Meyer: Jean could be Bok great
20 Jun 2012
Jean de Villiers will lead the Springboks for the remainder of the 2012 season, and there is a strong chance that he will be entrusted with the job on a long-term basis.
Bok coach Heyneke Meyer initially made De Villiers the captain for the England series and was expected to name a long-term skipper ahead of the Rugby Championship. But De Villiers has impressed Meyer with his leadership on and off the field, and it is felt that he is the right man to take the Boks forward.
‘I knew about his captaincy when I coached teams against him, I’ve always thought he was a great leader,’ said Meyer. ‘But now that I’ve spent some time with him over the past three weeks, I realise that he is an unbelievable captain.
‘I want this team to settle and I want them to know who their leader is. It’s taken a special effort to bring this side together in a short space of time, and in that way Jean has impressed me.
‘He has the respect of the players and is a great ambassador for South African rugby on and off the field. In the end it was an easy decision.’
De Villiers played an important leadership role in the build up to the 2007 World Cup, and was also influential in the series win against the British & Irish Lions as well as the 2009 Tri-Nations victory.
He succeeds great South African leaders John Smit and Victor Matfield, the latter player a former disciple of Meyer during his days at the Bulls. Meyer believes De Villiers has the potential to be as good as, if not better, than Smit or Matfield.
‘He’s already up there with the best of them, and he can be one of the best Bok captains ever. We are planning for the future and we felt there wasn’t enough time to announce the captain before the Rugby Championship. We have to start preparing now.
‘When I was first appointed as Bok coach, the captaincy was a big worry for me. But Jean has really pulled all the guys together.
De Villiers said he was honoured to be entrusted with the responsibility.
‘It’s nice to have some stability. Some people might say it’s only until the end of the year, but we have a very long year still to come,’ De Villiers said.
‘This will give us more time to prepare for the Rugby Championship. I will also admit that it’s a job I can’t do on my own, so the senior guys in the team will also have to help.’
While De Villiers has been backed as captain until the end of 2012, Meyer said he would look at the vice captaincy position at the end of the England series.
Bismarck du Plessis has served as De Villiers’ lieutenant in the forwards thus far, but it could be that Schalk Burger moves into that position when he returns from injury for the Rugby Championship.
By Jon Cardinelli, in Port Elizabeth
92 Comments
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20 Jun 2012, 13:20 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-1:
Well, that’s a bit different from, “We’ll just have to accept it” when he was appointed the first time.
He made an impression on you the last two weeks?
20 Jun 2012, 13:42 pm
A predictable choice for HM….I mean who else is
there really? Jean is playing well and has the
knowledge and experience……but this brings up
new questions….
Next year JdV turns 32….and he should NOT be
around for World Cup 2015 at age 34….
This leaves us with two problems.
1. We need to find another captain….so we do
not have the consistency of a single cappie to
take us through 4 years to the world cup. (as per
Smittie for 2007) By the end of this year the
players will have grown to understand Jean’s
leadership type and will have familiarized
themselves with his style….only to have
everything change when HM has to pick another
player as captain. How will this affect us?
2. This “short term” captain and player also
prompts a changed midfield for the
future….giving the midfield that is going to take
us to the world cup (ie: F. Steyn + A.N.Other)
even less time to play together and form a solid
partnership and understanding of each other. All
the great midfield combo’s all spent a long time
time together…..and have built that sixth sense
where the one automatically knows what the
other is doing. This only comes with time and
nothing else.
The longer HM leaves Jean in the midfield and as
captain the more damage I feel is going to be
done to this team. HM keeps making short term
decisions….which is starting to worry me. It made
perfectly sense having a short term goal for this
test series against the English seeing as he had
virtually no time to prepare…..but now it’s
become another short term goal until the end of
the year by retaining Jean in the midfield as
captain.
Please understand chaps I’m certainly NOT
knocking Jean or his captaincy in any way…..I
think he’s been great. I’m just concerned that
we’re not catering for the future and we’re more
wrapped up in the here and now…..and by the
time World Cup 2015 swings it will be another
“short term” solution that needs to be found……
We have the likes of Tim Whitehead, Jan
Serfontein, Paul Jordaan and William Small-Smith
coming through the ranks…..these are the
midfielders of the future. We all believe that Frans
Steyn is THE 12 for the future….well, we have to
find a 13 to partner him….and the longer we
leave Jean there….the less time one of these
players is going to have to play with him. Except
for maybe Whitehead who looks set to partner
him at the Sharks for the next three years….
Could that possibly be the future Bok midfield?
20 Jun 2012, 13:44 pm
Congrats to Jean.
According to Peter de Villier’s book, Jean was a number 13 in his U20 side
with Adi Jacobs at 12. Currently there are no other 13′s that fit HM’s plans.
I’m all for picking players in position and not ruin careers with the allrounder
tag like the Sharks have a track record of doing.
20 Jun 2012, 14:02 pm
@storiejoernal(storiejoernal)-52: Your points are valid yet I am going to say this again and again because at my core as Bok supporter it defines me…
I don’t believe in a World Cup mentality. Why must the WC dictate what happens NOW? I would gladly have us give back both our world cups to have a better winl/lose ratio. Who cares what happens in a 2 month competition in 2015 when we have so much rugby between now and then when we will be crying into our beers again? A WC trophy is pure sentimentality – yes it’s a great achievement and we used to love the old ‘four more years’ as our comeback retort when there were Kiwis on this blog. A weak retort. Ask any New Zealander – even before they won the last WC if they’d trade in their win/lose ratio for 4 world cups- I know what they’d say!!! F*ark the WC and focus on winning games and a winning culture and the WC wins will follow.
20 Jun 2012, 14:03 pm
@storiejoernal(storiejoernal)-52:
I think Heyneke’s plan is in grooming a vice captain who will eventually take over when or if Jean fades out, that’s why he hasn’t confirmed who his vice is until the end of year.
That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.
So not too bad of an outcome considering he was lining up Victor and F Du Preez at one point.
20 Jun 2012, 14:07 pm
@wpstormerbok(wpstormerbok)-55:
Also, Jean’s selection was a rare deviation from his preference for captains among the forwards. He said so quite clearly.
So the next captain will amost certainly be a forward.
20 Jun 2012, 14:08 pm
@bangkok-bok(bangkok-bok)-54: Plus I’d rather have a 34 year old JDV than anyone else as there is no one out there sticking their hand up to grab the 13 jersey. Stirling M and Brian O Driscoll are proof that the longevity of a 13 doesn’t end at 34.
20 Jun 2012, 14:12 pm
Got to wonder if all of this would have happened if Jacque Fourie was available?
20 Jun 2012, 14:15 pm
He’s having a great run in the media so far, a couple of losses in the 4N and he’ll be dog tucker.
20 Jun 2012, 14:17 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-56:
So far Heyneke’s done many things when we expected the opposite so don’t be so sure about that just yet.
20 Jun 2012, 14:18 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-59:
That’s the nature of SA rugby.
20 Jun 2012, 14:24 pm
@bangkok-bok(bangkok-bok)-57: It not just his age, its all the injuries.
20 Jun 2012, 14:46 pm
Good call to the end of 2012, but then we need to reconsider.
If not, then we’ll soon have another John Smit case on our hands where there is another better player (Bismark) in the captain’s position. At the moment there isn’t anyone trying to break the door down, but given time we have a number of good youngsters who’ll be forcing their way into the reckoning.
The captain needs to be a player whose selection isn’t actively being disputed. JdV is fine for now, but by 2014 (or earlier), we’ll definitely have better options in terms of 13s.
20 Jun 2012, 14:52 pm
JDV will lead in the new breed of Bok.
20 Jun 2012, 14:55 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-56: Yes, Bismarck du Plessis.
20 Jun 2012, 15:00 pm
Keeping the seat warm for schalk?
20 Jun 2012, 15:08 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-66:
Don’t say that, Skoppy will be all over you like a rash.
20 Jun 2012, 15:12 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-67:
a fuckadilly rash?
I’m blogging in my hazmat suit from now on.
20 Jun 2012, 15:13 pm
@storiejoernal(storiejoernal)-52:
Two years (2014 and 2015) is more than enough. And then we aren’t even into 2013 yet. Plenty of time for a centre combination to settle or for a younger player to take over captaincy before the world cup.
20 Jun 2012, 15:15 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-68:
hehehe- whether the hazmat suit can keep you safe from the spitting Nokia is debatable.
20 Jun 2012, 15:15 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-67: skop’s been saying iy all year jdv is ‘n yster kaptein…now heyneke has woken up to the wisdom of skop
20 Jun 2012, 15:20 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-71:
If he can now only get through to Alister Coetzee as well.
20 Jun 2012, 15:20 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-71:
hehe
how hw missed the rest of skop and picked the ‘other’ 21 players around jean from the bulls and sharks is the real mystery.
20 Jun 2012, 15:20 pm
What happened to super Sadie?
20 Jun 2012, 15:20 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-70:
ja that nokia is a petri dish for social dysfunction.
20 Jun 2012, 15:23 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-72:
what, so the hurricanes did him a favour..?
hehehehe
20 Jun 2012, 15:28 pm
@Unplugged(Unplugged)-74:
he is taking a break from healing sick children and solving the finacial crisis in europe.
why?
20 Jun 2012, 15:31 pm
@Unplugged(Unplugged)-74: spending part of the R1.4 bar that’s already in his bank account, why?
20 Jun 2012, 15:36 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-77: Not sure if it was Sa Rugby or Sports Illustrated magazine that reckoned he’ll be the next Danie Gerber. This was a couple of months ago.
20 Jun 2012, 15:38 pm
More bad news for Heyneke Meyer as another of his centres has been ruled out of the test in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Wynand Olivier has made himself unavailble due to a prior commitment to be bridesmaid at Francois Steyn’s wedding.
20 Jun 2012, 15:41 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-78: I have never seen him play, would like to know what makes him so special?
20 Jun 2012, 15:41 pm
@Unplugged(Unplugged)-79:
he still can be.
but for now Serfontein is,
20 Jun 2012, 15:58 pm
Good choice from HM. One guy I would have liked to have seen as Bok captain is Juan Smith. It’s amazing how his presence in the Cheetahs and Free State sides gives everyone a lift. He is clearly very well respected, even though he is quite quiet. Sadly, we might not even see him in a Bok jersey again, let alone captaining the side.
20 Jun 2012, 15:59 pm
@Unplugged(Unplugged)-81: A few linebreaks and tries against the Blues and Crusaders.
20 Jun 2012, 16:25 pm
Also means Schalk won’t be getting the Stormers/WP captaincy back either….
20 Jun 2012, 18:42 pm
I’m happy with De Villiers as captain
21 Jun 2012, 09:15 am
Jean is way better than Schalk as captain
21 Jun 2012, 09:23 am
Congrats Jean!
What does our resident Al Pacino Dumbass have to say about this?
Maybe HOOHA!
or
KABOOM!
21 Jun 2012, 09:50 am
@David(David)-20: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
21 Jun 2012, 10:11 am
The other thing about Jean is that he tends to get serious injuries at the worst possible times. (Yeah, obviously this excludes Schalk and Juan from captaincy as well… as it should)
21 Jun 2012, 10:14 am
@Bouts(Bouts)-90:
Only world cups isnt it.
21 Jun 2012, 11:01 am
@David(David)-26: Did BOD show Jacques the way to the tryline in the 2nd Test Dave? Or did he show Jacques how to pick a fight and then get pushed around like a ragdoll by a lock? Or maybe it was when he showed Jacques how to concuss yourself by flying at Danie Russouw with no arms? What exactly did BOD “show” Jacques Fourie?
I am a big fan of BOD and he was awesome in the Heineken final and against NZ, but I would say Jacques has been better since 2005ish
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