Keo.co.za tour diary: Week 2
7 Jun 2009
Peter de Villiers on why the Springbok job is the ‘easiest in the world’, what Shaun Edwards does with his bananas, and why you can’t get a draught in Bloem.
The week started like any other on tour with De Villiers the topic of discussion. De Villiers called in the editors of South Africa’s newspapers and told them that being Bok coach ‘is the easiest job in the world’ (obviously forgetting how ’easy’ it was during last year’s Tri-Nations when the Boks claimed the wooden spoon). This arrogant exclamation was due to the ’lack of knowledge of the local journalists and their inability to ask him technical questions’. He also griped about the hype around Ian McGeechan – can anyone say ‘insecure’?
PdV is not acknowledged as a straight shooter at press conferences and his explanation for some of his selections has been laughable – Ruan Pienaar is apparently the Tiger Woods of rugby after all. But a personal favourite, showcasing his ability to answer those apparently absent ’technical questions’, is a beaut. This one, in the latest edition of SA Rugby magazine on John Smit’s minimal game-time at tighthead is yet another Peter de Villiers pearler: ‘I expected to be greeted by sunshine when I woke up this morning and I got my clothes but it was overcast. I don’t worry about how it’s going to be, what’s important is how I react to what happens. I just put those clothes back and changed. That’s life.’ His technical summary of the tighthead problem is another reason for the Bok faithful to be concerned.
Onto more important matters, by Tuesday keo.co.za were into their eighth day at altitude, and as the experts say, we were fully acclimatised and only getting stronger. At a quiz evening hosted at the World of Beer in celebration of David O’Sullivan and Kevin McCallum’s new book, Cardinelli, Ball and the ‘Cape Doctors’ secured victory with a whopping 37 points. The young keo.co.za pair were ably assisted by veteran journos Gavin Rich and Craig Ray, as well as Leigh Weir-Smith.
Even though the Golden Lions live at altitude, they seem to grow worse as time progresses with their embarrassing defeat on Wednesday a case in point. The one positive of this game is it allowed the touring Lions to let their hair down, with some of their celebrations at the team hotel interesting to say the least. Joe Worsley showed his softer side as he tapped away on the hotel piano, playing all his favourite Robbie Williams tracks. Meanwhile, defence coach Shaun Edwards disappeared into the bathroom with two bananas and a cigar. The less investigated about that the better.
On Thursday, the Hyundai Atos (which was quickly dubbed ‘The Clown Car’) made record speed in a south-westerly direction. Once in Bloem, we hit every local dive from the Mystic Boer to the Wild Boar Saloon. The latter was a disappointment as they stopped serving before 2am, but our self-proclaimed guide Danie (who seemed as though he had just escaped from the local penitentiary) offered to escort us to West End. We politely declined.
Friday witnessed another first as we couldn’t get any draught beer because all the taps were frozen. The chilly conditions hadn’t perturbed the touring fans, however, as they got down to some tanning alongside the hotel pool earlier in the day. Yet another awesome sight of the pasty Poms in action.
Saturday saw Heinrich Brussow stealing the limelight on the pitch, but off it the travelling fraternity were in full cry with R12.50 double brandy and Cokes on sale at Barbra’s on Bloem’s famed Second Avenue. The Welsh ’ladies’ can drink more than most, while former England flyhalf Stuart Barnes knocked Rich off the pedestal to claim the mantle of best dancer on tour. The diminutive Pom produced a total body workout, giving Shakira and Wycliff Jean’s ‘Hips don’t lie’ new meaning.
All in all the British & Irish are good value. Their claims that the team is gelling like never before are no smokescreen. Players from different countries such as Ronan O’Gara and Andy Powell could be seen walking together around the team hotel, with no qualms about inter-country rivalry. This unity should make them a more than competitive unit come the Tests.
The potentially Bulls-dominated Boks are still favourites, however, with even Adolf Hitler at a loss to counter the marvel of their Super 14 triumph (to watch, click here). McGeechan remains a more composed individual than the Nazi dictator, and after two weeks on tour, it’s clear he will be the Boks’ major threat.
By Grant Ball, in Bloemfontein
33 Comments
7 Jun 2009, 11:37 am
Farm animals are they DRAGONS?
7 Jun 2009, 11:39 am
Easy Dragons
7 Jun 2009, 11:51 am
“McGeechan remains a more composed individual than the Nazi dictator”
ROTFLMAO
What a good video to watch he spoke so so eloquantly about Spies, Habana, Mesisekind and Steyn.
7 Jun 2009, 11:58 am
and that *** video that he made with the coach who is just way too easy – priceless.
7 Jun 2009, 12:05 pm
PDeVilliers is such an imbecile. I’m 100% sure nobody in the squad takes him seriously, thank God thay put two competent coaches with him but he certainly shouldn’t get any credit for what the boks do because I’m sure nobody listens to him. The guy hasn’t even coached at S14 level and when he speaks he sounds he churns out nonsense as if he was on drugs, what a disgrace to South Africa having this idiot in charge of our best brand.
7 Jun 2009, 12:36 pm
Sounds like comical Ali!
7 Jun 2009, 13:41 pm
#5 Pirlet BEL: If anyone is playing the ‘Smoke n Mirror’ game it is PDV. I have never read coach quotes like his, a mixture of metaphors… I’m always left scratching my head. He goes to great lengths to befuddle the simplest of questions with a marathon of philosophy. It wouldn’t be the first time that bull$hit has baffled brains.
7 Jun 2009, 14:44 pm
Peter De Villiers is going to ruin us all with his Clouseau-esque buffoonery
7 Jun 2009, 15:03 pm
We will beat the Lions. The sad thing is, we will beat them despite Earl Rose being in the team.
Then Snor will loudly proclaim his correctness in picking Earl. Problem is, without Earl (and without Snor), we would have beaten them even further. On paper, this is the best Bok squad ever – excepting Rose and a few other kwota inclusions. Even Snor and Rose can’t reduce this team to the point where they’ll lose to these Lions.
7 Jun 2009, 15:07 pm
“lack of knowledge of the local journalists and their inability to ask him technical questions”
LMAO, ah yes, the wee legend has begun his conjuring…
7 Jun 2009, 15:11 pm
#8 AndrewBK:
Closseau always solved the case tho.
he could be the best ever!
7 Jun 2009, 15:24 pm
#7 RugbyRulz:
7 Jun 2009, 18:42 pm
#9 Tacitus thinks the Bulls made certain “experts” look silly this season: Sour grapes?
Peter de Villiers’s (not Snor) season last year was far better than most of Jakes previous ones. 3 out of 3 overseas, a win in New Zealand and everygame could have gone our way, granted it wasn’t ideal but if you think just because we won the World Cup we are better than New Zealand then perhaps I should stop replying to your posts which always rile me.
Besides uttering the biggest load of bull I have ever heard, he has made some great selections which many cried about (you still cry about) like Adi and the Beast. I really think you need to get over Heyneke not getting the job man almost two years ago now.
So what if he picked Earl? Is he not allowed to pick one player you might not rate?, and yes Taci there are many people who rate him just not the crowd on this site and we can guess the reason for that can’t we?
This vendetta against PdV is quite ugly actually, using animosity to blast him for everything he does and then of course never praise him when he achieves. If we beat the Lions 3-0 then well done to him because we didn’t do it last time.
7 Jun 2009, 18:47 pm
#13 Bagel:
JW inherited a horror show
PdV inherited a champion team that should have won the Tri-nations last year
7 Jun 2009, 19:38 pm
Federer, the greatest !!! rugby aside ! for today
7 Jun 2009, 20:38 pm
#13 Bagel: Not just this site. Just about everyone in SA thinks Rose was a poor selection. It’s not a race issue either, because most would put Jantjes or Kirchner in the squad. It’s simply a case of watching this guy week in and week out. He is not even close to Bok material. Which is a pity, because a few years ago he was easily the best player in the Craven week, when he set the Province backline alight whenever he touched the ball. But this is 2009 and he’s been left behind by several of his peers. Div has no business picking him.
7 Jun 2009, 21:31 pm
#13 Bagel: you are talking rubbish. stop playing the “race” card; many white players were selected in the past where this “crowd” protested their inclusion. as far as snorre, aka helium, goes, he hasn’t proved anything. we finished dead last in the tri-nations, less than a year after winning the world cup.
7 Jun 2009, 21:46 pm
Why so aggressive? It is his opinion, give your opinion and let it be.
7 Jun 2009, 22:24 pm
if rose was white, he would’ve been called a talented rugby player.
if springboks win than assistant coaches get all the glory, if they lose than snor is to blame
snor talks shitt all the time, to take him seriously shows how stupid some of you are.
7 Jun 2009, 22:28 pm
#19 wilfred: If Rose was white he’d be playing for Hamiltons.
7 Jun 2009, 22:38 pm
#20 katman. rose won’t be in match22
adi jacobs had to play well for months before he was recognize as a decent player
7 Jun 2009, 22:47 pm
#19 wilfred: he is a talented rugby player- he does have game breaking ability – BUT he also has brain explosions that are potentially game losing. Nobody is saying he does not have something extremely special about his play. we are just saying he also has something extremely stupid about his play. And on average, that is not good enough.
I do believe that Snor has decided to treat the journos like idiots because they treat him like idiots. And not to tell them anything newsworthy because they are just looking for poitnts to criticise him on. so if he gives them sound bytes which they cannot make head or tail of, then they cannot critices him for it. At the begginning of his tenure he talked about expansive rugby, and he got nailed for it. Then when the game changed, he got nailed for that. The truth is he cannot win. That is a fact that we all know in SA abou our rugby journos. Worse than tabloid writers- especially the Afrikaans guys.
So he is not trying to beat the journos anymore. Besides its not his job, and if SARU is not happy with him slinging stupid soundbytes the way of the journos, and making SARU look stupid, themn they had better provide him with a decent media man.
7 Jun 2009, 22:47 pm
#21 wilfred: I hope you’re right. If Adi starts, Fourie should be on the bench and vice versa.
7 Jun 2009, 22:48 pm
#22 SjamBok: jeez I should have spell checked that….
8 Jun 2009, 02:32 am
#13 Bagel:
You seem to have forgotten last years 3N was the best year for SA to win it.NZ with players retiring and leaving to go overseas we were missing so many players in that 3N last year we were looking at fighting OZ for the Wooden spoon.A few games were close but NZ beat the Boks at SA easily in one game,wasnt it 19-0 or something.When was the last time SA scored nno points at home??
And in Dunedin,it was just about game over before a bit of individual brilliance from cant remember who it was,took the game away from NZ.At the moment if you cant see why people dont believe PDV is right for the job,then you are blind to it.
8 Jun 2009, 06:38 am
‘I expected to be greeted by sunshine when I woke up this morning and I got my clothes but it was overcast. I don’t worry about how it’s going to be, what’s important is how I react to what happens. I just put those clothes back and changed. That’s life.’
Bagel, you are a bit dof are you not. You are staring to follow Langenhoven and his twats in your thinking.Who said this?
” Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere a battle is fought.The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus to do many calculations lead to victory and few to defeat; how much more no calculations at all! It is by attantion to this point that I can forsee who is likely to win.” Sun Tzu Art of War.
Go read it, it might help you in life. PdV should also read it. He sounds like he reacts to all situations. The talent in the squad will only carry him so long.
8 Jun 2009, 07:09 am
#19 wilfred: i thought rose was white. jacobs is also white, isn’t he?
8 Jun 2009, 08:23 am
#17 JM: true we did finish last in 3N last year but then again we finished dead last, a month before the WC and the year before the WC… I fail to see what finishing last in 3N proves as far as coaching ability goes because “We’ve been having it”… all those years before!
8 Jun 2009, 10:55 am
#28 theOracle:
And i dont see how a coach that comes last in 2 tri nations then wins a RWC against teams that arent in the top 5 teams in the world gets called the Messiah.
Who knows how it works
8 Jun 2009, 11:41 am
That Hitler reaction to the Bulls victory had me in stitches! The chirp about Spies was classic!
8 Jun 2009, 13:54 pm
Saffas should stick to the travel excuse. Its the only one that explains all the losses in TN so far. The PdV (structure)one last year was way to easy and it does not explain why the boks have won only 2/13 titles over the years ( NZ = 9).
Its arrogant to conclude that just because you have won the WC you should automatically be the favourite to win the TN.In TN it does not work that way, its not a knockout comp like the WC where a team like Ireland also have a fair chance to win it on a good day and with a little bit of luck.
In order for a team to win the TN, it should beat the other two teams on their home ground and therein lies the difference.
8 Jun 2009, 14:03 pm
LMGA!!!!
click here
8 Jun 2009, 14:05 pm
#30 Yetirat: yeah, think my six-pack is back…
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