Boks must back Butch
23 Aug 2010
RYAN VREDE argues that Butch James must start at flyhalf at Loftus.
In announcing his squad for the Tri-Nations, Springboks coach Peter de Villiers told the media that the World Cup winning flyhalf had had limited opportunities in the incoming tour Tests, and because of this he deserved an opportunity to prove he still had the aptitude for Test rugby.
That opportunity has amounted to 39 minutes out of a possible 320. This while Morne Steyn struggles to replicate the form that saw him monopolise the shirt in 2009. James’s time is now.
Steyn is an excellent goal kicker and is suited to the kick-chase approach that the Springboks employ as a primary means of attack. However, he has failed to consistently display the variation that is a feature of his play with the Bulls and was evident with the Springboks in 2009.
Against the All Blacks in Auckland Steyn took the ball to the advantage line just thrice in 33 handles, with a solitary linebreak. A week later in Wellington Steyn attacked the gain line four times with zero success in 35 handles, while against Australia in Brisbane he breached the defence once in 19 handles. While typically accurate in his goal-kicking (sinking six from six) Steyn’s struggles with ball in hand continued at Soccer City.
Tellingly, just once in the aforementioned matches has he offloaded in contact – a marked feature of the Blacks’ Dan Carter and Wallabies’ Quade Cooper’s play. Carter had made nine play-maker offloads in four matches prior to Saturday’s Test in Soweto, while Cooper made four in the one match he played prior to his suspension. One doesn’t need to elaborate on the value of a flyhalf who creates attacking opportunities in this way.
There are mitigating factors, the most notable being the Springboks coaches’ unrelenting fascination with a flawed, pragmatic game plan. Their impotency at the tackle point on attack and consistent inability to deplete the opposition’s defence through multiple phases is another. And there can be no doubt that his potency is diminished in the absence of Fourie du Preez, who takes immense pressure off his flyhalf through his all-round excellence.
With nothing to gain from the remaining Tests, there can be no justifiable reason to omit James from the run-on side. Steyn’s selection will amount to nothing more than a conservative move from a desperate coach.
James, who impressed with Bath in 2009 before an injury sidelined him, watched the entire match in Soweto from the wood. De Villiers argued that the result could have rested on a 50m penalty and that in that situation Steyn was his go-to man. That rationale is understandable given that Steyn is a superior goal-kicker with experience in sinking pressure kicks.
But the next two Tests must be used to measure James in order to accurately establish the depth at pivot. The stocks were trimmed with Ruan Pienaar’s departure for Ulster, and outside of Peter Grant and more recently 19-year-old Pat Lambie, none at franchise level have impressed.
James physicality in defence will be a boon against the hot-stepping Cooper, while his directness in attack – something De Villiers says was lacking in the second half in Soweto – will add a dimension to the Springboks’ play which has been sorely lacking.
There is no risk in the selection. James is an experienced player, versed in the ethos and playing philosophy and whose combination with inside centre Jean de Villiers is well established. He is also a competent goal-kicker (there will be an insurance policy in Frans Steyn should Butch’s kicking boots still be in Bath) and has the skill to adapt to various styles of play.
James is a must for Loftus.
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267 Comments
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23 Aug 2010, 07:59 am
there is one solution … pick the whole Blue Bulls super 14 team 2 play @ loftus ..no team in the world will beat them there
23 Aug 2010, 08:00 am
@geroom_sexwater(geroom_sexwater)-51:
wanna bet?
23 Aug 2010, 08:03 am
Ryan Vrede
Yes,Butch is a must! Your recommendations sound fimiliar – Wynand Olivier maybe
23 Aug 2010, 08:03 am
Poisonous snakes!
Oh dear how embraboer.
What evil spells have wicked senior players cast on the management team?
This is starting to sound like a Harry Potter novel..
23 Aug 2010, 08:04 am
@RedLion is born again(RL)-47: thats not the point, Lambie is light years ahead of JLP, the only chance he has in making the team is if he can play anther position, otherwise he’s going to be the orange peeler
23 Aug 2010, 08:07 am
Geez tough on the war horses.
Hougard, Smith & Burger were outstanding for the Bokke and Habana…WTF is going wrong there? How many times did this guy come off his wing? Africans whine about Spies (who was notably absent again) but Habana was atrocious. He made a few scything runs but definitely let in 2 tries. God awful stuff.
23 Aug 2010, 08:07 am
player rating @ sarugby
11: Bryan Habana – 3
Without a doubt the villain of the match. Habana was nothing but a liability on defence as he continued his obsession of breaking the defensive line in his quest for the intercept. The Test veteran gifted the opposition space on a number of occasions and was again at fault when McCaw scored to level the scores.
23 Aug 2010, 08:07 am
Oh and Flip VDM was brilliant as well. My bad.
23 Aug 2010, 08:08 am
juan smith killed cheat mccaw
23 Aug 2010, 08:09 am
@geroom_sexwater(geroom_sexwater)-57: Yep I reckon a stint on the pine would sharpen his wing skill. He needs to re-learn his position. Friggin idiot was playing centre all game. Unfu<kenbelievable.
23 Aug 2010, 08:09 am
@flanka(flanka)-4: quite right Flanka! Ryan Vrede was the FRONT cheerleader that the Boks shouldn’t play expansive rugby like the all blacks are doing! He called Peter de Villiers delusional for proposing a new way of playing!
The argument then was, how can de Villiers try and teach world cup winning players a new way of playing the game?
Pdv also FAILED to stamp his authourity on the team and dictate the gameplan, he capitulated from the pressure exerted by the media, senior players and his one assistant coach! Robbie Deans in comparison dropped all the old dogs in the Aus team who resisted his new philosophies.
23 Aug 2010, 08:10 am
@geroom_sexwater(geroom_sexwater)-59: Agree, Juan was all over McCaw. He was MOM in my books.
23 Aug 2010, 08:10 am
Victor Moffield’s name wasnt even mentioned by the moaning commentators! We need objective commentators! Supersport is just rubbish
23 Aug 2010, 08:11 am
@geroom_sexwater(geroom_sexwater)-59: juan was contender for mom, but so was richie
23 Aug 2010, 08:12 am
Vrede is tired of picking on Spies because he knows that Spies has the ear of Matfield so now he is after Steyn … very predictable.
Q. why is it that Steyn can get the Bulls backline moving but not the Boks.
23 Aug 2010, 08:13 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-61:
Trannie, the ONLY reason the Boks didn’t win on Saturday is they ran outta gas. The ABs are always a superbly tuned outfit, the Wallabies have suffered many a late try blitz and this time it was the Bokke.
The Boks threw everything at the AB and in my opinion they were immense. South Africa should be proud of the effort of the men in Green & Gold.
23 Aug 2010, 08:15 am
@geroom_sexwater(geroom_sexwater)-59: Sir Richard killed 90000 Bok Supporters!
23 Aug 2010, 08:15 am
@RedLion is born again(RL)-65: Steyn is a bot, therefore very predictable. He doesnt have the footspeed, razza-matazz to bamboozle the opposition. If your flyhalf cant break the line a couple of times a game he should be flipping burgers.
23 Aug 2010, 08:16 am
did you guys hear the BOO’s when january came on for hougaard?
23 Aug 2010, 08:17 am
There were a fair few all black supporters there..
Thank goodness for cheap flights from cape town..
23 Aug 2010, 08:18 am
@Mighty Horua(Mighty Horua)-67: McCaw was brilliantly subtle, most of the game
His only noticeable indiscretion was let go. Honestly should have been penalised but Nigel was consistent; he let the Boks off with as many.
Nigel and his assistants may have missed a few things but overall they all had a fine match.
23 Aug 2010, 08:21 am
@geroom_sexwater(geroom_sexwater)-69: Hougard is definitely going to the WCup. All SARU need to do now is find him an ideal flyhalf. When they nut that out… man things could get special!
23 Aug 2010, 08:21 am
@RugbyRulz(RugbyRulz)-71: Agree, Sir Richard the Lion Heart caused havoc and totally outsmarted the SENIORS
23 Aug 2010, 08:22 am
Congratulations All Blacks, worthy TriNations winners.
23 Aug 2010, 08:25 am
you’re an idiot Gunther, senior players veto certain decisions, like particularly the style if game ‘we like to play to our traditional strengths’ you dumbwit palooka. If you can’t see it now you never will. De Villiers gave up the mandate of who he was selecting and how he wanted to play to which style way back in ’08 when it was unanimously decided by open secret decree that Boks were ditching the ‘play the situation’ rugby for our ‘structured’ traditional strength kick and chase garbage plan we learned under that maestro of tacticians Jake White.
You like the rest of the dumb doos idiots follow these schmucks like a lamb to the slaughter, PdV gave Smit full veto rights who has created a system where they go down the one track mind road to oblivion. You can’t see it you obviously blind as a two stroke bat. This circus is a circus supreme and it started when players read the riot act to the coach and pulled a mutiny to demand they were going to play they game they knew and were comfortable with, which is exactly the game style that has lost us the last 6 internationals worth noting,, France , Ireland, Nz, Nz , Aus, Nz again all with Steyn at 10 and playing archaic JW garbage kick n chase rugby, with or without FdP makes no difference, play that game John Smit and you LOSE.
23 Aug 2010, 08:28 am
@geroom_sexwater(geroom_sexwater)-69: Deservedly so!
23 Aug 2010, 08:29 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-61: Yeah and look at the success OZ had last two years vs Boks ??
There are new rules this year that favour ball retention and in hand rugby. Last year the boot and fetch worked, so your genius has had the whole S14 to come up with a new game plan as demo’d by Bulls and WP….
What has he done ???? Bl**dy useless coach is PdV but a reasonable manager so unless SARU select on MERIT and not some brown nosers then we will rely on FdP/VM to run the show.
Before you leap up about current results they won the S14 so what is different ?????? Personnel or lack of professionalism …
23 Aug 2010, 08:30 am
@skopskiet(yliad)-75: Yep you are so right. The game played pre 2010 worked for the Boks but it wont work now. As all good things come to an end we reinvent ourselves to survive. Some endure and others fall by the side.
I will ask you an hypothetical question Skop.
If there was not the political interference, who would you select as the match 22, on current form?
23 Aug 2010, 08:33 am
So last year de Villiers was a decent coach who deserves all the credit?
And this year it’s the senior players’ fault?
Skopskiet you are a clown.
So shove it up your oil pipe.
23 Aug 2010, 08:34 am
@skopskiet(yliad)-75: You should be skopped, or shot!
YOU, my dear sir, are the blind/dumb one that cannot see that the structured gameplan worked! It worked well, untill the unfit Bokke lost focus in the last 10-15 mins. We had the game won! It was not the gameplan that lost us the game! It was a combination of poor conditioning, showpony habanna and complacency – we though we did enough!
23 Aug 2010, 08:35 am
@skopskiet(yliad)-75: So how did Bulls win the S14 ? Test rugby is different but where else are you going to select players ?
There is no confidence in PdV staff as they are clueless. Sorry but when you appoint a “weak” coach this is what happens.
23 Aug 2010, 08:35 am
I find it staggering that only Iceman above has mentioned Peter Grant. Lambie? Guys, for f8cks sakes, he’s a 15 who has played 10 a couple of times at cc level! Elton Jantjes!? Please man,he’s a schoolboy still. You people actually would take these guys before Grant – a young guy wth talent and experience who is coming into his prime. He had an EXCELLENT s14, with superb placekicking and -more importantly- the ability to draw defenders and put his lineaway at pace. Plus he tackles.
If anything, Pienaar is also a guy to persist with. James – with respect to him, this is not his time. It is utterly staggering that he is now touted as our saviour at 10 before Grant.
23 Aug 2010, 08:36 am
@UnbeataBULL(UnbeataBULL)-80:
Boks lost the game on fitness, Smit thought they could hang on. Against the ABs you go the full 80minutes because they keep coming.
23 Aug 2010, 08:41 am
@UnbeataBULL(UnbeataBULL)-80: Showpony Habana? WTF about show-elephant Spies and Morne Steyn? He gets a penalty and which should give the Boks a lineout…no..he wants to be Carlos Spencer with the banana!
23 Aug 2010, 08:41 am
@UnbeataBULL(UnbeataBULL)-80: Structure is not only a kick and chase, every team has structure, even the AB’s. You have to be able to adabt, you cant go into a test and say the high bomb will work, the world has worked us out, look at this year, the EOYT last year, I still think a good gary owen is a good idea when the oppotunity presents it. But we cant ignore the fact that we have to be able to change our game plans, the more different game plans we have the better chance he have of winning the world cup.
23 Aug 2010, 08:42 am
@RugbyRulz(RugbyRulz)-83: Agreed how is it that Juan arrives in better shape than his teammates? Lack of professionalism I suspect, D*ck Muir was never a fitness fanatic at Sharks.He made his name on Plum and Campo, lucky man but lets hope he gets booted in ’11.
Butch is not the answer, PGrant deserves a chance and if he fails then we go to Lambie and co.
Ironically the Boks have a great oppurtunity over the next two games to experiment. Wont happen though with the idiots at the wheel.
23 Aug 2010, 08:46 am
@bananas(bananas)-86: Funny you mention Campo. I remember his days back at Randwick… He made sure his kicks found touch, at times sacrificing distance to rest his forwards.
Campo made booboos as all players, but he got most things right… especially his fitness, he was second to none.
23 Aug 2010, 08:47 am
@RedLion is born again(RL)-65:
1. S14 is not test rugby
2. Even WO looks impressive at S14 level
3. FDP on his inside
23 Aug 2010, 08:48 am
give butch a run he can do any worse than morne. The boks where much better at scrum time and the tackles that were made were hard and true hope to see more of that against Oz.
boks need to up the fitness and intensity through the whole 80 and we need more luck i still cant get over just how lucky Mccaw is – the missed yellow card , the try – its like he’s immune
23 Aug 2010, 08:49 am
@RugbyRulz(RugbyRulz)-68: Where have you been all my life? EXACTLY!!!!
23 Aug 2010, 08:50 am
@boktillzero(boktillzero)-89: Dunno about a yellow, but definitely a penalty. If the Boks had been repetitively attacking the line, the ABs flirting with numerous offside… then a yellow, it was not the case.
23 Aug 2010, 08:52 am
Ridiculous article.
23 Aug 2010, 08:52 am
@Couchcoach(GI POT)-90: Ahhh, I have the rugby tragic syndrome. My father, brother, husband and both sons are all rugby men. My husband coached minis up to colts for many years. Safe to say one learns a little whilst strapping lads and applying a little antiseptic here and there
23 Aug 2010, 08:57 am
@RugbyRulz(RugbyRulz)-91:
yeh whether it deserved a penalty or yellow card is debatable but i think the boks were one pass away from a try and he killed that effectively though illegally – cynical is the word. remember bakkies and bj but kudos to him he seems to be able to get away with it.
23 Aug 2010, 08:57 am
Bulls did not play kick n chase, Pieter Roussouw prefers running possession style game to a kick and hail Mary game of ping pong. Who is playing best rugby currently in CC? Yup you guessed it – Sharks, way better than Bulls or WP or FS, and why, because they coached by a Kiwi, thats why, somebody who understands retention of possession in modern game is king, and playing off -load continuity rugby like AB’s do is the winning game plan, not skop en bid rugby or biff bash crash try muscle through the opposition, but let the ball through hands into space provided by running do the work of stretching the oppo.
Why we lose Saturday, because we tackled twice as much as them and we eventually beat ourselves sat. The one time Steyn had confidense to take ball forward without kicking we scored a try, then we started kicking again. Aplon kicked to Jane, Woodcick scored at other end. Steyn and Hougard kept giving away possession we kept tackling eventually Steyn kicks out on full, McCaw scores in corner.
Idiots can’t see – stop the dead beat kicking and we win. Kick and you lose, simple equation, learn it or don’t, thats the simple deduction facing saffa idiotic robotic rugby kenners right now.
And Gunther you are a twat @ss idiot schmuck palooka of the absolute dumbest kind, you don’t know rugby from squat, you a blind bat follower without no savvy that should take up knitting instead, an idiot in other words, a fool without a clue, along with a whole host of other saffa Blue Bulls delinquents that can’t see sh’t for fairy tales.
23 Aug 2010, 08:59 am
Juan Smith was absolutely outstanding. He shadowed McCaw all the way and had his number the whole afternoon. He tackled the AB’s backwards in tandem with Schalk. This negated our need for a fetcher.
Why did PDV replace him? I said to the guys with whom I was watching that it was a huge mistake. Not only did PDV remove him, he removed Hougaard, our best cover defender as well. Are these guys watching the same game as I watch?
I called it during the game – the AB’s are going to score now because of these subs. They did, twice – and McCaw scored because his shadow was no longer there.
23 Aug 2010, 09:00 am
Steyn Lost you the test more than Smit did – he threw the flat ball to De Villiers who had defenders all over him then failed to do any effective blowout – costing the turnover. If that is all the vision your first five eigth has and can not turn it back inside or find a forward or run it back into his own traffic, then he deserves as much blame if not more for losing the test. Wrong option, poor pass, no blowout – Sh*t Steyns
23 Aug 2010, 09:01 am
Was at the game and thought the refs had a bad game again first for me was to hear the crowd chant “ref u suck”. Thought our loose trio was much more balanced and therfore more successful.
We had the game in the bag but our fitness let us down. Was in line with the forward pass for the second try it was pathetic and the touchie was right in line with it. I thought JS put in some big hits and played really well but should have been subbed at least with ten to go. Also thought Juan was immense.
One final comment I prefer to watch rugby at Ellis Park and Loftus then the FNB it just does not have the atmosphere.
23 Aug 2010, 09:03 am
I’m not going to be negative this morning. I’m going to say well done to both teams for giving us a spectacle test match. Edge of your seat stuff.
Congrats to the All Blacks on a great trinations tournament. Deserved winners!
Isreal Dagg…..I luv ya!
23 Aug 2010, 09:03 am
I have a question about McCaw’s try, cos I was confused at what Veldsman said////I though I heard him say that it was inconclusive that McCaw’s foot was in touch…but I thought if it was inconclusive, you didn’t give a try?
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