Boks chase final piece in puzzle
12 Jun 2009
Bakkies Botha says beating the British & Irish Lions would banish a sense of incompleteness the Springboks feel.
Botha is one of a number Springboks who have won the Tri-Nations and World Cup, but, he says, there was a nagging feeling within the squad that there is more to be achieved, with a series win over the Lions the obvious missing piece in the puzzle.
After the triumph in Paris in 2007, a number of senior Springboks, including Victor Matfield and John Smit, who spent a season at Toulon and Clermont respectively, sought a different challenge with various European clubs.
Incoming coach Peter de Villiers made it clear from the outset of his tenure in 2008 that he would favour locally based players when selecting his Springbok squads, leaving Matfield and Smit, amongst others, in a quandary.
De Villiers’s personal appeal to those players on a trip to France convinced them to return, but Botha says the appeal of beating the Lions, and in so doing completing an international sweep that only a select group of players can boast, was central to their decision to return.
‘We’ve achieved a lot as a group and some players have had a lot of success with their provinces, but the Lions will be the cherry on top of the cake,’ he said.
‘After the World Cup the players already started speaking about the Lions series. Maybe some of them underestimated how much it would mean, but they soon realised how massive it would be to play in and possibly win a series against the Lions. Not many players have won a Tri-Nations, World Cup and a Lions series. We can’t settle for winning the World Cup. We want to join that elite group.
‘The Lions only come around once every 12 years. This is the last time most of us will play against them. It’s a massive opportunity for us, and one that we know we can’t waste.’
Matfield and Smith have both conceded that being involved in the Lions series was a major factor in their decision to return to South Africa.
Speaking specifically about the duo, Botha said, ‘If you look deeper into their return, it was a major life decision.
‘Their lifestyles would have been a lot different if they decided to stay in France. But that’s how big the Lions are because they were willing to give that up to be part of a Springbok squad to face the Lions. That, and the fact that there is such a special bond in this team. We’ve been together for so long we’ve become like family. Being part of that family is something you can’t replace.’
Botha was an attentive member of the Springbok squad who were addressed by a large number of their unsuccessful countrymen from 1997 on Tuesday. De Villiers hoped the group, who lost the series 2-1 to the tourists 12 years ago, would be able to give the current squad some insight into the mistakes they made.
Botha says the exercise was a success and motivated the squad to ensure they gain redemption.
‘Obviously poor goalkicking was the main reason for the series loss, but it ran deeper than that,’ he said, opting not to elaborate.
‘We are determined not to make the same mistakes, but I think we’re in a very different place to where that squad was. They just got a new coach and the squad wasn’t as settled as we are. But we know the challenge that lies ahead is a big one. We won’t underestimate the Lions.’
By Ryan Vrede, in Durban.
60 Comments
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12 Jun 2009, 14:12 pm
The New Zealanders are indeed magnificent sons of Empire. They fought and died for the Mother Country on numerous occasions through the 20th Century. The same is true of the Australians and Canadians, and others too.
Interestingly, Gandhi fought for the British in the Boer War. He carried wounded soldiers down koppies under fire. Brave chap.
Think about it, chaps: even Gandhi himself knew that the brutish Boer needed a good biffing!
12 Jun 2009, 15:30 pm
Ryan can we have some consistency between Smit and Smith? Two very different surnames.
12 Jun 2009, 15:32 pm
#51 Viscount Crouchback:
Ghandi was acting as a slave. It was memories that made him spend his later life fighting against the British occupation in India.
#11 Big Hit:
The Boers (Dutch, German and French) were fleeing the secularization that Western Europe was experiencing. I don’t recall there ever being a Boer Zulu war, but seomthing tells me that there might have been an Anglo-Zulu war.
12 Jun 2009, 19:42 pm
#51 Viscount Crouchback: You sound like a bit of a Tosser!
12 Jun 2009, 19:44 pm
#51 Viscount Crouchback: no doubt you’re partial to a bit of a “biffing” in the showers after polo!
12 Jun 2009, 19:46 pm
Can someone please tell me why these A-holes are called the Lions?? There’s no lions in the UK. Perhaps the “Badgers” or the “Rabbits” would be more appropriate?!
12 Jun 2009, 19:52 pm
#51 Viscount Crouchback: Anotehr **** stirrer on Keo. Crouchback says it all. Piss off and leave your anti Boer nonsense mumbo jumbo rhetoric on some neo nazi website. All Afrikaners are not numbskulls.
12 Jun 2009, 19:58 pm
#54 U.R. Soles: dude, go take a look @ his blog, google “a viscount speaks” or something like that, you will be amazed
12 Jun 2009, 20:10 pm
#58 Transformation: Hahahaha unbelievable.. what a tosser. Oh I dare say Charles please tell the tea boy to bring more logs. Mine seem to be a bit stuck up my… He has the audacity to talk about this “rude age” and then comes here and makes petty and demeaning remarks about a people he to all intents and purposes has never met. My dear Sir Courchback – reading Byron and sipping tea while fox hunting my very well be marvellously civilized but that in no uncertain terms makes you a better person than anyone else and havign a priviliged upbringing is exactly that. Anyone with the slightest IQ would know not to bandy it about as if that justfies your existence above another human being´s. Its morons like you that make this world reek.
12 Jun 2009, 20:13 pm
http://viscount.typepad.com/a_viscount_speaks/ read it and laugh your *** off. What a pompous twerp. Must be a firm admirer of the Queens corgi´s. BTW mate your Queen is a stuck up b!tch who wouldnt know a good deed from a crumpet.
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