Boks short on time to gel
5 Apr 2011
JON CARDINELLI writes that blending the playing styles of the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers into a World Cup-wining formula may require more time than what’s currently available.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers addressed the media last Thursday, and spoke at length about South Africa’s World Cup preparations. De Villiers confirmed that planning camps will be staged in May, June and July. While there won’t be much physical activity at these camps, there will be technical discussions about how the Boks should play at the tournament in New Zealand.
The Kiwis are anticipating a Bok approach that centres around the kicking exploits of Fourie du Preez and Morne Steyn. Some scribes have taken the Bulls’ tactical dismantling of the Hurricanes as a sign of things to come, and expect the Boks to replicate that kick-and-chase strategy this September.
It was a strategy that proved so effective for the Boks in the 2009 Tri-Nations, but in the 2010 installment, they were punished for their lack of variation. They will cop another clout if they persist with this approach at the World Cup, as while it was good enough to beat the headless chickens parading as Hurricanes, it won’t trouble the top Test teams.
I’m not suggesting that the Boks abandon the tactic, as in certain situations it still has value. What I am suggesting is that they develop their game beyond it. They failed to do so in 2010, and as the record will show, they lost five Tri-Nations matches that season.
We’re seven rounds into the 2011 Super Rugby competition, and no team has looked as well-balanced as the Crusaders. The top three South African teams have played well in patches, and have all exhibited particular strengths. If these strengths were successfully combined, the Boks would boast a complete side.
The Stormers’ have been matchless at the tackle and their defence has unsettled the top attacking teams, while the Bulls are in possession of those two excellent tactical kickers, Du Preez and Steyn, as well as an imposing lineout. The Sharks’ attacking game can be devastating, and it’s the momentum of their forwards that’s most impressive in this respect.
De Villiers smiled at the media when asked about the current Super Rugby tournament and the performances of the top teams. He insisted that it’s a good thing to have options, but he also conceded that a clash of styles was at the heart of the Boks’ troubles last year.
The Bulls and Stormers competed in the 2010 final, and the bulk of those teams progressed to the Boks. When the national side began to struggle in the Tri-Nations, it was revealed that the camp was divided on the type of rugby they wanted to play.
De Villiers didn’t confirm the details of this disagreement, but he admitted that every player needs to be on the same page if the Boks are going to win the World Cup. The planning camps will help, but in terms of putting that shared philosophy into action, and actually establishing some on-field synergy, the Boks are pressed for time.
Super Rugby concludes in July and while the first-choice players will be included in the Tri-Nations squad, they won’t feature on the away leg of the Tri-Nations. This will give them an opportunity to condition ahead of the global tournament, just as the Bok side of 2007 did before they went on to win the Webb Ellis Cup.
Jake White’s team had a distinct advantage, however. They played three Tests before the Tri-Nations, and the best players were available for the first two matches of the Sanzar tournament. After that, the World Cup team were afforded opportunities to gel against the likes of Namibia, Scotland and Connacht. De Villiers’s team won’t have that luxury.
The incumbent coach has identified the World Cup pool matches against Wales, Samoa, Namibia and Fiji as the time to build synergy before they meet the better teams in the knockout stages. De Villiers wants to start his best players at every World Cup match, and while the Boks have the quality to beat the aforementioned teams, they will miss out on the chance to put their ‘hybrid strategy’ to a greater test.
The Bulls, Sharks and Stormers will supply the bulk of the 2011 World Cup squad, and much can be taken from those three teams in terms of strategy. How the Bok management concocts a World Cup plan from that remains to be seen, as incorporating all three strategies will mean picking more versatile players.
The Kiwis are right to expect an approach reliant on tactical kicking if Steyn travels to New Zealand in September, and it begs the question of his value in the modern game. On the other hand, the Boks are running out of time to establish a hybrid playing style with men like Butch James as the axis. James can offer so many options, but will he have enough opportunities to gel with the first-choice team?
670 Comments
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5 Apr 2011, 22:59 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-650: ****-sk.anky
5 Apr 2011, 23:00 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-643:
All that is being said to those of the 600 to 620 posters is that they do not know how it started and it was revealed to them by quoting ZUB.
Where do I make a judgement on that when I advised him to correct it much ealier you moron/s?
As for the few posts before this including the one you found funny, it is all scraping the bottom of the barrel, thunb-sucking rubbish which exposes so many desperados.
Anyone can take an E and a T and insert it in a funny c & p job, but it is irrelevant to me and the beating you take for all your propensities to lie and hide the ugly personally or collectively.
5 Apr 2011, 23:26 pm
Butch on current form will battle to make the Lion’s Vodacom Cup team! His last 2 games for Bath were shockers.
5 Apr 2011, 23:44 pm
ET: you conviniently dredging up zub’s post reveals your duplicity, you know exactly how your latterday bum_chum HG has been trolling with you in tow cheerleading, so please quit the righteous act.
5 Apr 2011, 23:49 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-654: Hellsteeth, I nearly fell over. Tranny posted an opinion of his own… Its been a long time coming… Well done Mpimpi….
5 Apr 2011, 23:52 pm
these two fckukker et and hg are so insecure and fearful of beig upstaged by bloggers that they can’t stay away from the blog believing in their demented minds if they have the last posts at the end of the day than that means they have won the arguments.they remind me of spoiled litte kids.little man syndrome is more appropriate to describe these plonkers though.
6 Apr 2011, 01:05 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-654:
Laughable in the extreme, but some of us know you are a groupie and deviate only when it suits your purpose, inkwenkwe ncinci.
With what credibility or morality or certainty do you even say that? It is a thread on page 1 and the last of the day is the first I check in the new day hence I read the pertinent question and checked it for context. How more correct can one be. I brought it to his attention too without insults.
But the correct way to handle it was to answer the question as quickly after post #683 as possible but his arrogance precluded him from so doing.
Am I to believe you read minds now?
Do you also see ghosts?
‘ Lala kakuhle kancinci.’ and note I can say the hl and the nc very well.
6 Apr 2011, 01:10 am
@Lucem Petimus(Lucem Petimus)-656:
How more pathetic can a fool get?
To get your satisfaction try changing the system of time used or even more ridiculously change what is east to west and what is west to east. See how simple it is. It means using your noggin.
Also what is last at night converts into first in the new day. That too should make you happy.
6 Apr 2011, 01:43 am
pdv doing an excellent impression of mediocrity. if we didn’t know better we’d all think he is a clueless twit.
6 Apr 2011, 05:52 am
When confronted with the impenetrable truths the only things left for you all is to use your negatively vivid imaginations to concoct all sorts of scenarios which unfortunately all break down so misrable in the bright light of any new day.
And it is repeated so often that you begin to believe your thumb-sucks, that is how desperate and frustrated you are.
One WC down and lost and another to be attempted.
But I have bad news for you. You will never win again. Simply really, is it not?
6 Apr 2011, 05:53 am
Mediocrity isn’t all that terrible. You’re in the median zone. Roughly in the middle, somewhere. That’s what the word means.
PDV would surprise himself and all his critics if he could magically up his game to a mediocre level from the decidedly sub-mediocre cellar-dweller levels his blanked 0-3 vs NZ Boks currently enjoy.
6 Apr 2011, 06:27 am
Boks should not right off Wales. That would be disastrous.
The New Zealand B and C teams should not be too difficult unless the Boks allow them to play 7′s basketball rugby.
6 Apr 2011, 06:39 am
I think we need to see who we have come WC time after an exhausting S15 and Tri Nations- expect loads of injuries and switches in positions.
6 Apr 2011, 06:44 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-661:
It was a year ago and the Kaaiwaais were on the receiving end of a 3-0 drubbing….and the Kiwis were playing with a full strength team…
6 Apr 2011, 06:55 am
Two years ago…what a lovely year it was too…only thing not won was tiddlywinks.
6 Apr 2011, 08:17 am
Came in early to catch up on some work, instead found myself fascinated by this thread for an hour plus! Seems Keo is a totally different animal at night (speaking of animals: I am a stormer, hyenas would only ever dare chasing lions from their kill when they outnumber them about four to one), sworn enemies banding together to fight of others.
6 Apr 2011, 08:17 am
Eish. I got the devil’s post.
6 Apr 2011, 17:33 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-229: Very well said.
8 Apr 2011, 05:56 am
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-664: a full stremgth team ? bwahahahah
****.. Carter missed the first two games, Isaac Ross was a genuine novice and not up to the task, but a full strength team? take your hand of your rather small appendage.. eish..
and it was 2 years ago, 2009, it now being 2011..
simple mathematics also allude that dumb brain of yours? wehat a friggin mamparra you are, a total dropkick…
7 May 2011, 22:12 pm
MAN for MAN
Which Saffers would you choose in an AB WC line-up?
Biz and Bekker.
Francois. Could be interesting but almost certainly going to be omitteded for quota (Bokke picks Aplon, Jantjies, Beast; prolly gotta take 2 of Adi, Odwa, Jean de Jongh as fringe).
Jean/Jacqes? Hmm, how bout SBW/Freuen or Nonu/Conrad Smith.
Alberts or Schalk vs Keino or Thomson?
Heinrich or Flo vs Richie – even Todd?
Er, no-one else.
2 out of 22!
We’re going to have to rely on combos and gees for the WC.
Hope for oppo injuries? Be nice.
Or some Rassie magic?
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