Killing Kanko
24 Nov 2010
RYAN VREDE argues that Ryan Kankowski is guilty of letting himself down but appalling management and a patent lack of coaching are mitigating factors.
Just two years ago there was a raging debate about who of Pierre Spies or Ryan Kankowski should start at No 8 for the Springboks. Spies had one of his worst-ever Super Rugby campaigns, while Kankowski shone for the Sharks, prompting widespread calls for his inclusion.
However, Peter de Villiers banked on Spies but told the media that we were ‘blessed’ to have a talent like Kankowski in the wings. ‘There is no difference whether Spies or Kankowski plays,’ he added, ‘they’re equally good.’
Seventeen Test matches into his career and we’re still waiting for Kankowski to replicate his best Super Rugby form on the Test stage. Certainly he hasn’t strengthened his case for a run-on start in the limited opportunities he has received, but the cause of his mediocrity demands closer inspection.
Undoubtedly the Springboks’ pragmatic tactics don’t aid him and is the reason both he and Spies have struggled to assert themselves consistently at Test level. Nowhere was that more evident than against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
The Springboks began promisingly, playing through phases and attacking the channels around the ruck fringe. Kankowski would often be deployed at third or fourth phase, where he had time and space to attack a depleted defensive line. By utilising him in this manner the Springboks were harnessing his primary strength and extracting the greatest value from him.
Then inexplicably they started to kick away possession. Compounding their problems was the poor execution of those kicks. Kankowski, along with the team’s other primary strike runners, was rendered a virtual spectator for the remainder of the Test.
Furthermore, De Villiers argues that he has invested in Kankowski, but that investment amounts to 609 minutes of a possible 1 360. That seems reasonable for a second-choice eighthman.
However, the picture becomes clearer when you consider that 122 of those minutes were spent at blindside flank, a position he freely concedes he is not suited to, 86 of those minutes were against lowly Italy and those 80 minutes were in the dead-rubber third Test against the British & Irish Lions in 2009. Tests against Wales and Scotland account for a further 215 minutes.
De Villiers’ estimation of the player was further questioned when he selected Joe van Niekerk ahead of him for the Test against Wales in June. Van Niekerk would not be selected again in 2010.
In fact this year Kankowski has suffered most from his coaches’ clear lack of vision and unwavering belief in an off-form Spies.
Barring the Scotland Test on Saturday, he’s started once, at blindside flank against Australia in Perth, and was woeful. Only twice has he played in two successive matches. When announcing his team to play England, De Villiers called Kankowski the Man of the Match against Scotland, but still omitted him from the match 22 for Twickenham.
It’s not just flawed and stifling tactics and a lack of game time that irks. It is also that Kankowski clearly hasn’t been schooled in the the nuances between Super Rugby and Test rugby. His running lines and positional play don’t differ, which is a poor reflection on the Springboks’ coaching staff.
Willem Alberts is De Villiers’ new plaything. When Heinrich Brüssow returns, Kankowski’s international career will stall. The treatment he has received is abominable. A player of his calibre deserves better.
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189 Comments
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24 Nov 2010, 11:45 am
@Transformation(Transformation) : 88. What you doing talking about Rossoneri – “half Middelburg milf”…. “LMFAO”
24 Nov 2010, 11:48 am
@askanaz1(askanaz1) : 97. Ask your “wonderful”, “amazing” coaching trio PdV, TrickyDicky, and Goldilocked why you “still can’t work out these endless infatuations with substandard test players like Kankowski, Olivier, Kirchner, even Spies to extent”….
Maybe its: they don’t what the fark they are doing….
At least you starting to see the light….
24 Nov 2010, 11:53 am
Lol old fuckadilly.
He changes with the wind.
Lets hope he doesn’t dribble on his jean pant.
24 Nov 2010, 11:56 am
@gunther(gunther) : 103. That Nokia is getting molested at this stage… after that wind in the willows underlining…
24 Nov 2010, 12:03 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) : stillettos u pervert…
24 Nov 2010, 12:06 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) : Okay, half middelburg milf… in stilettos… waiting for her boytoy… Transie.
24 Nov 2010, 12:08 pm
The old nokia is in the repair shop having the letters ******* a d i l y repaired on the keypad.
It is also having a thick coating of bile removed from it’s screen.
24 Nov 2010, 12:09 pm
I’ll ask again who has been clearing the rucks etc. for the last couple of if Kanko is so nowhere … monster men Daniel and Botes?
You don’t win the CC twice and be competitive at Super 14 with a poor loose trio.
24 Nov 2010, 12:13 pm
108. kevin w(kevin w)
But winning 2 super rugby trophies in a row with a bunch of panzie looses is possible
24 Nov 2010, 12:15 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) : Kanko is like mesikind
good for s14 and currie cup but not wuite there for international
problem is why persist if not good enough and some1 like alberts is there?
then again Alberts can cover more positions and hence him on the bench
24 Nov 2010, 12:16 pm
@phil72(phil72) : which team was that?
24 Nov 2010, 12:18 pm
@Papoose(papaown) : Maybe Kanko and Wynand Olivier get extended runs in their positions at CC and Super 14 level … ever thought about that?
And Alberts has been played two weeks in a row … coming on at the same time in the same position with the same job to do.
24 Nov 2010, 12:19 pm
@kevin w(kevin w) : read post 110
thts like asking which centre has been scoring and creating tries for the Bulls
DUH Meisikind
put on a green jersey and is he the same player, i dont think so
24 Nov 2010, 12:20 pm
Just checked the forecast for Saturday, if rain was a problem then God help us with a prediction of a low of -2C and a high of 3C with light SNOW.
24 Nov 2010, 12:25 pm
@Papoose(papaown) : Yeah he is the same player, just wearing a different jersey.
24 Nov 2010, 12:25 pm
111. kevin w
Steggies, Spies and Potgieter not really rated on this site…
24 Nov 2010, 12:26 pm
@kevin w(kevin w) : 112. Well said!
24 Nov 2010, 12:29 pm
@gunther(gunther) : 107. Lol. Note how ask a naz1 is now very quiet after the pointing out of how the wind seems to blow from all directions in the skop weather front…
Maybe the new Nokia is also farked now…
24 Nov 2010, 12:31 pm
cc and S14 is not International rugby
Kankowski and Meisiekind are Cc and S14 level players, never have been international level and never will be, klaar.
24 Nov 2010, 12:36 pm
BOth are ****. Danie Roussouw generally out plays both of them, he also plays well in the NH and especially well v the Poms!
24 Nov 2010, 12:38 pm
ask a f’ng Nazi which way the wind blows or where the nearest gas chamber or funeral parlor is and they sure to tell you like these two dumb Kraut Nazi’s goebeldygunthergwat and Herr Shameless
24 Nov 2010, 12:39 pm
@race of tan(race of tan) :
Yeah good point Danie really shone for us last time we played at Twickers. Danie, Smith and Spies offer the kind of grunt we need against the Poms but Steggies if he can slow their ball will disrupt them with their new found “expansive” style.
24 Nov 2010, 12:55 pm
@askanaz1(askanaz1) : 121. That funeral parlour is reserved not for a Death of a Salesman, but the Demise of a Bokcoach. I think England may show on saturday not how To Kill a Mockingbird, but Tequila MockBok Coach…
24 Nov 2010, 13:02 pm
Nice fuckadilly.
You sad old bag of piss
24 Nov 2010, 13:05 pm
Another stupid article from Ryan Vrede , no suprises there.
Its called STEPPING UP Ryan! Raising your game when the oppurtunity has presented itself. Guys like Aplon , Willem Alberts,jeez even Brussouw when he started out, have had far fewer chances to establish themselves than Kankowski or Wynand Olivier ,but somehow they have taken their oppurtunities and made the most of them.
My dog’s bladdy nephew from the Karoo could have written better articles than this.
Just wasted 10minutes of my life on this. How bout an article on Danie Roussouw as a 8th man in those conditions , or how the emergence of Alberts has been one of the small positives on a miserable tour.
24 Nov 2010, 13:29 pm
And the vote for the most easily provocable blogger on this site goes to…….
24 Nov 2010, 13:35 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) : 126. For that answer you may have to ask a naz1…
24 Nov 2010, 13:35 pm
Ryan,
You think PDV will drop Kankowski for Alberts for the WC?
No chance.
24 Nov 2010, 13:37 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) :
good day HG
24 Nov 2010, 13:39 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover) : 129 Howzit SL. All good your side… Did you dodge the magnum .357 PI oke who was threatening you the other day
24 Nov 2010, 13:40 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
old hair trigger.
el fuckadillio.
he is about as stable as the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Moosavi Khomeini.
with pmt.
24 Nov 2010, 13:40 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) : Don’t you think it’s rather ironic the we’ve abbreviated what is basically a Jewish tribe (albeit adopted, not true sons of Abraham, but professing the Jewish faith nonetheless) into naz1?
24 Nov 2010, 13:41 pm
@askanaz1(askanaz1) : 119. Soon you’ll be saying that about all the Bok players especially after PdV and TrickyDicky especially have had their wicked way with them…
24 Nov 2010, 13:44 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) : 132, They are German Jews… I think the biggest sect/grouping in the world… It is rather ironic… I think the source of this name doesn’t get irony though
24 Nov 2010, 13:45 pm
@gunther(gunther) : Yeah. More like Kim Jong Ill at the moment…
24 Nov 2010, 13:45 pm
@gunther(gunther) : 131. LOL. I did an All Black there… I choked…
24 Nov 2010, 13:47 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) : 135. Watch out. The Nokia is being configured to artillery fire control and you going to be the South Korean island…
24 Nov 2010, 13:52 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) : Yeah. I have actually asked him a couple of times now why the nic, but he’s ignored me. Si I’m left to draw my own conclusions.
24 Nov 2010, 13:56 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) :
I can actually see fuckadilly messing around with his tofu and chopsticks dribling away wondering which part of the capitalist imperialist running dog schmuckface South Korea to wipe off the map with his nokia 100.
to be honest its quite a frightening prospect.
the sort of thing you would threaten naughty kids with.
24 Nov 2010, 13:56 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) : lol HG yeah man the oke was the internet ruiter in swart
24 Nov 2010, 13:59 pm
@gunther(gunther) :
24 Nov 2010, 14:00 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) : or Kid colt
24 Nov 2010, 14:05 pm
@gunther(gunther) : “Flied lice you plick!” (Lethal Weapon)
24 Nov 2010, 14:06 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) : 138. At risk of a nokia controlled guided f’kadilly missile…
24 Nov 2010, 14:06 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) :
24 Nov 2010, 14:07 pm
@gunther(gunther) : 139. Hehehehe. Yeah, and it could go in any direction… any way the wind blows… Ol Keo Kim Il changes his mind many many times….
24 Nov 2010, 14:08 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover) : 140. Ja, but you sorted him nicely in the end…
24 Nov 2010, 14:09 pm
@kevin w(kevin w) : dont be a moron
he’s not the same player for the bok as for the bulls
same with Stephen Donald with the all blacks and chiefs
dont take “same player” so literally
i’m sure you did Higher Grade English at school
24 Nov 2010, 14:09 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
don’t give him ideas
24 Nov 2010, 14:15 pm
@gunther(gunther) : lol sometimes I’ll just provoke him to see what he spews back, If I’m online in the evenings. His response usually swift and never dissapointing.
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