Beware of winners who speak with forked tongue

Glyn Williams Column

CARWYN JAMES was coach to the victorious 1971 British Lions in New Zealand.

Before the first test James saw a film showing the play of an exciting young All Black scrum prospect.

Afterwards James seemed preoccupied, and despite repeated questions by the Kiwis was reluctant to comment. Eventually, they dragged it out of him.

"We will have to rethink our strategy," said James, with all the solemnity of a chapel-going, cigarette-smoking Welsh speaker.

The New Zealanders were cockahoop. In went the prospect. The All Blacks lost 3-9.

The Kiwis learnt from James, none better than their captain Sean Fitzpatrick, the greatest butterer-up of referees the game has ever seen. After they lost the World Cup final against South Africa, the All Black coach Laurie Mains went on and on about something in the food: the allegation still sneaks into publications around the world, including a most prestigious one I have just seen on this year's World Cup in Wales.

And shame on you poker-faced Welsh coach Graham Henry (from the same country as smooth Sean let it be said) who pulled possibly the greatest sporting sleight of hand so far this year by saying one thing to the press and public but something quite different to his players. "One game too many -- the match we did not want," he said, lulling the Springboks (not for the first time) into that dangerous security zone known as false.

Wales won 29-19, their first victory against South Africa in nearly 100 years.

There were similar happenings in the cricket World Cup, which emphasised again the sporting ability, character, and above all the gentlemanly nature of South African cricket which stems from the excellent game ethics taught in our schools. But when it comes to being streetwise -- a deficiency exacerbated by the political pressures stemming from our unique racial situation -- they are leagues behind such artists as the Wizards of Oz, whose ancestors have regularly sold Sydney Harbour bridge to tourists.

Never mind the heroic and repeated rescue efforts of Lance Klusener, and that last run debacle in the semi against Australia. The South Africans could have had the World Cup all wrapped up and home, despite the mistakes that all teams make, if they had not gone in against Oz in particular in a negative frame of mind: it was written all over the body language of Hansie Cronje, who became more and more tense with each match.

The arch conner was Shane Warne, now ably abetted by wicketkeeper Gillespie, an effective substitute for the erstwhile Healy. The repeated shouts of "Well done Warney," and "Good ball Shane" are aimed not at uplifting the bowler as unsettling the batsman. As good as he is, Warne is aided by tactics that are certainly gamesmanship, arguably back alley.

THE WIN BY WALES had to come some time.

The narrow margin of the Boks' victory at Wembley last year showed that the coaching of Auckland headmaster Graham Henry was already having a positive effect: Wales always do best under an authoritative figure who is either above the parochial squabbles that beset Welsh rugby, or clamps down on them. And there were more warning signs in their defeating England and France in Paris.

What was surprising was that the Welsh pack was heavier, stronger and more able than the Bok eight, particularly in the first half when Nick Mallet had not got his combinations right. They owe much to the great physical powers of the Quinnell brothers, Craig and Scott, and to the athletic skills of lock Wyatt, and one of their nagging worries for the World Cup will be able replacements in case of injury.

Welsh rugby, which has dismally failed to evangelise the cause over the whole country -- soccer is the game in mid and north Wales -- lacks the depth of the South Africans, New Zealanders and the English.

Their players come from a comparatively small area in the industrialised south, though Henry has cast the net wider by searching for Welsh parents and even grandparents, thus bringing in two talented Kiwis in Howarth and Sinkinson.

ONE OF THE FIRST to ring me after the Welsh victory was a former Daily Dispatch editor, Donald Woods, speaking from London.

Like me, Donald has dual loyalties, which makes it somewhat difficult when Wales and South Africa are locked in combat.

He said he was unable to see the game on television in London and had to listen to a commentary on the old steam radio.

This is par for the course. The London newspapers gave adequate but not exactly ecstatic coverage to the surprise and historic Welsh win. Sky TV was also downbeat.

Donald and I agreed that a victory by England in such circumstances would have been subject to overkill.

But then we in the Eastern Cape have often seen big national stories emanating from this region virtually ignored elsewhere: on the other hand, if they had occurred in Johannesburg or Cape . . .

A FORMER East London mayor John Badenhorst brought the house down when thanking a speaker at the Rotary Club of Gately lunch in East London on Tuesday when he said that the Welsh had decided to change their national emblem.

It would no longer be a leek but an orchid.

He said this orchid, which had been discovered in a remote Welsh valley, echoing to the ghosts of many a flyhalf shrieking "Pass the ball, Dai", had a bulb of funereal and mourning black but an exquisite flower. Unfortunately it bloomed only once every 100 years.

FOR THE RECORD: 1906 at Swansea, Wales 0 SA 11; 1912 Cardiff, Wales 0 SA 3; 1931 Swansea, Wales 3 SA 8; 1951 Cardiff, Wales 3 SA 6; 1960 Cardiff, Wales 0 SA 3; 1964 Durban, SA 24 Wales 3; 1970 Cardiff, Wales 6 SA 6; South Africa won all the games between the two sides after the period of isolation until Saturday.