Kicking key to total rugby
2 Jun 2009
Let’s hope Peter de Villiers is playing mind games with Ian McGeechan. Let’s hope his dismissal of the kicking game as ‘only one area’ is something of a bluff.
Tactical kicking has always been important on the highveld. Ask the Bulls, who’ve built their entire Super 14 campaign on the kicking prowess of Fourie du Preez, Morne Steyn and Zane Kirchner.
The hallfback pair and fullback got the better of New Zealand opposition in both play-off matches which allowed the Bully Boys the freedom to play an exciting brand. No running from their own line, no risk-taking rugby. It was clinical and it was smart, and it showed how clinical and smart could lead to an exciting brand.
Tactical kicking is going to be so crucial in the coming Test series. McGeechan acknowledged it, his assistant coaches acknowledged it and the Lions’ players themselves have talked about the importance of kicking at altitude. On Monday, De Villiers undermined the lot of them when he said it’s ‘just one area of the game’.
No Peter. It’s not just one area of the game. It’s one of the most crucial areas of the game. And if you don’t believe Geech and co, speak to your own Super 14 coaches. All five of them have harped on about it since January.
Teams with good kickers at 9, 10 and 15 are often in the pound seats. The Boks are fortunate to have the best scrumhalf in the world in Fourie du Preez, and Ruan Pienaar, in form, is a capable kicker. Fullback remains the final piece of the puzzle, and this is where the Bok selectors need to be clever.
The omission of Zane Kirchner from the Test squad is inexplicable. He was the form South African fullback in the Super 14. He offered everything a coach could want. His positional play was good, his line kicking exemplary, his defence reliable and his attacking ability underrated. Including Kirchner, a specialist fullback, would of made sense.
But De Villiers has spoken about moving JP Pietersen to fullback, a position he hasn’t played since 2006. He’s spoken of moving Jaque Fourie back to 15, a position he hasn’t played since 2006. Why would you move a top-class winger and a top-class centre out of position just because you are short on first-choice options?
And that’s just the thing, the Boks aren’t short on options. Percy Montgomery may have retired and Conrad Jantjes may be out for the year with injury, but Kirchner should have been in the mix.
Frans Steyn could also be an option with his big boot, but that’s where the list should end. Leave Pienaar at flyhalf and don’t talk about him in fullback terms. Not when you have the quality of Kirchner and Steyn available. Morne Steyn should also not be forced to play a position he’s unaccustomed to. It’s completely unnecessary.
Earl Rose was better when he moved from fullback to flyhalf in last Friday’s match against a Namibian XV. At 15, he’s inconsistent and unreliable, two qualities atypical of a top-flight fullback. People talk about his perceived X-factor, but this does not compensate for his disregard for the basics.
The Bulls played total rugby this season. By total rugby, they embraced every dimension of the game. Their forwards were clinical and relentlessly belligerent, and their backs showed a remarkable ability to capitalise on this platform. Frans Ludeke’s backline varied their play cleverly and this is what made them so dangerous. The same was true of Heyneke Meyer’s backline in 2007.
Let’s hope this is what De Villiers really means by total rugby. The Bulls showed the way in the Super 14 just as the Sharks showed the way in the 2008 Currie Cup. The Boks were at their best against Australia and England last year when they embraced this approach. At Ellis Park, the conservative start resulted in a 53-8 win to the Boks. A similar approach resulted in a record victory over England at Twickenham.
Tactical kicking is paramount to success. The Boks are rightly favourites to whitewash the Lions, but it’s arrogance to assume they don’t need to earn those three wins. The 2008 victories at Ellis Park and Twickenham were systematic demolitions and that approach should be used as the blueprint for the coming series. Anything else would open the Boks up to the most embarrassing failure.
By Jon Cardinelli, in Johannesburg
486 Comments
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2 Jun 2009, 22:31 pm
#444 SodaJoe: A yellow would do, but frankly he’s capable of a red.
Setanta has broadcast the 1st Lions game about 4-5 times now. Tomorrow’s game is on at 1pm (12 noon your time).
I’ve already marked down fatty for the front row. But hey WTH he can live out the rest of his life on that try in Dunedin. Probably will never have to buy himself a drink for the rest of his life, except in Dunedin
2 Jun 2009, 22:31 pm
i’m not even worried about this fullback nonsense…pdv is just plying mind games with the mzantsi journos and they are lapping it up…
Sarah, on the 15th i’m going to a “pirates of the carribean” party as davey jones cos i wanna captain the flying ********! Lol…
2 Jun 2009, 22:32 pm
#445 SpringbokSarah: PDV – our secret weapon. We’ve been working on his selection as coach for at least 4-5 years
2 Jun 2009, 22:33 pm
#448 SodaJoe: She has no idea Soda LOL
2 Jun 2009, 22:35 pm
#449 SpringbokSarah: In Minnesota Sarah your lungs freeze when you open your mouth. Now that’s serious cold
2 Jun 2009, 22:45 pm
#449 SpringbokSarah: Jeez…how cold is CT tonight?? Winter is definitely here Bokkie!
2 Jun 2009, 22:47 pm
#454 Gabi: Williams complained about the heat on Saturday. Is there that much difference in temperatures between CT & up North?
2 Jun 2009, 22:50 pm
#451 JimT: Miss Alfaretta. Fokkoff.
We are going to run you ragged ……………………..please.
2 Jun 2009, 22:51 pm
#455 JimT: The difference is that CT gets its rain in Winter…i.e. it’s WET AND COLD….up North it’s very cold but DRY AND DUSTY.
2 Jun 2009, 22:51 pm
#453 JimT: No one in SA should EVER complain about the cold.
Do the tongue test Sarah.
then you will know if it’s cold or not.
2 Jun 2009, 22:54 pm
#458 SodaJoe: Cold is Cold…no matter where you are.
2 Jun 2009, 23:00 pm
#456 SodaJoe: Let PDV wreak his havoc. I rest my case. Bet you don’t sleep tonight now
2 Jun 2009, 23:01 pm
#459 Gabi: Ok there’s cold. Then there’s unbelievably fkg blood thinning cold. Also known as a Minnesota winter. Try -30C. Plus wind. Oi vey.
2 Jun 2009, 23:01 pm
#460 JimT: *******.
2 Jun 2009, 23:02 pm
#457 Gabi: Then how come Williams complained about the heat?
2 Jun 2009, 23:03 pm
#462 SodaJoe: LOL. It’s become a mind game now. We getting under the Saffa skins, sowing the seeds of doubt heh, heh
2 Jun 2009, 23:06 pm
#458 SodaJoe: Sarah, do NOT do the tongue test, Soda makes you lick a lampost!!
2 Jun 2009, 23:08 pm
#420 JimT: Lol….knew you would like it!
2 Jun 2009, 23:08 pm
#463 JimT: Because he needed something to complain about, seeing as they are going to need every excuse they can muster for why we gave them such an unprecedented hiding!
2 Jun 2009, 23:09 pm
#464 JimT: Miss Alfaretta. By the Friday before the First Test this place will be a frothing vomiting fighting pit of manic depressives.
Who will think the sun shines out of Piet Snor’s bum if we win.
Otherwise ……………… the horror, the horror ……
2 Jun 2009, 23:13 pm
#465 carol: What kind of test were you posing with your recent mail?
2 Jun 2009, 23:14 pm
#466 carol: It was very clever
2 Jun 2009, 23:16 pm
#468 SodaJoe: if the latter it will be a blood bath. Not sure I’m up to that, even if we win, hell hath no fury like a scorned Bok supporter
2 Jun 2009, 23:23 pm
#471 JimT: Honestly Jim. It is not worth contemplating.
This is like the RWC that comes around every 12 years. You do screw around with silly emotional decisions, you choose the best, then the next best to replace them. There’s no shortage of obvious tried and tested talent in SA.
Losing to the Lions has potential to be a serious problem for the sport in SA.
But we will win.
2 Jun 2009, 23:23 pm
#469 JimT: I thought it would sort the men from the boys!!
2 Jun 2009, 23:26 pm
#459 Gabi: Not really Gabi. I have only experienced the equivalent of -20C (taking wind chill into account) once. This is absolutely nothing like a cold windless highveld night at 2 degrees C. Your voice freezes and you have to put your speech bubbles in a pot to thaw them out before you can hear what you were saying.
2 Jun 2009, 23:26 pm
#472 SodaJoe: You had your fingers crossed when you said that
2 Jun 2009, 23:28 pm
#468 SodaJoe: Wailing and gnashing of teeth……imagine this place if they lost 2 – 3 tests.
Keo would have to employ a resident ‘psychiatrist’!! Lol
2 Jun 2009, 23:28 pm
#473 carol: You can say that again. Not sure I have the physical capacity. One false move & one could be suffocated. LOL
2 Jun 2009, 23:31 pm
#476 carol: I think KEO would explode first. Better get out of country first Carol, before the proverbial kak hits the fan
Of course we are talking this up to make ourselves feel better. In reality ……
2 Jun 2009, 23:33 pm
#477 JimT: If Soda let us have his mail addresss he too could enjoy this ‘spectacle’!!
Time for Bed and Jim it is up to you and I to shout for
BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS GO AND GET THOSE ‘GOLDEN KITTENS’…
2 Jun 2009, 23:36 pm
#479 carol: NO YOU CAN’T DO THAT. It amounts to enhanced interrogation techniques, heh, heh. Although you never know, some men like that
2 Jun 2009, 23:38 pm
#474 SjamBok: Yup. Welcome to my world.
#480 JimT: I am willing to be tied up, if that’s what it takes.
2 Jun 2009, 23:41 pm
I am pretty sure that PdV means total rugby as in TOTAL RUGBY. Really, how else can he mean it?
If you read the Book of Five Rings (written by an undefeated Samurai warrior in the 1500′s) it sets out a policy of using all your strengths and all the oppositions weaknesses, and dominating them physically and mentally, using all the factors in play to your advantage, not just kicking. If and where it is required, use a kick, but use it because it is the best input for a particular situation, not just because “kicking is important”. The Bulls have shown that kicking is important in a particular context – when you are in your own half, with lots of time left, and you want to turn their forwards around, or kill their morale after a long period of attack. Or give your forwards a rest. The physical and the mental aspects must be taken into account.
Steyn tried to kick a drop kick at the end of a first half, with one of the opposition’s men off for 8 minutes, after a period where for a long time the Sharks had no possession, but their defence held. That was a stupid decision physically and mentally because of
a) the timing of the score: a score before half time sends them into the changeroooms with their tail up, and kills opposition morale
b)the likelihood of success of a try: the Sharks had a better probablility of scoring with one defender off the field
c)the likelihood of another chance of having possession in that area: the Sharks were struggling for possession, and were likely to struggle again after half time, so possession must not be squandered, especially in a good position. Squandering possession kills a forward’s morale, because they have to work so hard for it.
d) the mentality of domination: if the Sharks scored quickly after absorbing pressure for a long time while keeping the other team scoreless, it makes it seem like they can cut the opposition at will, further killing morale.
All these things must be taken into account. Not just to kick “becuase its good on the highveld”.
2 Jun 2009, 23:43 pm
#481 SodaJoe: Not with these pictures my friend. BE AFRAID !!
See y’all on the other side of the hill.
2 Jun 2009, 23:46 pm
#483 JimT: Bye Jim.
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