you expect to win most of the lineouts.
Not the case at the Stormers. Mbonambi is not the best lineout thrower in the world. But twice on Saturday he found Du Toit. with the big man that failing to find scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage off the top.
If that didn’t go wrong, Mbonambi then failed to find his jumpers.
Not Springbok material.
Earlier I wrote a piece saying the Springboks will beat the All Blacks at Newlands.
While there is still a chance, I’m not so convinced anymore.
As for the Kiwis, I wouldn’t be too sure of myself ahead of the southern hemisphere showpiece.
Yes, you can’t judge the Crusaders and the Highlanders for the way they played in the wet weather conditions - which I think the hosts handled quite well.
As for the Hurricanes and the Chiefs, they were unconvincing this weekend.
Still, it’s the results that count and New Zealand have three teams in the semis, while the Lions is the sole SA team. Go Lions!