Lambie’s fearless
12 May 2011
JON CARDINELLI, writing in SA Rugby magazine, says South Africa’s great prodigy continues to exceed expectations.
Pat Lambie can’t miss. He kicks six out of six against the Melbourne Rebels, and calls kicking consultant Braam van Straaten after the Sharks’ victory. ‘Coach, I’m hitting the ball so sweetly, it feels like I can’t miss,’ he says. That rare combination of skill and composure is once again evident as he nails three out of three the very next week.
In October 2010, SA Rugby magazine hailed the arrival of a special talent. Lambie exhibited all the attributes of a match-winning flyhalf, although at the time of writing, he was yet to substantiate the speculation; he was yet to take control. That article was written about a promising teenager, and few could have predicted the accelerated metamorphosis he would undergo in the next five months.
Lambie has ascended; he has begun to spread his wings. He led the Sharks to a Currie Cup title with a dazzling all-round display against Western Province. The sharp tactical probes, the visionary distribution and, of course, the daring dart and fend on Schalk Burger that epitomised his audacity. That moment alone will go down in domestic history, but on a longer timeline, it will serve as a precursor to greater deeds.
It’s an unshakeable confidence that’s come to mark him more than his natural feel for the game. Lambie believes he can’t miss, and through his increasingly impressive feats, more and more people are beginning to share this confidence.
Van Straaten picked up on that defining quality in the build-up to the 2010 Currie Cup final. Tasked with refining Lambie’s kicking technique, Van Straaten was surprised by the youngster’s penchant for responsibility. Van Straaten and Lambie spent a total of five hours during that final week discussing technique and practising an array of kicks, and it formed the basis for what was to become a prosperous working relationship.
They linked up again during the Sharks’ pre-season, and Lambie remained ambitious. While firmly entrenched as the first-choice flyhalf, there was still much to prove. There were other factors that contributed to his erratic goal-kicking on the Springbok tour of the home nations, but it was clear that his technique was holding him back.
‘There were some fundamental flaws that needed correcting,’ says Van Straaten, a former Springbok flyhalf with a reputation for goal-kicking accuracy. ‘His body position was wrong and his last step towards the ball wasn’t quite right. It took quite a while to fix, but as we saw during the early stages of Super Rugby this year, that hard work has paid off.
‘For a developing player like Pat, you want him exposed to as much ball as possible. This applies to kicking as much as it does to other areas of his game. I’d noticed that the Sharks used Stefan Terblanche as their primary kicker when they kicked for touch, and so I spoke to the Sharks’ coaches and suggested that Pat take on that responsibility. The good habits he’d picked up after working on his goal-kicking were carried across to his kicking out of hand, and because he got a feel for kicking the ball to touch early in the game, he would have some rhythm before kicking for goal.’
The Sharks won four of their first five matches and Lambie boasted a goal-kicking average of 86%. The improvement in his tactical game was also evident, and if not for a finger fracture that sidelined him for three weeks, he may have continued to top the point-scoring table.
While the Sharks toured Australasia, Lambie stayed in close contact with Van Straaten. The latter continued to analyse Lambie’s kicking performances and mail him video clips and feedback. It was after the Sharks beat the Rebels 34-32 in Melbourne and Lambie kicked six out of six that Van Straaten received a phone call from his prodigy.
‘It was a proud moment for me as a coach,’ recalls Van Straaten. ‘We had changed his kicking style and he’d put in the work, and he had progressed to the point where he felt like he just couldn’t miss. And it wasn’t a case of arrogance or over-confidence. He was kicking like an absolute king.’
Lambie’s performances with the boot and with ball in hand have not gone unnoticed. There’s a healthy appreciation for the 20-year-old in Sharks country, while members of the Springbok management are keeping a close eye on his progress.
He already has four Test caps and was on the field when South Africa completed wins against Ireland, Wales and England last year. But whether he gained anything from that northern sojourn is a point of contention.
Before that touring squad was announced, Sharks coach John Plumtree said that it wasn’t ‘necessary’ for Lambie to be involved. Having watched the four Tests and the questionable manner in which Lambie was managed, you’d have to agree that the youngster would have been better served continuing his development in a Sharks jumper. The Bok management introduced Lambie from the bench at odd times, and even the softest of critics would have viewed it as an example of a player being set up to fail. Morné Steyn was in great goal-kicking form, and yet coach Peter de Villiers decided to trade Steyn for Lambie at times when the game was still in the balance.
Lambie admitted that he would have liked a start, but tempered the talk of frustration by adding that the tour provided him with good exposure to the Bok systems. Sharks assistant coach Grant Bashford has been impressed with Lambie’s progress in Super Rugby, and suggests that the flyhalf took the whole Bok experience in his stride.
‘I’m not sure that he added anything to his game after touring with the Boks, but he certainly didn’t do himself a discredit,’ says Bashford. ‘A great deal of work has been done since his return, and he continues to impress everybody, not only with his skill, but also with his attitude.
‘We always felt he would end up at flyhalf, but fate certainly had a hand in his move to the position as early as last year. He came into the Super 14 side as a fullback because Adi Jacobs was out injured and we had to move Stefan Terblanche to outside centre. Then we moved Pat to No 12 in the Currie Cup and eventually to flyhalf when Steve Meyer suffered that big knee injury. Sometimes these things happen for the best.’
Butch James must start at No 10 for the Boks at this year’s World Cup, as he has the all-round game as well as the experience of having won the tournament in 2007. Lambie is the future of South African rugby, but history will show that experienced teams win World Cups.
There is still value in taking the 20-year-old to New Zealand and exposing him to a tournament of this magnitude. He’s handled everything the rugby world has thrown at him, and while it’s a travesty of justice that a starting opportunity didn’t come his way last November, Lambie’s shown a temperament that, like the rest of his skills set, is in another class.
‘Pat has so much time on the ball, he never gets rattled,’ says Bashford. ‘Sure, he’s got a great forward platform to play off, but he’s made the most of that possession.
‘He’s responded fantastically to the responsibility that’s been offered to him. He’s an old head on young shoulders, he makes the big calls and he’s asked for the responsibility to kick. He also has the respect of the younger and senior players. Everybody backs him to make the big decisions.’
And despite his perceived lack of size, he’s stood up to the physical intensity of top-flight rugby. Even in the matches where his forwards have been under pressure, as was the case in that loss to the Chiefs, he doesn’t shirk his defensive duties.
‘Pat’s not exactly small at 92kg,’ says Bashford. ‘His tackle efficiency [before he was sidelined for three weeks] is 93%, so he looks after that all-important flyhalf channel. It’s a channel every team targets nowadays, and Pat’s proved he can handle that pressure.’
The cynics have drawn parallels between Lambie and Frans Steyn, Ruan Pienaar and Brent Russell, but the fact that Lambie played fullback before flyhalf doesn’t mean that he’s doomed to a career as a utility. There was much debate about his best position in 2010, but the argument is now settled. Lambie is a flyhalf. End of story.
At a tender age, Lambie already offers more than Frans Steyn and Russell. Steyn never had the sharp decision-making skills required of a top-class 10, while Russell’s kicking game was a perpetual shortcoming. Pienaar had all the attributes but was never backed in the position, and at times struggled for confidence. It’s clear that Lambie has no such problem. Ask Van Straaten. Ask Bashford. Ask the kid himself. He can’t miss.
‘Pat’s already light years ahead of other players his age,’ says Van Straaten. ‘That kind of calmness under pressure usually comes with experience, but he’s already
there. He’s got all the time in the world, whether he’s running with the ball or kicking it. It’s a mark of the really good players.
‘He has time on his side, and I’d like to see him used in the Tri-Nations before the World Cup. Test rugby has more pressure and variables than Super Rugby. I’d like to see him entrusted with that responsibility, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t pass that test.’
– This article first appeared in the May issue of SA Rugby magazine. The June issue will be on sale from Wednesday, 18 May.
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471 Comments
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12 May 2011, 21:07 pm
Latest on Joost; It’s apparently worse than Andre Venter’s condition. Attacks whole body.
12 May 2011, 21:15 pm
Get well soon, Joost.
Great player and too farking young to go anywhere.
12 May 2011, 21:19 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-397:
you want someone to spell it out for you or you wanna open up your foolish eyes for yourself
else just keep on braaing and suiping you dunno exactly wtf your real lifespan here is about… so keep on going right ahead… keep slagging koeie and varkies and helpless lammertjies and keep on going round and round and round and round again and again and again. Only next time don’t be crying if its your c’ck or your ignorant kop on the chopping block… ignorance is perfect bliss… ain’t it just?
As those little green apples are hanging from those apple trees you gonna be facing the music anytime soon… today… tomorrow… next week… next decade… next half century… but sure as hell as Joost is facing the music right now… so will you… and not too far down the road neither.
12 May 2011, 21:22 pm
Sterkte Joost, talk about a guy being kicked when he’s down
12 May 2011, 21:24 pm
Thats nature, you eat what you eat, you drink what you drink and you reap what you sow thats how it goes… it ain’t about retribution its about simple natural reality.. so catch a wide awake wake up
Sometimes its better to get outa here earlier than later… Joost got his baggage to concern himself with just like everybody else has got thier’s.. no more no less.
Perhaps nature is kind and takes him out quick that’s the best he can hope for right now… quicker the better.
12 May 2011, 21:27 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-403: Ah, more mysticism. Let’s bathe in it’s aura for a while. Soak it up. Become one with whatever the *** we’re supposed become one with. Tra-la-la gobbledegook doesn’t impress or bamboozle me. I know you’re on some Krishna-esque reincarnation vibe here (although you feel a little silly spelling it out because it sounds terrifically nuts), but that lucky packet spirituality won’t do jackshit for you when we’re talking icy comet tails here. Only thing that helps you deal with that kind of reality is a medium rare pepper fillet washed down with a monstrous goblet of mature Shiraz. Trust the katman, old chap.
12 May 2011, 21:31 pm
@JockBok(JockBok)-400:
Yeah Jocky that’s close and when it was over 1000 Au away it aligned with sun and earth and we got those other earthquakes, and some these guys getting pretty darned concerned that if that is the reason for those earthquakes because the incidents are just too uncanny for haphazard coincidence that every time there was an alignment there was an earth quake in the last 18 months or so, that this time its gonna be aligning with Earth and sun within a 300 Au radius of us.
Perhaps the Mayans did actually know some stuff we dunno boo or bah about? Who knows?
12 May 2011, 21:36 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-406: apparently we are what we eat, not sure then if curry & wine makes me hot & fruity or stewed & bottled?
12 May 2011, 21:39 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-406:
You know nothing about what I’m ‘ON’
just like most your gatgabbas in here you don’t have half a fanny foggy clue about it
Simply look at your own situation thats all, stop concerning yourself with what I’m ‘on’ cause you poor fool idiots dunno f’all about any of it actually.
catch a wake up for yourself thats about all you idiot dumb fool can actually try and do within your four score years and ten sojourn more or less here.
its all about stupefied ego for you imbeciles, idiots, its all about who knows what and who don’t as if your empty information means anything.. its empty pie in the sky intellectual idiocy thats about all it is.
let me tell you straight out frankly you know absolutely f’All about wtf is actually going down around you, not the sweetest fanny f’all clue about it whatsoever… so quicker you get a handle around wtf you actually doing here the better for you yourself and nobody else.
Schmuck… another one with his oneupmanship idiotic stupefied intellect leading him a merry dance round and round the dumbfck circus… Wake Up dunce.
12 May 2011, 21:41 pm
@nikoli(nikoli)-408: You see, that’s the great thing about these modern mystical beliefs: you can turn them into whatever suits you. Right now I’m snacking on some crumbly cheddar on wholewheat toast. I guess that makes me warm and mature.
12 May 2011, 21:46 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-410: yeah, like stats, ruined a dinner party once arguing that they are not necessarily an accurate indication of what they purport to measure
12 May 2011, 21:48 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-409: That was about as enlightening as a Buthelezi speech. You still haven’t said anything that actually means anything. Apart from answering questions with questions and repeating, ad nauseum, that none of us know what’s what, you have just blabbed on like a St Georges Mall street preacher. Which leads me to believe that you actually don’t have a fcking clue yourself.
But I am impressed with the 3G connection in your comet bunker. Who are you with?
12 May 2011, 21:50 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-407:
Indeed! Who does?
We think we’ve got it all nailed down but reality is in the grand scale of things, we’re worth absolutely fck all. Many look to the heavens for the answers hoping that something awaits our souls after our visit to this world. Simple fact is we were lucky enough to evolve brains big enough to make life comfortable for ourselves, but the flip side of that coin is that we are not content with what we have and there must be more.
12 May 2011, 21:50 pm
@nikoli(nikoli)-411: And it’s been proven that 67,8% of all stats are made up on the spot.
12 May 2011, 21:51 pm
measure the facts… then make your conclusion… go and try waltzing through the abattoir then come talk your cr@p some more again.
Dumber and dumber deluded in delusional ignorance. Go live through the experience of getting your throat slit then come talk your pie in the sky delusional intellectual mumbo jumbo… fanny faced fool idiots.
And when you see wtf this universal explosion IS actually about then come talk some more cr@p about rooi wyn en sosaarties on the braaivleis.
12 May 2011, 21:55 pm
Measure the facts… What does that even mean, you nonce? Stop trying to sound meaningful. It ain’t working.
12 May 2011, 21:57 pm
Assshampoo is a loon no doubt.
One thing is for sure.
I’d hate to be partnered with him in a scrabble tournament.
12 May 2011, 22:00 pm
@JockBok(JockBok)-413:
We got very little clue actually… what we can see from this submerged vantage point wrt the entire picture puzzle is hardly even the tip of any iceberg of reality
You gotta go way out there to see exactly wtf is going on down around this little spinning orb in this minute corner of the vast explosion
People are quick to denounce a higher reality because they don’t want to feel like they got no say in the matter.. but the bottom line reality of our situation is we have absolutely none… whatsoever… never have had and as much as we think we can make our own conclusive deductions here we have not even an iota of a clue about any of it whatsoever..
Whatever prompted the initial cause to whatever the entire relationship between man and animal and everything born of creation with its origin is about.. it is not something you can glean from scripture because they can only hint at such… and they themselves know nothing of it…
Its simply as Socrates and so many other true knower’s ever said… ‘man know thyself’
12 May 2011, 22:04 pm
the FACTS sonny boy… tomorrow take you little 2 year old son for a sight seeing extravaganza through Maitland abattoir… that will be THE most factual realization of yours and his delusional molly coddled life… a wide awake experience of the highs and lows of human evolutionary advanced experience.. how humans destroy and butcher other sentient conscious beings for their protein or carrion like intake… same way hyenas and vultures do.
Go do it… then come measure your highfalutin university educated dreams again.
12 May 2011, 22:04 pm
@gunther(gunther)-417: “fuckadilly” can reap many points with the odd triple score thrown in there. And it must be a real word, surely.
12 May 2011, 22:08 pm
anyway enough sermoning from the mount from me
Better I get the fk outa here again and let you Neanderthals talk rugger bugger nursery rhymes… after all that IS predominantly what this site is for.
consider the FACTS Kathmancannado
Cheetahs to take Saders… if I were a gambling man I’d be putting money on it.
12 May 2011, 22:08 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-418:
Well, we’ve been down this road before you and I, and we’ll have to agree to disagree on some things. But as you say, we each have to walk our own path and find our own realities. Whatever gets you through your day and life is a personal choice. There is no right and wrong. Quite simply, no-one knows the truth. The only truth is a personal one, and thankfully, I’m very comfortable with mine.
I know where you’re coming from, but no-one can judge anothers belief whether we think them right or wrong.
12 May 2011, 22:10 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-421:
Cheers Skop, go well.
12 May 2011, 22:15 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-420:
Fuckadillytwatarsedcumbucket.
That’s game over right there.
Scrabble isolation, you’ll be playing the NZ Scraballiers for the rest of your career.
12 May 2011, 22:25 pm
@gunther(gunther)-424: According to oompaloompashampoo, that kind of sarky comment will make you come back to this life as a fat merino. Is that what you want? Measure the facts, son.
12 May 2011, 22:26 pm
of Joost on BBC
“He has endured some difficult times during the last few years.
In 2009 he was admitted to hospital after suffering a suspected heart attack after watching a Test between South Africa and the British and Irish Lions, while his marriage came to an end in 2010.”.
was that heart attack reported at the time ?
12 May 2011, 22:35 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-426: think it was but explained as a panic attack or something, gossip was it was the junk he was taking
12 May 2011, 22:38 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-425:
A fat merino?
Well at least I’ll get flowers from Cane on Valentines Day.
12 May 2011, 22:45 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-426:
I think it was dismissed as a panic attack after Divvie tried to bring all his subs on at once in the second test.
13 May 2011, 00:21 am
Vetkoek
so 87 wasn’t a real WC because SA weren’t there? pray tell why weren’t SA there? was it because of the barbaric philosophy of apartheid that the rest of the world found abhorrent? so whose fault is that? I see by observation on this blog that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
wasn’t a real WC lmfao. and apartheid wasn’t really discriminatory either huh?
Atriedes, yep I’m talking apartheid in a rugby context,
13 May 2011, 05:07 am
eish Popps, can you relax for one day, just one day
nz won the world cup in ’87 & south africans who whinge about not being there are foolish in the same way as kiwis who bleat that the boks got an easy draw to their ’07 triumph.
Ho hum.
13 May 2011, 07:27 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-431:
Poops is just joshing.
It helps his “last hour at work” go faster.
The best thing to do is to leave him to play with himself.
He’s very good at that.
13 May 2011, 07:46 am
@gunther(gunther)-432:
one day you just MIGHT be funny…
not expecting any miracles just yet though…
13 May 2011, 07:47 am
It is extremely concerning if Joost has the same disease as AV – apparently it is a rare disease – the chances of 2 rugby players from the same team getting must be a billion n 1 chance – i smell foul play
13 May 2011, 07:51 am
@gunther(gunther)-432:
you are after all the Master Baiter on this blog arent you?
13 May 2011, 07:54 am
what time is highlanders vs hurricane?
13 May 2011, 07:59 am
@stew(stew)-434: foul play?
in SA?
thats absurd, and is a scandalous imposition upon the very fine, upstanding character of the rainbow nation… how dare you..
13 May 2011, 08:03 am
@Sasuke(Sasuke)-436: 9 30
13 May 2011, 08:03 am
ho hum, some things never change on this blog……..popps still having little saffa epileptic fits……….oh doos!
13 May 2011, 08:05 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-437: @stew(stew)-434:
Gents
a lot of saffas are very daddened by this….please do not start the conspiracy throries….
I ask humbly.
13 May 2011, 08:06 am
saddened
13 May 2011, 08:12 am
@whatever(whatever)-439: and youre still using Doos… so yeah, I agree with you..
@grant10(grant10)-440: no disrespect meant to such a fine player and servant of SA rugby Grant… truly.. I wouldnt wish anything like that on anyone….
13 May 2011, 08:13 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-442: cool mate
good luck with Blues later this morning
13 May 2011, 08:14 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-437:
Poppa, just wondering if you watched Reunion yesterday?
If so, do you think TJ and the crew are also suffering from this so called Saffa conspiracy theory nonsense.
It appears they share the exact view on NZ player rotation and resting at the moment as vetkoek does.
The same view that you jumped down his throat about.
13 May 2011, 08:19 am
@grant10(grant10)-443: thanks Grant… should be a cracker of a game hopefully…
I remember vividly watching Joost play, and wish him all the best in what is undoubtedly the hardest challenge any of us can ever face.
13 May 2011, 08:19 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-437:
It was Seabiscuit post 3 on this thread.
13 May 2011, 08:24 am
@John Galt(John Galt)-444: John, it was actually post 2 that I disagreed with… and as Biltong pointed out, did Conrad Smith “fake” a broken nose? as insinuated in post 2?
why do Saffas care whether NZ players are playing or not? surely that will aid their teams if NZ stars are “rested” with fake injuries should it not?
the very fact someone can sugest that players such as Smith are “faking” injury as some sort of conspiracy is laughable in the extreme…
13 May 2011, 08:24 am
@John Galt(John Galt)-446: sorry, post 3…
13 May 2011, 08:36 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-447:
I couldnt care a continental what the kiwi players and management are doing at the moment.
Seabiscuit brought up a very good point that you and Tong poo pooed yesterday.
A point that was validated by the Reunion gents yesterday.
Admittedly he may have been off the mark with Smith but there is a feeling out there that some of the senior ABs are being ‘managed’ and its not just a theory that us saffas are conjuring up. Your very own panel of experts are talking about it.
13 May 2011, 08:39 am
@John Galt(John Galt)-449: Murray Mexted is an honorary Shark like Plum, so he is a saffa by default, one can expect him to be discussing CTs
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