So I had a lot of colleagues walking up to me and asking me about the fact that the Springboks drew the All Blacks in their 2019 World Cup pool.
At first sight, I was like: “Yoh, the Boks are going to get hard on their moer.
But after realising that their clash in Japan is still over 18 months away, I thought that it might not be too bad.
A year and a half is a long time in sport.
Look at England and the Eddie Jones effect.
Since the World Cup in England, when they became the first host nation to be knocked out in the pool stages, the arrival of Jones has made them unbeatable.
The Boks KNOW that they will face New Zealand in the group stage of the World Cup.
And guess what? It’s time to step up. Almost every time that SA face the men from the Land of the Long White Cloud, they at least try to show up.
At the last World Cup, a semifinal where they had almost no hope to win, the Boks kept it tight and gave themselves a chance to beat the All Blacks.
And that was after a real blow having lost to Japan in the pool games.
This time around they have a year and a half of games and camps to become world beaters – like the Poms did.
It won’t be easy. But a World Cup clash against New Zealand is something to look forward to and get their heads around.
The thing about this match in the pool stages in Japan – when or wherever it will be – is that they have to get it into their heads that this is a game that could be a World Cup final.
And to win that match in the pool it will have a massive effect on their confidence.
That has to be the mission for the next stage of Allister Coetzee and his team’s development. For them, by then, they should be thinking of themselves as challengers if not equals to the All Blacks.
Just like England, South Africa should be thinking about how they can improve. The Poms have done something almost miraculous.
Crashing and burning in their home tournament must have been more painful than Heyneke Meyer’s manne going down to Japan in Brighton.
But the Roses got back up and all of a sudden their stars are the majority of the manne in the Lions going to face the All Blacks at home next month.
If the Boks need any inspiration at all, it should be the pride of their people. It’s never been so low.
The Boks won just three games last season and lost to Italy and Argentina after that Japan loss.
They have to realise that the Green and Gold is not their
jerseys, it’s our jerseys and they represent us.
And that’s how they beat the All Blacks in 1995.
Now that they know just how awesome and kwaai they can be, they have to be that.