Barbarians clash has been hyped through effective marketing, but does it serve Boks’ needs?

There are four days to go to the Springboks versus the Barbarians match at DHL Stadium, and the touring team still have not released full squad details.

That’s because they have yet to complete the player roster for the match, suggesting that despite all the hype from host broadcaster SuperSport, this might not be the great clash it’s being billed to be.

Ticket sales are also limp. A simple login to the ticketing app on Monday revealed plenty of seats at various prices available. It appears the public isn’t rushing to watch a composite team with almost no preparation in action against what will almost certainly be a mix-and-match Bok team.

The concept of the Barbarians is a noble one in the sense that it aims to retain the fun and bonhomie of the sport from a different era. There is nothing wrong with that, but asking fans to fork out thousands (in some price brackets) to watch it, is therefore creating a certain expectation.

And that expectation is to see a well-prepared team full of Test players that will perform at a high level.

In players such as Irish greats Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Cian Healy, as well as All Blacks Shannon Frizell and Sam Cane, the Barbarians have some quality. Throw in decorated coach Robbie Deans and there is a lot to like.

But rugby at the highest level is a 23-man game, requiring weeks for a squad to gel. It’s debatable whether the Barbarians will be able to come up with a strong enough squad and an effective enough gameplan to make the match competitive for 80 minutes.

High jinks

The Barbarians concept harks back to the amateur era when a touring team to Britain and Ireland would take on a collection of fine players in a festival-like game at the end of a gruelling tour.

The idea was for the shackles to come off, for players to let off some steam and revel in running rugby in a match where winning or losing was not the primary goal.

That ethos still permeates the old club, and players who have represented the Barbarians, even during the professional era, speak lovingly about it. And why shouldn’t they? The anecdotes from Bob Skinstad, Schalk Burger, Nick Mallett, Bryan Habana and Schalk Brits, among others, in various inserts on SuperSport have some genuine humour and boarding school high-jinks about them.

Generally, the conversations veer towards the late-night revelry in the build-up and the off-field shenanigans that go with the “boys on tour” nature of Barbarians gatherings, rather than the rugby itself.

The current tourists in Cape Town will almost certainly have some good evenings out at various local hot spots. It will be a fantastic week for those involved with the Barbarians.

But this weekend’s meeting is not at the end of a tour. It’s the first of an important season of growth and development for the Boks, where they will be aiming to maintain certain standards and hit various goals.

There will be no slipping into unstructured rugby for the world champions, and with rain falling most of the week, conditions are unlikely to allow for a free-flowing spectacle.

Attack coach Tony Brown and brilliant wing Cheslin Kolbe are two men whose natural instincts veer towards the romantic side of the sport.

Brown was a clever playmaker in his day, and Kolbe possesses the kind of flair that would grace any Barbarians team from any era.

Yet, for all his brilliance, quick feet and 150 rugby IQ, Kolbe understands the mission this weekend. It won’t be about “swinging the ball wide” at the slightest hint of space.

And Brown, despite his desire for the Boks to score 10 tries, knows there is a bigger picture.

“We’re preparing our players like it is a Test match,” Brown said. “It won’t be Barbarians versus Barbarians, it will be Springboks versus Barbarians. Everything we do will be about how we play the game, how we play Test match rugby, and how we’re going to win the game.”

Kolbe admitted that he expected the Barbarians to make the game as open as possible, and therefore it would require more discipline and attention to detail from the Boks to stay focused on their objectives.

“I haven’t played against the Barbarians before. But just watching them (in the past), it’s obviously a team that just chucks everything out on the field,” Kolbe said.

“And they’ve got quite a lot of experienced players in the squad. I’m sure it’s for a reason. To keep a bit of calmness amongst the chaos.

“Each and every one of us is competitive, no matter what team we play for and for them, that it’s going to be a good week.

“But we just have to focus and stay in our environment. And prepare as well as we can for what comes this coming weekend.”

Serve needs?

While Brown admitted that analysing the Barbarians as a team was impossible, the Boks know enough about individual players and are focused on their own outcomes. So, will this match serve the Boks’ needs for the remainder of the season?

The official word is that it will.

“The Barbarians are a famous side, and everyone knows how they play, what they try to do, and the style that they’ve got to uphold being a Barbarians team,” Brown said.

“We’re pretty aware of what’s coming – unpredictable rugby is hard to prepare for, but if your awareness is high around what they’re trying to do, then we can prepare well.

“It’s definitely a different challenge to what we normally would have. You know, the Barbarians have always knocked over a lot of great sides over the years. So, for us, it’s a massive challenge. But it’s exactly what we want for our, we’ll call it, our first Test for the year.

“We see it as a Test match, and we’re going to play the game that way. Therefore, the guys given the opportunity to play against the Baabaas need to perform as best they can.

“We need to get our coaching right, we need to get our plans right, and we always win Test matches through putting the opposition under pressure, whether it’s attack and defence, so that’ll be our plan against the Barbarians.

“And then, you know, if you perform well, then you get another go the following week against Italy.” DM