Greg Smith has been part of a family that has published a small town paper since 1854. His grandfather was a classic newspaper printer (with the belt and braces, plus slightly dodgy "counterfeiter-style" cap). Greg has been a sports nut since he started swimming lessons with his Olympic gold medalist instructor (Joan Harrison) in 1975. Swimming didn't quite work out for him, and since then he's been a nomadic sportsman. He is game for most things once, which just might be the problem! South African rugby unions gear-shift to down New Zealand and Australia in 2009 will largely depend upon a re-think of their away games strategy
South Africa's rugby union 2007 World Champion status was only mildly dented in 2008. One or two games went against the Springboks last year, and the bounce of the ball could have so easily gone fractionally the other way to bolster the World Champions cause.
It didn't, leaving Australia and, eventually, New Zealand to scramble to the top of 2008. South Africa came off third best, but with a record reversal against Australia and a thumping of England to provide much needed solace and affirmation of their standing as legitimate World Champions.
Even Michael Phelps can wander around the podiums one, two and three slots without blushing and/or diminishing his undoubted top dog status. Tiger Woods, on a bad day, coasts into second or third without losing too much sleep, I imagine.
South Africa cruised into third last season and the way they did it provides hope for 2009.
Beyond the normal bad-mouthing of officials, the claims of dodgy referee's or gripes about the ELV's and such and such – South Africa was the team with the most ambitious rebuilding program. You don't often see a World Cup winning coach replaced and Jack Whites departure was only the start of the reformation of South African rugby in their new post-Rugby World Cup transformation phase.
Like Tiger with a new set of irons, or Lewis Hamilton in a new car, the Boks tested their fresh wings and still comfortably made the podium. Not too shabby, and enough to leave the most eager Springbok fan with a wry smile.
For analysts of the game, not a single team went unbeaten in 2008 and home defeats seem to be the business.
This is where South Africa took hits in 2009 with an extremely tough back-to-back opening spell against New Zealand and then Australia. Pundits reckon the opening Wellington game could have gone either way, but the ultimate result put the Boks into overdrive prematurely and lined them up for the three-game slump they eventually suffered at home.
The moral of the story is South Africa need to bag their away games in 2009 and they're fully aware of what that entails. For 2009 SA Rugby has purchased houses in Auckland and Sydney to act as homes away from home in the Tri Nations, and they'll be kitted out for arriving Boks who've understandably had their fill of hotels on the road.
Ironing out these and other small "chinks" in home-biased mentalities will ultimately put South Africa back in the Tiger Woods seat, which as World Champions, is where they belong.
With the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand looming, a big year or two for South Africa could make all the difference and hang an anchor round the hosts necks, let alone a choker.