Boks will battle without Butch
5 Oct 2011
JON CARDINELLI writes that Peter de Villiers will come to regret a campaign-defining decision made on the basis of one missed penalty attempt.
13 August 2011, South Africa vs Australia at Kings Park. Butch James, the man earmarked by the Springbok selectors to play No 10 at the World Cup, steps forward to attempt a penalty goal. The wind blows the ball off the tee, and so James asks team-mate Heinrich Brussow to hold it steady. James then rushes the kick, hooking it to the left of the uprights.
The Boks went on to lose that Test, but a truthful account will show that the hosts were fortunate not to concede more points. One missed penalty attempt did not cost them the game, but it was enough for De Villiers to jettison James and reinstate Morne Steyn. It was after the subsequent game in Port Elizabeth where De Villiers would claim that the Boks had the flyhalf and the template to win the Webb Ellis Cup.
James was done a dirty, and South African rugby regressed four years. The coach and selectors invested in a flyhalf and game plan that while successful against B-sides and lesser teams, proved limited when implemented against the well-rounded All Blacks and Wallabies.
Fast forward eight weeks to the build-up to the Boks’ quarter-final showdown with the Wallabies in Wellington. I find James in a gloomy corner of the team hotel. His shoulders are hunched and he wears a resigned look. He’s well prepared for the media’s questions, professing his unwavering support for the team and the coach’s preferred flyhalf, but throughout the interview you get the sense that he’s as bleak as the Wellington weather.
‘Morne is playing well and the team is playing well. I’m happy to fill a bench role. I’ve been out on the training field doing my best, and I don’t think that I will let the team down if I’m called on in a game situation,’ he offers.
The conversation is steered towards that fateful day in Durban, the day the Boks’ entire World Cup game plan was changed because of one missed kick. James has never been one to dwell on the past, but when pushed, he says that he should have made that opportunity count.
‘I didn’t do my chances of selection any good when I missed that kick. It was disconcerting when the ball blew over, but an international player should still get those kicks over. There are a lot of excuses I could use, but the bottom line is that I missed.’
James will tell you that he is a competent goal-kicker, and his record will substantiate the big talk. Before that Test in Durban, he average 83% in Test matches, a record that’s right up there with the best in the world. He gets annoyed when people make definitive statements about his ability based on one bad performance or kick.
In the early noughties, it was his controversial tackling style that drew unwanted attention. Butch enjoys the big defensive hits, but he became unfairly tagged as a thug when a few of the more exuberant tackle attempts slipped up past the shoulder.
In much the same way he’s been labelled an incompetent goal-kicker because of a few fluffed attempts. And it’s not just the uneducated laymen who have drawn false conclusions. Going by what transpired after that Test in Durban, the supposed brains trust of South African rugby is guilty of the same poor judgment.
Will it cost the Boks their World Cup campaign? The Boks are talking about their recent pool matches as if they’ve progressed. They are talking up Steyn as if he’s the key to their success.
The reality is that they haven’t been challenged by a top team like they were in Durban two months ago. Wales pushed them close in the Pool D opener, and exposed their defensive frailties in the flyhalf channel, but subsequent successes against minnows like Fiji, Namibia and Samoa have installed a false sense of defensive security. The upshot is that the Boks believe Steyn can shore up that flyhalf channel and keep the Aussies at bay.
James feels that the Wallabies will come at the Boks this Sunday. The driving rain experienced in Wellington this week is expected to cease by the time the match kicks off, and this should allow the Aussies to play a high-tempo, ball-in-hand game. The probable selection of Berrick Barnes at No 12 will also lend the Wallabies a sharper edge.
‘Pat McCabe is a very direct, physical player, whereas a guy like Berrick gives them more attacking options from a distribution point of view,’ said James.
‘The Aussies like to attack with width, and although a quarter-final may change their thinking slightly and force them to play a bit tighter initially, I don’t think it will be too long before they move the ball around. It’s their strength, and they should stick to it.’
The Wallabies will target Steyn’s channel this Sunday. They will have taken note of Wales’ attacking success against South Africa in the pool stages, and will be aware of Steyn’s dislike for contact.
Be it on attack or defence, the Boks will miss James’ physicality. Playing against the Wallabies two months ago, he made a big impression on defence. The Bok backline also looked more imposing when James was directing the attacking traffic.
Penalties and drop goals won’t see the Boks home against a Wallabies side that has the capacity to score tries against the best defences. De Villiers will rue the decision to preclude James from the starting line-up and limit the Boks to an outdated style. In the aftermath of a quarter-final exit, the South African rugby community will ponder what could have been If only that ball had stayed on the tee.
677 Comments
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5 Oct 2011, 19:49 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-644:
Lol
glad you got that off your chest
Spies will start, he is Snorts golden boy
Snort hasn’t got the guts to start that old fat *** smit
bet he would like to
We can count on our coach and selectors getting it wrong everytime
I liked the look of Jean when he came on near the end of somoa game
he looked hungry
Thats the first time ive seen a Bok backliner break the line in a long time
5 Oct 2011, 19:50 pm
Le Bleus to take their QF and send the dwarf tossers all the way home only to meet up with the Taffs in the semi and succumb to a massive on field barney where Frenchman fights Frenchman… and coach.
Taffs in the final vs Boks, shackledraggers or sheepshaggers
5 Oct 2011, 19:50 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-650:
“where mah dogz at?”
5 Oct 2011, 19:53 pm
Trans I need a playlist pls
Your choice
5 Oct 2011, 19:53 pm
Ireland by 2
England by 8
SA by 5
NZ by 21
5 Oct 2011, 19:55 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-647:
Who employed RAssie and Nienaber.. YOU.. or WHO??
same dumbfck dunce that made Smit his lifelong captain my aura enriched captain is THE same Dumb Fck idiopathic dunce who employed Nienaber and Rassie to shore up the areas of LACK in the strategical enterprise which the other dumb fck Dunces do NOT possess..
So if BOKS DO happen to fluke this shenanigan in SPITE of playing the PASSENGERS of Smit, Spies and FdP.. then the ONE who is to acclaim ALL the accolades will be NONE OTHER but the one and only PDV…
You ready to eat your hat along with the feather you stuck in it.. ONCE AGAIN..!!
5 Oct 2011, 19:58 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-649: well you’re wrong if you think james bond 008 aka Big Hit thinks Smit is a cancer! big hit was advocating that smit go to the world cup as a TIGHTHEAD! go figure.
that pom has his pale face firmly lodged up Plod’s ******.
5 Oct 2011, 19:58 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-655:
wales are gonna smash ireland
5 Oct 2011, 19:59 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-654:
Do you do karoake, Dawn? I have instrumentals.
5 Oct 2011, 20:00 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-656:
Smit is a fu-cking disgrace. He knows that Bismark is far better than him and
he knows that he does not deserve to be in the Bok set up but he couldnt give a rats a-ss
5 Oct 2011, 20:02 pm
@Boksarenumber3(Boksarenumber1)-660:
Bakkies is purely in NZ to protect him from the Sharks and Stormers boys.
5 Oct 2011, 20:02 pm
Karaoke is great fun but I can’t sing!
Trans! Not too much of the niggas and ho’s on my playlist please
5 Oct 2011, 20:04 pm
No Bakkies Botha for the QF … he does not even make the 22.
5 Oct 2011, 20:04 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-656: SARU employs Rassie and Nienaber. I suspect they were imposed on Dippy, Dic.ky and Goldilocks so as to prevent further embarrassment of the Boks by a coach with probably the worst win/loss ratio for the Boks since readmittance.
Now stop being a blind apologist for a fool who can’t tell his ars.e from his elbow, his tighthead from his loosehead, his inside centre from his outside and who truly the best hooker on the planet is, to Smitty’s and the Boks eternal embarrassment.
The Boks will win despite him not because of him… stoopid, blind apologists for a coaching lunatic to the contrary.
5 Oct 2011, 20:05 pm
@Boksarenumber3(Boksarenumber1)-658: I agree. Maybe not smash, but win they will.
5 Oct 2011, 20:06 pm
Big Hit already announced his preferred team and front row read
Steenkamp, Bismark, JdP
Even Big Hit can see a marshmallow when it wobbles like jelly in front of him…
@Boksarenumber3(Boksarenumber1)-651:
Jean will be fine.. Jean is a seasoned vet with true rugby ingenuity in his veins and a thoroughbred race horse bred for such a cause.. same as Bismark, Alberts, Brussow and a few others in our armory.. it’s the hapless softies I am seriously concerned about.. Spies, Smit and FdP.. that is where our guard is gonna be let down…
PdV will start Smit, Spies and FdP.. I am pretty much convinced thats the way he’s gonna go.. I doubt it highly if he considers the opportunity of sticking it to Australia once and for all encompasses the call to start his BEST and play his has been’s from the bench.. so he’s gonna go about the exercise in reverse.. start his WEAK players and bring on his so called TRUMP cards for the last hurrah.. long as the horse hasn’t bolted right out the window and out the stable and all the way off down the highway and left the WWE trophy out on a limb by then..
5 Oct 2011, 20:06 pm
Funny, most people see Wales beating Ireland… I just don’t see it.
Very close, sure, but having beaten Australia and seeing off Italy comfortably, I’m not so sure why anyone would be so dismissive of Ireland’s chances.
I reckon the winner of this game will make it all the way to final.
5 Oct 2011, 20:07 pm
JPP starts the match and Beastis benched.
Flo makes the bench so Alberts will be covering locks.
Beast was axed (about time useless show pony winger anyway)
4/3 bench split
5 Oct 2011, 20:09 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-662: if you read carefully u would’ve seen that this was intelligent hiphop convo and NOT nuccas & hoos stuff…
5 Oct 2011, 20:10 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-667:
Ireland and the Boks have less to lose than anybody else. They are both gatvol, and their hunger is very apparent. I see a final here.
5 Oct 2011, 20:13 pm
I noticed Trans
Now mail me pls? Just a few songs I can get teeth into.
5 Oct 2011, 20:13 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-664: yeah right! pdv tried to get nienaber last year, try another tune
5 Oct 2011, 20:14 pm
Hooray got the number of the beast .. must be my lucky day
Wales are gonna do Ireland.. and France might just surprise England though that would be a call all the way out of left field with Para at 10 and Lievremont losing his marbles all over the place…
Wales COULD actually find themselves in the final the way this thing has been drawn now..
Boks / Aussie is the knife edge game .. and Boks have given Aussie a fighting chance by starting the weak team off the bat and HOPING and PRAYING the Resurrection comes twice in succession with a hail Mary from off the bench AGAIN
5 Oct 2011, 20:15 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-606: Uyandazi ndimbi!
5 Oct 2011, 20:15 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-666: “Two step” Jean De Villiers a “thoroughbred”? More like a thoroughbred Donkey. His contribution on offence will be two steps into the nearest defender and then straight to the deck – a nice big juicy bullseye for Pocock the Zimbo Aussie. Leaving King Ratel with a huge amount of work to do to gain parity in the ground war.
Yeah, JdV is going to be a thoroughbred fckup of note who will be the single biggest contributor to the Boks losing if he doesn’t playe the game of his life and tackle, pass and stay on his feet for a change… Something he hasn’t done since pre 2007 RWC.
5 Oct 2011, 20:34 pm
@Jinx2(Jinx2)-661:
Lol you can accuse Bakkies of being dumb or anything else
but you can never accuse him of being afraid.
He is the bully of world rugby
5 Oct 2011, 20:49 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-636: Not to worry man i´d be surprised if anyone else on this blog new those artists. But if youre into something more traditional and bluesy have alook at this You tube link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gZxfi2W9LM&feature=related from the movie of the same name – John Travolta does a magnificent job of acting a drunk ex teacher with gout. Brilliant.
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