Bok wrecking ball
20 Aug 2008
Schalk Burger is a rugby phenomenon, but what makes him the player he is?
In the latest issue of SA Rugby magazine, Jake White, Richie McCaw, Rudolf Straeuli, Derick Coetzee and Henning Gericke all offer unique insights into arguably the greatest Springbok of all-time by explaining exactly what sets him apart from the rest.
White, during a detailed discussion, reveals that Burger “averages 21 tackles per game – seven more than the average for an elite international flank. He’s got great ball skills, an unbelievable feel for the game in the sense that his running lines are so good that he gets into excellent positions long before the opposition even realise he’s there.”
McCaw says, “He just flies in [to the rucks]. Every time you play against him, he’s everywhere. His work rate is amazing.”
In a revealing Q&A, we also ask Schalk if opensiders are born or made, what he defines as failure, if he’s received offers from overseas clubs and if he misses having Jake around.
Also in the new issue of SAR:
– The Springbok scrum no longer strikes fear into their opponents. Former Springbok front rankers John Allan and Guy Kebble explain why
– BJ Botha was a shock omission from the Boks’ Tri-Nations squad, but the tighthead prop, who 
recently signed for ulster, believes he can force his way back
– Player depth remains a top priority but South Africa can no longer afford to neglect the development of local coaches. SA Rugby magazine investigates Saru’s plan to implement a new coaching programme in 2009
– The increased involvement of the TMO has been the most hotly debated point of this year’s Absa Currie Cup. SA Rugby magazine assesses the positives and negatives of the system
– Craven Week is supposed to be a festival of South African schoolboy rugby where winning isn’t a matter of life or death. but for a group of determined talent scouts, it’s merely an opportunity to snap up the next 
Frans Steyn or John Smit. SA Rugby magazine finds out how a respected talent scout goes about his job, and how others, with less integrity, will do almost anything to get that important signature
– At just 19, Robert Ebersohn has already lent the Free State Cheetahs backline some much needed attacking flair this season
– Last year, a disillusioned Gcobani Bobo was released by the Sharks to play for the Springbok Sevens team. Now he’s an automatic selection for the Stormers, captaining Western Province, back in the Bok set-up and revelling in his amazing change of fortune
– Former Springbok flyhalf Gerald Bosch has played a major role in the development of Wallabies utility back Berrick Barnes
– Outside centre has been an All Blacks weakness since Tana Umaga retired at the end of 2005. But the problem of who to play there has finally been solved by the emergence of Conrad Smith
– Andre Pretorius’s career has been plagued by leg injuries, especially during the last four years. The latest setback came when he played for the Boks against the Barbarians last year, limping off the Twickenham turf after 33 minutes with a crocked foot. The Lions flyhalf has not played in a match since, yet despite calls for him to retire, he believes he will have a big 2009 season
– SA Rugby magazine is on sale from Wednesday, 20 August. To subscribe, e-mail subscriptions@hsm.co.za or phone (021) 416-0141.
667 Comments
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20 Aug 2008, 14:01 pm
#240 sharks_lover: cool team that,the beast will complain bitterly though!
20 Aug 2008, 14:03 pm
#240 sharks_lover:
Deysel has only played a handful games in S14 as well as CC rugby now he is the real deal all of a sudden?Come on,setting the ball up to fail.I know “Wolscooter” Deysel has talent but not yet.Even Vermeulen can stake a claim ahead of him
Its like a lot of the bloggers saying koster must get a look in:the boy is 19 and has played 4 CC games now he is Bok material?Hhayi C’mon
Sometimes people live in a fantasy,test rugby takes time to master,even the great ones
20 Aug 2008, 14:03 pm
#246 stodders: I agree. The AB running lines are some of the best in world rugby if not the best.. Boks are improving their running lines in the likes of JDV and Fourie and even Pieterson, but we have a long way to go.
We need to tighten up against the Southern Hemisphere and loosen up against the Northern..
20 Aug 2008, 14:03 pm
brickwall boet even to me it is but i believe you take the kiwis and emglish on with power play
that big pack must also hunt together as a pack
i cant see any team out scrumming that pack
thats why i have schalk on the bench
20 Aug 2008, 14:05 pm
shimi as i said its a thought
i know they need experience but i tell you that is one powerful pack
20 Aug 2008, 14:06 pm
but it still copme back to what TH is saying
we need to put back structure in our play and do the basics first
20 Aug 2008, 14:06 pm
#240 sharks_lover:
great pack
#243 grant10:
no. The ranking is how the national selectors seem to have ranked them. Bosman least we forget had a great S14 in the 12 jersey in a weak side.
20 Aug 2008, 14:06 pm
#254 sharks_lover: that pack will never go back,thats for sure! heinke is one strong mother!
20 Aug 2008, 14:07 pm
Vermeulen will be a Bok in due time. A freakish energizer battery in the loose. This Korster boy is a Spies clone no doubt.
20 Aug 2008, 14:08 pm
btw shimi of the games i have seen deysel play he is fast beco9mming one of our best fetchers
and yes unlike some he clears out the rucks
doesnt just hover over the ruck like most and watch the other team take the ball
20 Aug 2008, 14:09 pm
lol gerber that pack will scrum the **** out any team
20 Aug 2008, 14:11 pm
#244 Sheriff: i know at least one thing.
they both spend more time at the doc than on the playing field.
20 Aug 2008, 14:12 pm
#259 greatest13gerber: you’re just saying that because he’s from wp.
20 Aug 2008, 14:12 pm
#257 greatest13gerber: monty said when at the sharks the 1st player he would put on the team sheet is Barritt! That oke is apparently an awesome organiser and highly respected by all those that play with him. The mess up was after Frans Steyns heroics at the world cup Barritt was shunted around with poor results for the Sharks. Waylon Murrays and JP S game suffered as a result. Barritt gets the job done, not flamboyant but defensively sound and a great distributor. Damn that is a big loss, pity the Stormers couldnt make a plan!!
20 Aug 2008, 14:12 pm
#246 stodders:
With you Stodders.
When you talk about quick ball from the breakdown, we really are talking about the way the Aussies played in the Gregan and Larkham era.
Their forwards had the necessary skills to do that.
However in the context of 80 minutes of test rugby, there are times when your forwards also need to “bash it up”.
It also goes without saying that they need to win their tight phases unconditionally and pressurize the opposition tight phases.
I think too many observers think in extremes.
It is the overall pattern of play determined by clever decision making on the field that wins the day.
This means that it is not all just quick ball after quick ball, but sometimes it is necessary to kick or even drive with the forwards.
PDV has gone too much over to the extreme.
Tight forwards first have to do their primary job.
Loose forwards first have to do their primary job.
Or else, as I have stated before:
Who is going to win this ball that all 15 players just want to run with?
20 Aug 2008, 14:13 pm
THE MOST OVERRATED PLAYER EVER!!!!! ALWAYS LOSSES THE BALL IN CONTACT, NEVER PASS THE BALL TO BETTER PLAYERS WHO CAN MAKE GAPS FOR THEM ALL. HE IS JUST BIG AND SLOW. BALL SKILLS??? YOU AM NOT SERIOUS. FORGIVE ME SPELLING I AM FROM KENYA AND ME FATHER HAVE THE SUPERSPORT CHANAL SO I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING.
20 Aug 2008, 14:14 pm
#259 greatest13gerber: and both Stormers!!! Cool for next years super 14. Now we need Heinke and a lock! Come on Rassie!!!!
20 Aug 2008, 14:18 pm
#266 Ned:
20 Aug 2008, 14:19 pm
#260 sharks_lover:
I have followed Deysel since his days at Limpopo blue bulls-Craven week 04,plus Lions underage groups
I can tell u he is primary a ball runner,fetching comes second. Plus he is 1.90+,big tall,powerful.DOESNT PLAY TOWARDS THE BALL PRIMARILY
he is good,one for the future
and if Beast scrums the way he did on Sat(made the most capped NZ tighthead of all time look avg-Somerville is the best 3 in SH at least)-he has a bigger upside to Heinke.If u want to choose an all scrummaging front row u will have to give a mention to Lawrence Sephaka,has destroyed all comers along with heinke in this yr’s CC.Is in better form than BJ even.but I would choose either of them.At least not both of them in the first 15
20 Aug 2008, 14:19 pm
#238 Tbozknows:
Great call.
At the WC we were the most complete we have been since re admission (bar a couple of games in ’97-’98). Great defense. Good on first phase ball and great finishing on turn over ball! This is how we should be developing Springbok rugby. A great platform wasted by trying to plays 7′s style rugby.
Schalks workrate is the cornerstone of our defense
20 Aug 2008, 14:20 pm
#261 sharks_lover:
Heinkie time will come!!
#263 the peanut gallery:
its a shame really that Korster plays for the enemy(WP)
20 Aug 2008, 14:21 pm
#266 Ned: you must be talking about danie rossouw or cj my friend
I dont understand how some can say he is overrated????? He has been one of the great the past few years. one “average” game and you want to trow him to the wolves?? How “BELOW AVERAGE” has Butch and Juan been since the WC, but now SB is useless. iesh, i dont know.
SB is so good, have you seen him passing the ball to himself?
20 Aug 2008, 14:23 pm
I am really getting sick of how everyone says how great Schalk and jdv is. Please can any one give me facts about them really winning great games. But there is facts to the contrary. Boks greatest game lately – 36 – 0 against Engeland! Did any of these great SA legends play? No, Wikus van Heerden play – he was better than Schalk then and still is. The media just hypes up these two players and they are suddenly great. It is funny that WP and the Stormers can’t win anything with these two great legends? And funny that we win the world cup after one of these legends are injured? Please give facts, games won on these two Greats (HA HA)!
20 Aug 2008, 14:25 pm
#271 greatest13gerber: oh, i thought you don’t rate him, seeing as you compared him to spies
20 Aug 2008, 14:26 pm
#273 reality: uhm, i think rugby is a team sport.
20 Aug 2008, 14:27 pm
#273 reality:
WC semi final and final? They were pretty big games. With JDV we would have been even better. JDV in this tri nations has been one of our best players. Always looks dangerous. No support around him
20 Aug 2008, 14:29 pm
#262 the peanut gallery:
The other is of course that they both play for Loffie.
We need a few more then we have a trend…
20 Aug 2008, 14:30 pm
#265 tight head:
Actually no, I’m not talking about the phased play, one out running tactics of the Ozzies. The Wallabies had players (Larkham, Giteau) capable of beating players one on one if given space to work in. The phase play was more of a tactic to milk penalties in scoring positions, or to suck the opposition into committing enough men to leave their defence short.
I think the team that I think South Africa should try to mimic is the England team of 2002/3. When at the peak of their game, they generated quick ruck ball at will. It lead to a period of time where England saw more attacking rugby than they had for several decades. A big strong, forward pack, controlling halfbacks, direct running centres with a bit of guile from 12 and a back 3 capable of finishing opportunities.
The key to England’s success in that time was their dominance at the breakdown. All 15 players contested the ball or hit the breakdowns when required. This laid the perfect platform for their big backrow runners (Hill and Dallaglio) and midfield (Greenwood/Catt, Tindall) to hit the gain line with forward momentum. It allowed them to set point of attack, it sucked defenders in and created space for their backline to free their finishers (Robinson, Cohen, Lewsey).
It was a forward dominated game plan, but it was a style of 15 man rugby.
Basically, the team, not individuals, created the opportunities to attack and score points. Everyone in that England side knew their role, executed it well and team benefitted. South Africa have some very good individuals, but the team ethic that was so apparent in the world cup has gone. There are flashes of individual play (Januarie in Dunedin being the best example), but there is no continuity at present. They are not playing as a team, and in those circumstances, no game plan, no matter how good, will succeed.
Rugby is a simple game. the team that plays as a team will more often than not overcome that team that plays as individuals. Saturday showed that once again.
20 Aug 2008, 14:31 pm
#273 reality: you must be joking
20 Aug 2008, 14:35 pm
#272 palletoe: “I dont understand how some can say he is overrated.”
You don’t? So you think Schalk is the greatest Springbok of all time? Yes or no? If “no”, then you agree he’s overrated . . . because that’s what these chumps are calling him.
He’s good, but he’s not the greatest Springbok of all time . . . not by a long shot.
Regards
20 Aug 2008, 14:36 pm
Semi-final and final was great games and Schalk was good. But you want to tel me would have been better with JDV? Did you watch the games? Do you want to tell me Steyn wasn’t brilliant! Do you deny this? If the coaches left him there in the super 14, he would still be the greatest.
20 Aug 2008, 14:36 pm
#280 Rooinek07: ja, its a stretch.
20 Aug 2008, 14:37 pm
#279 palletoe: reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alchohol. (or in this case, a lack of logic)
20 Aug 2008, 14:39 pm
I am not joking pale toe! and yes peanut it is a team sport, thank you! So everyone goes on about these two – then it is not a team sport. Quit convenient! Schalk is good, but not the best and not even the best in SA. Everyone can choke and cry now!
20 Aug 2008, 14:40 pm
#278 stodders:
It is the coaches highly paid job to get them to play as a team.
It is the coaches highly paid job to get them to buy into the game plan.
What you have described above is exactly the kind of organized strategy that we do not have.
It is also ideal rugby based on sound structure which we do not have.
I cannot blame the players for that.
We have great players.
It starts with the coach.
20 Aug 2008, 14:40 pm
#265 tight head: Great post tighthead. I agree it is too much into the extreme – but the question is is it possible to add the attacking dimension to the Bokke style? I also agree, through observation, that the coach has neglected the MEANS with witch he will achieve his ideal. He is putting into play a new approach without, as you say, setting into motion the more ‘hidden’ engine that will drive it.
However I support his general idea. He is not trying to ‘fix’ SA test rugby, just revamp the means with which we score points. IE not simply feed of errors, and stay away from ‘defence wins’ mind-set.
What I do not support is his idea that this highly tactical and strategic approach is unintelligent rugby, or ‘robot’ rugby. My gut feel is one has to master this approach to a certain degree before doing what he is busy doing.
I think he realises this – why else would he field the team he did.
The coach id modifying his means to the style he wants as he goes along – that is what is causing confusion both on and off the field.
I do think that it is crucial to give him the benefit of the doubt for a year and see this period as a neccessary growing pain. This requires us to get behind our players and support them supporting the coach. It is difficult when seen in the light of ‘champs to chumps’, but if it means we can be TRUE rivals ( 50/50) to the AB’s for the next decade – lets look at the big picture.
20 Aug 2008, 14:41 pm
Peanut gallery is trrying to make fun of me now, because he has no facts of where these players is great. Leave the personal attacks and talk rugby!
20 Aug 2008, 14:42 pm
#280 Rooinek07: you didnt read my post.
“He has been one of the great the past few years. one “average” game and you want to trow him to the wolves?”
Does it say there that i said the he is the greatest??? Come on man.
20 Aug 2008, 14:42 pm
Peanut gallery – was Steyn not great in the World Cup ?
20 Aug 2008, 14:43 pm
some people have serious issues that really shouldn’t be dealt with in this setting.
20 Aug 2008, 14:44 pm
#289 reality: yes, he was absolutely, bloody marvelous.
20 Aug 2008, 14:45 pm
as a matter of fact, because he was so great, we won the world cup. there’s your logic, reality.
20 Aug 2008, 14:45 pm
Not issues, talking rugby. But some people are not big enough to have a professional disagreement. If everybody doesn’t think like peanut, then you must have problems?
20 Aug 2008, 14:45 pm
#289 reality: so where do you want steyn to play? in jean or burgers place? both? he was good, you are correct.
20 Aug 2008, 14:47 pm
#290 the peanut gallery:
This is how I work through my serious depression Peanut
And believe me, 19-0 at Newlands is worse than 49-0 in Brisbane
20 Aug 2008, 14:47 pm
#286 zeitgeist:
I hear you and understand.
There is one fatal flaw though.
You have to pay respect to posession and declare that as the most important base or building block right now.
Not lip service.
You have to see that as the great non negotiable.
You have to make that priority number 1, 2 and 3.
You have to employ whatever expertise is needed to make yourself the best in the world at posession.
Only then, can you even think about expansive rugby.
We do not seem to have this mindset and without it, you can forget it, nothing will work.
20 Aug 2008, 14:47 pm
He was great combining with other good and great players and that made us win. Other professional teams also have great players and you need every inch you can get.
20 Aug 2008, 14:49 pm
Paletoe Steyn at inside centre if they played him there the whole super 14. We weill have to bring him back slowly. And JDV at outside, but we can’t.
20 Aug 2008, 14:50 pm
#297 reality: what is your views regarding butch over the past 6/7 games?
20 Aug 2008, 14:51 pm
#288 palletoe: palletoe, I think it’s you who’s missing the point. You said you didn’t understand how it was possible for anyone to call Schalk overrated, right? That is what you said, isn’t it? Well then, read the lead article on this thread and you’ll see Schalk described as “arguably the greatest Springbok of all-time (sic)”.
Now I also rate Schalk as a great player but he’s a long way from being the best ever. Therefore, if people think he’s the greatest ever then he must surely be “overrated” in the strict meaning of the word. Are you following?
I read you post, palletoe. Do me the courtesy of reading mine and understanding it before you get all defensive. Nowhere am I saying that you specifically said he was the greatest of all time, but it was said and, if you don’t believe me then scroll up to the top and have a look for yourself. That is “overrated” and, if you agree he’s not the best ever then you actually agree that he’s being overrated . . . even if the penny hasn’t quite dropped yet.
Regards
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