Vos: Boks are favourites
21 Jun 2006
Former Springbok captain has tipped New Zealand and South Africa as the sides best-equipped to triumph in France, despite criticism of their most recent displays.
Vos has come out in defence of Jake White’s team following a scratchy display against Scotland in Port Elizabeth and despite the monumental loss of flank Schalk Burger.
The Springboks were occasionally booed on Saturday as they laboured to beat the Scots, committing a glut of handling errors and failing to provide their backline with decent ball, reports AFP.
Vos though insists that those the errors will fall away as the season progresses. “Once the really big games start, like the Tri-Nations, you’ll see a very different, more polished Bok side,” predicted Vos.
“It’s encouraging and exciting to see what Jake is doing with the team,” he said. “For so long most of the South African rugby public have simply asked for consistency and Jake has responded to that by building a settled unit. Most importantly he’s getting the mix right between youth and experience.”
“Usually South Africa enters a major tournament with lot of new guys playing only their second or third Test. But now there is a core of hardened players such as Victor (Matfield) and Percy (Montgomery) – whose input is huge – alongside some exciting youngsters such as Bryan Habana.”
Vos said that considering Scotland had beaten both England and France in the Six Nations, it was a decent Test series win for the Springboks.
As for the All Blacks, Vos warned: “Ireland is a quality side and nobody should have been shocked that they performed so well in New Zealand,” said Vos. Considering coach Graham Henry had split his two squads it was a remarkable performance.
21 Comments
21 Jun 2006, 08:29 am
Still had a better start then most years
21 Jun 2006, 08:31 am
Where does in say Boks are favourites except heading???
21 Jun 2006, 08:31 am
where does it
21 Jun 2006, 08:36 am
people should get on their knees and kiss jake whites feet for delivering us such a settled team. consistency and defence win big matches, not big mouths and a few 1 off good displays (which is what luke watson and brits bring to the table)
21 Jun 2006, 08:40 am
I agree with Andre Vos. Firstly the Scots did beat England and France, and secondly we cant expect the Boks to produce a 10/10 performance every time. The Boks have won 2/2 which is great.
Compare the Boks performance now to there performance under Rudolf Straeuli.
Its great to read some comments from Andre Vos, a brilliant captain and player.
21 Jun 2006, 08:42 am
Our backline are awful . We need more flair to break the oppositions defense .
21 Jun 2006, 08:52 am
Jake’s stubbornness to not strengthen his core group with more specialist players is a big concern. His makeshift replacements playing players out of position is not helping his cause. He slams provincial coaches for playing his core players out of position one week and does the same thing a few weeks later.
21 Jun 2006, 08:52 am
There is nothing wrong with our backline..we need to play clever rugby…get the players to run into gaps we have the players to do that….we just need to play thinking rugby…yes we have the forwards to make them soft…but we have the backs to run in the gaps….and play thinking rugby
21 Jun 2006, 08:54 am
moegrat – in the first paragraph….
21 Jun 2006, 09:01 am
Where’s Vossie playing these days?
21 Jun 2006, 09:04 am
True Xsaffa, my thoughts too (4), that’s why I won’t play the Ndungane brothers yet. I just wish they would play Ruan, Pedrie and AJ, all who delivers on a consistent base…
21 Jun 2006, 09:14 am
Slappes – Harlequins.
21 Jun 2006, 09:20 am
Any news on his current form at quins?
21 Jun 2006, 09:42 am
Yes Andrew but did you quote him saying that or was it just an assumption
21 Jun 2006, 10:01 am
Of course we need to play thinking rugby…but how do you coach thinking?
21 Jun 2006, 10:06 am
rex
Our coaches don’t give the players the freedom to play……..yes play with a game plan but let the players in the backline play there own game….don’t tell the player for the next 80 min your job is to bash the ball up and that is all…..we have the some of the best forwards in the world so let them do there job and then the let the backline play with freedom
21 Jun 2006, 10:09 am
when i used to play rugby…i had a coach where he use to give the forwards a game plan how they need to do there job but us in the backline had the freedom to play our natural game and we almost never lost a game
21 Jun 2006, 10:28 am
A Few Thoughts
1.Dont play players out of position
2.Build depth. We surely have enough to play the next in line. Not now but will have if!
3.Play genuine class,ability and or form. No more affirmative selections. There is no room for it in sport. Two wrongs dont make a right!!!
4.Dont wish for bad weather so that you can justify a bad selection. Pick according to what is best under any circumstance. Weather changes.
21 Jun 2006, 10:33 am
Andrew give us some insight on Avos’ plans; was he in PE to watch the game? Will we see him play in SA again etc?
21 Jun 2006, 11:18 am
Hey Vossie.. come back from intl retirement… PLEEEZ…
BOKKE
21 Jun 2006, 15:01 pm
xsaffa Jake White can kiss my ***.
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