From: ccfj@hippo.ru.ac.za (F. Jacot Guillarmod)
Subject: Re: All Blacks vs Springboks
Organization: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 08:33:48 GMT

In <1992Aug20.233318.27284@cs.su.oz.au> allanc@cs.su.oz.au (Restless Wanderer) writes:

>>>	Do the SA rugby public in general sincerely believ that if you beat
>>>	Aus in a one off test that SA were real contenders for the WC.

>I thought a simple yes/no answer would have been fine.

Probably not many of us realised it was actually a question ;-)

It's always interesting to me how a single individual posting on Usenet
news is somehow taken as a spokesman for the nation or somesuch.  All
that can be offered is a single individuals _opinion_, or, more rarely,
attempted interpretation about something.

>See WE in AUS don't think that Aus will lose,but in the event that the unlikely
>happened,we wouldn't take any claim to our title as WC champions too seriously.

I don't want to get into some sort of flame war, because the question,
as posed, is unanswerable.  Even so, it's not as straightforward as all
that, because Nic Farr-Jones was quoted in a newspaper article that he
wrote some time back as saying something very much like that.  Here's
an extract from the article (Sunday Times, Johannesburg, August 16
1992, pg 27):

".... That [i.e. the fact that SA didn't take part in the W.C.], most
South Africans seem to have calculated, sets the Newlands match up as
the real World Cup final.

To be honest, I reckon they're justified in their view.

[stuff about the Wallabies winning anyway omitted due to finger fatigue
and not because of some dark conspiracy]

....."

Now that was an Australians point of view (admittedly he wasn't IN
Australia at the time), but I don't remember seeing any other local
newspaper articles implying anything of the sort.  I don't see _how_
anybody over here could imply it....

The question is unanswerable because I don't have a direct line to the
"SA rugby public".  For what it's worth, the rugby fans I know (a
subset of my aquaintances - not everybody over here takes huge amounts
of interest in the sport) are treating the recent tours as a
re-introduction to world class rugby - obviously they're disappointed
the Boks lost, but aren't particularly surprised.  The only indicator
I've got is that one of the little flutters I took part in for
predicting the score for yesterdays game had about 80% (out of 75
entries) predicting a Wallaby win of some sort.  And that's _before_
the match, and before knowing what the weather would be like ;-)

So, what does that prove?  That this particular cross section of the
"SA rugby public" is actually pretty realistic (after all, hard cash,
and not principles, were involved)?  Or that the 20% that predicted a
Bok win are flag waving, anthem singing racist dingbats of the worst
sort?  What about all the people that couldn't give two hoots about
rugby in the first place?  What sort of public opinion are you after?

>I think the SA public would be shocked at how well a Fijian side would
>play against your heavy and slow forwards.Mainly because of their international
>presence in rugby.

For the record, a Fijian/Samoan team has toured South Africa - in the
early '80s - and impressed everyone with their style of rugby.  I don't
remember anyone being "shocked", though, just that commentators had
incredible problems pronouncing the names of the players.  It was a
rebel tour, and, if I remember, one or two players came back to play
provincial rugby for a season or two.

>Oh   You will lose the match        36 16 Australia's way.          ;-)

We did... 26 - 3.  And here my typical S.A. chauvinism led me to believe
it was only the All Blacks who knew how to play in a paddy field...

Well done.

-- 
  F.F. Jacot Guillarmod     PO  Box 94     \        |     ccfj@hippo.ru.ac.za
  Computing Centre       Grahamstown 6140   \      /     +27 461 22023 xt 284
  Rhodes University        South Africa      ;___*/   33 18 30 S | 26 31 45 E