Bok rugby: patience is a virtue

I’ve heard a very interesting point of view this week about the current state of Springbok rugby. While most supporters are up in arms because the Boks lost again to Argentina and again by a record margin, it’s maybe time to be brutally honest. Is it not maybe time we as a rugby-loving nation lower our expectations of the national team?

The argument was made that if the Boks dropped to a ranking of seventh in the world, maybe we must expect them to perform like the seventh best team in the world and not go into a state of depression when they lose to their contemporaries or lose badly against the top nations.

To put this into perspective, the Boks have won only 42 out of 105 matches in the Tri-Nations and Rugby Championship since 1996, losing 59 and drawing four – a winning percentage of 40%.

Compared to the All Blacks who have won 80, drawing one and losing 24 in the same 21year period for a winning percentage of 76%.

The reality is that nobody in world rugby comes remotely close to the All Blacks and this will probably remain the modus operandi until next year’s World Cup tournament in Japan where the Kiwis are widely expected to win their third straight World Cup.

The best we can hope for is that the Boks perform admirably next weekend against the Wallabies in Brisbane and then try not to lose by another record margin the following week against the world champions in Wellington.

The reality is that the Boks haven’t performed in nine years as we all wanted them to and that is going back to 2009 when the Boks last won the Tri-Nations which has since become the Rugby Championship with the addition of Argentina.

Ever since the Boks’ 2011 World Cup campaign ended in a quarterfinal loss to the Wallabies in coach Peter de Villiers final game in charge, the next group of Heyneke Meyer, Allister Coetzee and now Rassie Erasmus have tried to restore the former pride of the Boks, with limited success.

The fact is that a Bok coach faces more challenges than any other coach in world rugby which range from transformation, conditioning and players forever leaving to play abroad because of the weak rand.

The bottom line is we have to remain patient. That is until such a time that Erasmus can prove us otherwise.