PdV’s misplaced loyalty could cost Boks
7 Oct 2011
JON CARDINELLI writes that Peter de Villiers has failed the Springboks by favouring John Smit over Bismarck du Plessis.
‘Don’t be surprised if Bismarck starts the big games,’ a source close to the team told me last week. By that point, Smit had started the Boks’ first three World Cup matches, but there was still a strong belief that Du Plessis would wear the No 2 jersey in the play-offs.
Before Thursday, Du Plessis had pledged his support to his mentor and captain, although privately he may have expected to start the big games. When the team to play against Namibia was named, Du Plessis told an Irish journalist that he’d accepted his role as Smit’s understudy, but following the announcement of the Boks’ quarter-final line-up, he cut a dejected figure at the team hotel.
When he was interviewed, there was none of the good humour that had characterised his media offerings earlier in the tournament. There was also a rumour that he’d reacted badly to the news that he would be riding the bench, and that the head coach was unimpressed with this reaction.
De Villiers calls it a bad attitude, I call it a bad decision. Not for the first time in the last four years, the Bok coach has favoured Smit over Du Plessis even though it’s become increasingly evident that Smit can no longer meet the standards of an international hooker, let alone match the trend-setting Du Plessis.
Smit is also no longer the indispensable leader he was during De Villiers’s early years. On the 2010 tour to the Home Nations, Victor Matfield proved himself to be a capable leader in Smit’s absence. When he was handed the responsibility at this World Cup, Matfield admitted that the captaincy wasn’t as demanding when you had leaders like Bryan Habana (73 caps), Jean de Villiers (71), Jaque Fourie (68), Schalk Burger (67), Danie Rossouw (62) and Fourie du Preez (61) in the side.
There can be a case made for Habana’s exclusion, but the rest of these players deserve their places regardless of their age. The same cannot be said of Smit, and you have to wonder if the reasons around his selection are truly rugby related.
There will never be another John Smit. He’s already the most decorated Bok captain of all time, and his achievements are all the more remarkable given what he’s had to endure from an off-the-field perspective.
It was during the turbulent times of 2008 and 2009, when De Villiers was at his controversy-inciting worst, that Smit needed all of his experience and diplomacy, and behind the scenes, Smit worked to ensure the right calls were made in terms of selection and tactics. While he had already achieved so much prior to 2008, his value and contributions during the first two seasons of De Villiers’ tenure should never be underestimated.
When I interviewed Smit in April 2010, he told me that he would continue to put the team first. He said that the time may come where he would need to step aside, either to warm the bench or support the team as a non-playing squad member. He said this with conviction, and his past deeds both on and off the field gave me no reason to doubt that he would make good on his promise.
I couldn’t help but think about that conversation when Smit was announced as the starting hooker for this Sunday’s quarter-final against the Wallabies. The senior players have a big say in selection and strategy, and so I felt Smit’s selection didn’t align with his commitment to put the team first. By marching on as the starting No 2, he is doing the Boks no favours. By standing in the way of Du Plessis, he is, ironically, doing his country a disservice.
De Villiers will also need to accept responsibility for this situation. He may feel that he owes Smit something but the reality is that a Bok coach should always place the needs of the team above the needs of individuals.
Du Plessis is right to feel aggrieved. The best player won’t start in the No 2 jersey this Sunday, and this decision could cost the Boks’ in the decisive battle up front. It could cost the team everything they’ve worked for over the past four years and lead to an embarrassing quarter-final exit on par with that of Rudolph Straeuli’s side of 2003.
Through the weak management of De Villiers and Smit’s refusal to face the fact that he’s a spent force, the rugby world has been denied the privilege of seeing Du Plessis in his prime on the greatest stage of all. From a South African perspective, the decision to favour Smit has robbed the Boks of the stronger, more dynamic starting option, and it’s likely to be a decision the entire nation will come to lament.
717 Comments
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8 Oct 2011, 05:21 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-688: Weak? You’ll thank me for reminding you again … same as I did in 2007 … and at least you had a lekker party then – just because u put your saffa kit in the bottom of the ruksak – just incase.
8 Oct 2011, 05:25 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-688: you keep calling people pilgrim. so which definition of pilgrim do you refer to, when you use the word? is it:
a)any of the English Puritans who founded Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620.
b)somebody who goes on a journey to a holy place for religious reasons.
c)somebody who makes a special journey.
which one is it? even though when you use the word, you sound cynical.
8 Oct 2011, 05:55 am
Everybody’s a pilgrim, pilgrim.
8 Oct 2011, 06:00 am
When I use words, some of you pilgrims have to make a special journey to Google or Wiki to find out what’s (for example) a “verslibrist”. Or a “limerick”. or “scansion”. Or even, what’s a “pilgrim”, pilgrim. We’ll call that special journey a “pilgrimage”. Metaphorically, of course.
8 Oct 2011, 06:06 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-704: ha ha ha ha ha ha.
thats some funny sh-it.
you should have been a rapper, you got skillz dog!
8 Oct 2011, 06:34 am
Tackles is a rulesjockey when it suits him, but not fussy when it is beyond him.
8 Oct 2011, 06:38 am
Tackler and poems?
What the **** happened to this place?!?!?!
8 Oct 2011, 07:56 am
@nama1(nama1)-670: Congratulations ou humble little Nama1 for not referring to race once in that post (your achilles heel).
Keep it up.
8 Oct 2011, 08:15 am
Thank you Jon Cardinelli, Smit is a cancer in the team now.
8 Oct 2011, 08:26 am
Pissant, astonished in wonder,
Felt his world collapsing asunder
Encountering verse
From brilliant to worse
He felt was a terrible blunder.
8 Oct 2011, 08:44 am
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-709: The World’s in union, but the Bokke fans certainly are not.
8 Oct 2011, 08:47 am
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-711: No not with Smit in the team
8 Oct 2011, 09:09 am
On form Hougaard 9, jdj 12, aplon, 15 14 11, Bismark 2. Whats the case. The coach picked the best team, not the best 15. Smit is captain. I do support the team, not individuals. It seems bismark have suffered the biggest injustice. Then why only Bismark. Even 10 minutes for your country is a priviledged not a right. I do not like his attitude. If the supporters had a say schalk brits, would have been hooker and watson captain. Just because keo dont have access anymore to inside information after Gold were disciplined, and the senior players do not talk out. His on this crusade . I believe the bok team can win the cup.
8 Oct 2011, 09:47 am
@adi(adi)-713: What nonsense. Is supporters had their way Watson wouldn’t have been allowed back into SA.
8 Oct 2011, 10:25 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-710:
I like Tackler version 2.0 much better!
8 Oct 2011, 13:57 pm
@TheAgent(TheAgent)-314: I agree with you on that. I don’t think Guthro can maintain that intensity for the full 80; and CJ is one replacement who will not be offering much impetus from the bench.
Beast needs to improve his skillset because the role of dual prop replacement is there for the taking. I’d like to see him spend some time at tighthead at provincial level and see how he goes.
8 Oct 2011, 18:20 pm
#714 the same watson that posed on the front page of sasi, ala superman.
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