“We’ll start again,” All Blacks coach John Hart declared after being quizzed about the dangers of taking his team on a mid-Rugby World Cup (RWC) break to the Cote d’Azur on the French Riviera in 1999.
His team had just breezed through their pool that included co-hosts England and the coach was confident a change of setting would rejuvenate his squad.
His decision seemed vindicated when they reached the semifinal against France. Taking a break came so naturally to them that in the actual semifinal against France they stopped short of unfurling their beach umbrellas and deck chairs and were soundly beaten by the capricious French.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus didn’t hatch any lavish plans of taking his team on a break during their 12-day hiatus at this year’s RWC.
Erasmus gave his players two days off this week, but the players didn’t drift too far as they prepare for next Sunday’s quarterfinal.
BEEN HERE BEFORE
“We’ve had this situation before over the last 18 months,” said Erasmus about having almost too much time on their hands.
“We had a similar situation after the New Zealand game in Wellington before we went to Argentina to try to win the Rugby Championship. We stayed over in Wellington before we flew to Salta. We tried to simulate this. We knew this would happen.
“We tried to pre-empt these kinds of situations. Wednesday and Thursday the boys were off. They’ll be off on Sunday and from Tuesday they will have a normal Test buildup week. They had two days to enjoy themselves and to enjoy Japan.”
The coach made it clear that he is not prescriptive about what players should engage in during their time off.
“Some of the guys’ parents are here. In other cases, girlfriends and wives and children are here. They will all do it in their own different way. They are all grown men and are pretty focused.
“I could see in the first few minutes of training on Friday they were still switched off. After that they switched on. The butterflies and the nerves will set in once we know who our opponents are.
From Tuesday, they will have a normal Test build-up week
— Rassie Erasmus, Springbok coach
“You get time to explore Japan a bit. It is a nice country,” said Pieter-Steph du Toit. “Luckily my wife is here so I went to Universal Studios the Wednesday after the game. It was nice.”
Some in the playing group, including Thor himself — Duane Vermeulen — set off for the studios in Osaka, 35km away.
At apparel maker Asics’ headquarters and museum in Kobe, Makazole Mapimpi could hardly believe the length of Usain Bolt’s stride.
He tried to match it but came up short, while Herschel Jantjies apparently fitted 10 strides inside Bolt’s one.
Faf de Klerk went golfing half an hour outside on the other side of the craggy mountains that guard Kobe to the north.
“I loved the course. It is so isolated there wasn’t a building in site,” recalled the scrumhalf.
Some in the Bok management took time to reflect. They took a bullet train to Hiroshima 300km to the west, the first city to suffer a nuclear bomb attack.
Memorials to those who perished in 1945 are tourist attractions.
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