Meyer’s picks sing from same sheet
16 Apr 2012
RYAN VREDE writes Heyneke Meyer’s picks for assistants will form a cohesive unit and aid in reducing the stress that will accompany preparing a team in a week for the England series.
On Sunday Meyer announced Rassie Erasmus as his man for the high-performance general manager role, and Johann van Graan (forwards), Ricardo Loubscher (backs) and John McFarland (defence) as his assistants. Basil Carzis takes over as conditioning coach.
Meyer’s predecessor Peter de Villiers compiled a coaching team with differing playing philosophies and that ultimately was a significant contributor to their demise. Backs coach Dick Muir was little more than a well paid spectator by the end of his tenure as senior Springboks player convinced De Villiers that Muir’s fanciful expansive approach was ineffective in Test rugby. Forwards coach Gary Gold was largely a pragmatic man but he commanded little respect from the senior forwards, particularly those from the Bulls.
And while this is not an endorsment of the new crew’s aptitude for Test rugby – that will be tested in the coming years – there will be none of the cohesion issues that plagued the previous trio given that they know and share Meyer’s playing philosophy.
Erasmus’s relationship with Meyer grew during the former’s time as director of rugby at the Stormers. He was in constant contact with Meyer, picking his brain about technical, psychological and recruiting aspects of coaching. It is no coincidence that many of the Stormers’ current structures closely resemble the Bulls’. Meyer has come to respect Erasmus’s rugby intelligence and his work ethic and while his role is broad, Erasmus will be consulted on tactics. But Erasmus is far from a yes-man and this will benefit the Springboks as he will challenge Meyer to explore different dimensions of his coaching should any become stale or ineffective.
Van Graan was developed under Meyer at the Bulls and is highly-rated by him. An astute analyst and progressive thinker who shares Meyer’s unrelenting work ethic, he is an exciting appointment.
McFarland is a trusted lieutenant who Meyer recruited to the Bulls in the early part of his tenure. He attempted, unsuccessfully, to take him with him to Leicester when he was appointed there in 2008 and has insisted on his appointment now. In their prime McFarland shaped the Bulls into a formidable defensive unit and his work was central to their Super Rugby success in 2007, 2009 and 2010.
Loubscher was not Meyer’s preferred appointment to oversee the back division. Allister Coetzee turned down his offer to continue in his role as head coach of the Stormers and Meyer’s other options were tied up in contracts. However, Meyer purposefully upskilled Loubscher at the Bulls and his education under Bulls attack coach Todd Louden in 2007 was an important part of his development. Loubscher’s ability to inject innovation, unpredictability and penetration to Springboks’ backs will be under intense scrutiny.
That the assistants have only been appointed just over a month and a half before their first Test undoubtedly undermines the team’s cause. However, their familiarity with and buy-in for Meyer’s method is a positive. How and whether they are able to mould the team into one with the level of synergy and tactical understanding to beat England will be of much interest.
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16 Apr 2012, 08:58 am
and here’s the song they’re singing…
Yo listen up here’s a story
About a little guy that lives in a blue world
And all day and all night and everything he sees
Is just blue like him inside and outside
Blue is his house with a blue little window
And a blue corvette
And everything is blue for him and hisself
And everybody around
Cos he ain’t got nobody to listen to
I’m blue da ba dee da ba die…
I have a blue house with a blue window.
Blue is the colour of all that I wear.
Blue are the streets and all the trees are too.
I have a girlfriend and she is so blue.
Blue are the people here that walk around,
Blue like my corvette, it’s standing outside.
Blue are the words I say and what I think.
Blue are the feelings that live inside me.
I’m blue da ba dee da ba die…
I have a blue house with a blue window.
Blue is the colour of all that I wear.
Blue are the streets and all the trees are too.
I have a girlfriend and she is so blue.
Blue are the people here that walk around,
Blue like my corvette, it’s standing outside.
Blue are the words I say and what I think.
Blue are the feelings that live inside me.
I’m blue da ba dee da ba die…
Inside and outside blue his house
With the blue little window and a blue corvette
And everything is blue for him and hisself
And everybody around cause he aint got
Nobody to listen to
I’m blue da ba dee da ba die…
16 Apr 2012, 09:00 am
@trupisero(trupisero)-1:
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
16 Apr 2012, 09:02 am
But when do the assistants start?
16 Apr 2012, 09:02 am
Jurie Roux’s words on Rassie:
“He will be tasked to create a blueprint for South African rugby that can be implemented from junior to senior level, for our men’s, women’s and sevens’ teams.”
Blueprint…..eish, feeling blue already.
16 Apr 2012, 09:06 am
Trupisero
The compilation of the Bok management team should not be a political exercise aimed at making every province feel comfortable that some of THEIR guys are part of the mix.
It should be about creating the most cohesive, effective unit to bring about one thing: Victories in test matches.
16 Apr 2012, 09:10 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl(Brigadier Van Zyl)-3:
Was thinking the same thing.
And if they start immediately or at the start of the June test window, do the Bulls have to find replacements for their depleted management stocks?
16 Apr 2012, 09:11 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-5: 100% agree with you.
16 Apr 2012, 09:11 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-5: and you bring cohesiveness to a team by picking virtually everyone from the same union?
Pull the other one.
16 Apr 2012, 09:13 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-5: Agreed.
16 Apr 2012, 09:13 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl(Brigadier Van Zyl)-3: Very quiet this morning
16 Apr 2012, 09:14 am
And in other news, Meyer confirmed that if Victor can get up to the right fitness levels and SuperSport releases him from his contract with them, he will pick him for England (as captain).
Should he get the green light from SuperSport, Matfield will turn out for the Sharks or Cheetahs in Super Rugby to get match fit.
16 Apr 2012, 09:15 am
I think the team should look like
15.) Frans Steyn – Hopefully he would’ve shed is Piri Weepu weight problem
14.) Bryan Habana – Coming back to his best form
13.) Juan de Jongh – Not sure what Jacque Fourie’s intentions are
12.) Jean de Villiers – Nobody else is really putting up their hand except if you move Frans Steyn to 12 and probably Riaan Viljoen to 15
11.) Francois Hougaard – Much better at 11 than 9
10.) Johan Goosen – Has the x-factor and will do even better with better coaching
9.) Fourie du Preez – Will probably be captain as well.
8.) Duane Vermeulen – Heyneke will probably pick Spies
7.) Schalk Burger
6.) Heinrich Brussouw
5.) Andries Bekker – If Matfield doesn’t make it back
4.) Eben Etzebeth – Undeniably the enforcer in the Bakkies mould
3.) WP Nel – Long overdue
2.) Bismarck du Plessis
1.) Deon Greyling – Has been a standout for the Bulls this year. Very close between him Coenie and Beast.
16.) Chilliboy Rallepelle
17.) Beast Mtawaria
18.) Juandre Kruger
19.) Pierre Spies
20.) Elton Jantjies
21.) Lwazi Movo
22.) Willie Le Roux (my bolter)
16 Apr 2012, 09:18 am
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-11:
This Monday is getting bluer and bluer by the moment.
16 Apr 2012, 09:21 am
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-11: I think if Juan Smith was fit, that Meyer wouldn’t have turned to Victor. People need to understand that this is not a 4 year deal with Vic. Who else should Meyer look for as captain? Burger? Matfield still had Bekker’s number last year so I’m not too upset about this move. If this backfire… Meyer will be grilled and rightfully so.
16 Apr 2012, 09:23 am
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-11: What do you think of all this?
16 Apr 2012, 09:25 am
@HHS(Hop Hop Spinnekop)-14: Then it blue up in his face…
Not sure the point of a captain for 3 games only. Enough senior players in the team as is and Vic never impressed me as a captain anyway.
16 Apr 2012, 09:26 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-15:
Not sold on this. At best Vic will have 2 or 3 games before the tests after last playing a game in November 2011 and doing no pre-season or rugby ready conditioning.
Even as short term solution there are better options, guys who has captained their franchises some with great success.
16 Apr 2012, 09:26 am
Isn’t Fourie du Preez back by then?
16 Apr 2012, 09:28 am
@HHS(Hop Hop Spinnekop)-14:
It’s like turning the clock backwards during a time we must move ahead.
They are making too much of an issue of the captaincy, the Aussies changed their captain a week before the WC and they still did better than us.
16 Apr 2012, 09:31 am
The Bulls’ stays with the Bulls till the end of superrugby. They will assist Heyneke on off days till then.
16 Apr 2012, 09:31 am
It should read: the Bull’ coaches
16 Apr 2012, 09:32 am
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-17: OK. So we agree.
Wasn’t sure of I was missing something. The obvious barrage of “you Province supporters yadda yadda…” accusations followed the objections yesterday and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t overreacting.
16 Apr 2012, 09:35 am
I’m also not convinced about the benefits of using the Bulls’ defensive coach. Their defence is actually quite porous in my opinion.
The only thing that saves them is that they are great on attack, something that at Test Rugby could be an issue.
I guess he couldn’t get Nienaber and it’s not like the defence coaches at the other Super Rugby franchises are having a great season either though.
16 Apr 2012, 09:40 am
Pissant
While this is a ‘short term’ move with Vic, the definition of short term may be misinterpreted by some, thus leading to the ‘What’s the point’ objection.
If Vic comes back, it won’t just be for the England tests. It won’t just be for 2012 either.
On two occassions before Meyer has touched on this issue when it was raised. The first time he said that his interim captain would be for 2 years, and the second time was when he said that Vic was good enough to play for the Boks till the age of 36.
Link the two comments with these latest developments and it’s clear that Meyer is panning to have Vic as captain until next year, to build a winning culture under Meyer and to establish the new Bok dynasty, before handing over to the World Cup captain for the 2015 world cup and beyond.
16 Apr 2012, 09:42 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-23: True,but I am happy with the fact that we have retained the services of Nienaber.
16 Apr 2012, 09:45 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-24:
I just hope that, if Vic does come back, that he picks up where he stopped last year. If he plays like he did at the start of last season it will not be good.
16 Apr 2012, 09:45 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-23:
your comment is exactly what the problem is with the boks in my opinion……
we are great at defending when need be but forget how to attack altogether.
Look at the stormers, awesome defensively but do the backs even know which direction the try line is?
the boks need a defensive coach that has our side defending competently without brainwashing the attack mental switch out of us when we actually have the ball.
16 Apr 2012, 09:46 am
I think Meyer has made his first big mistake of his Springbok tenure. Yes, it was really poor of SARU to only appoint him so late after the world cup, but they should have done it straight after the WC. Now we have a union completely depleted of quality coaching, especially since they are on the ascend.
16 Apr 2012, 09:50 am
Does anybody know whether Nienaber accepted the three year extension offered to him by the WPRU?
I see an article posted on February the 20th that Coetzee has signed his deal, but it only states that his assistants have been offered an extension but it doesn’t say that they have signed it.
16 Apr 2012, 09:51 am
@kingcorn(kingcorn)-28:
i think so as well, however, i’m sure the bulls have an idea what they want to do in the interim albeit a little bit of an accident job.
16 Apr 2012, 09:56 am
Good morning all.
Well done the Sharkies & Bulls.
Eish bad luck the Cheaters & Stormers.
Lions, holy smokes they are struggling with injuries.
Still kooking good for SA franchises… BUT we need to have home semis!!! Not negotiable… imo..
16 Apr 2012, 09:58 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-24:
Why “force” one of the greatest players SA has ever produced (if not THE greatest) to come out of retirement- Matfield was clearly not the player he used to be during the last year or so- he can only go downwards from here on and destroy his legacy. PdV did the same with JS when he went to France to convince him to come back and we all know the sad end to that exercise.
16 Apr 2012, 10:00 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-24:
Whatever Meyer’s plans are, he is taking one hell of a risk.
None of us know what Victor’s form will be like and even if he will get up to the form that saw him as the world’s premier #5.
If we were severely depleted at lock there could be an argument for this move – but given there is not and that Meyer seemed to give the impression that he will pick his captain from within the best available 22 this is no different from PDV bringing Smit back in 2008.
You know I subscribe to picking my captain first and then the rest of the team, but hell the captain needs to be playing at least – not brought out of retirement.
16 Apr 2012, 10:02 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl(Brigadier Van Zyl)-27: I’ve posted many times about the way the Stormers defend and that it means that they cannot switch to attack very easily.
I also think that at international level you won’t get the sort of space that the Bulls like to get and capitalise very well on, so I’m not sure what the answer is.
16 Apr 2012, 10:02 am
@Bloues(Grootdrink)-29:
They never gave a clear answer to that. I do know that he said he was never approached by Meyer and that he has accepted that they are not interested in him. So I guess we must assume that he did sign at Stormers/WP.
16 Apr 2012, 10:03 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-32: Perhaps, but then i think a big part of Big Vics decline was just tiredness. I’m thinking there is a strong possibility Vic surprises us after a few hard games in the super 15. Time will tell, but i wouldnt count him out just yet.
16 Apr 2012, 10:04 am
@Staal(Staal)-31:
Howzit Staal,
How is the diving going. Still hopping around from one exotic location to the other?
Some blokes have all the luck, don’t they
16 Apr 2012, 10:04 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-32:
dude, the issue is that bekker is so very ordinary, the coaching staff feel the need to get vic back out of retirement …..that’s the real worry here. Even a retired old toppie is see as a better option than bekker at the minute. Juandre is an option but essentially still playing his first season of superrugby and by nature a test greenhorn.
meyer obviously wants to see some more intelligence in his pack.
16 Apr 2012, 10:09 am
I would normally consider bringing back an ex player as fairly ridiculous, but anyone who has followed vics twitter will know he takes his fitness kind of serious. The amount of cycling he does is quite incredible.
I say give him a few games for the sharks or cheetahs, we just don’t know where he is at. If he sucks bad then scrap the idea.
16 Apr 2012, 10:10 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-37: Hi Robzim, naw – havent dived for 2 months now. Crazy!
Looking froward July trip to Deep South in Red Sea.
16 Apr 2012, 10:12 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl(Brigadier Van Zyl)-38:So,you equate intelligence with Matfield?
16 Apr 2012, 10:15 am
@stormerforlife1(stormerforlife1)-41:
one of 2 of the most astute players sa has produced.
16 Apr 2012, 10:15 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-35:
I would have assumed that as well, but with all the fanfare with which Coetzee’s reappointment was announced I thought that it would have been the same when Nienaber signed, but I’ve read nothing. Only that they have been offered extensions and are in the process of formalizing the contracts, but it has not been confirmed whether they singed or not.
I’m just saying, the Bulls are on the hunt and they have R3 Million in cash to spend on their new recruits. WP should get that signature as fast as they can if they haven’t done it already.
16 Apr 2012, 10:17 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl(Brigadier Van Zyl)-38:
You equate Matfield with intelligence? Right, I agree, he appears to be a bright bloke.
Now this same bright bloke is on record that he rates Bekker as the best no 5 lock in the world with the potential to get even better than he (Victor) was.
Might be a difference in opinions between Matfield and Heineke then?
16 Apr 2012, 10:21 am
@Bloues(Grootdrink)-43:
They better- if they lose him to the bulls it might be a bigger loss than Sadie/Engelbrecht together.
Having said that, Engelbrecht is beginning to look flippin good.
16 Apr 2012, 10:23 am
All these wet panties need to remember that Meyer asked Tottoie Coetzee to join his coaching team and Tottie gave him two fingers.
Last time I checked he has never been involved with the Bulls.
Noiw stop bleating like a schoolgirl who has just seen her first horsecock.
16 Apr 2012, 10:23 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-44:
16 Apr 2012, 10:25 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-45:
I’ll watch that developments with a keen eye. It will be funny if WP is caught napping again.
16 Apr 2012, 10:27 am
Honestly, you couldn’t make this stuff up…even if you wanted to. I, as an ardent Bok supporter for one, wouldn’t hold it against HM if we lose against ENG first up. If our guys play solid, constructive rugby and score by pressurising teams as well as creating our own opportunities, I’d be happy. Never mind the outcome. Come 3N’s, results will be more of an issue. But now it’s only important for me that he finds his feet and get the guys to play the game he wants. Coaches realy need to give more thought to their asst’s. We just had a forgettable stint of 4 years with Muir and Gold. For all the Div bashing of the last season or so, HM’s first few decisions as coach doesn’t fill me with too much confidence.
16 Apr 2012, 10:32 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-45: I am glad for Engelbrecht.Just shows what can happen when you land with both feet on the ground instead of developing a big head.
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