Blending brains and brawn
12 May 2009
Heyneke Meyer believes a hybrid of tactical precision and mental strength will determine the victor when the Sharks meet the Bulls at King’s Park on Saturday.
Meyer coached the Bulls to the Super 14 championship in 2007 before narrowly missing selection for the Springboks coaching role in 2008. He then coached Premiership club Leicester Tigers before returning to South Africa to be with ailing family members. He is currently the CEO of Sports Max, a company that looks at the holistic development of elite athletes.
Meyer said he expected the game to be relatively conservative in nature and that it would be characterised by an emphasis on forward play and tactical kicking. He noted the Sharks’ prowess from broken field and stressed that the Bulls must starve their supply in this regard, or risk exposing themselves to dangerous counter-attacks.
‘I watched the Bulls play the Cheetahs [last Saturday] and knew that if they opened it up the Cheetahs would feed off their mistakes. That’s exactly what happened. They can’t afford to make the same errors against a very good side like the Sharks,’ Meyer told keo.co.za.
‘What they’ve done so far has made them successful. I’ve heard criticism of their percentage approach but they’re top of the log with a chance of hosting a semi-final. They must have been doing something right.
‘The Sharks are an accomplished unit who are very difficult to beat in Durban. In the 2007 final they pinned us in our half through the boots of Percy Montgomery, Ruan Pienaar and Frans Steyn. The Bulls can’t allow them to dictate the field position like that because once they get on a roll they’re very hard to stop.’
Meyer said the return from suspension of Rory Kockott would add a skilled tactical kicker to their arsenal and added that the Bulls’ capacity to match them in this facet of play would hinge heavily on the availability of Fourie du Preez. The incumbent Springbok No 9 injured his calf muscle a fortnight ago and is uncertain of being fit for the match.
‘Not taking anything away from Heini Adams and Francois Hougaard, who are good scrumhalves in their own right, it’ll be a massive boast if Fourie was available, especially considering the [tactical] pattern the game is likely to follow,’ Meyer said.
‘He is the best tactical kicking scrumhalf in world rugby, and if you review the Bulls’ season you’ll note that many of their tries have come from box kicks Fourie has put up. He can put the ball on a dime and weights it so perfectly that he gives his wingers enough time to contest the ball. This puts a massive amount of pressure on the opposition. He’ll be a key player if he is fit.’
Meyer did, however, explain that given how closely the teams are matched, technical and tactical superiority would not be the sole determinant of the winners. He said the ability to manage the pressure of the occasion and focus on the task at hand without being influenced by outside distractions – like qualification permutations – will be central to the success of either side.
In recent years the Bulls have often scrapped for a semi-final spot in the final stages of the tournament, the most notable of which came against the Reds in 2007, when they achieved the goal of having to beat the Queenslanders by a 72-point margin.
‘I won’t say it gives the Bulls an edge to have been in high pressure situations over the last couple of seasons, but they will know how to prepare and also have the benefit of knowing that they have beaten the Sharks at King’s Park in a high pressure match [the final in 2007],’ Meyer said.
‘But ultimately what happened before is fairly inconsequential. The Sharks will be determined to beat their great rivals irrespective of whether they are knocked out of the tournament by kick-off or not. You have to remember there is plenty of pride at stake, but more than that, the players will be wanting to make an impression on the Springbok selectors. That’s a huge motivating factor in itself.’
Meyer continued, saying it was imperative that the coaches of both sides have a clear idea of how they want to play and that they communicate that effectively to the players.
‘You have to control the controllables,’ he said. ‘Neither team can afford to wait until Saturday afternoon to decide how they should approach the match because of whatever scenarios the preceding games would have throw up.
‘They coaches should have a clear idea of how they want to play and that should have been drilled into the players from the Monday morning practice already. Players need clear messages so that they can prepare adequately. It’s crucial that both coaches detail exactly how they intend to play from the outset.
‘The Bulls must set themselves to win first and foremost, then focus on getting the bonus point,’ he added.
‘The Sharks will know what’s required by the time the match begins and they’ll probably need five points to book a place in the semis if other results go their way.
‘It’s set up to be one of the best South African derbies in years.’
By Ryan Vrede
791 Comments
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12 May 2009, 19:17 pm
#742 lukeisbaas: Jy is darem f@kken voor op die wa om almal wat Afrikaans is as rassist uit te skel, maar jy self is seker die grootste rasist vark op die site!! Jy kla oor een ou hier ‘n rasist aanmerking maak, maar meantime is jou f@ctup broers besig om te rape en moor soos hulle wil!! Jy en jou tipe wat dit onmoontlik maak om nie ‘n rassis in die land te wees nie.
En jy wat netnou so windgat is oor die Afrikaners niks meer oor het nie en moet buig voor die swartman, darem snaaks hoe so ‘n klein bietjie blanke Afrikaners die oormag swartes vir so lank kon onderdruk!! Was dit nie dat die meerderheid blanke Afrikaners verandering wou he nie sou jy nou nog gekripeer het.
Nee wat, skomgat, jy is die grootste rassis van almal, en dis jammer dat jy agter ‘n keybord skuil, sou gelike het om jou ‘n paar ordentlike boere klappe te gee.
12 May 2009, 19:17 pm
#744 lukeisbaas: i am afraid of no one Lukeisbaas. They are fully aware of my abhorrence for the lynch mob mentality that i saw…and for any form of racism or bullying tactics….we have not met and you do not know me or vice versa…i am asking you as a decent south african to stop this war mentality. I certainly would do the same if Piet , GBS or anyone had begun this posts this evening. There are people who are considering leaving this site because it has become so unpleasant.Again…you dont know me but i promise you 1 thing …the current leaders of this country do not want you to use public platforms to carry on like this…please stop Luke.
12 May 2009, 19:20 pm
#746 PapSak: #744 lukeisbaas: i rest my case…again another polarisation…what Luke have you accomplished now? More hatred?? Cmon man…you are an intelligent man…this is not the way forward.
12 May 2009, 19:27 pm
#748 grant10: an you just come and talk to me on the other thread. De Bruyn.
12 May 2009, 19:27 pm
#745 lukeisbaas: i would never have friends in any way associated with the KKK …
12 May 2009, 19:27 pm
#749 SodaJoe: ok
12 May 2009, 19:30 pm
#742 lukeisbaas:
in that case you will be reported as well,
are you the spokesman for the ANC pre-school league…its just thatI recognise your (lack of) prose…
here is a little beaut for you…
The league said it was “disgusted by remarks attributed to the racist girl Helen Zille, who when failing to defend her stupid and sexist decision to appoint predominantly white males into her Cabinet, attacks the president of the Republic of South Africa (sic)”.
“Zille has appointed an all male Cabinet of useless people, majority of whom are her boyfriends and concubines so that she can continue to sleep around with them, yet she claims to have the moral authority to question our president (sic).”
The Sowetan on Tuesday quoted Zille as saying: “Zuma is a self-confessed womaniser with deeply sexist views, who put all his wives at risk by having unprotected *** with an HIV-positive woman.”
Militant action
The remarks reportedly came in response to criticism from Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich on the composition of her provincial executive.
Zille is the only woman on the team.
The ANCYL threatened to take “militant action” against the premier. [nice!]
“If the fake racist girl Zille continues to speak hogwash like she has been doing during elections, we will take militant action against her, and demonstrate to her that she does not have monopoly over the Western Cape (sic),” it said.
“The fake racist girl who was dropped on her head as child should understand that South Africa will never be a Mickey-mouse republic like she wants to portray it (sic),” it added.
“An absolute majority of South Africans support President Jacob Zuma and will find it very disgusting for a fake racist apartheid agent to continue undermining the highest office in South Africa (sic).”
nice….
you are a pimple an the arse of humanity…
12 May 2009, 19:31 pm
#737 K9 the Lion: King of Beasts: Ag, hoe seer maak dit nou my ou blou hart !
Naand, al die mense, het ek iets gemis vandag ?
12 May 2009, 19:35 pm
#746 PapSak: you are nothing but scum you low-life.nice to make threats when you also sitting behind a nice keyboard.the last time an afrikaner piece of trailer trash uttered that same words to me in benoni while he was racially abusing a black woman from daveyton,his face got smashed in with the butt of my r5-rifle.i’m not afraid of any pink swine.
12 May 2009, 19:37 pm
#754 lukeisbaas: What a man!
12 May 2009, 19:37 pm
#754 lukeisbaas: come chat on the De Bruin site Luke…i am inviting you over as a friend…would appreciate your views…
12 May 2009, 19:40 pm
#756 grant10: want to spoil that site as well?
12 May 2009, 19:42 pm
#752 gunther: you to late gunther my boytjie.pietman already got the job of school master,showing everybody their grammar and spelling faults.we’ll keep you in mind if a vacancy comes up.
12 May 2009, 19:50 pm
I have a great democratic idea…
In the Poll section at the top of the page Roy could run a poll, who would we most want to see banned….
Heheheheheh
I wonder who would win, Mmmmmmm ???
12 May 2009, 19:54 pm
#759 carol: you don’t have a bnp meeting to attend to tonight?
12 May 2009, 19:54 pm
#758 lukeisbaas:
you have missed the point numbnuts…
12 May 2009, 19:57 pm
#761 gunther:
which is no surprise …. personally I blame our sub-standard education system..
12 May 2009, 20:00 pm
#761 gunther: the rest of your article doesn’t interest me as such.at the end of the day everybody will have to submit to the will of comrade zuma and the anc,even your beloved helen zille.
12 May 2009, 20:01 pm
#761 gunther: Wach out for a R5 rifle butt in yr guts. This hero makes Superman look like an infant.
12 May 2009, 20:05 pm
#762 gunther: gunther,gunther please don’t tell me that you are a rocket scientist!!
12 May 2009, 20:14 pm
#765 lukeisbaas:
no but you make me look like one….
#764 China:
I doubt very much he knows his way around an R5 rifle… I will be happy to show him how it works…
12 May 2009, 20:23 pm
#766 gunther: Have mercy on the poor oke. His biggest achievement in life was blikseming a pink piglet in Benoni – see poat 754. The poor innocent piggy had no match in this combined Tarzan/Zorro/Batman/Hulk/Spiderman/ wannabe.
12 May 2009, 20:33 pm
Eish but this site is going down, real gutter conversation taking place.
Is this symptomatic of a depressed world?
12 May 2009, 20:52 pm
#768 JL1: naaahh..not a depressed world. This site will never go down – much too popular for that. Thing is we must not allow it to be taken over by politics. It’s in Keo’s hands.
12 May 2009, 21:15 pm
#766 gunther: R5?? It struggles to trow stones man!
12 May 2009, 21:15 pm
#770 AB Bullsbok: throw that is
12 May 2009, 21:55 pm
#759 carol: I vote for you, heh, heh
12 May 2009, 22:15 pm
#760 lukeisbaas:
Only someone in ‘exile’ can know what the BNP is… Hi Shaun
12 May 2009, 22:16 pm
Mujati is joining the Northhampton Saints
13 May 2009, 00:25 am
shaun
grew up
knowing knives
and broken bottles
his tribe’s
traditional weapons
not
advanced honky equipment
like rifles
13 May 2009, 01:17 am
“The success of Keo.co.za over the last five years has been because of the trust put in each visitor and my refusal to institute draconian measures when it comes to those who comment on threads.
The behaviour of a handful is threatening this and I urge you to consider the many others who visit this site as a daily fix of rugger and general banter.
If the recent irrational, stupid and offensive comments persist I will be forced to restrict the manner of commentary. It is not something I believe in, so please all grow up and work together on this.
Racism, in any format, will not be tolerated.
KEO”
well then
keo
stop it
where it starts
with the cullerts
who insist
on bringing
very stupid
nasty and totally
uncalled for
politics
onto
the site
not
all of them
though
only hater
shaun
luke is
sometimes frans tor
and their cronies
i enjoy reading
the rest
of them
13 May 2009, 01:45 am
755. lukeisbaas :
May 12th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
#746 PapSak: you are nothing but scum you low-life.nice to make threats when you also sitting behind a nice keyboard.the last time an afrikaner piece of trailer trash uttered that same words to me in benoni while he was racially abusing a black woman from daveyton,his face got smashed in with the butt of my r5-rifle.i’m not afraid of any pink swine.
Yawn. As an ex cop and coming across chracters like this in the line of duty I found that a swift open handed slap across the head always had the desired result. No need to to use my R-5 at all.
13 May 2009, 02:13 am
154. Puma :
May 12th, 2009 at 10:51 am
#150 lilith: Anything racial should not be allowed here.
Lukeisbaas. What he said to me was a life threat. Saying a bullet was coming for me and then saying his comrades would sort out the farmers. Thats far, far more serious than calling people names.
I never even said much to him to even deserve that. Just asked him to stop going on that night as we were all speaking about the rugby.
Just remember you can be traced on a blog for life threats its very serious. People who think they cant are fooling themselves. Watch what you say here. He could be in very serious trouble. That is hate speech which could get you a jail sentence in this country.
Lukeisbaas is the product of the infamous ‘Julius Malema School For The Mentaly Challenged’. Jacob Zuma got his Matric there only last year.
13 May 2009, 04:15 am
#752 gunther:
Ludicrous… and this is the future of the ANC… ROTFLMAO… rhetoric and prose sounding decidedly like Hat(ed) and a few of her ‘comrades’… lol… as if Zuma gives a toss about the coloured community… love their use of the word…
13 May 2009, 08:31 am
“… his face got smashed in with the butt of my r5-rifle”
Wow. I thought people freely loiter around in public places, carrying heavy weaponry, only in Afghanistan and the places likes this.
Bazooka, anyone?
13 May 2009, 08:33 am
#776 Porra monitors Div the ANC puppet: Could you please write horizontally or – if you insist vertically – at least in rhymes?
Unnecessarily wasting lot of space.
13 May 2009, 08:52 am
#781 Nils:
d y m l t
o o e i h
u a k i
n e s
13 May 2009, 08:55 am
#782 Porra monitors Div the ANC puppet:
d y m l t
o o e i h
u a k i
n e s
13 May 2009, 08:57 am
#783 Porra monitors Div the ANC puppet:
i
give up
13 May 2009, 13:54 pm
#782 Porra monitors Div the ANC puppet: You could write it in Mandarin or Innuit with the same success – the same empty sounds for me.
13 May 2009, 15:47 pm
#785 Nils:
then
you better
sharpen up
on mandarin
and innuit
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