On the same day that the Springboks calmly tweaked their squad for the Rugby Championship, their imminent opponents from New Zealand jettisoned two coaches in a frantic bid to right their listing ship.
South Africans can forgive themselves for having a smug grin as they contemplate this role reversal because, for almost all of the professional era, the boot has been very much on the other foot.
The Land of the Long White Cloud has transformed into the ‘Land of the Black Shroud’ since a plucky Ireland dared to win a series on New Zealand soil, and bloodletting was inevitable to assuage outraged All Black fans raised on a diet of relentless victory.
The main target had been head coach Ian Foster, but yet again he has miraculously escaped the guillotine and instead it is his assistants John Plumtree and Brad Mooar who have been steered to the gallows.
This time last year, Foster was about to be lynched after his team lost for the first time to Argentina in the Rugby Championship staged exclusively in Australia, only to placate the mob by retaliating with consecutive Test wins over the Wallabies.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) then took the extraordinary step of extending Foster’s contract by two years, until the end of next year’s World Cup. Wiser New Zealanders cringed because they knew it was the wrong decision and it was a case of the NZR defiantly backing the horse that most believe is the wrong one for the World Cup race.
The favourite, Scott Robertson of the Crusaders, would win that race by a country mile had he been put in the saddle.
At the press conference at which the door was shown to forwards coach Plumtree and backs coach Mooar, Foster broke two weeks of deafening silence since losing to Ireland a fortnight ago.
“I am strong. I am resilient,” Foster said after confirming the departure of his assistants and the addition of Crusaders forwards coach Jason Ryan.
“I believe I have a great feel and relationship with my players. I’m strategic and I’m also accountable. I am really excited to show you what this team is made of.”
Earlier, Foster’s counterpart in South Africa, Jacques Nienaber added veterans Duane Vermeulen and Frans Steyn to his squad for back-to-back Tests against Foster’s men and made room for them by releasing Marcell Coetzee and Aphelele Fassi.
The coach also confirmed that Cheslin Kolbe is sidelined with a broken jaw and that means a new right wing is required for the August 6 kick-off against the All Blacks in Nelspruit, and the wise money is on Kurt-Lee Arendse to fill his hero’s boots.
Nienaber’s squad announcement barely raised a murmur in SA, while that of Foster’s caused shock waves.
A scapegoat was inevitable, but New Zealand can’t believe that Plumtree and Mooar are the fall guys while Foster survives … again!
Another to survive when it seemed for all money he would be sacrificed is captain Sam Cane. So have nearly all of the squad that perished against Ireland, while there have been recalls for prop Ethan de Groot and loose forward Shannon Frizell.
The All Blacks have gone into camp in Wellington ahead of departure for Johannesburg later this week and will arrive at their Montecasino base having won just one of their last five matches.
“There’s no doubt I’m under pressure, but I’m always under pressure,” Foster admitted.
“As an All Black coach, you live with that all the time. Does it hurt? Yes, it does.
“But the key thing for me is ensuring we’ve got robust processes to make sure we have the right people in the right seats.”
IOL Sport