Scott Gibbs, in our conversation earlier in the week, had no doubt the United Rugby Championship (URC) in the next few years would become one of the global game’s premier professional competitions.
Gibbs raved about SA as a rugby destination and tourism hotspot for any visiting rugby player.
It made for a refreshing interaction. Gibbs, iconic in Wales as a rugby union and rugby league superstar, played 53 times for Wales, 15 times for the British & Irish Lions in three successive tours, which included five Tests, 48 times for rugby league giants St Helens and he also played rugby league for Wales.
He is a big voice in the game. Renowned for his defensive crunch, Gibbs was the player of the series in the Lions win against the Springboks in 1997, and famously bounced Os du Randt when on the charge in the 2nd Test in Durban. He is among a rare breed of players to have beaten the All Blacks in New Zealand and the Springboks in SA.
Gibbs lamented the parlous state of Welsh club rugby and the hapless nature of the Welsh quartet’s respective campaigns in the URC, but he was highly complimentary of SA’s natural talent, labelling the youth as having the potential to be another golden generation of Springboks.
It is when chatting to someone like Gibbs that one is reminded of how influential rugby appears to outsiders and also how they relish visiting the country.
Many Australian and New Zealand players have spoken in the past few months of their hope that the Springboks remain in the Rugby Championship because it allows them to visit SA every year.
Many bemoaned that SA is no longer part of Super Rugby. Gibbs spoke of the cultural experience of being here, how demanding and physical the matches were, but how amazingly hospitable the people were to visiting players.
He felt the Celtic teams’ youngsters would be better players and more rounded individuals for their experiences in touring SA and that regular annual visits in the URC would make for a stronger Welsh international challenge when touring SA in the next decade.
Wales are in SA this year for the first time in eight years, which is why there has been such an emphasis on how their teams have fared in the URC.
It hasn’t been good at all for the Welsh, who have played the bulk of their matches without their current internationals, but for Gibbs it has also been because SA’s best teams, playing at home, have made a statement of the strength of the domestic game.
Our domestic rugby isn’t as weak as I imagined it to be 18 months ago
What I found refreshing when talking about South African rugby to Gibbs, was that it forced me to rethink how I view or have viewed the strength of SA’s domestic game over the past 18 months.
On reflection, I’ve been guilty of being too dismissive, based on seeing too many local match-ups as SA’s leading quartet of the Bulls, Sharks, Stormers and Lions played each other so many times, in so many different guises, because of Covid-enforced restrictions.
I had become numbed by that “ground-hog” day weekend fare, but the past month has been such a different experience, with the variety of opposition from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy, as SA’s players have thrived in familiar home conditions.
Our domestic rugby isn’t as weak as I imagined it to be 18 months ago.
To the contrary, those abroad, like Gibbs, see the South African domestic game as particularly strong, which makes for a comforting and encouraging situation.
• Mark Keohane is the founder of Keo.co.za, a multiple award-winning sports writer and the digital content director at Highbury Media. Twitter @mark_keohane
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