Hougaard in the hot seat
16 Jan 2012
RYAN VREDE reports that Francois Hougaard will be the Bulls’ first-choice scrumhalf and he is acutely aware of the massive expectation on him to succeed Fourie du Preez.
Hougaard was recruited from Western Province in late 2007 with the intention of grooming him to replace Du Preez. However, such was his talent that the Bulls’ senior players urged the coaching staff to accommodate him at wing, where he made telling contributions.
However, with Du Preez having ended a career in Pretoria – one in which he became the fulcrum around which the Bulls revolved – for a stint with Japanese side Suntory Goliath, Hougaard will get the extended run in the position he considers his best.
‘Coach Frans [Ludeke] has told me I’m the number one scrumhalf for the season,’ Hougaard told keo.co.za. ‘It is the chance I’ve been waiting for for some time and I know Fourie’s shadow will loom until I establish myself as a worthy successor.
‘That said, I’m a different player to him, more combative and robust than tactical and technical. He worked hard with me on the tactical side of things when he was still here but he always encouraged me to be my own man. That’s what I intend to do.’
The Bulls are well stocked in the scrumhalf department with the highly competent Jano Vermaak having signed in late 2011. Vermaak is set to be given a run against lesser opponents, at which time Hougaard may revert to the wing.
‘I enjoyed my time out wide. I understood the planning around me being played there and was prepared to bide my time,’ Hougaard explained. ‘Now I’m set on playing in my preferred position and showing why I think I’m a better scrumhalf than a winger. I’m open to being used on the wing from time to time, but I see myself as a No 9 and the coaches have backed me in that position.’
Hougaard appealed for patience before making absolute judgements on his suitability for the role. ‘To expect immediate success is unrealistic,’ Hougaard offered. ‘I haven’t played regularly at scrumhalf for some time. It will take some getting used to. That said I have high expectations of myself and understand my importance in the context of the team’s success. I can’t take forever to settle. There is no room for that in Super Rugby. You’ll be exposed and the pressure will snowball. But I love the challenge. I feel alive.’
He added that his ultimate goal was to surpass Du Preez’s feats at Test level. ‘I want to be the best scrumhalf in world rugby. To get there I will have to at the very least meet the standard Fourie set,’ Hougaard said. ‘But the game will evolve to a level that will probably require me to go past that standard. It’s a big challenge but I wouldn’t be able to settle for a mediocre goal.’
Read the in-depth feature with Hougaard in the current edition of SA Rugby magazine.
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174 Comments
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17 Jan 2012, 07:41 am
@ufo-97:
oh snap!
i think you gave him an annal tear of the mind there…
“no special effort has been made to gather in defence”…classic
17 Jan 2012, 07:54 am
@ET.-92:
If this is how this site makes you feel, then why keep coming back ??
It appears that you are the stupid one !
17 Jan 2012, 07:55 am
It being only after almost 10pm on the west coast I have some time to be entertained by utter fools.
Upho Punani,is it because of recent rejection or the now more recent self-projection( a psychological feature you have NO genuine qualification to make any comment on)that you so fall for the bait?
WRT science what qualifies you again to make seemingly ‘wise’/dumb comments?
You have missed the boat on both counts. Do you realise that even if your lived you life three times over you will still be just as unqualified?
There is no one more confused, yet deeming to be smartarsed than you on this site.
Substantiation for that emanates from your featherweight response on Sat on the Mitchell thread:
” hehehe… you’re hilarious… you try so hard… a little too hard… but keep trying… godot is coming tomorrow ”
The first half of the comment(up to hilarious) is in agreement and then the middle part(up to keep trying) tries hard to negate that.
If that is not confusion and contradiction wrapped in one then what is?
If you are ignorant then say nothing.
Do you know the meaning of the quotation marks(” …. “)?
Who are you quoting earlier on this thead when you refer to “twice-passed poo”? Certainly not me.
And now the rat-/wolf-pack has grown to 5 and one of them is so confused he does not know whether he wants annual or anal or maybe even annual anal (his “annal”)from his fellow rats all to be recorded in the annals of time.
17 Jan 2012, 07:59 am
@justrugby-102:
Really?
Your hiatus has not helped you realise you all give me so much fun with all the extracted irritation and blatant anger requiring distortions, cover-ups and lies to bail you out because of your collective maddening over-sensitiivity about the real truths.
17 Jan 2012, 08:05 am
Et has gotten himself a gig a disneyland.
West Coast baby.
The only opening was as one of snow whites dwarves.
In a cruel twist of fate he is now Happy.
As James Dalton would say, very ironical neh?
17 Jan 2012, 08:07 am
@ET.-104:
You fool only yourself, only a mad man will seek “truths” on a rugby blog !!!
Sad thing is you do have the ability to contribute valid rugby issues, it is you who chooses not to !!
17 Jan 2012, 08:07 am
still no definitive news on Bok Coach?
Smal being tipped by Keo
Heyneke by Lake of Rapport…..
Must say SARU are doing a fine job of maintaining the suspense…
17 Jan 2012, 08:12 am
Why remind Upho about that irritating and scary anal tear that he tries so hard to live down?
Do you not realise he has progressed to now coming across as the old-aged but equally irritating and bothersome retrograde urination and/or retrograde ejaculation. He thinks it/he is just a constant, frustrating dribble but it/he is much worse than that.
He should try the lifestyle that brings about “the end of disease” but he does not realise that way of living can bring all his systems into complete and perfect balance again.
17 Jan 2012, 08:15 am
@ET.-103:
oh et, i thought anal was blocked by the word police, ok.
i thought ufo’s riposte was really funny and therefore commented on it, but don’t worry about it as you too are sometimes funny.
17 Jan 2012, 08:16 am
@justrugby-106:
You are clearly too superficial to realise that in my country politics is sports and sports is politics. The most recent and classical example is the press your Ali Bacher acquired for stealing R5 million.
You qualify for another hiatus. This time take it until Easter. Rugby should be HOT after that.
17 Jan 2012, 08:20 am
armtnar @ 101…
extra-testicular @ 103
hehehe…
good thing for me then that we don’t need any ‘qualifications’ or be particularly adept as using “quotes” to post opinions on keo… we merely need register…
this isn’t a forum upon which to compare the size of our academic or scientific qualities… however feel free to do so if that’s what floats your boat…
but try to remember this is a site on which to express rugby (and other) opinions and that is all I try to do… well or not, right or wrong…
unlike you, i certainly don’t try to present my opinions as ‘science’… by which you are apparently blinded…
but don’t try and play the poor victim when others respond…
17 Jan 2012, 08:20 am
@grant10-107:
well if smal’s being tipped by keo then it pretty much means its not going to be him.
and this is good news to me, as you know, i am a firm supporter of meyer and i trully believe he will turn a corner for bok rugby.
even henry cant save the all blacks now.
17 Jan 2012, 08:21 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…-109:
Just DO NOT ever ‘think’, for you always end up with a badly brown stained underpants when you do that,but that fortunattely should be close to your AWB colours. So you lose some and eventually you win some.
I am off to watch some Pakistan vs. Eng.
17 Jan 2012, 08:24 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…-112: as long as the 3 stooges are kept far away from Bok rugby it will be an improvement…
17 Jan 2012, 08:27 am
@ufo-111:
As with the previous I will not read this expected garbage except to remind you that you clearly do not know that anything “extra-”some item means it is outside that particular anatomical or physiological item.
Take the opportunity to advise you Teacup Storm that he is not as smart as he thinks he is and that he should wage his fight with a latin-english quotation/translation lexicon.
17 Jan 2012, 08:27 am
extra testicular…
speaking of being overly sensitive…? (and underly sensible…)
hilarious… keep trying…
17 Jan 2012, 08:28 am
@ET.-113:
and good day to you too, sir.
17 Jan 2012, 08:29 am
Yeah grant…
They must know who their man is now… Why not just announce it and end all the speculation and uncertainty…!
Seems they actually try to make things as chaotic in SA rugby as they possibly can…
17 Jan 2012, 08:30 am
Pakistan employing a spinner in the first 5 overs of a test , picks up a wicket………………interesting stuff !!!
17 Jan 2012, 08:30 am
@grant10-114:
Three stooges come and they go and they can be replaced by another more modern 3 stooges.
Despite slight ups the spiral is ever dowmwards. That is the science and signs of the times in S.A. unfortunately.
17 Jan 2012, 08:31 am
Would love to stay and chat but have to go and see a certain tea lady…
Good day all..!!
17 Jan 2012, 08:32 am
@ufo-118: They have their set date. IMO this is the first time a Bok coaching appointment has been done thoroughly and professionally, so far.
17 Jan 2012, 08:32 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…-112: A downgrade from Grumpy to Hansen is quite a leap!
17 Jan 2012, 08:35 am
Never pat a burning dog.
Never cut an offspinner.
17 Jan 2012, 08:43 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-100:
Possible, Gunther, possible.
But I was thinking more along the lines of an escaped spacechimp from the cash strapped ex-Soviet spaceprogram.
One of those that have been taught to understand up to 500 words of the English language.
You know what they say, give an infinite number of chimps an infinite amount of time to type away at an infinite number of keyboards, and they will eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare.
But it will take about a trillion, trillion years. Unfortunately, therefore, we are going to have to sit through a few lifetimes of gibberish still, before he eventually spits out something readable through blind chance.
17 Jan 2012, 08:44 am
Deliberate absent parentheses in quoting me?
Victim? Complain? And more, false but concerted claims?
Someone close to some of you happen to be slipping some Hitler-altering powder into your early morning coffee hence the distortions and deliberate misinterpretation and lies, lies, lies to gain some traction, again.
17 Jan 2012, 08:49 am
Deliberate absent parentheses in quoting me?
Victim? Complain? And more, false but concerted claims?
Someone close to some of you happen to be slipping some Hitler-altering powder into your early morning coffee hence the distortions and deliberate misinterpretation and lies, lies, lies to gain some traction, again.
Tac extrabollockov’s prose reads like a dyslexic scrabble game.
17 Jan 2012, 08:51 am
If you are that offspinner then that is quite correct, for stabbing is simpler and better and is more damaging and thus more effective.
Do you have enough courage to think about shebeen fast-track education for the missing cultural components?
It is so S.African yet you do not even know the word.
And the Fantasy World buddies live on in their cold, wet dreams.
17 Jan 2012, 08:54 am
A mere economics undergraduate will find a series of simple questions troubling, in any language.
17 Jan 2012, 08:56 am
Extra-testicular @ 115
FINALLY… You drop your penny…!! Took you long enough to get it…!! Hehehe…
Wrong tea lady btw… But she’s here so must go…
17 Jan 2012, 08:57 am
@ET.-120: i tend to agree…I am not convinced about SA Rugbys future…our ‘ aura’ seems to have been diminised over last 2 years…we are not feared….getting knocked over by Aussies on a regular basis , the odd highlight but generally struggling …..without doubt I blame rank poor coaches…..seem a step behind the intelligence of a few countries now…very concerning….need top class coaches or 4 more long fruitless years…
17 Jan 2012, 08:58 am
@ET.-128:
You’re having a giraffe, surely.
No says sh it like that who isnt pulling the mickey.
17 Jan 2012, 08:58 am
@Michael-123:
yip, i predict lean years ahead for the ab’s.
17 Jan 2012, 09:11 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-127: i have sexdaily, i mean i have dyslexia!
f_cuk!
17 Jan 2012, 09:19 am
@Transformation-134:
17 Jan 2012, 09:21 am
I am warming to the idea of Heyneke as HC
17 Jan 2012, 09:23 am
@grant10-136:
Just don’t overheat, please.
17 Jan 2012, 09:25 am
who is the mere economics undergraduate who has so upset extrabollock?
please make yourself known so you may be dealt with.
17 Jan 2012, 09:31 am
Eng 42/4 !!!
17 Jan 2012, 09:35 am
@grant10-136:
nice
@Tacitus-137:
17 Jan 2012, 09:35 am
Eng 43/5
17 Jan 2012, 09:39 am
@grant10-136: meaning you want spies as Bok captain and timotei as vice cappie
17 Jan 2012, 09:40 am
@grant10-136: Even if Spies is captain for the next two years.
17 Jan 2012, 09:43 am
@Transformation-142:
Not much to warm me , fark just the thought of Spies as our No 8 leaves me ice cold !!!!!
17 Jan 2012, 09:44 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-138: the Tendersure entrepreneur.
17 Jan 2012, 09:44 am
ET. Not being as smart as O think I am can you please exlain what a Latin-English quotation/translation lexicon is? I could only find a dictionary (where it seems ignorants is not a word in either language).
17 Jan 2012, 09:46 am
I am warming to this team for the Boks:
Lambie (Anyone is better than Kirchner), Basson, Sadie, Olivier, Engelbrecht, Steyn, Hougaard, Spies, Alberts, Brussow, Juandre Kruger (Bekker will be injured), Rossouw (Heyneke will convince him to come back), du Plessis, du Plessis, Greyling.
The Bulls will have no easy time in the Currie Cup.
17 Jan 2012, 09:46 am
@Horings-143:
Burger will be the next Bok Captain.
Regardless of who the coach is.
17 Jan 2012, 09:55 am
I think if Heyneke gets the job Rossouw, Bakkies, Steenkamp and du Preez will not stay overseas for too long. All of the above should be able to play proper test match rugby in the next two to four years. I dont think Bakkies and Danie should be worried about the competition.
All our best props are playing in Europe. I think we should start a program where our props (ex Greyling, Coenie, etc) play one game for the Springbok Sevens against UAE or Cook Islands and then they go play in Europe for four years. In return we get Steenkamp, Daan Human, Faan Rautenbach, BJ Botha, Heinke vd Merwe, etc to play their rugby in SA when they turn 26 or so. If they are not up to Super 15 standard then they cvan go back to Europe, but the 10 thats left should then be up to international standard.
17 Jan 2012, 10:15 am
@Horings-147: you are just yanking our chains…olivier/sadie? mnxim
@Horings-149: well du preez arrogantly said he would come out of retirement if heyneke was made Bok coach, what a doos!
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