White: “If it’s there, fetch it”
21 Jun 2006
Springbok coach Jake White has explained why the Boks don’t need a specialist fetcher.
“Using the term fetcher to describe an openside flanker is a total misnomer,” he said. “The only specialised fetchers I know are my sons when they fetch me a beer from a fridge on a Sunday afternoon.”
Joe van Niekerk will wear the No 6 jersey against the French on Saturday. Rather than worrying about finding someone to fill Burger’s place at the breakdown, White is more interested in Van Niekerk’s ability to link with the backs.
“Joe is a very athletic guy and he’s very quick,” White said. “He is also very good at running the right lines on attack and supporting the backline players when they need to offload.”
“We should have 15 fetchers on the park. If the ball’s there, fetch it. You don’t need a specialist to do that. Everybody should know what to do at the breakdown.”
A great example of a non-flanker who wins a lot of ball on the ground is De Wet Barry. The Province and Stormers centre has never been one to shy away from the tight phases.
“Barry is one that fetches more than most,” White smiled.
Barry makes his return to the midfield against France alongside Bok rookie Wynand Olivier, and will be looking to show his worth ahead of the Tri-Nations, when first choice centres Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie are due to return.
“De Wet has played a lot of rugby in the past two seasons, and he knows that if he wants to stay in the Springbok side, he has to perform.”
By Jon Cardinelli
77 Comments
Pages: « 1 [2] Show All
21 Jun 2006, 14:26 pm
Ok, so that raises the question why Andre Snyman, Breyton Paulse and Percy have lost so much pace. Linford Cristie was still the fastest dude on the planet long after his 30th b-day.
21 Jun 2006, 14:26 pm
32-21 to Percy
21 Jun 2006, 14:26 pm
Hey ****-Stan,
Do you even watch rugby?
21 Jun 2006, 14:28 pm
stan are you insane…..wait..oh i forgot yes you are. Luke would walk into any team in SA
21 Jun 2006, 14:28 pm
DS, without allot of rest, you cannot maintain those speeds, also with the amount of fitness training you do as a rugby player, you lose speed over time and can only recover it with enough rest and proper sprint training.
endurance is a different kind of fitness where sprint power would be more associated with short bursts.
21 Jun 2006, 14:30 pm
Speed training;please please give some to Paulse
21 Jun 2006, 14:45 pm
Londonshark, did you play 1st team at school?
21 Jun 2006, 14:47 pm
Vinnie, That hurts…
21 Jun 2006, 15:08 pm
Stan why don’t you apply to your local Oranje government representative to have the Western Cape physically removed from the continent.
I’m sure then you’ll feel a lot better.
21 Jun 2006, 15:13 pm
Rather Barry than Julies, Snyman or Marius.
21 Jun 2006, 15:42 pm
Viper6,
I agree with you – the centres were absolutely pathetic on Saturday.
21 Jun 2006, 15:51 pm
Jake White has proven on more than 1 occassion that he knows what he’s doing. He might talk **** now and then, but he gets the job done.
Look at his record. It speaks for itself.
21 Jun 2006, 15:58 pm
SuperVos,yeah,but my school was kak.
I played u21A for a few years (I started when was 18) in the Pretoria club scene.We always came 3rd behind those monsters from Tuks and Tech.
21 Jun 2006, 16:14 pm
Without fetchers we’re going to kak against France, New Zealand and Oz..finished and klaar.
21 Jun 2006, 16:20 pm
Oooh Dawn. Sensitive?
I did not expect you to fall for it….
21 Jun 2006, 16:34 pm
I really think Jake needs to talk about his problems with Luke Watson. I am not someone to sing Lukes praises and i know he has an attitude, but that aside, in the green and gold he’ll play his heart out. He is our best openside flanker behind Burger and White hasn’t even mentioned him yet? Whats up between Jake White and Watson????
21 Jun 2006, 16:40 pm
Shh..Jake wants the guys to rest ….so they can pull a muscle with the conditioning tests
21 Jun 2006, 16:41 pm
Londonshark, ah OK, thought you were a College boy for some reason. You definitely wouldn’t call your school kak then!
21 Jun 2006, 19:38 pm
potentially he played for hillcrest or something like that. some good club and natal players came from there in the 90′s even though they were a **** rugby school…
22 Jun 2006, 06:40 am
College boys will never call their school k@k – it’s blasphemy…
PreDawn, you Dawn’s mother?
22 Jun 2006, 08:12 am
alibaba which college are u talking about?
22 Jun 2006, 09:08 am
Do you want me to tell you?
22 Jun 2006, 09:40 am
yes
22 Jun 2006, 09:58 am
Grey College in Bloem
22 Jun 2006, 10:41 am
Pierre Spies for Inside Centre possie!!!!
Funny the Bulls play without a fetcher. It works when all the players know what to do. See ball fetch it, set up phase.
By the way, not a Bulls supporter, but their system seems to work better than most.
22 Jun 2006, 12:07 pm
Mistral
Not a bad idea actually… Pierre Spies at inside centre? hmmm…
londonshark
Paulse needs atitude training, not speed training..
12 Nov 2006, 16:32 pm
No more fetching?
Pages: « 1 [2] Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.