PdV: ‘I am the boss’
7 Dec 2009
SA Rugby magazine’s hard-hitting interview with the Springbok coach.
Your critics say that your technical knowledge of the game is poor, and that all the technical stuff surrounding the Boks’ game plan comes from your assistant coaches and the senior players. What’s your response to that?
I went to Wales to do my level-two coaching course, and paid my own way. The way it works is that you do the course and then go coach for another two years before you return to do the level-three course. I had just come back to South Africa when the Welsh Rugby Union called me and said they were so impressed by my technical knowledge of the game that they wanted me to do the next course straight away. I chose to do those courses in Wales, because I’ve always admired the great players they had in the ’70s, like Gareth Edwards and JPR Williams. I knew I would be working with equally talented players back in South Africa.
So you do make technical contributions in the Bok set-up?
Of course. When I said the All Blacks were scrumming illegally in last year’s Tri-Nations, I had video footage to back it up. No one else in the Bok squad had spotted it. The same thing happened when I questioned the Wallabies’ scrumming methods this year. I was the only person who saw what they were doing. I also make technical observations about other areas of the game, like lineouts and attack.
Do the senior Boks run the show as some have suggested?
Let me make one thing clear – I am the boss, I am the CEO of South African rugby.
In John Smit’s autobiography he explains how the coaches and the senior players meet the day after a Test to plot the way forward for the week ahead. Why did you decide to have such a democratic process?
A good CEO doesn’t make every decision on his own, he consults with other senior people in the company and gets their input. Why would I not want to listen to my assistant coaches and senior players like John and Victor [Matfield]? They all have something to offer. But the final decision on how we play rests with me.
There’s a rumour going around that Dick Muir made those controversial substitutions against the Lions in the first Test in Durban. True or false?
Let me explain. My voice isn’t suited to the radio we use [to communicate with the staff on the sideline] as I talk too quickly and my voice goes high and then low. Why would I want to talk when I can make use of Dick’s strong voice?
But does the message to make the substitutions come from you?
Yes.
So why did you make all those changes when the Boks were 19 points ahead and in complete control?
You know, if I could have done it over again, I would have made them earlier, because I could see the guys were getting tired and went into a defensive mode. By the time I brought the fresh legs on we couldn’t get out of that defensive mode.
Smit believes the Boks would have won by 25 points if those changes had not been made.
No, I don’t agree with him.
Do you regret the way you handled the Schalk Burger ‘eye-gouging’ episode after the second Lions Test in Pretoria?
No, I don’t.
Why didn’t you just tell the British and Irish journalists at the post-match press conference that you couldn’t comment until you had watched the video? In the end, Smit had to step in and say that.
Why should I have had to do that? The South African journalists in the room should have asked me what it was like to have beaten the Lions in a series. But you sat back and let them ask me those questions [about Burger]. You wanted to see me fail.
But you could have stopped their line of questioning yourself. Why rely on the local media?
No, you should have stopped them. You were all intimidated by them. I saw the look in your faces.
So you have no regrets at all about that press conference and the following one on the Monday?
I regret confusing the words ‘condone’ and ‘condemn’. If I had spoken to [the foreign media] in Afrikaans, I would have won that battle easily.
Then why didn’t you?
No, why man? I just got one word wrong.
Were you given a dressing down at that meeting with SA Rugby after the Lions series?
No, it was just a meeting to discuss the progress of the team. We had a similar meeting at the end of last year.
But you seemed to choose your words far more carefully at press conferences after that meeting. You were a changed man during the Tri-Nations.
I didn’t change. You [the media] changed because we were winning. I will never change. That’s why I say ‘I am who I am and I don’t give a damn’.
Why do you think the South African rugby media want you to fail?
Because your man didn’t get the job.
Who? Heyneke Meyer?
You said it, not me.
Do you think some of the media are racist?
You said it, not me.
Do they irritate you during press conferences?
I know that most of them have played rugby before, but I can tell by their questions that they haven’t played at a very high level. If it hadn’t been for apartheid, I would have played for the Boks.
Let’s go back to the beginning of your stint as Bok coach on the day you got the job. How did you feel when [Saru president] Regan Hoskins said your appointment was ‘not for purely rugby reasons’?
I don’t let the bad things in life affect me.
But how did you feel when you heard those words?
I felt nothing. Regan is entitled to his opinion and it didn’t bother me at all. I know I’m a good coach and that I deserve to be where I am today.
The Boks finished last in the 2008 Tri-Nations after starting the tournament as favourites. Why did you choose to abandon a structured approach for a more expansive one?
What laws were we playing under? We had to adapt our game because of the ELVs. I never said that I didn’t like structure, I said we would play total rugby. When I got the job as coach I said I wanted to take the Boks to the next level.
So you don’t regret adopting the game plan used last year?
No.
Then why the return to a more structured game plan in this year’s Tri-Nations if total rugby was the way to go?
The message came from me that we should kick more this year. Then because we had kicked so much [in the three home Tri-Nations Tests], we were able to surprise the Wallabies in Perth with a running game that resulted in four tries.
What was your lowest point of that somewhat difficult 2008 season?
The sex-tape story, which wasn’t true. I had to watch my 82-year-old mother cry.
Before you were appointed as Bok coach, there was talk that you’d pick 10 black players in the starting line-up if you got the job, yet you finished the Tri-Nations with only two black wings and a black Zimbabwean prop who wasn’t eligible when Jake White was coach. Have you failed in terms of transformation?
If a racist white guy voted for the National Party, but then changed his views after 1994, that is transformation. The Springbok team has been transformed because the colour of a player’s skin doesn’t matter anymore. I’m not going to pick black players to make up the numbers, because I will do them more harm than good.
But there were still only three players in the Bok starting XV. Isn’t that a concern?
Look, I think Adi Jacobs is the No 1 centre in the country, but he got injured and by the time he was fit Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie were doing well together so I couldn’t drop either of them. Ricky Januarie is an excellent scrumhalf, but I can’t drop Fourie du Preez. And Conrad Jantjes broke his leg earlier this season. We could have had six players of colour in the starting XV in different circumstances.
But you only had three which is why you were slammed by that transformation committee.
What have they done for the good of this country? What contribution have they made?
You’ve said that the Super 14 coaches are to blame for the lack of black players coming through. Do you stand by that?
Yes, they don’t think black players can make it at that level.
Would the situation be different if three of our five Super 14 coaches were black?
You said it, not me.
Do black players and coaches have to work twice as hard to get the same recognition and plaudits as their white counterparts?
Of course! I’ve had to work 10 times harder than any other white coach to get to where I am today. Why wasn’t I ever offered a coaching job at Super Rugby level?
Is there something wrong with the system when someone like Frans Ludeke, who failed dismally with the Cats/Lions, gets the Bulls job?
You said it, not me.
You have a high profile as Bok coach and earn a big salary. Has that changed you as a person?
I haven’t changed. I still live in the same house in the same area [in Paarl]. It will be hard for me to leave because I want the people in my area to be proud of the fact that they are living near the Bok coach. I still drive the same car that I had before I got the Bok job. It just needs to get me from A to B.
Do people you know expect more from you? Do they ever come and ask you for money to help them buy a car or pay off a loan?
No, do I look like a charity?
By Simon Borchardt
– This article first appeared in the November issue of SA Rugby magazine
494 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 » Show All
7 Dec 2009, 12:28 pm
@graeme1:
” malema will make a great prsident, because he will eradicate this kind of interviewing and thinking patterns all together…”
You are so right…he will eradicate ALL thinking, PERIOD!!!!
“…i would vouch for him to be the coach of the rugby team also…”
Kinda like Mad Bob being the President of the cricket team.
Hey, you said it, not me.
7 Dec 2009, 12:33 pm
I actually think Julias is a good guy trying very hard to be a bad guy…!! Because it’s his job… And he does his job very well.
He keeps the youth behind the ANC and neither the DA or COPE have a hope in hell of changing that while Julias is President of the ANCYL…
7 Dec 2009, 12:36 pm
The interview, by virtue of the line of questioning,is racist. Simon is a phucking racist. We can go back to the questions posed to previous bok coaches as a yardstick. The anti PDV brigade (i.e.most of our fellow bloggers, what do you make of these questions posed?
7 Dec 2009, 12:38 pm
@Mike H:
I dont think Jake built something from nothing.. I believe he was poor why?
He had terrible results leading up to the RWC. wooden spoon in the tri nations for a couple years. Eddie came along and the Bok fortunes changed. This is the same side PDV took over
PDV inherited the side and without eddie he has produced the goods.
Sure he maybe a bit loose in the media but surely if h was bad the Boks would have done terrible.
7 Dec 2009, 12:41 pm
@wallabie.:
If Aussie supporters can see the obvious and support our Bok coaches before our own countrymen do then you know something is terribly wrong in SA rugby.
7 Dec 2009, 12:49 pm
@Shakes:
I think most of us here agree with you re: Simon.
For a journalist he shows a distinct lack of integrity and like KEO, he fails to hide his dislike for PDV, which further illustrates his lack of professionalism and poor work ethic.
Throw in a serious lack of objectivity and you see what it takes to become a scribe here on KEO.
7 Dec 2009, 12:51 pm
Is this the full interview or a selective cut and paste job? I cannot believe this line of questioning a). Came from a professional sports writer, and b). It was allowed to go on print.
7 Dec 2009, 12:52 pm
@Tacitus: Snor is right. All those people deserve to be insulted. Go Pdv, tell those crackers what they really are.
7 Dec 2009, 12:52 pm
@PissAnt: Well said but you are too diplomatic. The unfortunate reality is that those who want him to fail (and let’s be honest it is there for all to see, including media) stems from the fact that he is not White or wants him to fail cos HM did not get the job. Just look at his management style. You can choose to put positive spin i.e. seeking advice from all quarters or negative spin i.e. players and assistants run show. We know what line KEO and his plonkers adhere to. In any event I would have been worried if more of the decision making was autocratic and less collaborative. That would be a clear indication of pulling in different directions and not having a common vision.
7 Dec 2009, 12:54 pm
great interview by The Greatest.
“No, you should have stopped them. You were all intimidated by them. I saw the look in your faces.”
How very true, the saffas need to grow some balls.
7 Dec 2009, 12:54 pm
1000 posts to this article by the end of the day. And it’s gonna get U-G-L-Y…
7 Dec 2009, 13:07 pm
@Golden Boy: Then the press wonder why we do not respect their views or them at all. This is the same Simon who said the 7′s players must not be called Boks because they are mostly black.
It’s disgraceful and sick. There can be no doubt that Keo and his trashy journo’s are nothing but filthy racists.
7 Dec 2009, 13:07 pm
Its actually an astonishingly good interview.
Apart from the ‘i would have been a springbok chirp’, its actually nearly flawlessly brilliant.
the wee maestro is now even mastering the art of politico speak, he is outdoing the journalist and giving it to the foreign media in the process.
Great stuff – make the man president.
7 Dec 2009, 13:12 pm
@cab:
SA Journalists intimidated by the scum of Fleet Street!
Surely not.
7 Dec 2009, 13:13 pm
simon borchardt is a real unconstructed bigot! Fyi simon people whatever their class still have dignity and pride and just want to make an honest living! It’s @rsh*les like you with your “do people come to you now to ask for loans” type drivel that are going to bring about the biggest revolution in this country. What a chop!
I can’t imagine any other coach in world entertaining such nonsense but if peter de villiers does not answer he is arrogant!
7 Dec 2009, 13:14 pm
when will everyone learn that the polarization of our people in south africa is a direct strategy aimed at destabilising all thoughtful, meaningful discussion in order for control and power to shift to the select few, black or white?
this article is toilet, much like many of simons articles, but it has a far greater purpose than just to show simons antipathy and disregard for PdV.
we all know keo is aligned with jake white, and the continual belittling of any achievement PdV makes is a direct attack on PdV in an attempt to force public opinion into a narrow corner of complete hatred for PdV and thus create the space for a “di-****** of rugby” poition for jake.
the seeds are being sown but PdV has dodged all the arrows by being so successful.
remember that the vast majority of stakeholders (people who pay for things)in sarugby are white due to the historical realities of our still fractured country, and are able to wield enourmous pressure on saru.
its all about control people, and sadly the people who you think you are supporting may just turn out to be exactly what you professed to despise.
i urge you all to debate rationally and remain calm.
7 Dec 2009, 13:15 pm
@PissAnt: I’m also worried about us saffas when an Aussie will stand up for our coach before we do…
7 Dec 2009, 13:16 pm
when will everyone learn that the polarization of our people in south africa is a direct strategy aimed at destabilising all thoughtful, meaningful discussion in order for control and power to shift to the select few, black or white?
this article is toilet, much like many of simons articles, but it has a far greater purpose than just to show simons antipathy and disregard for PdV.
we all know keo is aligned with jake white, and the continual belittling of any achievement PdV makes is a direct attack on PdV in an attempt to force public opinion into a narrow corner of complete hatred for PdV and thus create the space for a “di-****** of rugby” poition for jake.
7 Dec 2009, 13:17 pm
@Xhosaskid: You must be joking. I am terribly sorry for that family, but if you wanna list stories about brutality , there are far more about brutality against black people. And you know that, so let’s not walk that path. People whose testicles were electricuted and thrown off buildings, 1000′s. Women who were raped and beaten. 1000′s. We still do not know where most of them are buried.
7 Dec 2009, 13:17 pm
when will everyone learn that the polarization of our people in south africa is a direct strategy aimed at destabilising all thoughtful, meaningful discussion in order for control and power to shift to the select few, black or white?
this article is toilet, much like many of simons articles, but it has a far greater purpose than just to show simons ant@pathy and disregard for PdV.
we all know keo is aligned with jake white, and the continual belittling of any achievement PdV makes is a direct attack on PdV in an attempt to force public opinion into a narrow corner of complete hatred for PdV and thus create the space for a “di-r’ctum of rugby” poition for jake.
7 Dec 2009, 13:18 pm
@cane:
yeah, its that ridiculous, most of our journos get intimidated by the big words of the fleet street dandies, and are embaressed by Div rather than supporting him – weak.
But the good thing is The Greatest has none of these issues and tears these poor fleet streeters a new one – hilarous – am sure they love it too – poms love a good flogging.
7 Dec 2009, 13:19 pm
@mozez22:
If we are sentient beings, we would all IGNORE this thread and not give them the satisfaction nor the income.
WHO’S WITH ME !!!!!!!!!!!!
7 Dec 2009, 13:19 pm
@mozez22:
I think it’s great that an Aussie (even if it’s ‘only’ Wallabie
Wallaby…) is standing up for our coach WITH many Saffas on this site…!!
Don’t flush the baby with the bath water… (to put it really sweetly…
)
7 Dec 2009, 13:20 pm
the seeds are being sown but PdV has dodged all the arrows by being so successful.
remember that the vast majority of stakeholders (people who pay for things)in sarugby are white due to the historical realities of our still fractured country, and are able to wield enourmous pressure on saru.
its all about control people, and sadly the people who you think you are supporting may just turn out to be exactly what you professed to despise.
i urge you all to debate rationally and remain calm.
7 Dec 2009, 13:20 pm
@rossoneri: I did not say that the Bok Sevens team shouldn’t be allowed to wear the Bok jersey because the players are black (there are white players in the squad too). I said they shouldn’t be allowed to because none of them are good enough to play in the Super 14 (ie they are not among the top 150 players in SA). I am glad to see that they are playing in a different jersey this season.
7 Dec 2009, 13:20 pm
pdv is the supreme ceo and boss.all racist ***** like simon,wp,hondo and others please address the god-given talent as ‘boss’ from now on.
7 Dec 2009, 13:21 pm
@Dawn:
always with you Dawnie…!!
just had to stand up and be counted on this one…!!
Bye…!!
7 Dec 2009, 13:23 pm
@Simon:
Don’t start something you can’t finish.
You said it.
7 Dec 2009, 13:23 pm
@Simon: lol.so you actually think they listened to a *** twat like you?remove that superior chip from your scrawny shoulder please!
7 Dec 2009, 13:24 pm
@Simon: You still a piece of **** racist and the truth is you hated them for succeeding last year under Treu, like you hate Pdv for succeeding with the Boks.
You are disgusting and a joke for a journalist. Where is your boyfriend to back you up today? Buying Dove?
7 Dec 2009, 13:24 pm
@Dawn:
I changed my mind.
He’s here.
Give him hell.
7 Dec 2009, 13:25 pm
@Simon:
Still a Bok jersey though.
7 Dec 2009, 13:25 pm
@Simon:
Screw the 7′s article. It is not at issue.
This **** piece of drivel is.
It is indefensible.
7 Dec 2009, 13:26 pm
I have no more time for this thread. Just read the article again, and I’m not convinced it’s the full thing. Just what Simon wants us to read.
7 Dec 2009, 13:27 pm
@Simon: Hey Simon now that you are a Keo journo writing trash, are people asking you for money to buy drugs?
7 Dec 2009, 13:28 pm
the sevens bokke are just that, bokke.
they are at the pinnacle of their FORM of the game, which is clearly completely different to 15 man rugby.
just like test cricketers, t20 cricketers and odi cricketers ALL get protea colours for representing south africa.
simon, care to comment my good man?
7 Dec 2009, 13:28 pm
@Mike H:
+ 1000
7 Dec 2009, 13:29 pm
@mozez22:
It doesn’t matter if it’s full or half.
It is so badly and disrespectfully put together that it’s jaw-dropping.
7 Dec 2009, 13:31 pm
@rangerman:
You tell him, sexy.
7 Dec 2009, 13:31 pm
@rangerman: I agree with New Zealand, who don’t call their sevens team the All Blacks because that honour is reserved for the Test team. And only the Test team gets to wear the all-black jersey.
7 Dec 2009, 13:32 pm
@wpw:
So what.
It’ll be a 1000+ telling this twat just how useless he is.
Tears at the Borchardt household tonight.
7 Dec 2009, 13:33 pm
guys, lets stop with the “racist!” shrieks.
really, we are all motivated to some degree by our perception of race so we are all a little guilty.
lets rather let simon engage with us and tell us what his motivation was for treating our national lions-beating, tri nations winning SPRINGBOK rugby coach like he was the gardener appointed to a bee company board simply to make his cross where the baas told him to.
if it was one of the ooms, or jake white, would his tone have been different?
probably.
because simons galsses would not sit so nicely on a nose pushed through the back of his head.
i am not advocating violence at all simon, you understand? but merely suggesting that you were slightly more brave in this interview than you would have been with some of the manne.
now what does that mean?
7 Dec 2009, 13:35 pm
@Simon:
7s is a different game to the 15 man one. Some players will be more suited to one than the other. I could venture that Bakkies and JS are not good enough to play 7s. Or is it a matter of backtracking on the use of the Springbok emblem, that only the national 15 man rugby team should be allowed to use it?
7 Dec 2009, 13:37 pm
@Dawn: What is disrespectful about it? I told De Villiers before the interview took place that I was going to ask him some difficult questions in order to give him an opportunity to answer his critics once and for all. He agreed.
7 Dec 2009, 13:37 pm
@Simon: Yeah, but your reasons are racially driven. We all know that. Read that **** you posted on top. Proof!
Guys like you destroy the greatness of our country. You remind us of the hate, because you are infected with it. SA doesn’t need trash like you.
7 Dec 2009, 13:37 pm
@rangerman:
I never shriek.
My normal tone of voice alone is enough to chill a Keoling’s blood.
7 Dec 2009, 13:38 pm
@Simon: the nz 7′s team jersey looks pretty black to me.
but who cares what they call their team anyway?
i despise the mullet, calling the ball “the pill”, a grubber being called “a wee nudge”, the changeroom “the shed” and various other terms that our esteemed journos fawningly adopted recently.
we have our own rugby culture and heritage and we make our own history.
merely agreeing with nz is not an answer as to why odi, test and t20 cricketers get colours for south africa. which of those would you leave out?
better yet, how does nz do it?
7 Dec 2009, 13:38 pm
@Simon: Oh. Did you tell him that you are a KKK card member that you hate his skin?
7 Dec 2009, 13:39 pm
You guys are a joke, incapable of conducting a decent debate. Firstly, please learn to spell and secondly, refrain from resorting to homophobic comments, ie ‘You are disgusting and a joke for a journalist. Where is your boyfriend to back you up today? Buying Dove?’ And you have the gall to refer to Simon as a bigot and accuse him of being disrespectful?!!
7 Dec 2009, 13:39 pm
KEO.co.za 3 – PDV & his followers 0
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.