Muir jumps to Dash’s defence
8 Sep 2011
Springbok backline coach Dick Muir conceded Bryan Habana is struggling for form but sought to alleviate some of the pressure on the winger by saying the attacking burden must be shared between the collective.
Habana spoke earlier in the week about his desperation to surpass the all-time Springbok try-scoring record of 38 tries (he is currently level on that figure with Joost van der Westhuizen). It will undoubtedly be a notable feat, but not one that should hail the return of a player who carries chronic struggles into a tournament he dominated four years ago.
Habana has scored just eight tries in 34 Tests since 2007, the year his excellent form in France earned him the IRB Player of the Year award (he scored 30 tries in 36 Tests pre-2008). His last five pointer came 10 Tests ago against Italy. He enters the global showpiece with a fractured confidence and having his training curtailed by a nagging injury this week would not have aided his cause.
Muir, however, believes Habana’s self-motivated nature stands him in good stead. ‘Bryan just wants to get on to the field and he’s been a bit frustrated this week by not being able to train full out and he’s certainly one of those players that puts in a lot of effort,’ he said.
‘He’s had one of those up and down years, where you see this outstanding player, and that’s what he wants to get back to. He’s really driven and for him it’s not just about scoring tries, it’s about the collective team effort.’
Habana has undoubtedly been adversely affected by the Springboks’ pragmatic approach under Peter de Villiers, but that alone cannot mitigate his gradual decline in potency. The Springboks are expected to persist with their kick-chase method, though Muir stressed that they were experienced enough to veer from the script when the time was right.
‘You want to have a little bit of flexibility in what you’re able to do, but I think a lot of teams get too caught up in worrying about the opposition, whereas you’ve got a job to do that presents you with certain opportunities,’ he said.
‘You’ve got to be able to exploit those opportunities and that’s where the flexibility and decision-making comes in and if you have a look at our squad overall, we’ve gone for mature, well-experienced guys that are tried and tested under pressure situations.’
Swirling winds are predicted for Sunday’s Test against Wales in Wellington which could adversely affect the Springboks’ kick-orientated game plan. Muir said their training sessions offered opportunities to simulate the expected conditions on match day.
‘The kicking game is always affected by the wind and where we are training it’s elevated and there’s a lot of wind there, so we practised our kicking game on Monday. The wind is certainly getting stronger now and we’re expecting it to swirl, but it’s the same for both teams.’
Flyhalf Morne Steyn wasn’t concerned about it. ‘We have played here a number of times, so I know the conditions well,’ he said. ‘It could count in our favour a bit – the fact that we have played here a couple of times, and probably no one from Wales [has].’
By Ryan Vrede, in New Zealand
Follow Ryan’s World Cup coverage on Twitter
905 Comments
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8 Sep 2011, 12:12 pm
Just saw a monster mamba in the back garden….
8 Sep 2011, 12:13 pm
@ufo(ufo)-443:
Oh well, here I go against my own better judgement….
Yes, I agree, but we should be equally upset when someone steals from the poor through shady arms deals and then is invited to review our new arms requirements. Or when someone calls another race rapists and criminals who should be shot. No outcry. No resignations. Life just carries on.
8 Sep 2011, 12:15 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah)-446: That would be James then….. heard more rumours about him over the years.
8 Sep 2011, 12:16 pm
@Staal(Staal)-451: Do you live on Snake Island or something? Why so many snakes at your place?
8 Sep 2011, 12:17 pm
I remember overhearing a conversation a few years ago between two tannies. The one said “I am not a racist, but the problem with SA is that there are too many blacks.” Had a good chuckle.
8 Sep 2011, 12:17 pm
@Helen(Helen)-452: “when someone calls another race rapists and criminals who should be shot.” – who is this?
8 Sep 2011, 12:17 pm
@Helen(Helen)-453: I also heard that he is h o m o s e x u a l. That rumour has been going on for years though. Did he ever marry? I know he was seeing Christina Storm at one point.
8 Sep 2011, 12:18 pm
*** rugby players…racist rugby reporters…sexist rugby supporters – get your alternate lifestyle rugby news on Keo today!
8 Sep 2011, 12:18 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-454: North of pretoria on farm. Lot of them critters here.
8 Sep 2011, 12:18 pm
@Helen(Helen)-452:
you’re quite right… and i will and do stand up and condemn that just as much…
as i said earlier… we should all look at these things in isolation and condemn them on an individual isolated basis as being wrong… not try to justify them as less wrong because of some other just as wrong but irrelevant incident…
8 Sep 2011, 12:19 pm
@Helen(Helen)-453:
Not sure what the article said, but if it was James he went pretty far to try cover it up. Wasn’t he married to some swedish girl?
Have never heard of a woman in Hennie le Roux’s life though… but who knows.
8 Sep 2011, 12:19 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-450: no need to load one team with all the has-beens.sharks got a full quota already….bulls can do with one more.
8 Sep 2011, 12:19 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-428: OK, but let’s analyse what you said. Did Malema refer to her specifically as someone who enjoyed it, or did he rather generalise by saying that “women (more than 1, I assume all of them) who stay over and ask for taxi fare must have by extension, enjoy it?
If he generalised, then more than one person is more entitled to take offense than if he called her on it as an individual. But that’s not what I think he did. Scott was insulting an individual, Malema was defending Zuma by invoking an insulting generalisation. Hence the action.
And on the point of the Zuma incident, unfortunately i feel that the complainant did unfortunately cast serious doubt on the issue by her behaviour post the incident. I’m not saying she wasn’t raped, but it made it so much harder to prove, as the circumstantial evidence was contradictory.
8 Sep 2011, 12:19 pm
@Helen(Helen)-453: Also heard a rumour bout James, cant repeat it here though.
8 Sep 2011, 12:21 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-463: yes, he was talking about HER!
8 Sep 2011, 12:22 pm
Leading coach McKenzie dismisses Springboks
Three-horse race says Reds boss
Last updated 17:45 08/09/2011
The Rugby World Cup kicks off on Friday night amid much hype and fanfare in New Zealand, with shrewd mentor Ewen McKenzie likening the showpiece event to a grand slam tennis tournament with only three genuine contenders.
Just as the so-called big three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have dominated tennis majors for the past six years, McKenzie suspects only New Zealand, Australia and England are truly capable of winning seven consecutive matches to lift the Webb Ellis Cup.
McKenzie, who guided Queensland to this year’s Super Rugby title and was a Wallabies assistant coach to Eddie Jones when Australia reached the 2003 World Cup final in Sydney, rates South Africa, France, Ireland, Wales and Scotland as outsiders unlikely to go all the way.
“There’s certainly some very key games as we go and we’ll be watching those pivotal games that can change the nature of the tournament, but I just keep going back to who can win seven straight games,” McKenzie said.
“How many teams in the world against oppositions with increasing abilities can get seven wins in a row? There’s not a lot of contenders in that space.
“It’s not dissimilar to a grand slam tennis tournament where you’ve got to front up and win seven straight.
“Within that, you’ve got to work out which teams have got the depth because there’ll be a few injuries and things like that.
“You need to be able to get through the rub of the green. It will be about luck; a yellow card can make a big difference. A yellow card usually means a try.
“All of those are things we can’t control or know about and it makes the tournament interesting.
“But I still keep going back to who can win seven straight.
“Clearly the All Blacks are in the mix, Australia are there and the English have done well (in the lead-up).
“There’s not a lot of other teams that can do that as the opposition gets harder and harder.”
The seventh edition of the World Cup is back where the extravaganza began in 1987, in rugby-mad New Zealand described as a stadium of four million.
It guarantees a total immersion for fans an the 600 players from 20 teams spread across the country ready for the six-week tournament.
“This is the spiritual home of rugby,” acknowledged International Rugby Board (IRB) chief executive Mike Miller.
More than 58,000 spectators are expected to fill the revamped Eden Park for Friday night’s tournament start between the All Blacks and Tonga, with another 50,000 fans expected to pack Auckland’s waterfront party area to watch the kick-off and spectacular opening ceremony on big screens.
Then two of those pivotal pool matches McKenzie was talking about take place over the weekend.
England, the European champions, take on surprise 2007 semifinalists Argentina in Dunedin on Saturday night.
With Scotland also hovering in Pool B, victory is imperative for England and Argentina to keep alive their respective hopes of topping the group and gaining a less difficult knockout path to the October 23 final.
England will be without skipper Lewis Moody (knee) and winger Mark Cueto (back), but still boast a wealth of experience headed by 2003 World Cup final hero Jonny Wilkinson at five-eighth.
Pitted in Pool C alongside Ireland, Italy, Russia and the USA, Australia launch their quest for a third World Cup against the Azzurri at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium on Sunday night before defending champions South Africa tackle Wales in a massive Pool D encounter on Sunday night in Wellington.
Should they top Pool C as expected, the Wallabies will meet the runners-up from Pool D in the quarterfinals – and Wales coach Warren Gatland insists that may well be the defending champion Springboks.
The Welsh also have Wallabies conquerors Samoa plus Fiji and Namibia in their group and have not beaten South Africa for 12 years.
Gatland, though, believes they can upset the 2007 champions and sweep the pool stages.
“We’ve lost by four points, three points and five points and we’ve outscored them seven tries to six in the last three matches,” he said this week.
In other games on Saturday, France and Japan – in top-ranked New Zealand’s Pool A – clash at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday, Scotland face Romania in Invercargill and Fiji and Namibia square off in Rotorua.
Ireland and the USA play on Sunday in New Plymouth.
- AAP
8 Sep 2011, 12:22 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah)-464: there is nothing girly about my Butchie … he will moer you if he sees you.
8 Sep 2011, 12:23 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-463: how many other women accused zuma of having raped them?
please
8 Sep 2011, 12:23 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-457: Didn;t they all date Christina at some point?
Or was that Louie Fish?
Or was it both of them
I forget,
8 Sep 2011, 12:24 pm
@RL(RL)-467: James Small, not Butch James.
8 Sep 2011, 12:24 pm
@Staal(Staal)-459: I’m terrified of snakes.
8 Sep 2011, 12:25 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-469: Minki?
8 Sep 2011, 12:26 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-469: I have no idea man
Sports Illustrated Models like dating sports men. Ask Minkie.
8 Sep 2011, 12:26 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-466:
Meh he obviously doesn’t pay much attention. He’ll regret saying that after we take it home!!
8 Sep 2011, 12:27 pm
@Tecumseh(Tecumseh)-462: Just thought Frans would want to go back to the union he was with before he left.
8 Sep 2011, 12:27 pm
just completed an in-house test this morning.off course i don’t support ds’s outburst.i deliberately supported ds’s outburst and got no negative responses from the regular bloggers like stormersboy ,helen and others who normally attacks me on certain issues.if i had attack ds for his crass outburts i would certainly have received vitriol from these bloggers.i can thus come to the conclusion that racism is still pretty much alive in most of keo’s bloggers whether they want to admit it or not.i can at least give ds credit that he accepted that he did wrong ,no matter what ,unlike all these other bloggers that have come up with all these excuses to defend him.
8 Sep 2011, 12:27 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-423:
@Helen(Helen)-431:
you mean if one were to blow one like a vuvuzela?
8 Sep 2011, 12:28 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-463: like i said i disagree with you on this issue, you can’t insult someone with a racial slur that is abhorred across the nation and think you’re only intending to offend the individual only, it’s delusional and quite frankly a cop-out!
8 Sep 2011, 12:28 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah)-470: oh okay then.
8 Sep 2011, 12:28 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-475: Frans will go to whoever shows him the money I reckon.
8 Sep 2011, 12:29 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-468: I dunno.
@Transformation(Transformation)-465: Well then if it’s specific, and unless they were representing her, then the logical extension of my post would suggest that it is a reach for someone to take offense on someone else’s behalf. Unless he said something to the effect of all woment who have been raped actually enjoy it, or something like that.
It goes both ways.
8 Sep 2011, 12:29 pm
you guys have got the wrong Bok there…
it is another player…
i know because he hit on a friend of mine in 97…
8 Sep 2011, 12:32 pm
@ufo(ufo)-482: Not Small then? Then I dunno.
8 Sep 2011, 12:33 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-456: I am not going to mention any names, but it rhymes with Foolias
8 Sep 2011, 12:33 pm
mckenzie got a short memory.in a wc anything is possible.nobody gave england a chance to reach the final in 2007 and pressure in wc’s do different things to teams…just ask the kiwis.
8 Sep 2011, 12:34 pm
@Helen(Helen)-484: Orange?
8 Sep 2011, 12:34 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-457: They broke up quite acrimoniously after he dond ered her silly.
8 Sep 2011, 12:35 pm
@Staal(Staal)-451:
hope it was yours and not someone else’s?….
8 Sep 2011, 12:36 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-461: The swedish girl was AJ Venter
8 Sep 2011, 12:36 pm
@Tecumseh(Tecumseh)-476: I saw you post. I don’t identify with anything you say and mostly don’t reply to anything you post. So don’t assume that I agree with anything you say, just that I’m done with you.
8 Sep 2011, 12:37 pm
sorry, AJ’s wife
8 Sep 2011, 12:37 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-483:
definitely another bok…
went out to Seven Tease in Midrand… with a group of friends… my one mate is quite a good looking dude and enjoying the company of all the lovely ladies there… and this bok came and made a play for him and then followed him round like a puppy dog all night… was very funny… but also very sad…
8 Sep 2011, 12:37 pm
@Staal(Staal)-451:
i’m partial to letting my monster mamba out in the back garden from time to time….
as borat would say: ‘i liiiiike!..’
8 Sep 2011, 12:38 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-473: Well, if I was a Sports star i’d probably also date a swimsuit model. Just saying
8 Sep 2011, 12:39 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah)-480: they way he was treated by the sharks and their supporters might still be a bone of content for him.afterall he has no social and emotional ties to the kwazulu-natal province.the bulls will probably be his destination
8 Sep 2011, 12:39 pm
@ufo(ufo)-482: Breyton Pulse.
8 Sep 2011, 12:39 pm
@Staal(Staal)-451: Green or Black?
8 Sep 2011, 12:39 pm
@Tecumseh(Tecumseh)-476: no-one here replies to you, because no-one here cares what you have to say. Your simple logical deduction hold no water Number 2
8 Sep 2011, 12:40 pm
@Staal(Staal)-451: Stop pissing in your backyard. Gebruik die tiolet!
8 Sep 2011, 12:40 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah)-486: or Purple LOL
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