Germans provide Soweto Gold
The coaches at Chiefs and Pirates have put their clubs firmly back on the winning track
Ntamack, a switch with great loose forward Laurent Cabanne who switched it the other way to flyhalf Christophe Deylaud, and lastly, scrumhalf Guy Accoceberry’s final pass to Sadourny, which seemed unnecessary if you ignore the fact that it would spoil the aesthetics of the whole thing. France won 23-20.
Has a better try been scored at international level? Some argue Gareth Edwards’ famous effort for the Barbarians against the All Blacks in 1973 is the best ever, but for all the majesty of that score, it wasn’t a true Test match and there certainly wasn’t as much at stake as there was for Sadourny’s effort.
France never quite touched those magical heights of 1994 in South Africa the following year. They’d started 1995 with a great deal expected of them given their exploits in New Zealand but finished third in the Five Nations, losing to Scotland in Paris along the way.
In the World Cup they never reached any great heights, needing a last-minute try in the final
Group D match against the Scots at Loftus Versfeld to qualify atop the pool, and then two late tries against Ireland in the quarter-finals gave the scoreline a semblance of dominance the performance didn’t deserve.
Arguably, the semi-final defeat to the Springboks at Kings Park was their best display, and to this day the magnificent Benazzi believes the ball he was carrying in the mud that afternoon had touched the tryline in the 79th minute and five points should have been awarded to France by Derek Bevan – the same referee as in Auckland.
France travelled 80-odd metres to score one of rugby’s greatest tries, but for all the history it made, they’d likely give up just one of those metres to have seen Benazzi given an extra centimetre at Kings Park in 1995.
SUPPORTING either of the Soweto giants must have felt like a knife to the throat for the last few seasons considering the amount of mockery the teams received.
But since Orlando Pirates followed neighbours Kaizer Chiefs in keeping up with all things German late last year, there’s been a breath of fresh air floating around Soweto in recent months.
Between Pirates and Chiefs it’s almost been 10 seasons since an official trophy parade was done in Soweto considering that Pirates are in a five-year trophy drought and Chiefs are on four.
Well, it’s almost as though it’s a family thing considering that it was actually Pirates that gave birth to Chiefs 50 years ago after former stalwart Kaizer Motaung abandoned the Sea Robbers’ ship to form Amakhosi.
But in a twist of fate, it is the protégé that has taught the old dog new tricks this season. This is after Chiefs re-signed coach Ernst Middendorp for a second term late in 2018 following a string of poor results under controversial Italian coach Giovanni Solinas.
Granted, Middendorp’s appointment was met with an uproar by Amakhosi faithful, who deemed his first stint with the club a failure, despite winning the Absa Cup and SAA Supa8 (now called the Telkom Knockout and MTN8).
Under Middendorp, Chiefs extended their trophy drought to four seasons after losing to second tier side TS Galaxy in the final of the Nedbank Cup, while the team finished ninth on the Premiership standings.
The chants calling for Middendorp’s dismissal gained momentum but a resolute Chiefs board put their heads on the block and hung on to the 61-year-old for another term – which included a pre-season this time – and brought in new faces to boost the squad.
To say that Middendorp has grabbed the opportunity with both hands would be putting it mildly. This season the German has established Chiefs as the frontrunners for the Premiership title as they lead Mamelodi Sundowns, who are the defending champions and have a game in hand, by four points.
The Glamour Boys won the quarterly innovation worth R1.5million twice, while Middendorp bagged the Coach of the Month accolades on three successive occasions – a first.
But as Chiefs’ gamble appeared to be paying dividends, a close ‘frenemy’ was watching their progress and resurgence under the German mentor with keen interest.
And that is why after interim coach Rhulani Mokwena battled to steer the Sea Robbers’ ship out of troubled waters following the abrupt resignation of Micho Sredojevic, Pirates’ management took the first flight out to Germany to bring in Josef Zinnbauer.
A then unknown figure in international football, with an underwhelming track record, a large portion of the ‘The Ghost’ questioned the appointment of the 50-year-old to a team tipped as championship contenders after finishing as runners-up in the last two seasons.
However, Zinnbauer knew what he had to do to shut up his detractors – win.
Pirates were eight points behind Amakhosi, who had a game in hand, before the coronavirus outbreak, but such has been the club’s resurrection under ‘JZ’ that a continental football qualifying spot remains a huge possibility.