The coach, the minister and the barber may be crazy but who will stop the Boks?

Look it’s not just because Francois “Steffi Graf” Steyn has cut his hair. Or because the South African sports minister said farewell to the squad by telling the Springboks to ‘Moer hulle’ (beat them up).
It’s not even because, in Morne Steyn, they have South Africa’s answer to Jonny Wilkinson circa 2003... with a very effective youngster called Pat Lambie as a back-up fly-half.
If you had to give one reason why South African can win old Bill again, it’s because so many of them have been there, done that and got the medal to prove it.
When the battered Boks turned up for France 2007, everyone was calling for the head of Jake White after a disastrous build-up. This time, it was much the same for the puppet-voiced Pieter de Villiers as he uttered nonsense beneath his bushy moustache throughout a tough Tri-Nations.
But then, after three crunching defeats, the rebirth. Back came all the old, battered Boks – particularly all-conquering Bulls locks Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha – and along came a final, grinding warm-up victory over the All Blacks in Port Elizabeth three weeks ago.
Playing international rugby in PE is like trying a rugby Test at Millwall. Just not the done thing. But the people of the unfashionable Eastern Cape rose to the occasion and so did captain John Smit – who came on as a late sub for a clearly miffed but beautifully-named Bismarck Du Plessis – and the rest of his charges in an 18-5 triumph.
Look, it wasn’t beautiful and it didn’t conjure a try, but beating the All Blacks – a feat repeated by the Australians a week later – proved the perfect send-off. Confidence restored, the sports minister cussing merrily, 35,000 people in Sandton to wish them farewell... and the nation believes, as it did in 1995 when Nelson Mandela did his Invictus thing.

Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula joined the craziness, telling the assembled masses: "We stand here, black and white, red, yellow and purple... As a rainbow nation. Moer hulle! Bliksem hulle, die bokke sal dans!"

In English, that's something like: Crush them, thump them, the Bucks will dance.

And he may have a point. Just listen to the stats. This squad boasts 1,224 caps between them, 18 of them played in the 2007 win, 12 of them starters in the final against England. Matfield, Bryan Habana, Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira (Lions fans will remember what he did to Phil Vickery in 2008) and Botha are living legends here, Smit has lost a little of his lustre but remains a vivid leader of men.

The others? Little Stormers wing Gio Aplon, tough to stop. The newly-shorn back Steyn, the youngest ever scorer in a final four years ago (behind a certain Jonah Lomu) is back and kicking the length of the field.
Schalk Burger missed the end of the season with a broken digit but should be fit for the Boks’ opener against Wales on September 11. In a Group D which also features Aussie-beating Samoa, free-running Fiji and neighbours Namibia, a solid win there should see the Boks to the semi-final against New Zealand.
And like Paris four years ago, who’s going to bet on the Bok stopping there? The apparent madness of their coach, their sports minister, their barber and their semi-retired captain may be just the job.