Twickers result is irrelevant

Twickers result is irrelevant

24 Nov 2010

JON CARDINELLI writes that backing experimental selections at Twickenham would have been better than sending the first-stringers out to avenge wounded pride.

The Boks broke a 10-year losing streak in Dublin, a victory that was important in the World Cup context. They picked up more psychological points in Cardiff the very next week. It wasn’t pretty, but the Bok had struck two big blows before a defining 2011 season.

Then Scotland brought them to earth. Many people lamented the end of a Grand Slam opportunity when in the greater scheme of things, the Grand Slam should never have been as important as building towards the World Cup.

Last Saturday’s game was a waste with Peter de Villiers neglecting to back more fringe players in a starting capacity. Nothing was learned in terms of how the second-stringers could handle the starting responsibilities. Those lessons would have been worth the risk of defeat.

But De Villiers blew that opportunity, and failed in his own personal ambition to stay on course for a career-saving Grand Slam. He’s blown another opportunity ahead of this Saturday, picking his strongest side yet again, as a win against England could be what keeps him in the job.

If the Boks beat England, they will head back to South Africa with a scorecard that reads three Test wins from four. It may be considered a pass in the results department, but when it comes to developing new and exciting talent before a World Cup year, the head coach and the selectors have failed.

Lwazi Mvovo has been rushed into the Bok starting side due to Bryan Habana’s tour-ending injury, and wouldn’t be starting if Habana was fit. Pat Lambie has been limited to three second-half cameos on this tour, while Francois Hougaard has also been used erratically.

Willem Alberts has produced two powerful bench performances that suggest he may be South Africa’s new super-sub in 2011, but he deserved a start in the Scotland fixture. Lions flyhalf Elton Jantjies has done nothing but carry tackle bags, and would have been better served conditioning for an important Super Rugby tournament.

That the Boks would embark on a Grand Slam tour a year before the World Cup is a bungle at administrative level. No team should be expected to send full-strength squads to the north after a full year of rugby, especially just 11 months before the all-important tournament. This should be a time for testing new combinations and blooding new players.

Somehow this tour has become more about results and preserving De Villiers’s job rather than developing and strengthening new combinations. De Villiers missed another chance to try something different when he named his match 22 on Tuesday. He listed conditions as an explanation, but why bring the other players to the northern hemisphere if you’re not going to trust them to deal with the weather? Sending them on in difficult conditions midway through the second half doesn’t help their development or the synergy of the team, and it’s this kind of mismanagement and lack of common sense that’s characterised a disappointing tour.

Lambie should have been entrusted with a starting opportunity from the outset. If the Boks were really adamant about picking up the psychological points against World Cup opponents Ireland and Wales, then you could understand the decision to stick with Morne Steyn at No 10 as well as several other safe selections. But there was no sense in sending the seniors out against Scotland.

There’s even less reason to send them out against England. The Poms are hitting some form, and there’s a good chance a full-strength Bok side could come short yet again. A loss at Twickenham for the Boks’ first-choice team would render the tour a failure, as nothing new would have been learned, and two big defeats would have been suffered. But if De Villiers backed more youngsters in this final fixture and they performed (or alternatively, fared poorly) then he would know what he had in those players.

If there’s an argument that it’s unfair to ask players like Lambie and Jantjies to play now, it calls into question why De Villiers selected them to tour in the first place. Most of the fringe players will get a chance against the Barbarians on 4 December, but this fixture cannot be used to gauge a player’s aptitude for Test rugby.

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449 Comments

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  • 251.Staal: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 13:52 pm

    why is this debate about JWhite?

    :shock:

  • 252.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 13:53 pm

    @Bod(bod) : Yeah, but “Bod” is totally straight…. :D

  • 253.geo: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 13:53 pm

    @Drlector(Drlector) : If you have to expierence racism like I, you would understand that racism isn’t something of the 80′s but people like you who live in total ignorance have kept it alive and even more damaging today.

  • 254.PissAnt: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 13:55 pm

    @stormersboy(stormersboy) :

    Ah okay.

  • 255.Bod: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 13:56 pm

    @stormersboy(stormersboy) :

    It was the female species that gave me that nic… nothing I can do about that…

  • 256.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 13:56 pm

    @Black Panther(Black Panther) :

    well it will be another excuse to strike off your list for next year.

    and if you don’t get wayne barnes…

    then you are pretty much stuck with global warming or the intrasigence of global financial institutions.

    things aren’t looking good.

  • 257.Falken: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 13:57 pm

    @geo(geo) : The only person keeping it up is people like you who have to make every debate about race.

    This is exactly the problem…politics in sport.
    Why do you have to link sports with politics?

  • 258.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 13:58 pm

    @stormersboy(stormersboy) :

    I think Bod is ironic :)

    kind of like calling gio aplon slapchips.

    or calling Bakkies “the Brain”.

  • 259.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 13:59 pm

    @Staal(Staal) :

    its called deflection.

  • 260.Bod: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:00 pm

    Anyone watching this paint drying they call a cricket test match at the moment??

    I think I would rather watch the PVR of last Saturdays Scotland game…

  • 261.Staal: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:00 pm

    @gunther(gunther) : :lol:

  • 262.Bod: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:01 pm

    @Bod(bod) :

    Or maybe even hook up a conversation with Gunther…

  • 263.Alucard: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:02 pm

    @Staal(Staal) :

    It’s about Jake because they need to sling mud at him to make duh Failures look good! The fact that they have to twist the past to make him look good proves how poor he actually is. He cannot stand out as a great coach on his own, lol.

  • 264.adi: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:03 pm

    Where were we.

    PDV were goint to select Adi, but due to media pressure had to go for a comprimise Zane.WHo performed better than

    The only rugby writer that was unbiased from the beginning were Adnaan Mohamed. The others did not even gave PDV a chance.

    Where have jake coached sinced the WC. His still riding on the old waves. He wont take a position without Eddie Jones, but eddie have also his eyes set on the coaching job

    Where have Meyer achieved since he left the Bulls.

  • 265.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:03 pm

    @Bod(bod) : It doesn’t occur to you that, as you stood there in your lycra tights with shaved legs and awkward shoes, strong tan lines at your knees and arms, that they may have been slightly ironic?

    :)

  • 266.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:03 pm

    @Bod(bod) :

    Paul Harris is AWESOME.

    the only wickets we’ve taken have been when the jihaaddists have played for turn that wasn’t there.

    the groundsman at centurian better stop rolling the wicket right now.

  • 267.Staal: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:03 pm

    @Bod(bod) : ill rather watch my PC defrag!

  • 268.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:04 pm

    @gunther(gunther) : 258 just saw your post here. Snap.

    Or like calling Skop a moderate….

  • 269.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:04 pm

    @Bod(bod) :

    you are so cruel.

  • 270.Staal: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:05 pm

    @stormersboy(stormersboy) : @ 265

    skitterend! :lol:

  • 271.Taahirah: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:06 pm

    @Bod(bod) : BOD. As in Brian O Driscoll? As in pasty, chubby and incessantly whiny? I see… ;)

  • 272.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:07 pm

    @stormersboy(stormersboy) :

    265

    with his cycling helmet on.

    fresh from his audition for the sequel to District 9.

    A prawn cocktail.

  • 273.Bod: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:07 pm

    @gunther(gunther) :

    I dont know why they played for Harros turn… there never is any. Maybe they know something we have never seen..

  • 274.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:09 pm

    @gunther(gunther) : he he he

  • 275.Two Eyed: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:09 pm

    This is the coach we need

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dLArw8CBk0

  • 276.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:11 pm

    @Bod(bod) :

    poor harro.

    he is the Zane Kirchner of spinners.

  • 277.Bod: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:12 pm

    @stormersboy(stormersboy) :

    Now that I have added a pair of these new Bhorat type cycling thangs to my cycling garb, I personally think that this is the final nail in my armoury of attracting the Camps Bay female species

  • 278.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:12 pm

    @Taahirah(Taahirah) :

    271

    no.

    that’s jake white.

  • 279.Transformation: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:14 pm

    @Staal(Staal) : 250 because Alucard has Jake White on his mind all the time, he can’t criticise PdV without sucking Jake’s dlck. That’s why you find all the threads degenerating into discussions about Jake.. LMAO *

    * LMAO is the official trademark of the ‘intellectually superior on this blog, those that didn’t pass matric by 34%.

    LMAO

  • 280.Bod: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:14 pm

    @gunther(gunther) :

    Lets not go down the Zana Kirchner route… its the quickest way to make me want to give up the will to live

  • 281.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:15 pm

    @Bod(bod) :

    A Camps Bay female?

    Called Gerald.

  • 282.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:15 pm

    @Bod(bod) : LOL ok. YOu mean those chick boys with the Adam’s apples?

  • 283.Taahirah: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:16 pm

    @Bod(bod) : You’re confusing Camps Bay with Sea Point and females with brokebackers. Easy mistake.

  • 284.Alucard: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:17 pm

    Here’s another gem by de Villiers:

    ”I am a ‘small-brain’ person. A small-brain person doesn’t need to go sit down and study over what he’s going to say to people; it comes naturally. People who study and get A’s and B’s are clever people. But people who don’t go and study and have all that wisdom are wise.”

  • 285.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:17 pm

    @Transformation(Transformation) : I’m glad you put the obligatory LMAO at the bottom of your post. I wouldn’t have taken it seriously otherwise ;)

  • 286.Alucard: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:18 pm

    @Transformation(Transformation) :

    My education was abroad, where I surpassed metric.

  • 287.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:19 pm

    ALUCARD = DRACULA backwards.

    I get it.

    How sad.

  • 288.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:20 pm

    @gunther(gunther) : see what I did there? :D

  • 289.Alucard: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:20 pm

    @gunther(gunther) :

    It only took you people three years to figure it out XD

    It’s also a character from a tv series, ultimate fail.

  • 290.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:21 pm

    @Alucard(Alucard) : LOL as apposed to the “imperial” system (metric)

    LMAO

  • 291.Bod: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:22 pm

    Howcome everyone is so clued up on the nuances of the dark side of the Seaboard at the moment??

    Gunther

    Please tell me its not you that wolf whistled me as I sped through the Camps bay promenade last Sunday

  • 292.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:22 pm

    @stormersboy(stormersboy) : \

    clever boy.

    you arfe almost in alucard’s league :)

  • 293.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:22 pm

    @Alucard(Alucard) : Yeah dude, I wouldn’t be all that proud to be the only one on this site who truly appreciates anime……

  • 294.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:23 pm

    @stormersboy(stormersboy) :

    290

    he thinks metric is how black people say it :)

  • 295.Taahirah: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:24 pm

    @Alucard(Alucard) : So you intellectual types watch mundane TV series’? No doubt only to confirm your intellectual superiority?

    Oh.

    Almost forgot:

    LMAO!

    Now Im clever too!

  • 296.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:25 pm

    @Bod(bod) :

    i dunno.

    were you the chick that scraped my porsche with her mountain bike outside caprice?

  • 297.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:25 pm

    @gunther(gunther) : :D oooh. I didn’t realise he was going for the “son of exilet educated overseas and desperately trying to fit in back in the motherland with being constantly called a coconut” thing….

  • 298.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:26 pm

    exile not exilt

  • 299.gunther: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:26 pm

    @stormersboy(stormersboy) :

    anime?

    is that like when mickey mouse gives it to minnie in her hairy inbox?

  • 300.Taahirah: Reply to this comment
    24 Nov 2010, 14:26 pm

    @Bod(bod) : Be honest. You slowed down, didnt you?

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Keo.co.za has always promoted uncensored views, but has never tolerated racist or crass outbursts. Come on guys and girls. If you can't moderate yourselves or each other then I am going to be forced to regulate the posts and enforce a registration process for comments. The choice is yours.

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