Meyer: Why I invest in midfield monsters
25 Jan 2006
Pre-season spending and the 44-13 win over the Stormers revealed Heyneke Meyer’s preoccupation with size in the midfield. Speaking to keo.co.za, the Bulls mentor reveals why centre size really does matter.
“I’ve already preferred big centres, and especially playing away in New Zealand where it’s wet and you don’t get that many favourable decisions, sometimes you must keep it simple,” Meyer explained. “Then you need to dominate the collisions. If you look at the history of the Super 12, South African sides have struggled particularly in the midfield where the big New Zealand centres have gotten on top and then it’s a long afternoon.
“If you’ve got a big guy whose quick, fast and has all the skills, it’s a lot better than a little guy with the same attributes.”
Meyer’s statement has been backed up by his acquisition of Dries Scholtz (100kg) from Griquas, Rudi Coetzee (100kg) from the Lions, and the return of Frikkie Welsh (98kg) in March from Bath. They join JP Nel (96kg) and Wynand Olivier (87kg).
“We’re lucky in that we have a mix of players,” Meyer continued. “We have someone like Wynand whose world-class, a classical inside centre, whose a great passer of the ball. Then a guy like Dries can mix it up with raw physical power. I like to have that type of mix in my team. If you look at other positions, Derick [Hougaard] can play a certain type of rugby and Morne [Steyn] another.”
“One of our mistakes in the past is having our first and second choice guys relatively similar players. The way I’m going now is that we can play two very different players of similar quality, depending on our tactics.”
Saturday’s victory over the Stormers showcased the value of the Scholtz/Nel combination, where regular crossing of the advantage line resulted in the trademark one-off runners profiting in the second half.
Olivier’s cameo at fullback also suggested he will slot in at 15 should Johan Roets suffer further injury, although the value of rotating Olivier and Scholtz is immense bearing in mind their contrasting styles.
The Bully Boys continue their pre-season preparations against the Sharks at Sun City on Saturday.
40 Comments
25 Jan 2006, 11:29 am
Sharks to lose by 10 in the warm-up
25 Jan 2006, 11:31 am
This is a good explanation
Hope the Cheetahs can contains the big ones
me thinks Dries will start Wynand to join later
just as goodes/Lowen to start Bosman to join later
25 Jan 2006, 11:35 am
And there we thought it was the Stormers backline who were a bunch of size queens
25 Jan 2006, 11:36 am
makes sense
25 Jan 2006, 11:40 am
Cos all the dutchies are too thick to think!!!
I need big moerse okes who can flatten da opposition!!!
25 Jan 2006, 11:42 am
To the over sensitive dutchmen out there. It was a joke!!!
LOL
Apologies if i offended anyone…
25 Jan 2006, 11:43 am
Quite an interesting statement regarding having a different game plan for the backup player.
Sort of a horses for courses theme…..
25 Jan 2006, 11:45 am
wpw.
All the players mentioned AREare Du*&^%$ though
25 Jan 2006, 11:46 am
Hey wPW go skytemize your Tazz
25 Jan 2006, 11:48 am
hehe OO
25 Jan 2006, 11:49 am
LMAO OO
PA, vir wat lag jy?
25 Jan 2006, 11:51 am
Lol Is that the same dutchmen that handed the Stormers their asses on a plate at Loftus last year, that you guys are referring to?
25 Jan 2006, 11:52 am
I would rather have Brent Russel running straight at me than Dries Scholtz……he is a monster. Kitty Cats to be relegated…..
25 Jan 2006, 11:52 am
Die Blou Bul weet nie waar die bal is nie…
25 Jan 2006, 11:52 am
Stormers to be relegated, though.
25 Jan 2006, 11:56 am
Rocket.
I would rather have Dries Scholtz running at me and be able to say I tackled him but he took me 5 meters backwards, than have Russel coming at me and have to ask “On which side did he get past me?”
25 Jan 2006, 11:58 am
…weet nie waar die bal is nie….
Classic
25 Jan 2006, 12:09 pm
Red Card, only JP Nel was in that side… chop!
25 Jan 2006, 12:19 pm
“Cos all dutchies are to thick…”
Did you forget that you used the word all, wpw chop-chop?
25 Jan 2006, 12:39 pm
Sharks to get it up the a-hole by 50.
25 Jan 2006, 13:03 pm
guys like Daniel Herbert were effective for Oz against NZ, just taking the ball up and making tackles.
25 Jan 2006, 13:12 pm
“If you have a big guy that is quick ,fast and has all the skills it’s better than a little guy who is quick,fast and has all the skills”
That’s the key to the entire article and is pretty much in line with most of Jake White’s selections.
25 Jan 2006, 13:13 pm
It’s also possibly the reason we won’t see Matt Giteau at 1st center again for a while?
25 Jan 2006, 13:32 pm
Giteau will be at inside centre for the 1st or 2nd round of the Super 14, depending on his knee. He wants to play there to get his form going.
25 Jan 2006, 13:40 pm
Just as long as these okes can run over a few of the Polynesian monsters in the land of the long white cloud. That is where the proof of the pudding will be!
25 Jan 2006, 13:40 pm
Ja but once the big boys start running at him, albeit he is a little mongrel, the damage starts to show.
25 Jan 2006, 15:00 pm
Is that why we have so many black players in the midfield at senior level-NOT??
25 Jan 2006, 15:26 pm
Kak man Heyneke,
Just play Bryan @ 13. Monster Rudi did f-all at the Cats and Dries is also worth ****.
25 Jan 2006, 16:00 pm
wespa531 (whatever the f**k that means): Wayne Julies is the best, and in fact probably the only, international class inside centre in SA.
25 Jan 2006, 17:27 pm
Pierre,
You’re entitled to your stupid opinions but really…you should know st about rugby before you post messages like that one. Julies is about as fast as the slowest prop in the Bulls D team. Try to watch a bit more rugby from now on, so that you can make informed comments.
25 Jan 2006, 17:41 pm
Agree that you must have big okes..but they must still be fit, they must be able to catch a ball and pass it (left and right) and understand tactics.
Whilst I really rate Jean deVilliers he really pissed me off on the Nth Hemisphere tour, he never varied his angles, hardly passed and as a result of all this, there was a huge welcoming committee each time he got the ball.
I hasten to add that it was not neccesarilly him that pissed me off but rather the tactics followed….
I was at both games in Paris and Cardiff.
A key challenge to Jake this season is imroving our classic tackling skills i.e. creating overlaps and gaps through good running angles and passing.
25 Jan 2006, 17:53 pm
wespa, Julies made Wynand Olivier look like a little boy in the CC semi last year. Ran right past him, around him and through him a bunch of times. I guess Olivier is also slower than the slowest prop in the Bulls D team, then?
25 Jan 2006, 20:58 pm
The reason why the Boks have the poorest backline in International rugby is because of their absolute loony attitude that big is always best – by the way a 100kg back is not that big these days.
SA has an ingrained thing that the only way to win rugby games is to smash your way through the oppo – it worked well in the old days but it is history now. What’s needed now is speed and ball-handling skills, plus SOME brains. SA is woefully short on all counts (Habana excepted),
Patrick.
25 Jan 2006, 21:48 pm
Julies ran past Olivier? Not to score tries as the Lions if memory serves me right haven’t made the final since the last time the Hougaard smashed them and handed them their asses on a plate.
That was with the dumb ******** Dries Scholtz who ran over the Lions mid field.
The same dumb ******** JP Nel smashed the WP tosser midfield in the 75-14 victory where the same dumb ******** outscrummed to WP fowards so that their necks got thrusted back into their asses.
O and some dumb ******** freestater smashed into the Bulls in the CC final which they managed to win because they were even more physical than their dumb ******** counterparts in the Bulls side.
Meanwhile the highly educated English poofters were sitting on the side of the field holding hands with the Queen and thinking superiour thoughts about how they lost their fucked up empire due to the fact that they are all a bunch of light weight, short fudge packers.
BTW, when England played dymb ******** rugby with hardmen in their team they managed to win the World Cup, **** , amazing that these English superior intellects managed to figure out what we we Dutchmen knew for a long time, if you break the fuckers face and every bone in his body he stops defending against you and goes off field crying to his mommy.
25 Jan 2006, 22:18 pm
Problem is, that you need skilled, strong players.
The reason we all know why the Kiwi sides win, is they put skilled players into their backs, size & strength is a given with todays sports science.
The reason that the bulls will not win the S14 (we all know, but hope that I am wrong) is because the Bulls refuse to push themselves out of their comfort zone & try skilled players. Bash ‘em up will only get you so far.
Worked for the boers against the Poms in the anglo boer war.
26 Jan 2006, 03:43 am
A dumb white dutchie,no matter HOW big he is, will always wilt like a lettuce-leaf in a hot fry-pan when confronted by an equally-big mean as mustard tattooed brown Polynesian brimming with “up yours mate” aggro attitude.
It’s not very hard to call a dumb dutchie’s bluff.
26 Jan 2006, 06:57 am
Everyone can say what they want, and call names as much as they want….Bottom line is that they are all so ******* afraid of those dumb dutchmen in the lightblue jerseys they wanna **** in their panties!!!
Dries Scholtz gaan groot ****** rook maak!!! And you all know it!!! So gaan praat **** op `n anner plek..
26 Jan 2006, 08:50 am
The bigger the BB centres, the better. Then small guys like Ryland can pass through between their legs without them even noticing.
26 Jan 2006, 08:59 am
Ah Tackler, so who called your bluff, Mr 6 foot plus a chip on either shoulder. Very balanced individual you are, indeed!
26 Jan 2006, 13:56 pm
I agree with KWV. Just an excuse not to play Habanero at centre.
Anybody know Habana’s weight?
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