Heyneke pushes Tigers to the max
5 Sep 2008
Tom Varndell says Heyneke Meyer pushed Leicester to the limit during a gruelling pre-season schedule.
Varndell, the Premierships leading try-scorer last season, believes the Tigers are fitter than ever and are raring to go ahead of Sunday’s opening clash against Gloucester.
“Heyneke has worked us hard. He has worked us until breaking point,” Varndell told the Leicester Mercury.
“He kept saying ‘I can’t break you boys’. But there were points where I felt close to breaking. However, I have enjoyed myself. It has been mentally tough, as well as physically demanding, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. It has been one of the hardest pre-seasons I have done, and we have had some hard fitness coaches in the past.”
“But everyone is still smiling and looking forward to hitting the ground running at Gloucester. Physically, I feel ready to take on the marathon that is the Premiership.
“We won’t lose games because we are not fit enough. That is not going to be an excuse. Everyone is fitter than they have ever been. The team is looking good.”
Meyer replaces Marcelo Loffreda who was sacked after just seven months in charge and has made an immediate impact in his short time in England. Varndell believes the club made the right decision appointing the South African.
“Heyneke is brilliant,” said Varndell. “He is a breath of fresh air and has a really positive attitude. He loves his rugby and it’s fantastic to have him around. He encourages all the players and the players want to play for him. There is a really good atmosphere.
“He is completely different to Marcelo. I’m not saying that Marcelo was bad, I didn’t have a problem with him, but Heyneke is fantastic to have around. The whole atmosphere of the club is very different and everyone is a lot more positive.”
213 Comments
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5 Sep 2008, 13:41 pm
Dragons
5 Sep 2008, 13:41 pm
Nothing personal, but 2nd for the day…
5 Sep 2008, 13:51 pm
They have a great coach thats all I can say. See them doing well in the season. SA loss their gain.
5 Sep 2008, 13:52 pm
Heyneke should not push the English boys too hard. They don’t have the sun and mieliepap to build up energy.
5 Sep 2008, 13:53 pm
1. Castrogiovanni
2. Chuter
3. White
4. Correy
5. Kaye
6. Moody
7. Croft
8. Newby
9. Ellis
10. Flood
11. Tuialigi
12. Mauger
13. Hipkiss
14. Varndell
15. Murphy
Can see why Heyneke wants to coach this side.
5 Sep 2008, 13:55 pm
#5 puff: Where’s Liefling?
5 Sep 2008, 14:01 pm
#6 It is just a game: Shoulder injury
#4 It is just a game: whats mieliepap?
5 Sep 2008, 14:04 pm
#5 puff: By next year he will have a lot of SA players there. Just watch. He is going to build that side to the best with our players.
5 Sep 2008, 14:05 pm
#7 Big Hit: Porridge.
5 Sep 2008, 14:09 pm
#9 hater: oh, we have bacon and eggs
5 Sep 2008, 14:10 pm
#8 Puma: might not win this weekend tho, lot of players out
5 Sep 2008, 14:12 pm
#11 Big Hit: Yeah its a shame but just watch Meyer build that team to the best. Just give him anothe year. He is a great coach. No doubt he will be looking here for some players that rate and respect him too.
5 Sep 2008, 14:12 pm
Big Hit
Maize meal – carbo load extreme.
Yes, Hougaard’s injured but should be in the mix soon. It will be interested to see who Meyer chooses as his first-choice flyhalf. It’s no secret that Liefling is his darling, but Flood is also showing a lot of promise. I doubt Meyer would put Hougie at 10 and move Flood out to 12, because Mauger is defs a player I think Heyneke rates highly. His kind of 12.
Flood on the bench to cover 10 and 12?
5 Sep 2008, 14:13 pm
Hyneke is the perfect coach for NH style of rugby. I wouldn’t be overly surprised if he is a coach at the next WC, probably for one of the UK sides.
5 Sep 2008, 14:14 pm
#11 Big Hit: Anyway Big Hit the biggest game for me this weekend is in the CC Bulls against Sharks. Just hope our Sharks can match those Bulls. It should be a cracker. We also have Bismarck on the bench and John is still out injured.
5 Sep 2008, 14:15 pm
#13 puff: Who knows. I would drop Mauger and play Flood at 12 if he’s intent on picking Hougaard at 10, especially given Mauger’s awful form last season. Not sure why he made him captain tbh.
5 Sep 2008, 14:16 pm
Saracens and Leicester already have a good few SA players:
Saracens: Visagie, Van Heerden, De Kock, Barrit, Russell
Tigers: Hougaard, Wentzel
The new Aussie rule whereby their S14 sides can sign 2 foreign players – one capped international and one developing player – will also make things interesting.
5 Sep 2008, 14:17 pm
Big Hit
did you see my post about Russell on the other thread?
5 Sep 2008, 14:17 pm
#13 puff: Dan Carter, Johnny Wilkinson, Freddy Michalack and Mat Giteau can all be in his stable, he will still start with Hougaard. For ever.
That is the one vice he has IMO, his ridiculous obsession with Liefling.
5 Sep 2008, 14:19 pm
#15 Puma: I think Sharks will win, more naturally attacking side
5 Sep 2008, 14:21 pm
#18 puff: no I didn’t, which thread? Russell is out for Sarries first game I hear.
#19 Kerneels: I didn’t think he rated him THAT highly
5 Sep 2008, 14:21 pm
I think they made a fantastic choice by appointing Heyneke Meyer.
Meyer is a team man and will not repeat the mistakes he made whe he started out with the Bulls. He will continue to learn but his recipe will be a refined one to start off with.
It’s a pity that he is not involved with the Boks. It was really 50-50 and with the current political order, it went PdV’s way. He must now make the most of his opportunity.
No doubt that if the Nats were in power, they would not even have considered PdV, so dont try and tell me naively politics should not play a role. The Nats treated the blacks of this country literally like sh*t yet people expect EXTRAORDINARY FAIRNESS from the ANC. At times the “innocent” has to pay a price later, like perhaps Heyneke.
Meyer is a values based coach and the players will take to him.
I personally wish him all the success in Europe! And PdV will not be the Bok coach for the rest of his life, Meyer can come back later and coach them.
But there is also another man here in SA, that will be in there with a chance.
Rassie Erasmus.
5 Sep 2008, 14:21 pm
Kerneels
Agreed. It’s the one aspect that makes me relieved he’s not Bok coach. Hougaard would be our #1 flyhalf for the next four years. Our backs would never see the ball.
5 Sep 2008, 14:23 pm
#22 Sheriff:
Agreed about Rassie – IMO I would like to go coach overseas a bit in order to broaden his horizons.
Watch HM – he’ll be back in a few years, probably after 2011 RWC. IMO, I think that we will be awesome then.
5 Sep 2008, 14:24 pm
#24 SyKoPlaya:
Sorry – Rassie overseas, not me (LOL)
5 Sep 2008, 14:25 pm
#23 puff: I agree 100%.
5 Sep 2008, 14:25 pm
Big Hit
My (hopeful) prediction:
With Pienaar and Steyn looking to specialise at 9 and 10 respectively, and with Percy retiring, there is no real back-up for Jantjes at 15 moving forward. I don’t rate Kirchner as world class and Rose is too erratic with a lot yet to prove.
Surely Russell should be brought back into the Bok fold. I think it would make a fantastic comeback story ala Montgomery. The Pocket Rocket is older and wiser, has experience playing on wet plodding norther fields and has been specialising in the 15 jersey at sarries for a while now, so he’s no longer the proverbial jack of all trades and master of none.
I reckon Russell still has a point to prove when it comes to the Boks. Would dig to see him in the green and gold 15 or 22 jersey again.
5 Sep 2008, 14:26 pm
Bye Guys – have a good one, and may the best teams win ………….
5 Sep 2008, 14:27 pm
9. Du Preez, January, Pienaar
10. Steyn, Grant (both can cover 12)
11. Habana, Nokwe
12. De Villiers (potential captain post 2009)
13. Fourie, Jacobs
14. Pieterson, Odwa
15. Jantjes. Pocket Rocket
Looks great to me!
5 Sep 2008, 14:28 pm
#22 Sheriff: I support Free State – so call it sour grapes but Rassie has dissapointed me. I’ve always been saying – more so with our player outflow – that when its your job – money is important.
So ja Rassie maybe went to WP for the money and greater player budget but he now finds himself in a driector of rugby roll yet his not really paid his dues as a coach.
He had a cc in his 1st season and a draw in his second. He had a really bad S14 season with the FS and in all fairness an average S14 season with Stormers. It just appears to me that he wants all the shine that comes with the coaching job but the hard work is behond him?
I don’t know – lets call it sour grapes.
5 Sep 2008, 14:31 pm
adj nm
This year, the Stormers were the most exciting Super 14 team, and I expect great things from them in next year’s comp. Rassie is Stormers coach. He is only overseeing Coetzee re WP.
Sour grapes? Me thinks you are right.
5 Sep 2008, 14:31 pm
#24 SyKoPlaya:
Mate, Rassie has impressed me with his willingness to try new things.
Remember the disco lights? Crazy, but effective. A blend of structured play and high innovation is the way forward. Players must be equipped with skill to do whatever they need to do on the day.
It will be good for him to familiarise himself with conditions there, but I guess our local competitions (CC, S14 and 3N) are on par if not better than the rest.
Look Rassie is a smart guy. He had the chance to be tech advisor to Jake during the RWC but knew that afterwards he may well have been stranded. So he opted for the Stormers role ie deferred gratification. He wants to be Bok Head Coach in the long run and knew he had to decline the Boks tech role in the short run …
5 Sep 2008, 14:33 pm
#31 puff: Exciting doesn’t fill up the thropy cabinet and the WP throphy cabinet is testament to that.
And something tells me your easily excited.
5 Sep 2008, 14:36 pm
#30 adj nm:
Well you wont lose Brussow – he signed till 2010
5 Sep 2008, 14:37 pm
#27 puff: I too would love to see our pocket rocket again in the green jersey. Such a great player. Another one that just got away to NH without getting enough game in just one postions. Who knows PdV may just be watching!!! but I doubt it.
5 Sep 2008, 14:38 pm
#34 PissAnt: Yeah I’m on that! But thanks anyway – great relief.
5 Sep 2008, 14:38 pm
Yes, I guess I am.
When I see the likes of Brussouw, Ebershon and Wilton Peterson, I get really excited too.
Do you know what Naka’s plan is when it comes to lock depth for next year?
He’s brought back Breedt who is more of a converted loosie. De Villiers and Flip show a lot of promise, but not too much experience?
Any solutions on the horizon to bolster the Cheetahs’ second row?
5 Sep 2008, 14:42 pm
#19 Kerneels: That was very funny.
5 Sep 2008, 14:42 pm
#37 puff: I heard that his been in contact with Bula du Plooy. Think his stint in france is over and he might have a hail mary SA season with the team where he started. BUT nothing final.
Apart from that I agree we’re thin in that area his brought Nico in but he needs another young player. Pitty we lost Wouter Moore – he went to the sharks and now the bulls but his on loan to the valke.
5 Sep 2008, 14:45 pm
#30 adj nm:
No mate, not quite.
Look I dont know Rassie personally, but obviously base my opinions on many things. Interviews (love those post-match interviews) articles etc.
But career wise, I guess he had to leave the Cheetahs sooner or later. Surely he cannot be expected to retire there. As a player I think he was very loyal to them. But he needed exposure and the resources in a bigger environment.
I disagree with you. The 2008 Stormers brought me as fan lots of joy! It was sort of the “beginning of nice things” as he put it himself.
And think about it this way, when he left it opened the way for Naka to take over who himself, did not do badly. So in the big scheme of things, not bad.
5 Sep 2008, 14:46 pm
adj nm
It would be cool if Cheetahs could lure Van Schouwenberg down to Bloem. With Bakkies, Matfield, Pakslae, Steenkamp, Kruger, Moore and Mabeta at the Bulls, competition is fierce in the 2nd row.
5 Sep 2008, 14:47 pm
There is no denying HMs credentials but we must not forget the following:
It took him 5 years to get it right (win S14). The caveats are that the officials missed a blatant offence by the Bulls on the ground to get the ball otherwise Sharks would have won. If ABs were not rested we would not have won the competition (my genuine belief). The boundaries between success and failure is thus so close. Hacing said this HM would have been the best guy to coach the forwards
5 Sep 2008, 14:49 pm
#40 Sheriff: #37 puff: You boys are starting the ‘watch us next year’ WP speech a bit early this year…usually you wait untill you are out of the CC before telling us how great next season is going to be!
5 Sep 2008, 14:51 pm
43
heh
5 Sep 2008, 14:51 pm
#40 Sheriff: But his won the cc in FS with no names. And his left no names at WP to AC who has led them no where. Why can you not coach the cc team and the S14 team?
Ja he had a oraait S14. The best side in the latter parts of the competition. And no momentum has been taken through to the cc.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not dishing his coaching ability – I’ll be a hypocrite if I do that. All I’m saying is it just appears to me that his now all of a sudden become to good for cc rugby?
5 Sep 2008, 14:56 pm
No momentum because Brits, Mujati, Bekker, Watson, Burger, January, Grant, De Villiers, Bobo, Chavhanga and Jantjes were all with the Boks at one time or another. That’s virtually the entire S14 team.
5 Sep 2008, 14:57 pm
#41 puff: You actually got me thinking. Isn’t it funny how a region always preduces certain positions on a continious basis?
FS has done more than its part in the front row and loose forwards for the springboks.
At nine there were Smiley Swanepoel and Michael Claassens of late.
Fly half we had de Beer and I’ll claim Honiball if you don’t mind
Centres Brendan Venter, Muller brothers.
Full Back Jouba is ours because he made his debut when still at FS.
Lock – ? Braam Els in the mid week team – No other locks?
Very funny?
Van Schouwenberg yes that will be GREAT!
5 Sep 2008, 14:59 pm
#46 puff: Yes thats the players side – but the coach forms part of the momentum as well?
He won something like 6 games in the S14 on the trot right?
Come cc you lose all that players to the springboks and just to make thing even more difficult you throw in a new coach as well?
5 Sep 2008, 15:06 pm
#44 puff: Kidding.
#47 adj nm: Wasn’t Hanibol from somewhere in Northern Natal? Vryheid or something?
5 Sep 2008, 15:08 pm
#45 adj nm:
You will recall that Allister Coetzee, as part of a triumphant Bok team, returned and I think unions were looking at him as one of the better “black” coaches.
So I think on that basis he (AC) agreed to assist the Stormers (with his wealth of exp) and then to build up gradually starting as WP Head Coach.
Jake and Allister share a passion. Marketing. Just look how Jake is asking for his appointment as Director of Coaching via the media and his blog.
Look in fairness Allister did not have the players that Rassie had at his disposal but the WP lacked imagination and fire under AC. So let’s see how he goes with his Boks back…
I think there is pressure to transform (maybe even fin incentives for provinces?) so they need to bring these sort of coaches through the ranks.
But to my mind, if Rassie had things his way he will run with both.
That’s my (observer’s) point of view.
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