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THE 2019 Rugby World Cup, the first to be played in Asia, is in its second week after getting underway last Friday with hosts Japan beating a plucky Russia 30-10, before a capacity 49 970 fans, at the Tokyo Stadium.
It’s a measure of how interest in the game in Japan has spiked, and the magic that comes with the World Cup, that about 50 000 fans were in the stadium to watch the opening contest.
In sharp contrast, only nine years ago in the same city and stadium, only 6 000 fans turned to watch the Japanese take on the Russians.
The Russians’ presence at this World Cup provides a reminder, for us, of how — in the past five years — our rugby has remained stagnant, or even depreciated in value, while others have been improving in leaps and bounds.
For, in 2014, we took on Russia in an inter-confederation play-off for a place at the 2015 Rugby World Cup and lost that match 15-23.
That scoreline showed that, although we lost, we could not be described as being inferior to our opponents who won that match.
We were quite competitive and we thrashed Madagascar in the continent qualifier, lost by just four points to Namibia and then defeated Kenya to finish second.
With the Namibians automatically booking their place at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, following their success story in the continental qualifier, we had to play in the inter-confederation play-off against Russia, after we finished second.
Our Sables were under the guidance of coach Brendon Dawson, a former player for the team, who earned 20 caps playing for his country between 1990 and 1998 and featured at the 1991 Rugby World Cup.
That appearance, at the 1991 Rugby World Cup, marked the last time the Sables graced the global event and, since then, we have been trying, and failing, to return to the showcase.
A combination of poor sponsorship, questionable management of the game and the loss of many key players, who would have made a difference had they played for this country instead of their adopted nations, have all played a part in our failure to return to the World Cup.
With other countries offering better opportunities, in a game known for its history of poaching from other nations, we have seen scores of promising players, who would have made a massive difference had they chosen to play for the Sables, shifting their allegiance to other countries.
Even this World Cup has a number of our boys featuring for other nations, with both Tendai “The Beast’’ Mtawarira, who is now a Springboks legend, and David Pocock, who has been a key player for Australia for some time now, likely to step away from international rugby after the tourney.
They are not the only ones who have travelled that route.
Des van Jaarsveld even captained the Springboks, in the one-off Test during Scotland’s 1960 tour of South Africa, while he was still playing for this country and score a try in that match.
Salty du Rand, Piet Greyling, Bobby Skinstad, Gary Teichmann, Ian Robertson, David Smith and Ray Mordt, to name but just a few, were some of the local boys who went on to attain greatness in the colours of the Springboks.
Rugby has always been a big part of our sport, but somewhere along the line, because of a combination of factors, we started losing our way and losing to some countries that we used to beat, even when we fielded our second-strong sides.
To try and arrest the slide, our rugby administrators brought in former Springboks coach, Peter de Villiers, hoping the recruitment of such a high-profile gaffer would help spark the revival of the game in this country.
However, it appears de Villiers was more concerned with fighting his battles, with his former employers in South Africa, than really committing himself to the cause of our rugby, and the relationship between him and his employers predictably came to a nasty end.
To their credit, our rugby administrators decided to go back to the basics and hand the responsibility to a man who has shown remarkable commitment to the game, in a period close to about three decades, and who had apparently been sidelined from the Sables fold under de Villiers.
The appointment of Dawson to come back and lead the Sables is slowly proving to be just what the doctor had ordered as the old warrior has stuck to his mission with remarkable commitment and, bit by bit, we are beginning to see the shift in results from negative to positive.
This is a man who loves his Sables, in particular, and rugby in this country, in general, and 1o years ago, he won the 2009 Confederation of African Rugby Southern Trophy in Botswana, clinched the Africa Cup Division 1C in 2010, Africa Cup Division 1B in 2011, which earned the team promotion into the Africa Cup Division 1A.
He also guided the Sables to success in the 2011 Victoria Cup and the following year helped his men write another success story when they won the Africa Cup in Tunisia after they beat Uganda.
This year, after his return, the Sables started finding the winning touch that has been lacking for some years and they, again, won the Victoria Cup by winning all their first five matches.
Although they lost their final rubber to Kenya, in Nairobi last Saturday, there is no doubt we have a man we should invest out trust to try and take us to the next World Cup.
Online Reporter