Springbok tour that ended on the rocks
• 2002 Boks suffer record defeats in Marseille and Murrayfield before Twickenham debacle
From the outset the portents were grim.
Upon arrival in Marseille, half the media covering the Springboks’ 2002 European tour stare at the empty luggage carousel in the hope their bags would miraculously appear. It would be days before they are reunited with their bags.
At least they have decent digs. The bulk of them have reservations at the team hotel in almost idyllic isolation on an estate 40km east of Marseille.
Bok coach Rudolf Straeuli did not want any distractions so he opted for a golf estate carved into the rolling hills on the Côte d’Azur with the glistening Mediterranean in the distance. To the north and east are some of France’s most acclaimed rosé-producing vineyards.
Though the Boks are in semi isolation, it is clear there will be few places to hide when the team square up with France later in the week.
For the opening match Straeuli assembles a squad that features debutants Jean de Villiers and Bakkies Botha (who introduced himself as “John Philip” to the media)‚ but the inexperienced nature of the squad is underlined on a bench that features rookies Pedrie Wannenburg‚ Marco Wentzel and Wessel Roux. Only two players in the match day squad had played more than 30 Tests.
In the icy cold Stade Velodrome the already injurydepleted Boks lose De Villiers inside the first seven minutes to a crippling knee injury‚ a theme that was to follow the player throughout his career. Botha also drops hints of what’s to come by being yellow carded for kneeing an opponent.
There is the unedifying sight of uncontested scrums towards the end as some of the Bok tight five seek sanctuary in the treatment room.
To be fair‚ tight head Willie Meyer suffers a neck injury that forces him into retirement.
No 8 Joe van Niekerk’s try proves the only heart-warming moment in a desperately dire record 30-10 defeat.
The aftermath leaves Straeuli puzzled at the intersection of humiliating defeat and a crippling injury list. Only six players retain their places in the starting line-up and though wholehearted in his efforts in Marseille‚ miscreant Botha is axed from the match day squad for the next Test against Scotland.
There are to be debuts for Friedrich Lombard‚ Pierre Uys and Deon Carstens in a Bok team that features Breyton Paulse as the only player to have run out in more than 30 Tests.
Scotland‚ tactically smart and typically proficient in the ruck‚ have their cause aided by some dubious decisions from the match officials. It all conspires in a record 21-6 defeat for the Boks at Murrayfield.
Substitute flyhalf André Pretorius’s in-goal gaffe, which leads to a Scotland try, is achingly etched in the collective Bok memory.
If it seems Bok rugby can slide no further after record beatings in Marseille and Edinburgh‚ but more misery is around the corner.
By now the Boks are belligerent‚ with Straeuli becoming increasingly standoffish. Much of the build-up to the Test against England centres on it being a dress rehearsal for their World Cup pool clash the following year in Perth.
The Boks start as firm underdogs and their fate is sealed by the 23rd minute. Already 8-0 down, Bok lock Jannes Labuschagne runs down Jonny Wilkinson moments after the England flyhalf’s clearance kick.
The crowd see red‚ as does Labuschagne after referee Paddy O’Brien reaches into his pocket.
The crowd get what they were baying for but with England now firmly in the ascendancy some are keen to witness utter and complete annihilation.
With the Bok pack being marched back by a menacing England maul, a man as short of tact as he is of hair rises to his feet near the media tribune and shouts “kill them‚ kill them”.
Eventually he calms and sits down but England do not as they inflict on the Boks hitherto their heaviest defeat. Labuschagne’s sending off had killed the match as a contest but the Boks tried to remain competitive by taking pot shots at England. The postmatch inquisition was almost as stinging as the defeat.
The Bok are labelled “brutal bully boys” in one headline the next morning. Coach Straeuli is unrepentant, saying: “It was a physical game. We’ll see each other in Perth again.”
As grim as that tour was‚ the Boks descended into even deeper darkness the following year.