URC dominance not a guarantee of World Cup success
South African teams are currently riding the crest of the wave in the United Rugby Championship.
However, the eight-from-eight success rate against teams from outside the Republic does not guarantee another all-South African Final.
Neither does it guarantee the Springboks’ success in the World Cup in France next year.
This cautious note was sounded by World Cup-winning Springbok captain John Smit, who said taking ‘positive momentum’ into a World Cup is always important.
But with France 2023 still a full year away, there is plenty of rugby to be played.
Smit said winning is always a massing part of a team’s momentum, as happened with his Springboks in 2007 – when the Sharks and Bulls played in the first-ever all-South African Super Rugby Final.
“You certainly want to carry positive momentum into a tournament,” he told @rugby365com.
“In 2007 it was a massive bonus for us,” he said during a URC media round table event.
However, Smit said if you look at Siyamthanda Kolisi’s team 18 months before the 2019 World Cup, they were not in a good space.
They were ranked sixth in the world and were struggling to get above a 50 percent win margin.
“We didn’t really have great results at a franchise level either,” Smit said, adding: “But they managed to make a plan in an 18-month period [to win the World Cup].”
“For us it was critical,” he said of the class of 2007.
“It was part of our plan over a four-year period.
“It certainly would be [good] for Jacques [Nienaber] and his team now, bearing in mind they are defending a title.
“You want to get as much of that positive momentum going into a tournament which, I think, is going to be the most contested to date.”
He said the current URC results are more for the fans than for national coaches.
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“If you’re a South African at the moment you are loving the URC.
“We [SA teams] were in a very different position this time last year, at the beginning of the tournament.
“Spectators and fans were jumping off the edges of buildings, [saying:] ‘This was the worst mistake ever.’
“At the end of the tournament, it was the best thing ever.
“Perspective is one thing and players’ confidence is another.
“[For] players, their confidence and their momentum is what will be what counts and that can only be told at the end of the tournament.
“If this [results] remains like this [in SA teams’ favour] – and there’s still a lot to happen in the URC – it will help.
“However, it is still a long, long way before the World Cup [in France in 2023].
“A lot can happen in the world of rugby in a year.”
@king365ed
@rugby365com
