Flowerbeds and fisticuffs: The untold aftermath of the Springboks’ 2006 All Black stunner

We have seen several momentum shifts in rugby this season. For example, England went from 12 wins on the bounce to three losses, and the Bulls from seven losses to four wins (not taking into account Saturday’s fixtures).

One of the attractions of sport is how quickly form can change, and in either direction. A narrow win after a hard-fought battle can send a “losing” team on a winning run. It got me thinking about one of the great Springbok turnarounds.

The year was 2006, and Jake White’s Springboks had lost five Tests in a row, including copping 45 points from New Zealand in Pretoria. After that loss, the Boks had to play the same opponents, this time in Rustenburg.

The public mood was ugly. It was the same in the boardroom of the South African Rugby Union, where the suits were itching to fire White. Captain John Smit knew that a sixth consecutive defeat would mean the end of White, and possibly himself, because a new coach would give the team a spring clean. Everything Jake and John had worked for from 2004 towards the World Cup would be discarded.

After the heavy Loftus defeat, White took the Boks out of Pretoria, away from the miffed public and put them in a resort near Sun City. Smit later confessed that his players were gatvol of losing and “didn’t give a damn anymore”.

Before kick-off, there was a declaration of war in the change room, and the Boks ran out and played with the desperation of condemned men. The All Blacks, who had won 15 Tests in a row, responded in kind and the match turned into a street fight.

I have a vivid memory of a crazed Carl Hayman rising from a scrum in which he had been given a “Welcome to Rustenburg” and chasing Os du Randt to a ruck. He split open Os’s forehead with a punch.

This ferocious struggle accelerated to a climax when All Black No 8 Rodney So’oialo dived into a ruck in the 78th minute, palpably from the side, with his team 18-17 ahead. The English referee Chris White raised his arm in favour of the Boks and Smit sprinted to the spot, yelling “Posts! Posts!”

Smit tossed the ball to Andre Pretorius, the flyhalf who was richly talented but lost so much of his career to injury. Smit says he tried to break the ice by saying to Pretorius, with a smile, “rather you than me”, and then went into earnest prayer.

“The kick had to go over. If it did, a cloud of woe would lift. If it didn’t, it would be tickets for Jake and our team,” Smit recalled.

“I roared it through the uprights and collapsed onto the pitch with relief when the flags went up. I wept. I had carried the weight of defeat on my shoulders for two months and in a flash of Andre’s boots, the heavy burden vanished.”

The All Blacks had been beaten. White escaped the coaching gallows. The Boks found their mojo and a year later won the World Cup.

Incidentally, there was a sequel to that ruckus in Rustenburg. The relief among the Boks resulted in steam being blown off that night at Sun City. The spanner in the works was that the All Blacks were also in the building, so to speak, and the teams squared up to each other in the Traders Bar. A combustible atmosphere prevailed.

The All Blacks hate losing and the Boks were in the mood to rub it in their faces. A remark by Butch James to assistant coach Steve Hansen had rugged lock Ali Williams clenching his fists.

Smit decided that discretion would be the better part of valour and took his team out of the bar. The battle lust waned as the night wore on, and all was forgiven in the wee hours when Smit encountered an All Black sitting in a flowerbed, looking rather ruffled.

“Dan, do you need a hand?” Smit asked, and Mr Carter replied: “Thanks Smitty, that would be nice,” and off the pair went to the casino.