Combrinck’s courage gives Lions and the Boks hope
Ruan Combrinck kicked the Lions into a home Super Rugby semifinal but more importantly he also kick-started the Springboks’ Rugby Championship campaign with his ownership of a moment that, on reflection, could be monumental in the context of the Springboks’ resurgence.
Every exceptional team needs exceptional individuals whose most significant contributions come in the most testing of times.
Combrinck, from the moment he played Test rugby, was influential in the big plays. He is a player who finds the out of the ordinary. He did so in his first international series against the Irish and this past weekend he showed the temperament and the skill set to drive home the Lions’ ambitions for a first Super Rugby title.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann, in the aftermath of the Lions’ dramatic 23-21 semifinal win against the Sharks, admitted he didn’t think taking aim from 55m (on the angle of the kick) was the right decision.
Ackermann said conservatism was his doubt at the time because he still felt the Lions, as a collective, could manufacture a points opportunity in the last two minutes of the game if his team were close to the Sharks tryline. What so impressed Ackermann was that the only player who didn’t doubt it was the right decision was the player who took on the responsibility. Ackermann, always reluctant to single out individuals at the expense of a team effort, couldn’t but help publicly applaud the moment that could prove the most defining in the Lions Super Rugby history.
Ackermann, in his five years as the Lions coach, has always instilled a belief within the players that if they believed in what they did in a particular moment then it was never a failed moment.
Ackermann has always believed that if a player has respect for the essence of getting the basics right then the player has earned the right to trust his natural instincts.
It’s this quality that he most applauded in Combrinck’s match-winning effort.
Lions flyhalf and first choice goalkicker Elton Jantjies was no longer on the field and Combrinck had missed his only penalty kick as the back-up choice. The solitary failure only reinforced the conviction from Combrinck that if he didn’t try he would die wondering.
Australia’s legendary Rugby League coach Wayne Bennett was renowned for telling his players never to let the music die within. Bennett was big on his players never having regrets for a fear of failure.
Jantjies, this season, has averaged 80% with his goalkicking. His international goalkicking average is just shy of 80%. His goalkicking has been one of the team’s strengths. In this particular semifinal, Jantjies missed two conversions and two penalties. The misses were out of character but the character of the Lions team is that when one of their pillars of strength proved vulnerable, another player provided the strength.
The Sharks will be gutted with the defeat because on the balance of play they deserved the victory. Their defeat , in isolation, was the wrong result, but in the context of the South African Super Rugby season, it was the right result. The Lions are SA’s best Super Rugby team and the most likely to win the title because of their quality and the favourable home playoff situation.
The Sharks, having to travel to New Zealand for a semifinal and final, would not have made it past the semifinal. Equally, the Stormers are a team on the rise but not a team that has yet risen to the top.
The Sharks and Stormers won respect for their mongrel and fight and that will add to the confidence within the Boks in the Rugby Championship.
The Lions, in their most indifferent performance of the year, showed great fight to somehow win. They now need to show more than fight to go all the way and Combrinck’s moment will be the catalyst that win or lose the title these Lions will never die wondering.
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