Don’t kill a potentially golden Goose
17 Sep 2012
RYAN VREDE writes Johan Goosen is the brightest Test flyhalf prospect to emerge since Henry Honiball but he is still raw and must be judged accordingly.
I don’t share the same certainty about Johan Goosen that many others seem to. I simply haven’t seen enough of him at Test level to make such an absolute judgement. I have, however, been impressed with his cameos against Australia and New Zealand in the last fortnight and sense that he is a special player.
I wrote last week that I didn’t agree with Meyer’s faith in Morne Steyn, faith later proven to be misplaced as Steyn capitulated under the pressure to save his Test career in Dunedin. Yet I understood Meyer’s reservations about starting Goosen off the back of a lengthy injury and against the world champions in their back yard.
Now there can be no reason offered for Steyn’s retention that will satisfy sufficiently. Goosen must start in the remaining fixtures.
As South Africans our desperation to see a flyhalf that inspires has peaked. Honiball set an imposing standard, particularly during the Springboks’ period of dominance in the late 1990s. A punishing defender and an attacker with a broad repertoire, Honiball has for years been the benchmark for South African 10s. But we’ve expected a ready-made Honiball, this when the man was himself refined in the Test cauldron. Time was that refiner and time will be so for Goosen.
We must resist the poisonous habit of dismissing the aptitude of our best young talent if they struggle in their formative period. Test rugby is result-driven, of course, but the potential of some players demands our patience, with a view to a long term gain from them. Goosen is undoubtedly one such player.
He may well make the transition from Super Rugby to Tests with the ease that, say, Frans Steyn did. His temperament appears to be excellent, which is vital to success, while he has good all-round technique and an X-factor.
But he may not enjoy as comfortable a start as Steyn did. Furthermore, his success is not entirely in his control (much depends on the platform he is serviced with). He may struggle to meet the unique demands of the game and may yet be adversely affected by the pressure and expectation associated with steering the Springboks’ ship.
If we agree with the premise that Goosen shows immense promise, then it is important that we temper our expectations of him. I’m not suggesting that we tolerate mediocrity, only that we show an appreciation for the growing pains that accompany his elevation into the most high pressure position in the game.
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160 Comments
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17 Sep 2012, 09:34 am
@Big Hit-91: He was better than last week , but good ???
Two good steals on ground, not enough meters with ball in hand. At least he is improving , I will give him that.
Dean came from no where, through Bulls ranks , why I have no idea, his scrumming is suspect , thats his first Job , like Liebenberg’s first job is, line outs. I thought Flip had a decent game for a change.
17 Sep 2012, 09:35 am
Oh dear Brig you think the Bokke are going to win the Rc now as well, this keeps getting better.
17 Sep 2012, 09:37 am
@Transformation-92:
I think it’s more to do with experience at S15 level than Boks. The problem is that we’ve never really managed our 10 options to provide alternative future cover.
17 Sep 2012, 09:37 am
@NZINCHINA-96:
You think I had a good laugh.
We were penalized for the hit and a the Boks were reduced to 14 men at a crucial stage of the game.
17 Sep 2012, 09:41 am
Yer I do, you all thought the attack on McCaw was justified and you’ll be saying that around the photocopier this morning, it made the victory so much sweeter good V evil.
17 Sep 2012, 09:42 am
Word on the street is that Heyneke will persist with Morne.
17 Sep 2012, 09:43 am
@Brads-100:
I can forgive thuggery if the player gets away with it.
Don’t paint all the Boks with the same brush because of individuals.
17 Sep 2012, 09:43 am
@RL-88: i can’t recalll but in 1997 heyneke was asst coach at SWD, ’98 he was promoted to head coach still at SWD, the same year he was made Emerging Boks coach, in ’99 he was the Stormers forwards coach and in the same year was invited by Mallett to go with him to the World Cup…before that he had no involvement with the Boks.
17 Sep 2012, 09:45 am
@Big Hit-98:
Don’t make me laugh.
Getting through a nonsense round robin is a breeze for all but the most terminally dismal NH “giants” of the game.
After that it is a straight knock out, where the winner could, and has side stepped teams that have been their ******* in general competition.
Winning the RWC is a tremendous honour and an accolade the team will rightly treasure.
It still doesn’t make them the best team.
Just like winning the FA Cup in England doesn’t make the team the premier outfit in the country, or even qualify them to play in the Premier League.
17 Sep 2012, 09:47 am
@Jeraldjay-107:
Say that again!
You can forgive thuggery if they get away with it?
Clearly your mate Dean thought the same thing.
17 Sep 2012, 09:48 am
@Brads-90: NZ and Aus were also lucky in 87 and 91, respectively.
17 Sep 2012, 09:52 am
@willievz-106:
os that the streets of London?
17 Sep 2012, 09:54 am
I think Pienaar is copping a lot of unnecessary flak. He didn’t have a great game kicking out of hand on Sat. But he is a vastly superior scrumhalf to Hougaard. Far more tactically minded and his option taking reflects that.
17 Sep 2012, 09:54 am
@willievz-111:
Fair enough, so was SA in 1995
17 Sep 2012, 09:56 am
Dean Greyling was a disgrace to the Bok Jersey on Saturday. The Springbok camp do not condone that sort of idiocy and neither should any supporter with a brain in their head. Playing the AB’s for 10 minutes with 14 men is not something any team ever wants to have to do. Apart from that, it was thoroughly unproffessional and just stupid thuggery. I hope he never wears a Bok jersey again.
17 Sep 2012, 09:56 am
@gunther-112: No, Pretoria.
And it has been for some time.
“Morne should retain the 10 jersey this year” – Gunther, Tacitus and Brigadier in June 2010
17 Sep 2012, 09:57 am
@Brads-114: Certainly. The Benazzi disallowed try.
17 Sep 2012, 09:59 am
@willievz-116:
So in reality you are talking out your botty.
it’s 2012 now.
times have changed.
17 Sep 2012, 10:00 am
@Brads-109: Australia finished runner-up in their group last year so the NH bashing isn’t warranted.
The World Cup is the only time when all teams are at full-strength and playing at a neutral venue (host side). This is key when taking into account for a global season and the club v country pull in other parts of the world.
Against that background it is little surprise that NZ find it a much tougher tournament and have yet to win it away from home.
17 Sep 2012, 10:02 am
@Yetirat-113: depends what kind of game SA want to play, meyerball requires kickers at 9, 10 and 15 so taking that into account the Pienaar is the right call
17 Sep 2012, 10:04 am
Big t it, it could be your year next year we’re getting close to the 10 year mark, you getting excited?
17 Sep 2012, 10:07 am
@willievz-117:
The point being, the outcome of a single performance does not mark the worth of a team.
The AB’s were damned as choker’s for 20 years, and they deserved it.
It did not mean they were rubbish, or they didn’t deserve respect during the RWC.
It simply meant they should have won the damned thing by virtue of being the best team in the world, but were bettered on the day, time and time again.
17 Sep 2012, 10:08 am
@gunther-118: Nope.
2010, 2011 and 2012.
Didn’t I have an argument with you about Morne earlier this year? You wanted experience, I wanted competence
17 Sep 2012, 10:10 am
@Big Hit-119:
Are you saying the NH Club comps are more important to you than Internationals.
I repeat, to you.
17 Sep 2012, 10:12 am
@Brads-122: Agree.
If the WC is all that matters then all other tests should be named friendlies.
Which I will find very hard to accept.
17 Sep 2012, 10:12 am
@NZINCHINA-121:
Nah, it wont happen.
If we lose our streak it will be to SA, and then go on and stack up another 7 or 8 wins before the next proper “Test” in the Rugby Championship.
17 Sep 2012, 10:13 am
@Brads-124: no, but they are more important to the club owners in England and France who pour millions into signing players
17 Sep 2012, 10:17 am
@willievz-125:
Yep, football, they have this idea that you should get excited by playing “friendlies” between proper engagements.
Yew, like playing around with your brothers and sisters before going courting properly.
17 Sep 2012, 10:18 am
@Brads-122: ‘but were bettered on the day, time and time again.’
The best teams rise to the occasion and perform under pressure.
@willievz-125: the WC is not all that matters but it is the pinnacle of rugby, however that does not mean other tests are friendlies.
@Brads-128: ‘Yew, like playing around with your brothers and sisters before going courting properly.’
WTF?
17 Sep 2012, 10:20 am
@Big Hit-127:
Well seeing as I couldn’t give give a flying f uck of what happens to any Club in Europe, please excuse me if I disagree with what they pay or who they employ, or what conditions they impose on those players.
17 Sep 2012, 10:21 am
Somebody asked where Argentina will play against All Blacks and Aus: I can’t find it now but the matches are not in Mendoza but La Plata and Rosario
17 Sep 2012, 10:23 am
@Brads-130:
As being important to me..
17 Sep 2012, 10:26 am
@Big Hit-129:
Which is why NZ has such an absurd winning record against England, especially in RWC matches.
17 Sep 2012, 10:39 am
@willievz-123:
He’s a shadow of 2011.
17 Sep 2012, 10:41 am
I think fans have been far too impatient with this new bok era. That is what it is … a new era! HM is only 7 games in and it was inevitable that he would go for what he knows initially.
Can people not see that he is also showing foresight by bringing the likes of Goosen in? And wait till a few injuries are out of the way and some of the other youngsters have got some experience under the belt … backline players in particular.
And to those comparing Goosen to Gawie … step away from the tunnel (vision). They are different people and it does not take a genius to figure out that Gawie did not have the head for the game. Goosen in his brief time has already displayed a lot more mettle!
17 Sep 2012, 10:42 am
@gunther-134: I’d say he’s been a shadow of 2009 for about 3 seasons now.
I doubt that any of Lambie, Jantjies Goosen or even Grant would have received the tenure Morne has in 2012.
Morne will start in the home tests. You heard it here first. And he will struggle on attack, but slot his goals – as one blogger posted on another thread, Meyer will then tell all of us that he was right all along. It is a recurring nightmare.
17 Sep 2012, 10:45 am
@Brads-133:
Did you know BH
NZ has an ugly away win margin over England that exceeds England’s home win margin against all opposition, which includes the likes of Samoa.
Who they have played 6 times to stack that ratio in their favour.
17 Sep 2012, 10:49 am
@Big Hit-129:
hahahaha
wow have you changed your tune.
The Big Hit early last year was saying the tests in between RWC are just warmups or testing grounds for the next RWC. It does not matterif you have #1 ranking spot. IF you cant win RWC you will never be the best.
Now this was from Big Hit last year.
I suggest you stop talking cr@p ya two faced git.
17 Sep 2012, 10:53 am
@Big Hit-119:
“The World Cup is the only time when all teams are at full-strength ”
How ever buys this rubbish from BH needs help.
Not too many teams start or end with there full strength teams.
NZ hasnt had there #1 team playing in the last 3 RWCs.
Where do you get this rubbish from,honestly?
17 Sep 2012, 11:09 am
@Hurricane-139:
Hurricane, you are being unkind.
He clearly meant those few weeks when the club owners of the superior competition’s in the NH allowed their SH stars to return to their national teams.
Knowing full well most of the true NH stars are actually ineligible for international play, even though it has nothing to do with the IRB regulations.
17 Sep 2012, 11:13 am
@Hurricane-138: I stand by it. Unfortunately the host NZ didn’t win theirs fairly so still can’t be considered the best. On to 2015!
17 Sep 2012, 11:26 am
HM is only going to swap Greyling in the next test, unless he gives Coetzee another starts at 6. The rest of the team will stay as is.
17 Sep 2012, 11:28 am
@Big Hit-141: I am obviously a staunch Bok supporter but to say NZ are not the best is just plane silly. And it just reeks of sour grapes to say they did not win 2015 fairly, even if there are 1000s of arguments to support that notion.
What I do believe though is that, despite the Boks’ terrible performance in the RC so far, they will become the dominant force in world rugby over the next few years. The force we as Bok fans have always known them to be capable of.
17 Sep 2012, 11:31 am
@Big Hit-141:
No you have just been found out as an idiot.
Change your tune,lol.snapped
17 Sep 2012, 11:33 am
@thegreenman_sa-143:
Spot on
Big Hit is a sour little grape.
Before the RWC, the told us the ABs only won games in between RWCs because all the other teams are preparing and playing B teams.
Now tune is changed and yet we still not good enough.
17 Sep 2012, 11:37 am
@thegreenman_sa-143: bro it was tongue-in-cheek, not entirely serious.
As to SA, well I don’t see them becoming the dominant force unless player management improves and the backline is actually allowed to play rugby.
17 Sep 2012, 11:43 am
@Brads-140:
Brads sorry but i knew exactly what he meant.
I have been here a long time. You really dont know half of it
@Big Hit-146:
hahaha
As if we believe that.
17 Sep 2012, 11:44 am
@Big Hit-146: Fair enough re: tongue-in-cheek. Perhaps being a bit more obvious on the wit and dry humour would suffice
Folks are sensitive you know 
As to your player management point … of course that is the case. There are always ifs and buts to everything in life. In this instance though I truly believe it is early days for HM. Fans are far too quick to jump ship on a coach and you’ll do well to name one other than Kitch Christie who has not received a hard time. I do suspect though that had he not fallen ill and carried on he too would have eventually fallen prey to the vultures. Anyway, I think HM will find his feet and turn this team around … and I am no Bulls fan
GO CHEETAHS!
17 Sep 2012, 11:45 am
@Big Hit-119:
“when all teams are at full-strength”
the big hit default defense..
has been a staple since ***** was a boy
lots of saffas now c\laim this too…
it surely is up there with the conspiracy angle for outright loser talk..
17 Sep 2012, 11:51 am
SH – 6 WC wins
NH – 1 WC win..
so any mocking of NH rugby is completely warranted, but it is like picking a fight with a cripple, they rarely win in the SH these teams..
also, sk Samoa about the clubs releasing players for the 2003 WC?
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