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.
449 Comments
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24 Nov 2010, 16:08 pm
@Dawn(Dawn) :
howzit cougar.
24 Nov 2010, 16:12 pm
when is the ashes , is it tommorow ???
24 Nov 2010, 16:13 pm
@gunther(gunther) : LOL! My first exposure to a cougar was in the tv series cougar town. Can’t all the cougars be like the character in the show?
24 Nov 2010, 16:20 pm
PdV will be out-coached. Again.
24 Nov 2010, 16:23 pm
@funkyzoo(funkyzoo) : Dont think so. We are going to beat England. Their expansive game is not going to come off against us.
24 Nov 2010, 16:25 pm
@pompies2(pompies2) : i’ve just been introduced to cougar town, yeah if all the cougars were like courtney cox, i’d bag myself one too
24 Nov 2010, 16:27 pm
@pompies2(pompies2) :
my first exposure to a cougar was at the tender age of 15.
i cant still remember touching her front bottom.
good times.
24 Nov 2010, 16:29 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) : Once met a Cougar on New Years Eve, she was drunk as F%&*!! Hopped out of her Chevy Spark and gave me and my buddies all hugs!! When she drove away we were like, damn should of banged her!! lol
24 Nov 2010, 16:31 pm
@wp_boytjie(wp_boytjie) :
Yes 2am our time.
24 Nov 2010, 16:34 pm
@gunther(gunther) : You cant remember?
24 Nov 2010, 16:38 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami) :
Our defense us porousvand our attack is predictable. We have no vision and no plan. And every coach PdV goes up against outmaneuvers him tactically.
If we win it will not be architected and it will not be convincing. But it’s much more likely England will skin us. Intelligence matters.
24 Nov 2010, 16:40 pm
Martin Johnson: “Good teams are good every week”
Hey Martin – we’re not good every week but we’re a good team. Aren’t we?
24 Nov 2010, 16:42 pm
@gunther(gunther) : You a mechanic too. You like to fiddle under the hood.
24 Nov 2010, 16:43 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami) :
can..crikey.
i’ve gone all week at the knees and my hands are shaky.
24 Nov 2010, 16:44 pm
@funkyzoo(funkyzoo) : Our defence was very good against Ireland….they hardly made half a metre on attack. Our attack is predictable I agree…..but if we move the ball from side to side and run straight like against Wales, who can stop us? PDV tactically outhought Kidney with the selection of Kirchner at 13. Ireland and O’driscoll thought they would have a field day with Kirchner at 13. What happened? Kirchner was good and created the match winning try. This team will come right. We are in a slump right now but next year is a new year. Have some faith.
24 Nov 2010, 16:44 pm
@pompies2(pompies2) :
part timer.
after work and weekends.
I don’t mind rolling my sleeves up.
24 Nov 2010, 16:45 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami) : hahahahaha the one that got away
24 Nov 2010, 16:46 pm
@gunther(gunther) : Was she reg? lol
24 Nov 2010, 16:47 pm
@pompies2(pompies2) : gunther is am olympic gold medalist 3 times in the sport of FINGERING
24 Nov 2010, 16:48 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) : Lol
Ja hey.
24 Nov 2010, 16:49 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami) : 365. “PDV tactically outhought Kidney with the selection of Kirchner at 13.”… LOLLLLLLLLLLLLOLLLLLLL.
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe
LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
Grasping for air!
LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
“Tactically out thought”…. Hehehehehehehe
Hysterical!
Lock yourself in a padded room…
LOLLLLLLLLLLL!
24 Nov 2010, 16:49 pm
G2g cheers guys
24 Nov 2010, 16:49 pm
@gunther(gunther) : as long as you stay away from the rotary wankle engines, it’s all good under the hood.
24 Nov 2010, 16:50 pm
@gunther(gunther) : my first exposure to a cougar was at the tender age of 15.
i cant still remember touching her front bottom.
good times.
2 weeks ago thus?
24 Nov 2010, 16:50 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) : Lol you crazy man!
What do you then call the selection of Kirchner?
24 Nov 2010, 16:51 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah) : Lol
24 Nov 2010, 16:53 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami) : go HOME!
24 Nov 2010, 16:53 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah) :
It felt like it was yesterday.
actually I tell a lie.
It felt like taking gold coins out of a silk purse.
24 Nov 2010, 16:53 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami) : 375. Brain dump, farked up, f’kadilly, bullshit, horseshit, rubbish, nonsense…
Not “tactically out thought” Teehehehehehehehehehehe
LOL
Still hysterical…
Chair and all have fallen over 3 times now…
The office is getting suspicious…
24 Nov 2010, 16:55 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami) : Fark, are you one of two who voted Boks will win by 30+ points… Hehehehehe… spose there’s room for everyone on this Bok trainsmash of a ride
24 Nov 2010, 16:56 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) :
exactly.
iori works for igovernment.
if he puts in overtime it will show up on my rates bill.
then I shall have to send Mabel to toy-toy.
which will require taxi fare and “spending money”.
plus she will block up my pvr with all the wrestling she misses.
24 Nov 2010, 16:58 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah) : 374. Her “front bottom”… dead badger???
24 Nov 2010, 16:58 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) : How can it be a brain dump.
Whose call was it? PDV
Did it work? Yes
What did Ireland expect? To smash the Boks because Kirchner was at 13.
What did Kirchner do in the game? Made good tackles and never lost the ball. Set up Aplon for a try.
You cant deny, it was a good selection and played mind games with Ireland. They really didnt know what to expect.
Therefore PDV outplayed Kidney.
24 Nov 2010, 17:00 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) :
meerkat.
killed with an axe.
24 Nov 2010, 17:00 pm
Guys I must really go now or I will miss my train. @Heavens Game(Heavens Game) : Nope I voted Boks to win by 1-7.
24 Nov 2010, 17:01 pm
@gunther(gunther) : ur wife is Mabel right?
24 Nov 2010, 17:01 pm
@gunther(gunther) : Lol I am working overtime whole week to save up for a christmas box. Thanks Gunther!!
24 Nov 2010, 17:02 pm
@gunther(gunther) : 384. Jeez, I amdone FARKLOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPOLL
24 Nov 2010, 17:03 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami) : that’s the same mindfark jake was going for when he played wacko jaco at 10, but it backfired terriblr for jake. LMAO
24 Nov 2010, 17:06 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) :
I have explained this.
i have asked Mabel to be my second wife hoping that I will save on her salary.
However her family are being ridiculous with lobola.
I have done a spread sheet and it is not cost effective.
So we have a strictly kosher vibe.
also I my partner in a tender for trampolines (which she has stolen through her contact in the army) for the western cape education department in an effort to get kids off tik.
In case they end up like Mighty.
So all in all there is much to lose.
24 Nov 2010, 17:06 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami) : 383. Did it work? Because nothing happened beyond 1st centre doesn’t mean it “worked”…
I saw Kirchner make two errors, one that very nearly led to s try and another that actually did… To Ireland…
Prime example of the truth according to Bob Mugabe…
It ain’t frustrating, it aint sad… Its bloody funny… Keep it up, nearly as funny as Grunter LOL
24 Nov 2010, 17:09 pm
@gunther(gunther) : so who is Maevis?
24 Nov 2010, 17:18 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) :
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game) :
you don’t know that joke?
guy walks into a bar full of dead stuffed animals and says to the barman.
“If I can name every one of these dead animals, tell you hwo they died and what they are worth will you gib=ve me a free drink?”
The barman looks incredulous but the man’s wife rolls her eyes.
she’s seen this before and says she’s going home.
the man points to an animal and tells the barman
“antelope, killed with a hunting rifle, worth about $2,000″
correct says the barman and pours him a drink.
the man continues
‘shallow pig, killed with a crossbow worth about $150″
correct again says the barman and purs him another drink.
this carries on until the man leaves the bar completely shitfaced.
the next morning the guy wakes up with two black eyes and a raging headache.
he asks his wife what happened.
“I beat you up” she says
“why” he askes
“because you came home shitfaced after playing your usual game. you crawled between my legs and slurred
meerkat, killed with an axe. worth nothing”….
@Transformation(Transformation) :
Maevis is Mabel.
Mabel is the name she uses on her fraudelent social security grant.
24 Nov 2010, 17:21 pm
@gunther(gunther) : 393. LOL, dribbling now… Called over a colleague. The oke is choking…hahahahahahahahah!
24 Nov 2010, 19:52 pm
@gunther(gunther) : @ 256
what with gold watches now deemed redundant and ole Ma’ Soo Zees recipe book consigned to the museum, they might now just have to rely on Lady Luck instead to make Test wins relevant again….
DOH !
bugger, already used that one up in 2007.
24 Nov 2010, 21:47 pm
One of the PDV apologists earlier said that PDV has beaten the French in France. Can you please remind me when this happened. I must have been on the Moon at the time, don’t remember it.
24 Nov 2010, 21:48 pm
396 – More accurately put – PDV “has coached the Boks to a win in France.”
24 Nov 2010, 21:50 pm
its obviously the decline of the holy imperialistic colonialist Aryan empire but they just can’t seem to get their dumb deluded indoctrinated Caucasian heads around some salient facts
You see Pdivvy is an agent of the dark negative forces of embedded Affricative evil, the underhand irreligious current of anarchic chaos sent to destabilize the Aryan supremacy syndrome of highfalutin snotty nosed delusions of grandeur as pertinently and patently signified here by the likes of these draconian second grade excuses for Springbok supporters, these heathen handed halfassed exclusionary diversionary delinquents who like to think of themselves as the upper crust narcissus echelons of the SA rugby fraternity.
They gotta get their @sses handed to them one ignominious method or another, so good for you PdV, drive these heathen horde Nazi sympathetic moronic ignoramus’s elongated snotty filled Aryan snouts into the hallowed white skinned evangelical ground.
Its time, time to see the reality for what it is, time for these deluded delinquents to realize whats actually cutting around their despicably dreary dubiously droning ears, time to understand they no more the sanctified peanut brained society of sycophantic psychosocial rugby religionists who think they rule when in fact they are ruled, who think they supersede supremacy with schizophrenically psychopathic sich heil certainty, time for these dubious delusional derelict defrauding dumbschmucks to face their own eroding derailing dereliction of denial square in their dubious deliberating pompous pretentious faces.
24 Nov 2010, 21:54 pm
Lol @ the deluded one. The funniest guy on the blog
24 Nov 2010, 21:55 pm
223. GEO(GEO) :
November 24th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
@Transformation(Transformation) : I agree it was a bad performance against Scotland, but none worse than 2002 or 2006. But under PDV we’ve beaten the French, All Blacks and Ireland away, which the two previous coaches couldn’t do, but I don’t remember any such backlash from the media, unfortunately a certain section of the rugby supporting public, which also represents a minority grouping in our country seem to enjoy riding this bandwagon. I feel common sense has given way to allow frustrations to be vented and the springbok coach is a easy target.
Can anyone tell me when we beat France away under Snor?
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