This year is ultimately about the Rugby World Cup, not Super Rugby or the Tri-Nations,

To state the obvious, this year is ultimately about the Rugby World Cup, not Super Rugby or the Tri-Nations, so rugby supporters need to keep a cool tune instead of over-analysing what happens in May, June and July with a view to what might ultimately occur in New Zealand in October.

To put a fine line on it, what happens in Super Rugby does not overly matter in a global perspective this year. It is irrelevant beyond whether it through injury removes key players from the later international stage.

The Springboks’ 1998 and 2004 Tri-Nations successes had no Super 12 impetus – the SA teams non-performed almost across the board – ’98 was our country’s worst ever performance – yet the Boks went on to win the Tri-Nations.

It is important to acknowledge that while Super Rugby enhances or compromises player reputations, depending on how they perform, while crocking an unfortunate percentage of players, it otherwise ihas no bearing on what happens at international level.

There is a feel-good factor for fans whose teams excel at Super Rugby level but the bottom line is that Springbok success or failure comes down to whether the match 22 can get it together on the day.

In a World Cup year, the influence of Super Rugby and the Tri-Nations is still more tenuous because the latter competition will not have the best players for much of the competition, as is usually the case, given the enormity of the year.

Australia, New Zealand and Australia will look at their top players and evaluate their playing time in Super Rugby, and on an individual basis decide who rests and who does not.

In 2007, Jake White sent a “B” team overseas for the Tri-Nations matches in Christchurch and Sydney and it is known that Peter de Villiers is going to do the same – the tour squad will comprise either back-up players or front-line guys that have hardly played this year and need the match practice.

The nucleus of the A Team will remain in South Africa for a training camp during the overseas leg of the Tri-Nations but will front up for the home leg of the Tri-Nations.

Which brings us back to the earlier point that what happens in May in Super Rugby has no relevance in the Tri-Nations – and in 2011, the Rugby World Cup.

As Sharks coach John Plumtree puts it: “We live week by week. It is really hard to say how it is going to turn out each weekend, never mind in the long run, because the competition is so long.

“Teams that have been sticking to the same 16 to 17 players are starting to get tired (such as the Highlanders), while teams that have been rotating tend to be near the top, while other others have been plain unlucky and been hamstrung by injuries, such as the Brumbies,” the coach reflected.

“But when it comes to the Tri-Nations things are going to be different to the non-World Cup years because everybody will have an eye on the World Cup,” Plumtree said. “In the end, few will remember who won the Tri-Nations but everybody will know who won the World Cup.”

by Mike greenaway