Meyer’s selections have restricted Boks
10 Sep 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in his weekly Business Day newspaper column, says Heyneke Meyer’s dream of coaching the Springboks has become a nightmare.
The Springboks will lose in New Zealand against the All Blacks. They won’t be smashed but they will be beaten.
Johan Goosen will provide greater variety on attack at flyhalf; Francois Louw, selected primarily to slow the pace at which the All Blacks recycle the ball, will ensure there isn’t guaranteed flow and rhythm to the New Zealanders; and the Boks, fronted by the black jersey, the haka and the belief that this match represents the game’s fiercest rivalry, will produce 60 very passionate minutes that will again give South Africans belief, hope and very little perspective.
The Boks will then beat the Wallabies in Pretoria and possibly sneak a win against the All Blacks in Soweto and the Currie Cup play-offs will be wonderful occasions, in which the rugby will seem new age and the sold-out attendance will seem indicative of what makes rugby such a priority to South Africans, if only a minority.
The Boks will head for the UK with renewed hope in November, our media and public will continue to question just how good the All Blacks really are — because they may have lost or come close to losing one match — and present arguments about just how good the Boks could be because they beat or came close to beating the All Blacks in one match.
And then we’ll be in 2013.
You don’t need a crystal ball to know this; just an hour to go through the Boks’ history will show that since professionalism in 1996, every Bok coach would take a team to New Zealand and Australia every year and host New Zealand and Australia every year.
Bok rugby is not in crisis but in a familiar cycle and I think the vitriol being aimed at Heyneke Meyer is because of a belief that he would be the one to break the cycle and be a leader of change.
Instead he, like every Bok coach who has arrived with pomp and ceremony, has been forced to change because of defeat and selections that were stereotypical in design.
Meyer, in discussing his philosophy on rugby, simplified it to there being only two types of rugby — winning and losing. He’s won three from six and it will be three from seven after the weekend. His way currently, based on his philosophy, is a losing one.
The Bok coach has also said that if his players can’t apply the basics to Plan A then why the need to look for a Plan B? Again, by what he has said, he is currently losing.
That is what I have found dispiriting about the draw in Mendoza in Argentina and the defeat against Australia in Perth. Both could have been avoided with more applicable selections to a more applicable way of playing, which is not a South African or a New Zealand way, but — to quote Meyer — a winning way.
We have players in South Africa who can offload in the tackle. We have 10s who can play close to the gain line, ask questions of the defence and make tackles. We have skilled players. We have mongrel in defence. We have players with an appreciation of how the offload in the tackle takes structured defence out of the game and adds pace to the game because it avoids collisions, which can bring the pace to a standstill.
The All Blacks, in picking a scrumhalf whose strength is the speed at which he can move the ball from breakdown to first receiver, have added a dimension to their play but that does not mean they believe this is the only way to be successful.
The talk is that the more physical Piri Weepu could be a better counter to the physicality of the Boks.
The point here is that there is no right or wrong way, but there is a restricted way — and that’s where Meyer has let himself down and made the South African rugby public feel particularly let down.
The view — and I am among the man’s biggest cheerleaders — was that he had the rugby acumen to identify the right mix of players to produce winning rugby, be it playing percentages or blowing opposition away with dominance at the breakdown and with backs running at pace and into space.
For the first 20 minutes of the second half against England in Durban and the first 30 minutes against England in Johannesburg all the signs were there that this could be a very special era of Bok rugby, in which it was accepted that to attack from your own goal line is not necessarily to risk, and to put boot to ball is not necessarily a no-risk option.
I don’t understand the refusal to try out different things, to select a squad that allows for different approaches and to live the dream of coaching a national team.
Instead Meyer is turning it into a nightmare, for himself and supporters.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
It was never supposed to be this way, even if the history of the cycle told us that it would be this way.
396 Comments
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10 Sep 2012, 21:16 pm
@sharks_lover-296: All good…
10 Sep 2012, 21:17 pm
294 HG – The missus told me.
There no kenners when it comes to rugby, too many variables, best u can hope for is to pick right and play committed rugby taking it to the oppo.
10 Sep 2012, 21:18 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-297: Whats that…?
Mumble, mumble, gobbledygook…
Naughty Doggy musn’t speak with mouth full…
Now come to Daddy for a paddywack…
10 Sep 2012, 21:23 pm
@Heavens Game-299: You just a F’NG MORON .. with absolutely ZERO rugby idea..
ask Kaizan here who is a better scrum half for Boks .. Pienaar or Hougaard…
a REAL rugby kenner will tell you the FACTS..
Ask Mallet WHO he will play at 9.. Pienaar or Hougaard.. go ahead.. and if he says Pienaar then Mallet is ONE fat ignoramus DOOS.. just like YOU…
Pienaar DESTROYED the BOKS front foot ball ALL BY HIMSELF.. were you NOT WATCHING as he f’ng SLOWED the pace down while he decided which f’ng BOOT he was gonna put to the leather.. and then the Aussies DROVE the f’ng Bok pack OFF the goddamn ball while Pienaar was WATCHING and Picking his goddamn slowcoach nose….
You a f’ng MORON.. You and Heuneke BOTH COMBINED .. Morons F,ng united the lot of you.. play Pienaar again.. watch it go ALL FALL down again and again and again and again..
Just like it went ALL f’ng FALL down while they played Smit and FdP and Morne and Spies.. again and again and again and again.. in 2010 and 2011
ELEVEN LOSSES from TWELVE STARTS under those Archaic dumbfck kick chase Smit at the forefront of the goddamn madness conditions.. and now you f’ng MORONS wanna KEEP on doing what the genius SAYS..
GOD you MORONS are THICK..!!
10 Sep 2012, 21:23 pm
@cab-302: Hellsteeth… How the fark did she know then…?
Farken “Kenners”
Colonel Farken Kenner ou doos above needs to lose a few pips… Farken rapid demotion the way he’s carrying on…
10 Sep 2012, 21:27 pm
@fitz1ella-304: One word…
And no “MORON” or “DOOS” necessary at all…
Just plain old “NUTS”…
Farken “kenner”, my left ballas…
Demoted… farkall pips left… Maybe one solitary stripe… if you lucky.
One farken solitary Caprivi Chevron left…
10 Sep 2012, 21:32 pm
@cab-302: meyer is a real-life kenner!
luister hier: “Let me put it into perspective …
it’s all about defence. I know
people want you to get the ball at
the back and run through teams, but that will usually work in the movies, it doesn’t work at this level any more,” he said,
claiming that statistics showed
that both Argentina and Australia
had kicked more in their games
against the Boks than his
side. …..comment made by
Heineke Meyer to the NZ press
10 Sep 2012, 21:32 pm
That one had more toys than I had rugby balle, prob still does. Gdam tge one thing looked like it drilled holes in the road.
Kenners my gat – we all watched tge same thing from crib to grave – and tge ABs ain’t that much more advanced either.
10 Sep 2012, 21:37 pm
@Transformation-307: Hey, Game Plan “expert”…
Howzabout a copy and paste of a proper game plan… Trying to unnerstand this game plan thing you gooi’ing around left, right and centre…
Maybe you can slip a Wayne Smith one on here… You know, maybe that one you got next to the Wayne poster near your bedroom mirror?
Who knows, maybe Heyneke is waiting on every Megatron copy and paste in expectation…
10 Sep 2012, 21:37 pm
307 transformation – one thing u 100% right on is the nbullshit disengenious excuses about prev coach this and that. I don’t think this oke HM quite realises that when u get the top job tge buck stops with the coach who gets paid tge big bucks – he selected tge team, he chose rhe game plan and he’s got his coaching staff – so he is completely to blame.
10 Sep 2012, 21:38 pm
@cab-308: ROF…
LMAO
10 Sep 2012, 21:39 pm
heyneke won’t play that fanciful sharks offload IRANZ nonsense
that’s why lambie only played 9 minutes & keegan got dropped he wanted to farken offload..bloody fancy pants guppy cappie, what about hitting rucks?
10 Sep 2012, 21:40 pm
I had it with this garbage.. let Meyer bring Bakkies into the madness and play Pienaar at 9 again.. and then I hope to FCK that he does NOT send poor Goosen STRAIGHT into the front line AB firing squad like he did last week with Vermeulen
WHY must decent promising talent get SACRIFICED for this fckup of a dictatorial fckface’s ego trip.. Goosen must NOT take the goddamn fall for this arseholes fckup of a moronic 19 Voetsek rugby strategy…
Let this TWAT play Pienaar at 9 again.. and then he must play Morne and Kirchner.. let his Bully f’ng disciples take the fall for this punk.. Goosen must stay OUT of the goddamn friendly fire and take shelter on the bench…
and then I hope AB’s fck this trash up HOLY.. let 49-0 become 56-0 or worse.. i don’t goddamn care.. let Boks go DOWN like the dead end arsewipe 19 voetsek rugby brain dead moronic robots they are..
Let Heyneke Meyer take the BRUNT of the FALLOUT on his OWN fck’d up useless BRAIN DEAD shoulders…. I hope AB’s fck this dunce up 126 – LOVE…
then let him walk and give somebody who knows something about how modern rugby should be played take over the poison chalice job..
10 Sep 2012, 21:43 pm
15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jean de Villiers (c), 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
This was the best team Meyer selected for the game vs England at Ellis Park. Still didn’t have a proper openside to steal and weak havoc with English ball, but, much more importantly, the game-plan was solid.
Breakdown was secure for lightning service from Hougaard who was putting stike running forwards over the advantage line coming onto the ball at pace, who were in turn linking with backs, superb continuity and handling and forcing the English to make tackle after tackle. Even if meters weren’t always being made, we made those farkers tackle us over and over again and again until we could break them down.
That was so good to watch vs England at Ellis Park (1st half) I was singing Heineken’s praises, the guys were actually having a go, kicking infrequently and bulldozing the Poms relentlessly with a hint of class from the backs (No Kirtchner in sight and Lambie linking superbly with is teammates). The longer the Boks played ball in hand rugby the more creative and dangerous they got. Why wouldnt they? They’re class RUGBY players. I mentioned after that game that that was template for HM’s Boks from then on.
Sadly, since then skop en jag has crept in with frightening rapidity, actually it was rampant the very next game in a wet Port Elizabeth stadium. Now the Boks ball in hand approach appears to have been completely shelved and there has been a dramatic all round regression over the last four games. There has been NOTHING good about the last four games- we’re going backwards at a rate of knows under this bullshite kick and hope garbage. The only thing good was Etsebeths impressive consistency but even that’s been tempered by his citing over the weekend.
10 Sep 2012, 21:45 pm
@fitz1ella-313: ” I hope to FCK that he does NOT send poor Goosen STRAIGHT into the front line AB firing squad like he did last week with Vermeulen”…
Again, dont say I didnt tell you about that one either…
While you fools were farken dancing around the Maypole with orgasmic glee when Meyer shunted those two into the Boks squad, who was the lone party pooping voice cautioning wisdom there with starting Fatty Vermeulen and Golden Goosen at least 3 games too soon…?
Yup, that would be little old humble yours truly…
10 Sep 2012, 21:45 pm
Exactly right IMO spies – maak spiesiskak baas
10 Sep 2012, 21:45 pm
wreak not weak and rate of knots not rate of knows, sorry.@Spiesisworthless1-314:
10 Sep 2012, 21:51 pm
@Heavens Game-315: He may well do tghis. The guy is getting desperate now.
10 Sep 2012, 21:52 pm
@Spiesisworthless1-314: “That was so good to watch vs England at Ellis Park (1st half) I was singing Heineken’s praises, the guys were actually having a go, kicking infrequently and bulldozing the Poms relentlessly with a hint of class from the backs (No Kirtchner in sight and Lambie linking superbly with is teammates). The longer the Boks played ball in hand rugby the more creative and dangerous they got. ”
The exact truth… Kenner for sho here…
10 Sep 2012, 21:54 pm
Too much stats – stats are **** – at most a tool -can often be skewed and often totally distorted to suuport an interpretation – stop with **** stats like tackles made and kicks landed in pieletkiws roux tuin – watch the game – are u getting forward momentum – yes, u will win if sustain it, no are going to lose.
10 Sep 2012, 21:57 pm
@Heavens Game-315: no you didn’t tell me fck’all about that.. that’s as plainly dumbfck obvious as it is plain to ANYBODY with any level of common sense that it is DUMB as HELL to send two returning from injury walking wounded into front line battle is downright suicidal madness.. you didn’t WARN me about that.. I told you specifically it was madness before the encounter.. go read up on who said what…
but this fckup cares fckall for anybody else as long as his fck’d up rampant ego gets served by his ja baas nee baas drie sakkies vol baas foot soldier underlings…then he wanna bitchand moan like a stuffed pig when it goes titties up on the rugby field and court marshal the players after HE HIMSELF made the fckup Call to begin with..
Give me PdV over this arsehole doos or that other arsehole doos Jake White ANY day of ANY week.. at least PdV put his PLAYERS ahead of himself.. Not these f’ng heilige white ego rampant Hitler clone Morons .. they reckon this fuckup job is ALL about THEM and NOT the players or the Nation… !!
PdV had the story STRAIGHT and the right way around.. these fckup CLOWNS got their big fat overrated EGO’s in the goddamn WAY..!!
I hope AB’s fck this twat up TWENTY SIX LOVE or WORSE.. on Saturday.. then lets see who got balls for glory on Sunday..
10 Sep 2012, 22:01 pm
@Heavens Game-319: WHO PLAYED SCRUMHALF.. HUH.. WHO ??
NOT PIENAAR.. HOUGAARD..
Now WHO is the KENNER here .. WHO..
Hougaard must play NINE.. NOT ELEVEN.. and he must play NINE ALL GAME LONG..
Pienaar can take Morne’s position at 10 after 30 minutes if Morne isn’t cutting it.. or better still Goosen.. but I rather have Pienaar taking the flak for a **** game plan than Goosen.. let Pienaar or Morne be the stooge NOT GOOSEN..
but Hougaard must play SCRUM HALF..
NOT WING.!!!
10 Sep 2012, 22:08 pm
Ok this is the real Skop
10 Sep 2012, 22:08 pm
@fitz1ella-321: No, I didn’t, you reckon? Then you better start reading Keo more carefully and picking out paragraphs from kenners like Spies above… Then you might learn something…
You might even learn something from yours truly too if you bothered to read even a couple of lines now and again before going benzene moggy two steps behind the trendsetters…
Fark Dippy… His only saving grace was Barney otherwise we would have had a Jim Jones suicide debacle that would have made Straeuli and Steelwire look like absolute Rugby success in comparison…
Come now…
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
And Dippy Divvy was absolute Goddamn Poo…
Now wake up and SMELL the Roses…
10 Sep 2012, 22:09 pm
@fitz1ella-260: Hey poepol, once you start plagiarising your nemesis, you’re on a slippery slope. Flippety floppety phoney is MY name for YOU. Find your own.
10 Sep 2012, 22:10 pm
Stupid nine overs an innings T20 game
10 Sep 2012, 22:12 pm
@fitz1ella-322: NUTS… Pienaar starts at 9… And you know what?
Hougaard the tatooed overrated tjop, (like a real Boere Welshman that oke) must start on the bench…
He is no farken wing, and as a 9 hasnt half the skill or brains as Pienaar…
The truth… and nothing but.
10 Sep 2012, 22:17 pm
@katman-325: what garbage you talking arsewipe.. since WHEN did little fuckfaces like you little boertjie arsehole from the wrong side of the tracks patent any goddamn flippety floppety name.. huh .. WHEN you little runtcunt arsewipe prick?
You really think I go PLAGIARIZING your pseudo halfwit halfboer half english fucked out so called WIT..?? Are you THAT thick a little fuckup DUNCE that I would Stoop to ‘plagiarize’ your so called halfwit pseudo wit??
You are the biggest little runtcunt going here.. and you feeble little fuckwit need to get your overrated halfwit idiocy sorted out for you quickly before your fuckup arrogance actually goes to your halfboer half witted head…
10 Sep 2012, 22:20 pm
AC made it clear that Vermeulen was at least 3 games away from match ready……HM did not give a fark….
Naka said clear as a bell…Goosen is way off match fit …..HM didnt give a fark….
I dont know of 1 WP / Stormers fan that said selecting Vermeulen was the correct call……but I know of a few who said it is too soon….
HM is making kak with players careers here…..
Brussow, Goosen, Vermeulen should be playing in CC and then come into contention for the Home Leg……
It really was a simple management scenario…….but HM is a little befok and filled with fear…..crazy to risk Vermeulen and Goosen….absolutely farken cray….
HM forgetting the players are the assets…..
10 Sep 2012, 22:25 pm
@grant10-329: 100%… Another kenner.
Promoted to Major Kenner…
Rising quickly…
10 Sep 2012, 22:27 pm
@Heavens Game-324: I read what you say most times.. sometimes you close and other times you are way off the mark..
So happens you didn’t foretell to me what would happen around Vermeulens inclusion on Saturday.. that much simple common sense I can work out for MYSELF.. you really think you got superior rugby sense.. well you don’t..
I was one the first to say that Goosen and Vermeulen’s inclusion was DESPERATION by Meyer and he was SACRIFICING these careers for his OWN fck’d up panic stations anxiety… and if you think YOU were the patent owner of such a conclusion.. then you are more of a f’ng ego tripping lunatic than I already gave you credit for…
as for this katmankunt little arsewipe disciple of yours.. he knows he just ain’t anywhere near my league he must rather go pretend to his pissarse little goon groupies of his that he got some clever f’ng flippity floppety titles and handles up his ditty little singalong garbage tunes…
Dawn … you should take this little fuckwit runtcunt katmankunt of yours and tell him to his runtcunt little overrated face that he aint HALF the clever little boertjie fuckwit he thinks he is.. otherwise somebody should do so for his own little fucked up sake.
10 Sep 2012, 22:29 pm
Skop…..had a long think about you wanting D Fourie in the set up….
Reckon you spot on again…..
I would seriously consider Brussow at 6 and D Fourie at 2 on home leg…..let those 2 pitbulls loose to create havoc at the breakdown….
That is 1 helleva good idea Skop
10 Sep 2012, 22:31 pm
@grant10-329: yeah pretty much nearly EVERYBODY with ANY common rugby sense said it was too soon for both Vermeulen and Goosen to START.. its the right call long term and possibly even the right call to have them come off the bench.. but to START coming straight off a 3 or 5 month injury layoff was WRONG.. and Vermeulen was clearly NOT match ready.. not by a LONG shot..
10 Sep 2012, 22:31 pm
@Heavens Game-327: “Boere Welshman”?
are you saying Hougie is Craig Bellamy’s cousin?
10 Sep 2012, 22:33 pm
Amla still on top of the world….what a run of red hot form….class..
10 Sep 2012, 22:35 pm
@grant10-332: did you see michael hooper wreaking havoc on sat? the boy has some engine fark!
he hit 35 rucks in all as either one of the 1st 3 arriving players – that’s 3 rucks less than the whole Bok loose trio & he still carried ball moerse metres!
10 Sep 2012, 22:36 pm
Improvements needed in areas
1-beast(greyling)
3-jannie(cj)
6-coetzee(brussow)
7-alberts(flouw)
10-steyn(goosen)
12-steyn(need to gain meters)
13-de villiers(de jong)
15-kirchner(lambie)
10 Sep 2012, 22:37 pm
@fitz1ella-333:
I reckon both of them should rather have stayed at home Skop…..no need to trek all over the planet and sit on bench…..
Rather have the match time under the belt and less travel to counter ….
Enough time to assimilate at home prior to Home Leg…..not as if the bok game plan is a convoluted one anyway…
10 Sep 2012, 22:38 pm
@grant10-332:
I been punting Deon Fourie a LONG time already already since last year..
watch they all eventually come around and realize what they missing when he’s gone.. even this HG ‘Kenner’ gonna REALIZE what’s what and WHO’s WHO when it comes to pass WHO is the BEST fetching mongrel hooker in the country by MILES in this country.. even better than Bismark on the ground and back of the rolling maul… If Heyneke Meyer CANNOT see the value of Deon Fourie ahead of Strauss or ANY other hooker barring Bismark in this country then he’s NOT a goddam rugby coaches arsehole…
Hooper fck’d Boks through their naughts on Saturday.. and they all were saying Hooper is a nobody.. LITTLE Hooper fck’d Marcel Coetsee AND Alberts and Vermeulen with Higgenbottom and Denis doing the tough stuff damage in the second half..
Yet Meyer wanna continue turning his blind eye towards Brussow.. and some HM punters were lauding his selection of Potgieter as his ball carrying hero when his first team vs England was announced.. so WHERE is Potgieter and Spies NOW..??
10 Sep 2012, 22:39 pm
@fitz1ella-328: Then how come, the day I coin the phrase in your dishonour, you start bandying it about like a pair of fake tits? No pal, you’re about as genuine and original as those Diesel shades you can buy on the Parade.
Now piss off. You’re a terrible embarrassment.
10 Sep 2012, 22:40 pm
@Transformation-336:
I rate that kid Transie….farken awesome player….would love to see him go up against Brussow and D Fourie….will be a scrap at that breakdown second to none!
10 Sep 2012, 22:44 pm
@fitz1ella-339: I reckon D Fourie is the best bet in Bissys absence…..he replicates the mongrel and also would , in tandem with Brussow, for the 1 st time this season give us a counter at the breakdowns…..
Really good call that Skop…..
I know D Fourie has had issues at lineouts…..but I would do that deal if I was HM…
10 Sep 2012, 22:45 pm
AAAHHHH Ladies and Gentlemen – I am back!!!!
I could as well have never left – Snor may as well have been the coach. The same **** that he had to endure is now being thrown at poor Heyneke. And rightly too. We are hearing the same bulldust – there is nothing wrong with the gameplan; it is the execution that is lacking.
What utter rubbish!!! They are playing the same kick and chase rubbish that White and PDV played and now, after 9 years, are you honestly expecting me to believe that the problem lies with implementation? Then you select the Bulls into your team who have been exposed to this rubbish for the last century and you still want me to eat this garbage that they do not know how to implement?
Come on Heyneke – pull the other one mate.
Goosen is going to be thrown to the wolves. Whenever a coach cannot coach properly he reverts to players with special talent to dig him out of his grave. TSK TSK TSK – I thought for a moment that things will be different this time around. A4Y of being bullied by the Blacks.
10 Sep 2012, 22:45 pm
What a catch by Petersen.
10 Sep 2012, 22:46 pm
what a farken catch!!![Pietersen!!
10 Sep 2012, 22:46 pm
Peterson, before some drooling geriatric halfwit tries to correct me.
10 Sep 2012, 22:47 pm
Watched my first Currie Cup game this year…Blue Bulls v WP…..was impressed by that young centre who has returned after a stint in the NRL u/20s comp….JP DuPlessis I think, had the best footwork and fend on the park, now there is a future Bok starter.
10 Sep 2012, 22:49 pm
Sneaky fcken 6. These Poms are going to have to ride every inch of luck they can get.
10 Sep 2012, 22:57 pm
@Transformation-334: Dunno what the fool is thinking… Got no problem with chops here and there but fark me, Welsh or Maori style ethnic copying, doesn’t look quite kosher on a Blou Ballas boertjie trying to fit into the Loftus “Family”…
10 Sep 2012, 23:00 pm
@katman-340: you coined it WHEN fuckwit.. WHEN??
I didn’t even READ you COINAGE.. WHEN did you COIN your flippity floppety patented witty katmankunt masterpiece of excruciating humorous wit??
HUH.. I didn’t see it.. point me to this genius witty coinage of yours .. because it sure as FCK is brand new NEWS to me…
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