Edinburgh defeat was damning
22 Nov 2010
JON CARDINELLI writes there can be no more denial. The Springboks are in a state of crisis.
After the Tri-Nations, we were told that the Boks were unlucky to finish stone last. Peter de Villiers didn’t believe there were fundamental defensive problems, even though the Boks conceded 22 tries in six matches. He didn’t believe the Boks were guilty of tactical stupidity, even though they were largely outplayed by Australia and New Zealand.
‘You can’t control winning or losing,’ De Villiers offered, along with another favourite phrase: ‘People obsess too much about winning and losing, and I think lately I am guilty of obsessing about it too.’ He said that he didn’t know why the Boks were losing, this despite the large salary he draws from Saru, an organisation that pays him to know.
Unbelievably, Saru handed the madcap coach a last chance on the Grand Slam Tour. It was important to restore a winning culture as well as the flagging faith of a rugby public that had grown tired of De Villiers’ inadequacies on and off the pitch.
The Grand Slam tour became the Grand Sham tour. Four wins here, and the five losses in the 2010 Tri-Nations would be remembered as a speed bump rather than stalling block in the collective memory.
The Grand Sham was going so well too, with scrappy wins against Ireland and Wales described by the South African rugby spin machine as gutsy and heroic triumphs. But when the Boks fell to Scotland, the weakest of the home unions and a side ranked No 8 in the world, those living in Lalaland were smacked with a healthy dose of reality.
Defeat will demand reflection not only from the Springbok coaches and players, but also from the people that employ them. The Springbok brand has taken a hammering in 2010, and last Saturday witnessed yet another agonising body blow. Changes need to be affected so that history doesn’t repeat itself.
South Africa last lost to Scotland in 2002 when Rudolf Straeuli was at the helm. Straeuli told the media and public to stop worrying about the poor results and judge him at the World Cup, and we all know how that panned out. De Villiers has the same attitude in that he’s convinced the Boks are on the right track.
The Tri-Nations showcased the Boks’ failings on defence, and their impotency on attack. Their consistency was also a worry, as intensity levels were never maintained for the full 80 minutes. The Boks never improved in these problem areas, and were fortunate to edge past Ireland and Wales. But they couldn’t push past the plucky Scots, a team that finally punished the Boks for their inconsistency and tactical ignorance.
And has De Villiers improved? Again, the wins against Ireland and Wales overshadowed the fact that the Boks were nowhere near the clinical unit that claimed every cup on offer in 2009. De Villiers also retained his penchant for poor substitutions, and displayed a particular pigheadedness when it came to the management of Pat Lambie.
In the three tour fixtures thus far, De Villiers has subbed Morne Steyn for Lambie in the final quarter. On each occasion, the situation has never been right, and while this mistake didn’t cost South Africa in Dublin and Cardiff, it eventually cost them in Edinburgh.
It’s absurd that De Villiers talks about developing players when he ignored an obvious opportunity to try new starting combinations in this Edinburgh fixture, an exercise that would have had some value regardless of the result. As it stands, De Villiers has failed on both the counts of development and the game’s result.
It’s even more damning when you realise that only five first-choice players were missing from the Boks’ starting side at Murrayfield. If either Heinrich Brussow or Schalk Burger were fit, they would have occupied the openside flank position, while De Villiers opted to rest Pierre Spies in this Test. Fourie du Preez, Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie are the other first-choice stars unavailable through injury.
And it must also be remembered that Scotland were missing a few stalwarts of their own, with captain and scrumhalf Mike Blair injured in the previous game against the All Blacks. Joe Ansbro was a late replacement for Max Evans, and Scotland struggled to enjoy a full training schedule in the build-up given the number of niggles incurred in the 49-3 blowout.
Credit must be given to Scotland for the monumental victory, but credit must go to South Africa’s stupidity on and off the field. It irrefutably contributed to the result. Hopefully it’s a result will be the one to initiate some change, and hopefully it doesn’t take a demoralising loss to England to give South African rugby the wake up call it needs.
The Boks are still capable of winning at Twickenham, and if they go on to beat the Barbarians, a four from five tour record doesn’t sound bad. But this tour was never just about results, and there can be no denial that the Boks have failed to improve on their Tri-Nations form.
Their fire needs rekindling. The situation in South Africa is such that there is sufficient raw materials in terms of quality players, and that with the correct management and restructuring, the Springbok fire could be ablaze by the 2011 World Cup. For that to happen, however, the right person needs to be appointed. It’s never been so clear that Peter de Villiers cannot extract the best from these players, and is unequivocally the wrong man for this job.
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213 Comments
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22 Nov 2010, 11:14 am
@Transformation(Transformation) : I felt the same. You try to be understanding, but when players and coaches are out of tune with the happenings on the field you’ve got to wonder.
I purposely didn’t mention the ref, only because it would be easy to play the balme game, but I reckon he might have done the Boks and PDV a favour. They might now realise that they need to relook at their tactics. It’s easier to say your tatics are working while you’re winning, but losing exposes so much more.
22 Nov 2010, 11:14 am
@pompies2(pompies2) : cant disagree with what you say, Carter is the one place where we have no real backup, hence most kiwi fans were disappointed Donald was chosen for this tour… Slade would have been a better investment IMO.. showed when he replaced Cruden against Aussie that he could steer the ship..
not so sure on a plan B, they have won both grinding out games and using width, so think to my mind that they do have alternate strategies, only time will tell though..
22 Nov 2010, 12:25 pm
I dont comment on this forum, but feel that I have to this time round. It amazes me that we have a clown as Springbok coach, but the clowns writing as rugby correspondents amazes me even more.
Once again a writing clown says the Morne Steyn substitution cost us the game. When Morne left with 10 odd minutes to go, we were trailing by 11 points. Where was his genius in the first 70 minutes???
Maybe the captaincy should be questions. Maybe Big Vic, the be all and end all should have asked the 2 other senior goal kickers to kick at post, but no, Big Vic didnt, did he? But no, blame the laitie.
The coaches didnt decide to move Morne ( I’ll kick every single ball straight back at the opposition )to fullback in place of a very ordinary Zzzzzzainnnnne, in case there was a pressure kick, no, rather blame the laitie.
Guys, honestly, grow up a bit, stop blaming the one player who entered the match when it was a loosing cause already. Rather blame the players that had put us in that situation in the first place.
Blame the one minded kicking of Hougaard, Pienaar, Morne and Zaine, and dont give me the “it was the game plan” bull, because players still make their own decisions on the field. And in the end, the captain should have told the players to change tactics, but he didnt…
22 Nov 2010, 12:39 pm
I honestly believe that its going to be Muir and Gold who will quit first, because Im sure they wont be able to make any excuses after they lose against England this weekend. What can they possibly say to make the public opportunistic about our chances at the world cup? Im sure PDV can keep on going without making any logical excuses, without thinking its time to quit. Surely if they quit PDV will have to follow.
22 Nov 2010, 12:42 pm
@Skiballas(Skiballas1) : Lambie is carrying a groin injury, that is why he is kicking so *****…. who should we blame for that
And another question: Are you a Shark by any chance?
22 Nov 2010, 12:49 pm
JC,
How can you say this tour was never only about results? This is (well, was) a Grand Slam tour.
And for me, a four out of five record on tour does sound bad. It would sound bad for the All Blacks.
22 Nov 2010, 13:05 pm
Its just a pity that a loss against Scotland is the breaking point that will hopefully bring on some change after the tour. The victories against Ireland and Wales, shouldn’t have made anyone feel at rest about the chaos that currently exists in the bok camp, but some how it did. I thank you Scotland. If we regain our honor as a rugby nation it will be thanks to the Scots. May we kick your arsses one day with much appreciation.
22 Nov 2010, 19:58 pm
@Zinto(Zinto) :
Danie Rousseau, much better than Flip.
Am starting to worry about Flip, looks like he might not be the future at no.4. He seems to just lumber around and go through the motions.
22 Nov 2010, 21:00 pm
@Skiballas(Skiballas1) :
You’re a 100% correct in your assesemnt but for one point. in the final minutes SA had a penalty and Ruan turned to Matfield for direction. He then kicked the ball. It’s obvious that this is what Matfield had told him to do but the clowns blame Ruan. I just watched the game again and it’s undeniable that Matfield made the decision for which Ruan is being roundly condemned for.
22 Nov 2010, 22:35 pm
@Skiballas(Skiballas1) : Well said – the captain, players and coach seem to be indifferent to the approach required in tehmodrn game. But how can these same players be so good in the S14?
Because players are dumb, and need to have teh structure and approach laid out for them for EVERY game. Something Divvy is not capable of doing, preferring to ge his mustache waxed and let the players manage themselves.
Also, our players are so out of condition that its ridiculous – they cannot maintaina decent defence with speed off the mark, and cannot maintain intensity for more than 20 minutes.
Thats what happens when players police themselves.
BRING BACK JAKE!!!
23 Nov 2010, 00:45 am
@JockBok(JockBok) : The general consensus is: Scotland are always kak, but at the moment the Boks are so super kak and have the worst coach in history, they made 2nd tier Scotland look sort of decent.
23 Nov 2010, 01:36 am
@Skiballas(Skiballas1) : “stop blaming the one player who entered the match when it was a loosing cause already…”
Tighten up that cause. ASAP. Before it falls off.
24 Nov 2010, 05:20 am
What amazes me is that the Boks can score tries against NZ and Aus in the Tri Nations yet cant score against the massively inferior Six Nations teams, they are a highly frustrating team to watch as they have a lot of talent but cant for the life of them perform the basics well enough to mount any attacks, they also play as individuals and at times lack urgency.
Why are the All Blacks good? mainly three reasons 1 they do the basics well 2 the get quick ball down the line 3 they play as a team
As for Scotland being kak, im scottish and i seem to remember we should have beaten Wales and England in the six nations this year and we also beat Ireland, by a point more than you guys if i remember correctly.
The 49-3 result was always on, the idiot that thought that we should have played New Zealand who had gelled in the last 3 months first in our autumn tests should have been fired, throwing in new caps to the mix did not help either, that gifted NZ 20+ points to begin with, a test vs Samoa or Fiji would have given the team a bit of confidence and allowed them to work each other out
I remember being at Murrayfield when SA beat us 68-10 those days are long gone now, the players of todays Boks lack the hunger of the guys back then. If you want to se a hungry Boks team watch the 1998 T Nations match between SA and NZ which they won 24-23 if you want to see a team that was utterly ravenous for victory and did not give up, its on Youtube
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