Back to reality! We received a big reality check after three rounds of Super 14 rugby.  After a very successful 2007 its back to the day to day or should I say weekend to weekend kind of rugby.   Its easy to find reasons for this but we have to learn from this experience of being at the lowdown and move on as quick as possible.

SA teams usually start slow but this year we have the ELVs (Elemanate Learning for Vatties rugby) to combat. You can look at many ways at this but to be realistic its always going to take us longer then Aus & Kiwi to come to terms about them.   Then the fitness issue.  The Bokke was still playing rugby in December unlike the Aussies and Kiwis.

The franchises had less time to condition and maybe the reason for this.   Now after three rounds of rugby it do start to look a bit better and we do have the Sharks in the top lot at least. Their big test will come in round 4 against the Blues. The Stormers had three loses and could have win two of them against SA teams. They lost Schalk Burger by bizzare happenings but still show at least  passion and heart against the impressive Crusaders. They are also the SA side which will get the ELVs much quicker under the knee because of the way they have always played their game. Well this weekend they start their overseas tour and they will start against the Reds. If they can build on the three rounds, better times ahead for them.

The Cheetahs also start their tour.  They had two good rounds but lost their way in the final quarter of the Blues match. Scoring four tries against a top dog not that bad but have to work on their defence. Expecting also better things from the Bulls and Lions. 

So although things don’t look good on the log, there is some positives.  My own view on the ELVs not that good at first. The refs seems to don’t understand them , so much more difficult for your usual rugby supporter. After watching the full laws in our local Vasity series sort of open my eyes a bit on them. Students usually play the game quick and fast and this series one hell of a success in SA after just two rounds.  I believe your loosies play a important role in this laws. They are the ones that slow down or quicken second phase ball. Obviously tries are score from them. This mean you need the quick to breakdowns and floor eater loosie. In SA we have plenty of those , so as quick as the coaches realize this and pick them the quicker we will get better results.

The fitness thing will come after a fiew more rounds and we will be back in business. Crowds of 50,000 at Newlands and Loftus showed rugby is still king , don’t matter the rules we will always produce some great players. New names like Keegan Daniels (6), JL Potgieter (10), Hennie Daniller (15) & Henrich Brossouw (6), Francois Louw (7), Pieter Myburgh (6), Robbie Diack (8) will just keep on getting through our system. 

Well the next World Cup is only four years ahead and at that time I am sure we wont even remember the old rules. In summary the quicker you adapt to the ELVs and refs, the better.

Take notice NH rugby.