Heyneke happy with Boks’ foundation
20 Jun 2012
Heyneke Meyer feels that after two Tests his players understand the game plan and that a strong team culture has been established.
The three-Test series against England was always going to be a tricky one for the new Bok coach. Meyer wouldn’t enjoy sufficient time to coach and prepare his charges, but the Boks would still be expected to win on home soil. He was always going to rely on a more familiar game plan in these circumstances, but he would also need to start putting structures into place before a far more demanding examination in the Rugby Championship.
Meyer has been honest in his assessment of this Bok side, both in terms of its performance in the Tests against England as well as its potential. Before the second Test, he said that this team was only at 5% of its potential. Ahead of the third Test in Port Elizabeth, Meyer said that the percentage had moved up, albeit marginally, to 10.
The Boks have employed a territory-based approach, utilising their kicking strengths to drive for field position via a kick-chase ploy or a punt for the touchline. They have taken very few risks in their own half, preferring to deploy their hard running forwards and centres only after they’ve crossed the 50m line. The backs haven’t featured much from an attacking point of view.
There are those who would bemoan Meyer’s tactics, who would call him conservative and restrictive. But what they fail to realise is that the game plan employed against England is just the beginning. If the Boks can implement these structures successfully, they can move onto the next phase of the plan which is to use the backline far more.
At this stage, however, Meyer is adamant that the Boks perfect the basics. The South Africans haven’t got it exactly right throughout this series, but the coach has seen enough to feel encouraged by their progress.
‘What we have now is that everybody understands the game plan,’ he said. ‘It may not always be executed efficiently, but at least everybody is on the same page. Now we just need to start getting the small details right.’
The Boks blew away England in the first half of last Saturday’s game. The game plan was executed to perfection, with the Boks winning field position before unleashing their bruising ball-carriers on the England defence.
Unfortunately, it was an effort they failed to sustain and a poor second half almost cost them the match.
They may have won the series against England with last week’s victory, but the coming game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium represents their last Test as a group before the Rugby Championship in August. Again, Meyer was honest about where the Boks stand, and at the same time he is satisfied that enough has been done to ensure they will go into that series with the right mindset.
‘We are not 100% ready for the Rugby Championship, but it’s good to know that things have been put into place. The culture has also been put into place and that should make things a bit easier for what should be a very hard year.
‘We gave some soft tries away last weekend, which was very disappointing. Defence is a part of the culture, you can’t give away points like that, you need to stay focused. The media has speculated that replacements cost us at times last week, but it was soft moments like that. We have to work to ensure that doesn’t happen again.’
Apart from the changes on the field, Meyer has been happy with the progress off it. On Wednesday, it was announced that Jean de Villiers would lead the team until the end of the season. The Meyer-De Villiers combination seems to be working and both clearly know how to get the best out of this group of players.
Last week, De Villiers said that the team had grown with each training session. Following the match at Ellis Park, he lauded the character of the side as they did enough to win the game and the series.
When asked this week about the motivation to whitewash the tourists and extend the Boks’ winning streak against England to 10 victories, De Villiers played down the hype of those figures.
Instead, he preferred to speak about the significance of the game for what is a new team. De Villiers argues that they are determined to improve on the past two performances and the more time they spend together the closer they will become as a unit.
As the Bok captain suggests, an improved showing this Saturday will bode well for the more testing matches in the Rugby Championship.
By Jon Cardinelli, in Port Elizabeth
17 Comments
20 Jun 2012, 14:32 pm
Can’t argue with any of that, really.
20 Jun 2012, 14:34 pm
We are making a lot less handling errors than in the past.
A sure sign of a gameplan that is well executed by the players, and good communication on attack and defense.
20 Jun 2012, 14:39 pm
Hopefully the boks won’t have so many injuries come the 4Nations. And weddings.
20 Jun 2012, 14:40 pm
Just stick to the basics,a culture of winning rugby will follow.
20 Jun 2012, 14:42 pm
@Unplugged(Unplugged)-3: Yeah,and there’s bound to be more stormers selected which will satisfy the strompies fans.
20 Jun 2012, 14:48 pm
@Superbru(Superbru)-5: Can only think of 4. Vermeulen, Kitshoff, Burger, and Bekker?
20 Jun 2012, 14:50 pm
@Unplugged(Unplugged)-6:
Of which one will probably join the current starting line up, and one or two go on to the bench.
20 Jun 2012, 14:54 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-7: And either Burger or Bekker will be injured again. Probably Bekker, i think his ac
20 Jun 2012, 14:55 pm
@Unplugged(Unplugged)-8: actully to tall for rugby.
20 Jun 2012, 15:21 pm
i am happy too.
save for one maybe two selections.
20 Jun 2012, 15:25 pm
For the 1st time in about 8years I have faith in a bok coach again. Heyneke, for the record, I love winning rugby, no matter which form that type of rugby may come in.
20 Jun 2012, 15:50 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck(logie_Jumpbuck)-11: First time in 8 years? Did you have faith during the Straeuli era then?
20 Jun 2012, 19:12 pm
how often in the Bok team has the ball gone to the wing in previous games?
how often have Bok wings been made Man of Match?
“The backs haven’t featured much from an attacking point of view.”
i call BS on that.
20 Jun 2012, 19:35 pm
Sniping the Stormers is of no concern to us, folks.
We are in line for our first trophy for a long, long while. That is a really pressing issue.
The Bok team composition is of irrelevance to us, especially if they are winning.
Kick ***, Green and Gold!
20 Jun 2012, 20:18 pm
@BishopsOD(BishopsOD)-14:
Been listening to rubbish like that for 11 years now….
20 Jun 2012, 23:41 pm
@willievz(willievz)-2:
I noticed that as well – less handling errors, but also better passing – passing and catching are the basics but have reached shocking levels in the last 10 years because they’ve been taken for granted.
21 Jun 2012, 01:25 am
So great to hear and see a solid plan in action behind the scenes – some of the selection policies still have to be quesitoned though – such as why Kanko and Olivier are in the squad when theyre buggering off soon? There have been a few iffy selections and hopefully these dud players will work themselves out the squad – unlike Puff Diddy I think Heyneke wont tolerate players not performing as much.
All in all I like where this is going.
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