Mike Greenaway|Published25 minutes agoWatch VideoFlowerbeds and fisticuffs: The untold aftermath of the Springboks’ 2006 All Black stunner

The Springboks celebrate after their dramatic win over the All Blacks in Rustenburg in 2006. We have seen several momentum shifts in rugby this season. For example, England went from 12 wins on the bounce to three losses, and the Bulls from seven losses to four wins (not taking into account Saturday’s fixtures).

One of the attractions of sport is how quickly form can change, and in either direction. A narrow win after a hard-fought battle can send a “losing” team on a winning run. It got me thinking about one of the great Springbok turnarounds.

The year was 2006, and Jake White’s Springboks had lost five Tests in a row, including copping 45 points from New Zealand in Pretoria. After that loss, the Boks had to play the same opponents, this time in Rustenburg. The public mood was ugly.

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It was the same in the boardroom of the South African Rugby Union, where the suits were itching to fire White. Captain John Smit knew that a sixth consecutive defeat would mean the end of White, and possibly himself, because a new coach would give the team a spring clean. Everything Jake and John had worked for from 2004 towards the World Cup would be discarded.

After the heavy Loftus defeat, White took the Boks out of Pretoria, away from the miffed public and put them in a resort near Sun City. Smit later confessed that his players weregatvolof losing and “didn’t give a damn anymore”. Before kick-off, there was a declaration of war in the change room, and the Boks ran out and played with the desperation of condemned men.The All Blacks, who had won 15 Tests in a row, responded in kind and the match turned into a street fight.

The All Blacks, who had won 15 Tests in a row, responded in kind and the match turned into a street fight. I have a vivid memory of a crazed Carl Hayman rising from a scrum in which he had been given a “Welcome to Rustenburg” and chasing Os du Randt to a ruck. He split open Os’s forehead with a punch.

I have a vivid memory of a crazed Carl Hayman rising from a scrum in which he had been given a “Welcome to Rustenburg” and chasing Os du Randt to a r This ferocious struggle accelerated to a climax when All Black No 8 Rodney So’oialo dived into a ruck in the 78th minute, palpably from the side, with his team 18-17 ahead. The English referee Chris White raised his arm in favour of the Boks and Smit sprinted to the spot, yelling “Posts! Posts!” Smit tossed the ball to Andre Pretorius, the flyhalf who was richly talented but lost so much of his career to injury.

Smit says he tried to break the ice by saying to Pretorius, with a smile, “rather you than me”, and then went into earnest prayer. “The kick had to go over. If it did, a cloud of woe would lift. If it didn’t, it would be tickets for Jake and our team,” Smit recalled.

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