Pick the player; then the captain
27 Jan 2012
MARK KEOHANE writes the next Springbok captain must be a certainty in the starting XV. No player should be picked because of his captaincy credentials.
John Smit and Victor Matfield rode the rugby gravy train in 2011 because of the incompetence of then Bok coach Peter de Villiers, who lacked leadership and the tactical acumen to manage and coach a team at the highest level. He relied too heavily on senior players past their prime and justified their continued selection based on experience, but their form in 2010 and 2011 was never good enough.
Heyneke Meyer, to be named Bok coach on Friday, does not suffer in the areas that so handicapped De Villiers.
Meyer’s focus will be to select the best available squad to play England.
And from that squad will come the captain.
No player should make the starting XV based on his ability to lead a side. South Africa is blessed with enough playing talent and enough leaders not to have to repeat the embarrassing situation of the 2011 World Cup when the captain was not good enough to make the run-on XV.
Whoever captains the Boks should not have his pedigree questioned. There are options and they include Stormers flank Schalk Burger, Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis and Cheetahs flank Juan Smith. Andries Bekker and Jean de Villiers are also very good leaders. Luke Watson, once the Kings play in the 2013 Super Rugby competition, is also a contender.
Bulls No 8 Pierre Spies is an unknown as a captain and the Lions and Sharks captaincy duo of Josh Strauss and Keegan Daniel are not good enough to make the Boks’ starting XV.
There can be no excuse that there is a lack of leadership among players in South African rugby. The notion that someone like Victor Matfield has to come out of retirement for Meyer’s first season in charge to remedy the lack of playing leadership has to be rejected. It is a load of bull.
Matfield would no longer be good enough to command a starting place. His best days were between 2007 and 2009 when he had no comparison as a lineout specialist and an international lock, but his form in 2010 and 2011 was sub-standard and those thinking he performed well at the 2011 World Cup need to revisit his performances in the 2007 World Cup.
Matfield’s legacy is that he dominated the international game for five years. He is no longer that force. That he should even contemplate a return based on Meyer’s appointment is ridiculous. It smacks of arrogance. Matfield’s role, if any, should be as a lineout consultant and he can double up as a SuperSport analyst. His rugby knowledge is without dispute. His retirement should also not be disputed. There is a time to go in international sport – and Matfield’s was 24 months ago.
Burger has to be the favourite to captain the side, but it should also not be a given that the Bok captain has to be the captain of his provincial or regional team. Zinzan Brooke, as one example, captained the Blues and Sean Fitzaptrick, also in the Blues team, the All Blacks.
Leadership is a shared responsibility in Test rugby and any team whose coach relies so heavily on one player to be the captain is already vulnerable.
Smit’s leadership was always presented as the reason for his selection at the 2011 World Cup but in the final 20 minutes against Wales, when the Boks trailed, he was substituted. Ditto the quarter-final against Australia.
The best players have to make the starting XV. From that comes the captain.
South Africans need to learn from the history of the 2011 World Cup and demand the best start. The captain has to be secondary to the team. There can’t be any guarantees to any player, including whoever captains the side. Too much is made of who captains the side.
Meyer, whose skill has always been to build a team, has so much talent at his disposal that his eyes have to be on the now and not the past. Matfield, as a player, is very much the past. Matfield, in another guise, can be the future.
The same applies to Fourie du Preez and any other Bulls legend who feels he may be doing Meyer a favour by coming out of retirement. Who next, Frik du Preez?
594 Comments
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27 Jan 2012, 11:18 am
@Transformation-547:
get the jarpies is actually a popular parlour game for children in new zealand.
its similar to the pinada concept except instead of a paper donkey they like to string up a paper saffa instead (if real ones are in short supply).
:
27 Jan 2012, 11:19 am
@Transformation-547: now you are putting words in my email!
27 Jan 2012, 11:22 am
@>^..^< katman-535: 16h45: DHL WP Vodacom Cup Squad vs DHL WP Amateur Squad
19h00: DHL Stormers vs MTN Lions
27 Jan 2012, 11:24 am
@Pissant. Thanks for the book details yesterday. I’ve heard of the book and that it caused a stir upon publication.
Interesting how some people rated Wynard as a better No 8 than Morne at the time and how due to cultural circumstances etc it is Morne who is regarded these days as the legend, not Wynard.
27 Jan 2012, 11:24 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-551:
27 Jan 2012, 11:24 am
@BuckT-553: Cheers.
27 Jan 2012, 11:24 am
HM must be biting his nails
27 Jan 2012, 11:24 am
Tick tock till the appointment announcement and New Zealand’s date with a nemesis coach
27 Jan 2012, 11:25 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-551: i got an image of keo, colourfully painted, being beaten with sticks
27 Jan 2012, 11:27 am
@BuckT-559: Where did they find a twig small enough?
27 Jan 2012, 11:28 am
@BuckT-559:
you wouldn’t even have to paint him.
just put him in one of those chav tracksuits he likes to wear.
27 Jan 2012, 11:29 am
I won myself a set of tickets to the game on the radio yesterday – not sure on which stand. Don’t really want to go alone, and everyone seems to have plans. Any of you gents fancy going?
27 Jan 2012, 11:30 am
@stew-508:
Understand travel fatigue and jet lag
This is an excerpt from Ergonomics in Sport and Physical Activity by Thomas Reilly, PhD, DSc, FErgS, FIBiol.
http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/understand-travel-fatigue-and-jet-lag
the athlete may suffer travel fatigue, loss of sleep (depending on flight times), and symptoms that have come to be known as jet lag. This term refers to the feelings of disorientation, light-headedness, impatience, lack of energy, and general discomfort that follow traveling across time zones (see highlight box). These feelings are not experienced with traveling directly northward or southward within the same time zone when the passenger simply becomes tired from the journey or stiff after a long stay in a cramped posture. Jet lag may persist for several days after arrival and can be accompanied by loss of appetite, difficulty in sleeping, constipation, and grogginess. Although individuals differ in severity of symptoms they experience, many people simply fail to recognize how they are affected, especially in tasks requiring concentration, situation awareness, and complex coordination.
The direction of travel influences the severity of jet lag. Flying westward is easier to tolerate than is flying eastward. On flying westward, the first day is lengthened and the body’s rhythms can extend in line with their natural free-wheeling period of about 25 hr and thus catch up. Traveling to Japan (9 hr in advance of British Summer Time) and Malaysia (7 hr in advance of British Summer Time) requires more than 9 and 7 days, respectively, for jet lag symptoms to disappear in some individuals. In contrast, readjustment is more rapid on returning to Britain from the east (Reilly, 2003). However, when time zone shifts approach near-maximal values (e.g., a 10-12 hr change) there may be little difference between eastward and westward travel and the body clock is likely to adjust as if the latter had occurred (Reilly et al., 2005).
27 Jan 2012, 11:31 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-551: @BuckT-559: bryce as a kid must’ve been a natural, his papi wrote the email, ahem i mean manual.
27 Jan 2012, 11:35 am
@>^..^< katman-562:
I am off to Arnies after work otherwise I would have enjoyed a few sherbets and some gentle mocking of Brock.
Maevis is keen as long as you buy her a boerie.
Did you embraboer John Maytham again?
27 Jan 2012, 11:38 am
@Guns-563: Awesome post. Great stuff. Nothing like a bit of evidence.
27 Jan 2012, 11:41 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-565: arnies? do you have to say, ‘i will be Broke back’
27 Jan 2012, 11:42 am
@Transformation-564: what are the kiwis going to say when Bruce is dropped from the IRB referees panel … their best ref not good enough for test match rugby.
I have to admit, when Brucie was screwwing the guppies it was funny but he took his silliness one step too far
27 Jan 2012, 11:42 am
Katman has capetalk on speeddial
No-one else can get through
27 Jan 2012, 11:45 am
@BuckT-567:
No.
Bulls fans are welcome too.
In fact I used to bang a kiwi airhostess (are you listening my china) in Paternoster.
Actually she wasn’t a kiwi and she flew a crop duster but anyway.
All the locals on the West Coast LOVE the Bulls.
It’s quite surreal I can tell you.
27 Jan 2012, 11:45 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther-565: Luckily this was just a straight phone-in to the studio, speaking to one of his producers off air. Isn’t he just the most conceited schmuck ever. The way he treats people who ask him stuff he doesn’t know makes you want to plant your grizzled knuckles in his kisser, to borrow an orange industry phrase.
Tell Maevis I can’t risk her getting plastered and emraboering me. I’ll pick her up a programme though. If someone drops one.
27 Jan 2012, 11:45 am
@>^..^< katman-562: thanks, but just found out that we are joining the pigeon pair gang, so staying in to celebrate
27 Jan 2012, 11:47 am
@BuckT-572: Ha! Seriously? That’s brilliant. Well done to you two. When does he arrive?
27 Jan 2012, 11:50 am
My family has a holiday house in Paternoster and I can confirm that those papbek vissermanne are Bullebefok.
27 Jan 2012, 11:52 am
@Guns-563: Total farce – i dont believe your Saffa propaganda !!!! This article must only refer to Saffa s , us kiwis are obviously made of sterner stuff …. LOL
27 Jan 2012, 11:55 am
Strange that he wins a Kiwi ref of the year award, but is being rehabilitated cos of his reffing (that award was just an up yours to us from the kiwis).
Another thing rehabilitation takes 2 sometimes 3 years with a monk*y to rid it of bad habits and have it learn ****** skills and survival and troop bonding before being ready to be released into the wild, and Brycie is no ways as intelligent as a monk*y.
27 Jan 2012, 11:55 am
@>^..^< katman-571:
he is a fuckadilly deluxe.
your worst nightmare at after dinner trivial pursuit.
I’ll break the news to Maevis.
Dawn sounding quite hopefull.
27 Jan 2012, 11:57 am
@Treehugger-576:
27 Jan 2012, 11:57 am
@Guns-563:
yes indeed.. great post… thanks for putting it up…!!
As far as Bryce is concerned… and Katman’s post earlier…
How is it that the kiwi fans blame saffa fans for whinging about lawrence’s performance but his own boss has said that he needs rehabilitation get to where he needs to be in terms of reffing ability/performance…
so… case closed i guess… according to lyndon bray… bryce farked up royally…
and yet they gave him the referee of the year at Tac says…??
un-farking-believable…
They tried to make me go to rehab, kiwi fans said, “No, no, no”
Yes, I’m for all black and my reffing’s kak y’all know, know, know
I fuckup all the time but if Paddy thinks I’m fine
You can try to make me go to rehab, I won’t go, go, go!!
27 Jan 2012, 11:58 am
@Jeraldjay-574:
GULP.
You don’t ahve a sister that flies a crop duster do you?
27 Jan 2012, 12:03 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-577: Ja, he’ll probably tell his wife to get her coat, they’re leaving, if the host refuses to accept his answer that a tomato IS in fact considered a fruit in certain villages of Eastern Papa New Guinea.
27 Jan 2012, 12:11 pm
I think Buck T is trying to tell us that he is going to be buying some mini field ears and far lookers in the near future.
Mazeltov!
27 Jan 2012, 12:12 pm
Keo, what the fck is going on with your website? Sort it out or shut it down. It’s like continental drift, slowed down several times.
27 Jan 2012, 12:16 pm
They tried to make me go to rehab, kiwi fans said, “No, no, no”
Yes, I’m for all black and my reffing’s kak y’all know, know, know
I fuckup all the time but and if Paddy thinks I’m fine
You can try to make me go to rehab, I won’t go, go, go!!
I’d rather not go to the RSA
To ref any Super rugby games
‘Cause I’m not gonna let them impeach me
Till I’ve been cleared by Lyndon Bray
I smoke a little grass
So you can kiss my kiwi-***
If you ask me did I ref bad, I say, “No, no, no”
I’m so good I got a big kiwi award, y’all know know know
So you can moan and whine and shove where the sun don’t shine
Because the boks were had, I say ho, ho, ho
27 Jan 2012, 12:22 pm
@>^..^< katman-581:
27 Jan 2012, 12:27 pm
such good, honest and frank views….
27 Jan 2012, 12:38 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-580:
My family lives is Adelaide, Aus.
It’s my wife’s family…..and no, it can’t be my wife…..
27 Jan 2012, 13:38 pm
@>^..^< katman-581: @the artist formerly known as gunther-577: to be honest, i can’t wait to tune in at 4pm every afternoon and i have really warmed to his perceived condascending attitude. his general knowledge is second to none and he knows how to ask the difficult questions without giving in to his own personal agendas. he has definitely mellowed in the last few years and doesn’t take everything as personally as he used to. maybe the 2 of you are threatened by his trivial brilliance?
27 Jan 2012, 13:40 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-570: in her paternoster?? is that what the bullean term is these days?
27 Jan 2012, 13:42 pm
@Jeraldjay-587: does she have any cross-dressing brothers who have a light blue infatuation?
27 Jan 2012, 13:43 pm
@BuckT-588:
sorry but no.
he is a bellend.
27 Jan 2012, 13:50 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-591: you telling me you would rather listen to cliff, thomas, fresh, o’connor or cummings? Alex Jay is not availble to the capies
27 Jan 2012, 13:56 pm
@BuckT-590:
gently now buckteeth.
she was all woman.
down to her silk windsock.
27 Jan 2012, 14:10 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-593: doesn’t a windsock have tail gunner connotations?
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