Conditioning plan requires revision
8 Sep 2010
JON CARDINELLI says that while several of the contracted Springboks need game time, the rest deserve an extended break from rugby.
Twenty Boks are set for a four-week conditioning programme and won’t be available for their Currie Cup teams until the final round of competition. That’s right, after seven months of Super Rugby and Tests, the battle-weary John Smit, Victor Matfield, Danie Rossouw, Pierre Spies, Bryan Habana, Morne Steyn, Schalk Burger and Jaque Fourie will be put through the grinder on the training paddock.
The decision to push through with a conditioning programme at this stage is questionable. What are the benefits? The Boks were off the pace in the Tri-Nations, so perhaps the medical team wants to up their fitness levels. Perhaps they want to condition these elite players for a special kind of game they’re planning to implement in 2011.
Fitness won’t be a priority given that most of the senior players will be rested over the end-of-year tour. That it could be a conditioning programme that develops new skills is also unlikely. Sports scientists say a new drill needs to be repeated 1 000 times before it can be absorbed and performed in a game situation. And the eggheads confirm that you can’t teach players new skills when they’re dog-tired.
The Boks failed miserably in the Tri-Nations, but they’re not robots. They shouldn’t be punished with a conditioning programme that, at this point, may do harm than good. Men like Smit and Matfield should be granted an extended break after which time they should be placed on a programme designed to benefit them in the middle-term (the Super 15) and long-term (the 2011 World Cup).
Rest them now, and develop a programme that will have long-term benefits. Don’t bring them back for the last rounds of the Currie Cup, and (as the Bok coach is likely to do) leave them at home over the Grand Slam tour.
The decision to implement a four-week programme instead of a more extensive conditioning system is flawed. There needs to be a drive to develop the fitness and conditioning of the contracted Boks with the World Cup in mind. And if you hope to lift the standard of fitness and conditioning, you’re going to need more than one month.
Time and inter-provincial politics are the major stumbling blocks for the Bok conditioning team. It’s no new affliction. Neels Liebel’s predecessor, Derick Coetzee, had the same problems during Jake White’s tenure.
There isn’t a complete buy-in when it comes to conditioning players in this country, as every union has its own ideas. The Bok conditioning coach has minimal time to work with players outside of managing injuries, and herein lies the problem.
It’s also questionable to sideline Boks who have played only a handful of games in 2010.
Bakkies Botha has played very little rugby this year because of injury and suspension. Bismarck du Plessis is starting to find some form after missing the Test season because of a neck problem. These two players would be better served playing in the Currie Cup before they concentrate on conditioning in the off-season.
Some Boks are played into the ground, while others aren’t allowed sufficient game time. There also seems to be no long-term plan geared towards extracting the best from these players, and this problem stems from the fact that there is no universal conditioning programme across the five franchises.
Until one of these is implemented, the Boks will continue to languish behind New Zealand and Australia in the conditioning department.
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66 Comments
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8 Sep 2010, 18:34 pm
After all the rugby he’s played and conditioning he’s gone through, Victor Matfield should be about 5 foot 10 come the World Cup.
8 Sep 2010, 20:05 pm
@rugbygenius(rugbygenius)-50: c’mon please there are too many white folk in your line up
8 Sep 2010, 20:56 pm
@rugbygenius(rugbygenius)-50: Rose? What you smokin?
Why not play Jantjes as much as possible at 10? He can be a legend if developed properly. There’s enough good nr. 12′s out there. Get some stability, experience and skill (Doppies lr Grange). It will also do Jantjes the world of good if Doppies le Grange plays next to him.
A better balanced backline would be:
9. Hougaard
10. Jantjes
11. Mvovo
12. le Grange
13. de Jong
14. van den Heever
15. Aplon
8 Sep 2010, 21:51 pm
i see some boks up in arms about the proposed conditioning programme versus need for game time.
Is anything ever done properly in bok set up?
8 Sep 2010, 22:26 pm
50 Genius?
By what criteria does Rose rank as a Springbok? He is the victim of political idiocy having been elevated to a position beyond his level of competence and I feel for him. SA rugby as currently controlled is openly treated as a joke in the rest of the rugby world. Merit as a key criiterion in the selection process still appears to be invisible the only change being a change of colour. You can have little idea of the damage that that does.
9 Sep 2010, 01:31 am
No need to panic before the world cup. If any team needs to worry it’s the All Blacks. They are peeking once again a year to early. To top it off they have out played an Aussie team that seems to always be planning for the future and they beat us with out most of the following players below. With there return I feel confident that we can defend our title. If I were an All Black supporter I’d be very worried!!!
This is the team I’d take to the world cup. If you look at each selection and see how many players actually played together at one specific time and how many actually played in there best positions. It really shows how unlucky we were with injuries and how bad we were with selections.
1.Guthro Steenkamp – My SA player of the year.
2.Bismarck du Plessis* – Injured and missed his mobility, physicality and his break down skills.
3.John Smit• (c) – With Bismarck injured he moved back to Hooker but with no one stepping up and needing him there for his captaincy he has to play at tight head. We can’t afford to make the same mistake we did with Tiechmann in 99. John is the best captain we have.
4.Bakkies Botha• – Injured and Suspended. Missed his physicality.
5.Victor Matfield (v/c) – missed playing with his long time lock partner Bakkies. Even Bakkies admitted they know each other more than there wifes! + is in desperate need of a break.
6.Heinrich Brussow* – Injured and clearly missed his break down skills.
7.Juan Smith• – showed what a good rest can do for a player. Awesome on his return.
8.Schalk Burger• – played his heart out like usual and definitely has to be in the starting line up.
9.Fourie du Preez – Injured but the worlds best player last year has sorely been missed. His reading of the game is just awesome.
10.Morne Steyn – clearly missed having his team mate and the worlds best player on his inside in du Preez. His kicking for posts is just outstanding.
11.Bryan Habana – World class player clearly in need of a good rest. Look what some time out did to Smith.
12.Jean de Villiers – Suspended and played out of position on the wing.
13.Jaque Fourie – Suspended and only got to play 2 games at center with De Villiers. Need to play together more often as they are the worlds best center paring when on form.
14.JP Pietersen – Injured and clearly looked hungry on his return. Solid as always on defence.
15.Frans Steyn – He was messed around by the Bok management. Showed how good he still is at long range kicks. A must for the World Cup. He’s a match winner!
16.Tendai Mtawarira – He was messed around by the Bok management and the government too. His passport was sorted before the Tri-Nations kicked off. Even went on tour but couldn’t even get a shot as a sub.
17.Brian Mujati – I went with Brian as no one has stepped up. He’s playing awesome rugby in England and has never let the Boks down. I went with a specialist tight head cover as Smit can cover hooker.
18.Flip can der Merwe – Had an awesome debut season and is definitely the next best to Bakkies. I went with him ahead of Abdies Bekker as I want an enforcer lock to replace Bakkies. Matfield will play the entire game.
19.Pierre Spies – clearly in need of a break but also will be a better option off the bench as he has unbelievable speed and can cover all 3 loose forward positions.
20.Francois Hougaard• Played awesome rugby at scrum-half when given the opportunity. Definitely the best option for the bench. Can cover wing too.
21.Juan de Jongh• – Has been awesome in each game he’s played. Playing with De Villiers and Fourie at the Stormers can only improve his game. Awesome on defence and has a great step. Great impact player.
22.Ruan Pienaar – He has been messed around a lot by the Bok management but has such a talent that can’t be ignored. Needs to be sat down by management and explained that his roll for the world cup is as an impact player that will cover flyhalf and fullback and if Hougaard has to cover wing than he will cover scrumhalf. Has to be in the match 22.
The other 8 players I’d take to the world cup would be
23.Craig Burden – Has been playing great rugby this year. It was confirmed by Mark Steale last year that he was the most conditioned player in Sa that he’s ever worked with. Must be right considering he’s an ex wing. Would be an awesome impact player and suites the way the game is heading.
24.Andries Bekker – Injured for most of the season but is the best there is after Matfield and will definitely succeed him after the world cup.
25.Francois Louw – Great on the ground and would be a great replacement for Brussow. Was totally messed around by the coaches this year.
26.Ryan Kankowski – Great impact player. Has so much speed. Good player to have in the squad.
27.Peter Grant – He was the best flyhalf in the super 14 and should of played a few games this year. Would cover flyhalf and inside centre + we need a Maritzburg college boy in the squad. Remember Stransky 95 and Butch 07. I don’t think Butch is up to it. I think Grant is a better option.
28.Lwazi Mvovo – has been amazing for the Sharks. He’s fast, has a great step and his defence is solid + he’s very physical with ball in hand. Just ask Jaco vd Westhuyzen. He ran right through him.
29.Gio Aplon – Great Impact player. Can cover wing and fullback. Just loses out to Pienaar in the match 22.
30.Patrick Lambie – Awesome young talent. Frans Steyn was 19 so at 20 next year his age should not matter. He has a cool head and can cover fullback, flyhalf and inside centre. Just look how well James O’Connor has done for the Aussies. He must go!
I wish the Boks would look at these players and the scary thing is there are a few other players that are playing great rugby. Just look at out lose forward depth – Keegan Daniel, Jean Deysel, Duanne Vermeulen, Willem Alberts and Dewald Potgieter. It’s scary the depth we have.
Pieter De Villiers use this team, don’t lose it.
9 Sep 2010, 01:49 am
These amateur selectors make me laugh! What arrogance!
9 Sep 2010, 03:10 am
57 The Tackler
Does that mean you don’t laugh when you pay them thus removing them from the ranks of the amateurs and purging them of the label of arrogance?
9 Sep 2010, 04:27 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-57:
So gepraat van kuk hobbies! Brand jy nog steeds die miere met daai vergrootglas wat jou Ouma vir jou in St 3 gegee het?
9 Sep 2010, 09:03 am
nothing wrong with the current team other than that Aplon needs to start more, and some good rest for our seniors. I urge you guys to watch the last game v France and see what an attack and decent defence we had to offer there. The only time in the last few games we had the oponents in a deficit with in the first 20 mins. Other wise we where on the receiving end wonder what happened then in the 3nations. Hopefully that form will be fully restored come RWC next year but the team is good enough to retain it.
9 Sep 2010, 09:20 am
@4theloveofthegame(4theloveofthegame)-60: SABC Sport. I agree with you. The team just needs a fresh injection of youth, to kick the seniors up the butt. But with sufficient rest our boys will be in great shape next year.
9 Sep 2010, 14:40 pm
When will things ever be done professionally and correctly in South African rugby?
What a bunch of amateurs running the show!
10 Sep 2010, 12:55 pm
JC – please explain to all the bloggers here why you informed us that PDV was going to be fired last sunday?
I am waiting for your explanation!
thank you.
10 Sep 2010, 14:21 pm
@dr dre(dr dre)-63: keo’s colleagues smoke weed before they write bulk of the stories
11 Sep 2010, 07:04 am
@tackler.
That means a lot coming from someone who has taken arrogance to such a high level.
11 Sep 2010, 07:10 am
@dr dre
I know. I was gutted when it turned out to be untrue.
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