Comment by Morgan Bolton
A funny rumour had begun circulating around Johannesburg earlier this week.
Where it started, and who started it, remains as opaque as the bank of orange smog that blankets the city on a windless August day, obscuring the peak of the Brixton Tower.
If you squint hard enough, you’ll make out the distinct silhouette of the city playing in the haze of industry.
It’s as dry as a withered bone in Joburg – the skin is parched and it’s a killer on the nose as you battle through the unsettled dust, which is kicked up as the Big Smoke goes about its day, and which has not been touched by rain in months.
It’ll make for firm-under-foot rugby come Saturday at the well-manicured Ellis Park, and hopefully lung-busting play.
For some reason, a murmur that the game between the Springboks and the All Blacks in Doornfontein has been moved to early in the day had begun circulating. Instead of the confirmed 5pm kick-off, it was now to be played at 3pm.
Concerns regarding the safety and security of the inner city were cited as the main reason, and who could blame ’em?
Joburg, after all, is not for sissies, and venturing into the maw where Ellis Park is located can be quite intimidating.
A part of me is, of course, quite dejected that visitors to my city are so overwhelmed by apprehension. It is a warning that those who run the metro should listen to, instead of squabbling about who will be the ninth mayor in five years.
Another part of me, however, is quite pleased that the All Blacks might be overawed by the ride into the Park on the weekend. By all accounts, 13 of the 36 players that All Black head coach Scott Robertson has brought to South Africa have never played there in any capacity.
Even the slightest of advantages will help conquer a team that has become a nemesis in many respects.
Saturday’s match against the All Blacks is an important one. It must set right a handful of records against the New Zealanders, and stamp South Africa’s authority as the world champions.
The truth of the matter is, though, that the Boks’ record against the Kiwis in Johannesburg is a poor one.
In the six matches played there since 2010, the Boks have won only one. They have never beaten the visitors on the highveld in the Rassie Erasmus era.
His first match on the plateau against the All Blacks was at Loftus Versfeld in 2018, which the Boks lost 32-30. Most recently, in 2022, during a high-octane encounter at Ellis Park, the Boks lost again – this time 35-23.
Erasmus and Co have, in the 11 games against the men in black, only managed to win one game on home soil, at Mbombela Stadium a week before the Ellis Park defeat.
Indeed, the other four victories and a draw against our oldest of foes have come while in the Land of the Long White Cloud, at Twickenham in England and, most famously, at the Stade de France last year in the Rugby World Cup final.
It is a record that Erasmus and this Bok group will no doubt wish to rectify, starting at Ellis Park. Although it is a beast, ask any South African player and they will talk in glowing terms about the red monster.
It is considered the fortress of South African rugby, and while this Bok unit has ticked many boxes, and has many boxes to tick still, it must restore the identity of Ellis Park as such.
The All Blacks must quake in their boots when they hear the name uttered – and not because of what stands around it, but because it is our ‘house of pain’.