Meyer accomplishes first mission
18 Jun 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in his weekly Business Day column, says Heyneke Meyer would have learned a lot from the Boks’ Test series win against England.
Credit must go to England for a magnificent second-half comeback that could have ended in victory. Better teams have failed miserably against the Springboks at altitude and I can’t think of teams that have come back from an 18-point deficit at Ellis Park to win.
With 10 minutes to go, I thought England were the stronger team and the more likely to win. The Boks were hurt by injury and I don’t think the front-row substitutions added value to the match.
Losing loose forward Willem Alberts to injury was significant. Keegan Daniel is a fine player but he is not a straight swap for Alberts and the Boks lost physicality and bulk. They also lost presence at the breakdown when hooker Bismarck du Plessis was substituted on the hour and they certainly lost their lineout composure and organisation when Juandré Kruger’s match was ended prematurely because of injury.
The pack was a shambles at full-time, with England dominating physically, technically and tactically.
If it reads like a horror show then it certainly had the potential to become one but for the individualism of right wing JP Pietersen, whose electric break set up the match-winning try that he fittingly scored in the 75th minute.
Pietersen’s Test career has been as mixed a bag as the Boks’ performance at the weekend. His innocuous play has made as big a statement as the match defining-moments he has produced.
Fortunately he seems to produce the extraordinary against England. Some players take a liking to particular opponents. South Africans must be grateful that for Pietersen that is England.
It needed the sort of moment he produced to resist England’s fightback as all the momentum was with the visitors.
The Boks were sensational in the first 30 minutes of the game and again showed the potential to become the world’s best team, but they also displayed the kind of vulnerability that could see them struggle in the expanded Rugby Championship.
This season will be a testing one for Heyneke Meyer and the Boks. You don’t just replace Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Fourie du Preez and Jaque Fourie. You also don’t just find a substitute for Juan Smith and Schalk Burger, and you can’t ignore that three of the starting pack are playing their first month of Test rugby.
This is a young Bok side prone to error and indifference, and they showed us that in the second half, but they also showed how much there is on offer in the opening half and on balance in the two Test wins in Durban and Johannesburg the good outweighs the wobbles.
I couldn’t settle on a word to adequately describe the 80 minutes of the second Test. To call it a strange 80 minutes would be an understatement and not necessarily accurate.
The neutral would have enjoyed the rugby played. There was (among both teams) flamboyance, creativity, attacking intent and a willingness to use the hands more than the boot to advance the attack.
There was also a lot of naivety from both sides, but that is not unexpected given the relative inexperience in so many key decision-making positions.
Both coaches will believe their players are stronger for the experience of the past fortnight. But as Meyer told the media afterwards, his good fortune is that he can reflect on a victory when assessing the weaknesses of the performance.
Victory allows for calmness and it also ensures greater perspective from the public.
Meyer’s priority was to win the series and that goal has been met. Don’t lose sight of the significance of the series win in testing circumstances and against opponents who have earned respect by way of their performance in both Tests.
Meyer, especially, will have learned plenty and England coach Stuart Lancaster will have greater self-belief that the right players have been identified after the disaster of England’s 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
Saturday’s third Test will be as important as the first two for both sides because the two teams will meet again at Twickenham at the end of the year and they will both be among the title contenders for the 2015 World Cup to be played in England.
Every time these two sides meet there will be value in the battle and the gains and losses that result will extend beyond the scoreboard.
The great plus of a three-Test series is that it does ask every question of a squad’s capabilities and those of its coaching staff, but it also provides the opportunity for answers … some of which may not make for pleasant reading.
125 Comments
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18 Jun 2012, 16:06 pm
@Dusky(Dusky)-91: Makes sence. I’m also a Sharks supporter and a big fan of Lambie, but with Goosen, Jantjies and M.Steyn around he can make the fullback position his own if given more game time there? There is also Jaco Taute, i could be wrong but Meyer might see him as our future 13. He did well there for the Lions. So another reason for Lambie to play at 15
18 Jun 2012, 16:06 pm
@toulon says(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-95: Zane Kirchner is not a good fullback. This not based on provincial bias or anything like that. I have seen analysis done of his attacking abilities and option taking from 15 and he fails regularly to recognize opposition V-formation defensive lapses etc.
His defense is pretty good, he is quick, quite a heavy unit and nice and tall. Mostly, he is excellent under the high ball.
His option taking is however, generally poor.
BUT – he did play well in his first test against England. I will give credit where it is due. He did a better job than Lambie did this weekend.
18 Jun 2012, 16:08 pm
The fallout in the second half happened around a few situations
1 Alberts went down
2 Kruger went down
3 JdP was subbed by Kruger
4. Daniels came and wafted around the park like a fairy
5. Hougaard went to wing and Pienaar came on as scrum half
6. Bismark went off for Strauss
7. JdV played avante guard rugby instead of taking 3 pointers went for tries which didn’t materialize
8. England smelled some blood and lifted their game
18 Jun 2012, 16:13 pm
@Dusky(Dusky)-97:
Mine is fact. Yours is a false reality. Because if you rewatch the game, the “facts” you state is not what happened.
Since you won’t repent I cannot forgive you.
18 Jun 2012, 16:15 pm
@louis schropnel(louis shrapnel)-103: What ? You dopped a few too many brannas by then my buddy. JdV took shots at goal with everything that came his way. Unfortunately Morne Steyn was about as accurate with his goal kicks as my dead, quadriplegic ouma.
The problem was that we killed our midfield defense by bringing in domkop Timotei putting pressure on Ken and Barbie (to their absolute horror) to do the tackling in midfield. Our biggest problem came when Frans Steyn was moved to fullback. After that, we had f all defense in the midfield.
18 Jun 2012, 16:16 pm
@STBUR(STBUR)-104: Ok
18 Jun 2012, 16:16 pm
@louis schropnel(louis shrapnel)-103: I don’t blame JdV for going for the tries… his goalkicker could also not hit a barn door at that stage…
18 Jun 2012, 16:18 pm
Isn’t it strange that so many other players form comes into question, but its ‘hands off’ Morne Steyn ? Oh boy….just not another biased coach….
Morne’s goal kicking is a problem at the moment.
18 Jun 2012, 16:19 pm
@Unplugged(Unplugged)-101:
@Dusky(Dusky)-102:
ok look, consider this;
what’s the likelyhood (barring injury) of hm picking patrick at fb or fh ahead of either zane or morne?
and that’s my point. if the kids got less than zero chance of being a first choice pick for either position but does stand a high chance of being picked on the bench or due to injury then imho he should try harder for a fh pick rather than fb.
he’s young enough to outtlive both zk and ms and as long as hm is bok coach will be lower down the pecking order than both zk and ms.
18 Jun 2012, 16:19 pm
@Rum And Maple(Rum And Maple)-107: Precisely, except I don’t recall JdV turning down too many kicks at goal at that point. So I think ol’ Louis Shrapnel had one too many Klippies by then….
18 Jun 2012, 16:24 pm
@Dusky(Dusky)-110: True, JdV took most chances at posts…
What bothered me was that he did not at that stage tell Morne to chill and give the kicking duties to Frans or Ruan…
Both slotted all their kicks during the pre-game warm up…
18 Jun 2012, 16:25 pm
@toulon says(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-109: Just based on the fact that the coach is Heyneke, I would say the chances are none. If I put Lambie, Kirchner and Morne Steyn together at the moment, I would (strangely, because I am NO fan) pick Kirchner first.
So – then I would need a Nr 10. So at 10 – considering Morne’s average performances in the tests vs. Lambie’s above average Super rugby performances at 10, but average performances at 15 I would be seriously stuck as to who would be my first choice flyhalf.
I would probably go with Morne, just because its a safe choice (nobody dares say anything if Morne plays badly, so he is a ‘safe’ choice for a coach as well). If Meyer chooses Lambie at 10 and he misses one goal, it will be painted across Pretoria on banners the size of Loftus Oos Paviljoen….
18 Jun 2012, 16:29 pm
@Rum And Maple(Rum And Maple)-111: Heyneke clearly has a ‘soft spot’ for Steyn. I didn’t think he was going to be a biased coach – but perhaps I was wrong.
The fact that he turned his hard as oak head in, and insisted on leaving the kicking duties with Steyn in Durban, while Pat Lambie who kicks and practices on that field was there – makes me believe we are stuck with Morne Steyn for the long run.
I think in the long term we will have two problems with Meyer. 1 – He is VERY hard-headed and 2. He looks like he could be a biased coach.
18 Jun 2012, 16:33 pm
@Dusky(Dusky)-113: Ahhh…
Morne was clearly off the boil and it is worrying at the moment…
But considering how good Morne’s kicking usually is, one can understand the reason for not trying to mess with him too much…
What is boggling is during his warm-up he slotted everything from everywhere…
18 Jun 2012, 16:33 pm
anyway… chat tomorrow… have to dash…
18 Jun 2012, 16:35 pm
I’d say play Pollard @ 10 for the Boks – he slots every kick, can run, pass and tackle.. what more do you need? [plus @ 1.89 & 95kgs he fits the HM size criteria !]
18 Jun 2012, 16:35 pm
@Rum And Maple(Rum And Maple)-111: We had a hard-headed coach once before. He flouted the advice of everyone around him and dropped the most successful Bok captain (at that stage) for a half cocked, semi-injured Bob Skinstad within a few months of the 1999 world cup. He has since sat like a wet dog, with red eyes begging for forgiveness for that error.
He also insisted playing a young, out of sorts Percy Montgommery against England in the test that would have given South Africa the record of most consecutive tests by a team in history and even though Percy had a nightmare of a game, let an in-form Andre Joubert sit on the bench until the last few minutes of the game where he made an immediate impact when he came on.
Around that time, it completely unraveled and he made no attempt to hide the ridiculous bias he had toward WP, despite the fact that they were doing really poorly at the time. If I am not mistaken, ending in the bottom 3 of the Super rugby tournament, yet still had something like 11 Springboks in the squad.
I hope we don’t have another Nick Mallet on our hands…..brilliant rugby brain, but just cant leave the provincial bias and favoritism out of it. Will cost him in the long run.
18 Jun 2012, 16:36 pm
@Dusky(Dusky)-112:
yes agreed.
now then, considering this, the boy and his father should seriously weigh up his options future wise and imo look to push harder for him as a flyhalf than as a fullback.
he is only 20/21? so definetely has age on his side for waiting a position out. he should fight goosen for #10 imo, erhaps they could even both be brought into the frame, long term, for the position by the selectors/coaches/admin.
18 Jun 2012, 16:37 pm
@Rum And Maple(Rum And Maple)-111:
not true.
frans was given a shot at goal and missed too.
18 Jun 2012, 16:43 pm
@toulon says(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-118: Lambie, Goosen and Jantjies are 20-21 years old. Great to have so many options! Remember the days when all we had was Louis Koen or Braam v Straten?
18 Jun 2012, 16:45 pm
@Unplugged(Unplugged)-120:
yip agreed.
its good for sa rugby in total and not just for unions.
my heart says seven fat years are coming/
gotta run.
cheers.
18 Jun 2012, 16:54 pm
@toulon says(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-119: From 60 metres out…..come now…..
18 Jun 2012, 17:40 pm
My biggest concern is Morne Steyn…
18 Jun 2012, 17:58 pm
@Train(Train)-123: More worries, Olivier will be at 12 for sure with F.Steyn not being available
19 Jun 2012, 14:45 pm
@Bok fan(Bok fan)-53: “Jean has been a 13 for a few years now” – pure evidence of how short our memories are.
He played 12 for the entire S15, this year, last year, the year before that in Munster. He also played 12 for SA for the past 6 or so years. He has been a 13 for TWO GAMES now.
In WC ’07 + ’11 he was starting 12 with Fourie at 13. In fact, Fourie as had the 13 jersey for a LONG time.
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