Turning adventure into torture – why?
14 Sep 2012
MARK KEOHANE writes Sunday will follow Saturday, regardless of whether the Springboks win or lose against the All Blacks in Dunedin. Which makes the conservatism and approach of the Bok management that much more baffling.
I could understand a coach refusing to change in his fourth year, a few months out from a World Cup. I could understand a coach refusing to change a winning formula, if his team was consistently winning and setting the standards. I can’t understand the absolutes associated with Heyneke Meyer and his Springboks in his first season in charge.
Meyer is going nowhere unless by his own accord. But his refusal to recognize, alternatively acknowledge restrictions in the Springboks’ first six Tests is making his life a lot more complicated than it has to be. There is pressure on Meyer, as there will be on any Springbok coach, but Meyer has turned up the heat himself in his response to successive indifferent Bok performances against Argentina in Mendoza and Australia in Perth.
The Bok coach has insisted that it is not his team’s tactical approach or the game plan that has counted against the Boks, but instead has focused on poor execution as being more definitive.
I disagree totally because the approach evident since the drawn third Test against England in Port Elizabeth has been one-dimensional, predictable and hugely unsuccessful because by and large the Boks’ pack has not fashioned a dominance which allows for a purely percentage based game.
There can never be a guarantee at Test level of forward dominance because of the relatively similar strengths of the top five teams, and the better teams often have to rely on winning with little ball possession. It is here where South Africa has shown no threat. In Mendoza they were just awful. In Perth when they had an initial edge up front, the kicking game proved effective. The moment they lost that momentum they looked clueless and ironically when they went behind late in the game after leading 13-3 after 30 minutes they finally produced their most inventive period of play.
Johan Goosen, at flyhalf, was very instrumental to this ball movement, largely because he takes the ball at pace, is prepared to stand flat on attack and will take contact. He is the complete opposite of Morne Steyn, who just doesn’t play that way. For Steyn to be successful the Bok pack has to be decidedly better than the opposition. A few years ago they were when blessed with Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Bismarck du Plessis, John Smit, Schalk Burger, Juan Smith, Danie Rossouw and the like. And then there was the massive influence of the world’s best scrumhalf Fourie du Preez on his inside.
Du Preez’s tactical kicking is unrivaled among scrumhalves and the Boks have had neither Du Preez’s kicking game nor his appreciation of game management this season. Meyer is hopeful Du Preez will return to international rugby by the end of the year or at the latest in 2013.
Steyn, in isolation, is not the Boks’ current problem, but currently he is also not the genie in the bottle. The Bok forwards in Port Elizabeth a year ago gave the All Blacks a touch up, had every advantage in the collisions and forced the Kiwis into errors and created the opportunities for Steyn to have five penalty kicks at goal and favourable go forward ball from which to also land a drop goal.
Steyn in Port Elizabeth enjoyed a pack in fiercely dominant mood. But for brief periods in the first two Tests against England the Bok pack has competed at best or been outplayed.
Until the pack improves Steyn will be a non-factor at flyhalf, as will the outside backs as a unit.
What I don’t buy is that while Meyer tries to find a forward unit capable of this dominance there is no flexibility in finding alternative ways of dominance. It is also nonsense that a 20 year-old (read Goosen) can’t start against the All Blacks in Dunedin. If he isn’t good enough to start then he shouldn’t be in the match 22 because there is no guarantee he isn’t required a minute into the Test because of injury.
I have read comparisons being made with Gaffie du Toit’s nightmare in Dunedin and a fear of things going the same way for Goosen. Nonsense. Du Toit had already played for the Boks in the home series win against Ireland. The Bok coach of the time Nick Mallett appreciated Du Toit’s natural ability but from the outset had concerns about the mental resolve of the player. He had to play him in Dunedin to get an answer.
Goosen’s mental resolve has never been questioned. He went from school rugby to Currie Cup to Super Rugby with no issues. And his Test debut of nine minutes showed huge promise and he showed comforting composure.
I would have not hesitated to give him a start. What an experience for the player. Saturday is not a World Cup final or the decider of this year’s Castle Rugby Championship. Why can’t there be supposed risk? What is there to lose?
Steyn has played 40 Tests, including a World Cup in New Zealand and Test matches against the All Blacks in New Zealand. Meyer knows what he has in Steyn and by entrusting an alternative in Goosen or Lambie all he would have done is see if there is a Plan B or additional depth at No 10. Now he won’t know until the next visit to New Zealand in a year. That is what has been so damn frustrating about the unwillingness to view an alternative. If he had picked Goosen or Lambie and it hadn’t worked out, then he reverts to the man who has played 40 Tests.
Meyer remains committed to Steyn, espouses the virtues of the player and defends how well Steyn is playing, but that is also nonsense. Steyn’s goalkicking accuracy is 63 percent in the last six Tests, and Meyer would not have allowed Goosen, Lambie or Elton Jantjies six successive Tests with such a return.
And it is here where Meyer is doing himself no favours because you can’t defend 63 percent, when the player’s primary asset has been his ability to kick at 85 percent.
The issue though is not as simple as select or drop Morne Steyn and I am not saying get rid of Morne Steyn, but look beyond him as the depth of the squad is built. The key to any successful team is depth in the number of players capable of playing Test rugby.
Why this absolute anxiousness from Meyer and within the Bok set up? As much as I hate the emphasis put on the World Cup it is a reality of the sport and the game works in four year cycles. If ever a coach has a luxury it is in the first year post the World Cup when so many players have retired or moved abroad and made themselves unavailable for Test selection. Meyer, in this first year, is treating it as if the World Cup is played in a few months and any window for exploring variables is gone.
I use the word explore and not experiment because there is nothing with which to experiment. The players are known quantities and so no international coach is working with the unknown.
Saturday in Dunedin offered so much promise because Meyer could have turned the week into an exciting one with the prospect of so many possibilities. And he could have done it in a way where no expectation was created either. He could have focused on the chance given to new kids and the growth they’ll get out of 80 minutes of playing the All Blacks in New Zealand.
Instead he has put World Cup-final like pressure on Steyn to save his career and he has turned a Test match into a life or death situation. Why? It never had to come to this. If Steyn fails then it is hard to see how Meyer can’t drop him. And given the strength of the Bok pack I don’t see how Steyn can succeed, given that his type of flyhalf play needs a pack that is dominant.
A more enlightened approach would have allowed for this week to be one of adventure and not torture.
The psychology of it all seems so wrong when it wasn’t particularly complicated to get it right.
290 Comments
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14 Sep 2012, 12:08 pm
@PissAnt-145: I still believe it comes down to NZ’s access to talented polynesians. If you compare our record vs. NZ pre-islolation you will find that were were pretty much on par (SA leading by a few games won) but then they hardly had any Maori’s playing for them. They were lilly white teams.
Compare that to now and you will find that over the past ten years NZ rugby teams have been domintated by larger, faster and stronger stock.
Just my opinion.
14 Sep 2012, 12:09 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-151: Proper training and skills.
14 Sep 2012, 12:12 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-148:
That is the most ridiculous, and defeatest comment possible.
Poly’s are not some super breed of rugby freaks.
14 Sep 2012, 12:14 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-151:
Now you are being a **** head
14 Sep 2012, 12:14 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-148: I’m not sure where you got commercial from in my post which, along with Pissant’s, addresses your question.
14 Sep 2012, 12:14 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-148: “just like Jamaica’s sprinters are bigger and stronger than anyone else in the world. It’s simple physics.”
NO! nothing about genes, jamaica has always had talented sprinters but no infranstructure or organised program to nurture the talent. sprinters like merlene ottey were alwyas a cut above the rest but had to move to US colleges to train and get proper coaching! Now a kid like Usain Bolt who was seen at 14 and groomed in Jamaica rules the world because they’ve jacked up their programs now the Yohan Blakes are also coming through…
if they stayed archaic in their structures they’d still be behind the US!
14 Sep 2012, 12:16 pm
Ah keow reminded me why I find the comments on keow so much better than the actual articles. Does little keow really expect a relatively fragile 20 year old to suddenly transform a lacklustre Bok team to beat the best team in the world at home? The Boks have the ability but I can’t see it turning on Goosen who, if he turned out to be a threat, would get one marginally illegal coconut tackle and be history.
It’s not the varking players! It’s the coach and his team that are letting us down. SA teams gave the best of Oz and NZ a fair rogering in the S15. Now the Boks fall apart. Not just at flyhalf although Morne is kicking like he’s had a good rogering (can’t we bring on Perce as a blood bin sub for the kicks?).
Asseblief manne, If your coaches cannot seems unable to coach scrums, lineouts, support play, defence and discipline the Boks will get shunted. The only thing I agree with keow on is that the Boks miss the gifted players that didn’t need much coaching (or got it from others). Like the ANC, Meyer should re-think his deployed cadres.
14 Sep 2012, 12:19 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-151: So why did we lose to Oz? I think it has something to do with dumb coaches.
14 Sep 2012, 12:21 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-151: it is your opininon but it is ridiculous nonetheless!
NZ and Aus seem to be streets ahead of SA in terms of recruiting kids to play rugby whereas in SA it is still seen as political football that every kid that wants to play rugby must have access to proper facilities and coaching…
what should be a simple change of mindset is then referred to as “transformation” and then pilloried because inevitably some see rugby still as theirs only to treasure.
you speak about “lily white” all black teams of yester-year, how did they all of a sudden change, were they forced?
14 Sep 2012, 12:22 pm
@husky-157: The Aussies throw in their gifted youngsters. Get Goosen up to full match fitness and chuck him in.
14 Sep 2012, 12:23 pm
It was actually disturbing to hear thoughts from the kicking coach Louis Koen last night on Boots & All.
He talked at length about stats, basically reiterating the basis of Meyer’s game plan. In their minds, the issue is that the kicks are key and the chase is where things are going wrong.
Gentlemen, gentlemen
What exactly is the problem? Are you too close to the action and cannot get a macro view of what’s going on? Is this the classic manager vs leader debate?
The manager wants to micro manage, that is: control every single thing …
Now we have to say that that is actually a sign of immaturity and insecurity. The leader needs to cast a vision of what he wants and then the team, seniors in the team, must work out exactly how they will go about it. Then build in what if scenarios so you’re never without a plan.
Meyer should have chosen stronger assistants, absolute control will come back to bite, that’s for sure.
14 Sep 2012, 12:23 pm
Ok, I may be wrong. I simply refer to statistics, and they don’t lie. NZ are maintaining an 85% winning record, We struggle to hold a 65% margin. WHY? I refuse to believe it’s the system, because we have a great system in SA with the world’s oldest and most respected domestic comp in the Currie Cup.
14 Sep 2012, 12:26 pm
@PielNeus-14: HAHAHAHAHAHA dis is die f0kken snaakste ding wat ek in n lang ruk gekyk het!
Dankie Pielietjie!
14 Sep 2012, 12:31 pm
@Transformation-129:
Transie, how do you “unbold” in the middle of a paragraph/sentence?
14 Sep 2012, 12:33 pm
@PissAnt-130: All national coaches stuggle with those obstacles you mentioned.
We cannot put time forward as an excuse.
14 Sep 2012, 12:35 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-162: Refusal? Therein lays the entire problem with our rugby.
14 Sep 2012, 12:36 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-162: if you aren’t willing to open your mind up to alternative opinion then why debate?
having “structures like the currie cup”
means nothing if they’re archaic and they actually need to be streamlined! what does the currie cup have to do with NZ 85% win ratio and how the NZRU in their administration focuse everything down to player contracts and placing for the benefit of the All Blacks and not individual unions…
for example: in NZ they’d never allow the bulls to stock pile all the BEST talent to sit behind wynand olivier and jj engelbrecht all in the name of they can afford cos they’re a BIG union.
the whole myopic focus on Craven week kids and ignoring of the rest is also a flaw imo of the “structures” you brag about…francois hougaard never played craven week and if he wasn’t resilient would’ve fallen out of the system and lost to our rugby…there’s loads of talent untapped because our structures are only concerned about those that come out of the funnel.
14 Sep 2012, 12:36 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-151:
Don’t let Tac see that. He won’t like it one bit.
According to him the Afrikaners are the boys perfectly build for rugby.
BIG and STRONG.
14 Sep 2012, 12:36 pm
@Sheriff-161: Stronger assistants? Please name others who were available at the time and who wanted to work with the Boks?
14 Sep 2012, 12:42 pm
@nama1-168: it’s the jeans
you “open” the bold and “close” it only on the phrases you want boldened and
14 Sep 2012, 12:44 pm
@mikeybrass-169: brendan venter…hawies fourie…
14 Sep 2012, 12:50 pm
@Transformation-171: None of Meyer’s first choice assistants were available or wanted to come. We cannot end up in a situation where we have three or more coaches with different philosophies ala PdV’s days.
14 Sep 2012, 12:51 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-151:
But that argument has no substance ’cause yes pre-isolation the AB’s didn’t have as much access to the polynesians but the Boks had no access to non-whites.
Same difference.
14 Sep 2012, 12:55 pm
@Jeraldjay-173: no bud, thats not true.
compare the number of polynesian players to the number of black players and you may see the whole picture.
14 Sep 2012, 12:56 pm
@willievz-165:
Not as an excuse, as context.
Apply it as the latter and you might just get logical reason.
14 Sep 2012, 12:56 pm
@Transformation-170:
So what do you type before the phrases you want to bold
That’s not an explanation, man.
14 Sep 2012, 12:56 pm
@rangerman-174:
So maybe we need more blecks in the team then.
14 Sep 2012, 13:01 pm
@Jeraldjay-177: we need all the talent we can get.
bleack white or khaki
but our useless saru needs to actually put meaningful rugby developement programmes in place actually.
14 Sep 2012, 13:03 pm
@nama1-176:
For example, if I want to bold I type:left arrow, strong, right arrow …….but instead of the word or phrase, my whole comment will be in bold.
What do I do to prevent that?
14 Sep 2012, 13:04 pm
@Transformation-167:
I agree that the CC means very little in the bigger scheme of things. The level of skill – or the lack thereof – in the competition is shocking. Teams in general do not show patience on attack, far too much kicking away of possession and too many forwards in the backline.
In terms of structures – there are heaps of non-white players in the Craven Week, but what happens to them afterwards? The same can be said about all races of Craven Week players as many of them make it to the Vodacom Cup, but then seem to fall away. If you look at the level of play that they produce it is only the odd one who comes through and, like Hougie, make themselves impossible to ignore. Are the structures really to blame, or is it the disposition of the young players in general – regardless of race? I know quite a couple of young kids who made it to some of the acadamies of the big unions, but they do not make it any further. They seem to enjoy the good life too much and the little bit of limelight that it brings. How does one address that problem?
14 Sep 2012, 13:05 pm
@nama1-176: You use the sharp brackets with either a b (bold) or an i (italics) to open the sequence and then at the end as well, except at the end you insert a / after the 1st <, so with a b in it to start and then a with a b after the / to end.
Simple
14 Sep 2012, 13:06 pm
@nama1-179: See above
sorry to start and to end with a b in both
14 Sep 2012, 13:06 pm
“It was actually disturbing to hear thoughts from the kicking coach Louis Koen last night on Boots & All.
He talked at length about stats, basically reiterating the basis of Meyer’s game plan. In their minds, the issue is that the kicks are key and the chase is where things are going wrong.”
That’s my reason for not watching the **** they dish up – I do not consider this rugby. NZ plays rugby.
Equivalent is cricket would be to bowl underarm deliveries aka Chappel. Allowed to…but UTTER **** for which no salary should be paid.
14 Sep 2012, 13:06 pm
@nama1-179:
@Transie
See
14 Sep 2012, 13:10 pm
Back to Saturday’s game.
This drivel about the game plan being good but only the execution being off is the same **** that we heard PDV spew. The kick and chase game plan is employed by the majority of SA teams and it was the Bok game plan for the last five years, so why should the implementation not be right? It is a very simple game plan. If the players can’t get it right, how thick are they? And if they still cannot manage it after all this time, what the heck are they still doing there? Insanity I tell you.
14 Sep 2012, 13:10 pm
@rangerman-178:
Ranger, tomorrow we need Alberts firing on all cylinders.
Remember him before that Stormers game in Durban. He was going through a bad patch before the, because of the shoulder injury. But in that Stormers game he was in top form.
We need that guy tomorrow for 80mins.
14 Sep 2012, 13:11 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-151: Maori players have been in NZ representative teams for as long as NZ teams have been playing international fixtures. The ‘lilly white’ teams that earlier toured SA were a requirement of the host nation. The later emergence of Polynesian players in the AB’s is just a reflection of how many Polynesian families have emigrated to NZ for better employment and educational opportunities. Polynesians do tend to physically mature (get big) earlier than their European counterparts, and they do dominate some of the age group grades. At adult level however the difference is much less and the ones that dominate their position do so more through talent than size.
14 Sep 2012, 13:12 pm
Lions lock Etienne Oosthuizen will join Jake White’s Australian Super Rugby side, the Brumbies, later this year.
News 24
14 Sep 2012, 13:12 pm
@stormersboy-181:
Ok, thanks SB. Let’s see if I can get it right.
no doubt that the All Blacks are favorites to win tomorrow. We have won in Dunedin only once and that was after a bit of magic from Ricky January.
Who will be the magician tomorrow if the Boks were to win. Personally, I can’t see anyone in the team replicating that kind of magic that Ricky produced.
14 Sep 2012, 13:14 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck-151: Remember that, pre-isolation, SA never played its strongest team either…
14 Sep 2012, 13:14 pm
@hanneslom-183:
Indeed. Time on the golf course is much better spent than watching this archaic bull dust. I will watch the highlights just to watch how NZ do it. And I used to be so passionate about the Boks…but one can only take so much…it hurts I tell you.
14 Sep 2012, 13:15 pm
@Jeraldjay-186: i fear the sharks players have shot their bolts.
but lets see if the game lifts them, i hope it does.
14 Sep 2012, 13:15 pm
@stormersboy-182:
Got it right.
@nama1-189:
Thanks again.
14 Sep 2012, 13:20 pm
@nama1-193: are you concerned that no one takes your posts seriously nama?
14 Sep 2012, 13:21 pm
@nama1-193: Anytime fella.
Anything else you want to know, just shout OK??
A word of warning though, if you don’t get it right sometimes it formats the whole page into the script you chose.
Fun for the whole family.
14 Sep 2012, 13:26 pm
The Bok team will come out firing just like last week against the Aussies. May even get an early lead and lull their supporters into a fall sense of expectation of a turn around. With players like Alberts and Vermeulen only good for about 50 minutes of test rugby, Flip and Jannie penalty machines awa potential yellow cards, Beast totally off the boil and Strauss out of his depth, I can’t see how our forwards will be able to hold out for 80 minutes.
Bekker and Coetzee will inject some much energy when they come on but by then the rest of the forwards will be huffing and puffing around the field like a bunch of drunk sailors in a **** house.
People still looking for the back line to blame for the performances of the Bok team the last three weeks. Our problem starts right here in the pack and it starts with the wrong loose trio combination, the players not playing to their true potential, then players not utilized correctly and then the inexperience of some.
All Blacks will run away with it in the last 15 minutes.
14 Sep 2012, 13:29 pm
@rangerman-194:
That’s the least of my worries, Rangerman
At least you respond to them.
So, that’s OK with me.
14 Sep 2012, 13:30 pm
@nama1-197: its good that you respect me by bolding your comments to me.
but it isnt neccescary.
14 Sep 2012, 13:31 pm
The blokes on Reunion we’re laughing at the Boks lack of innovation.
14 Sep 2012, 13:32 pm
@stormersboy-195:
I’ll do.
Thanks again.
@nama1-197:
Ahhhh…forgot to put in the forward slash.
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