Wayward Boks must kick on
1 Oct 2012
JON CARDINELLI writes of all the opportunities the Springboks have spurned in 2012, the missed goal-kicks have proved most costly. It bodes badly for a close contest with the All Blacks.
There is good reason to feel encouraged and inspired following Saturday’s performance at Loftus. The Springboks were at their fearsome best as far as uncompromising physicality and defence was concerned, and they also added another element to their game. With the introduction of Johan Goosen, they now pose a realistic attacking threat.
I’m not sure what point Heyneke Meyer was trying to make after Saturday’s match when he lamented the missed try-scoring opportunities. The Boks converted five of eight try-scoring chances, and that is a good return in Test rugby, especially in a competition as defensively-oriented as the Rugby Championship.
It was also the first time the Boks had managed to put five tries past top-ranked opposition since they thumped the Wallabies in September 2010. Mission accomplished. Right?
I understand that Meyer wants people to realise that these tries are the product of a game plan that has been in place since the first Test of 2012. What’s changed is that the Boks are starting to execute efficiently.
Meyer is right to say it will be tougher to score tries against the All Blacks, but I cannot understand his lack of concern regarding the goal-kicking.
He has always placed an emphasis on goal-kicking, and that hasn’t changed since he became the Bok coach. It was the reason Morné Steyn was backed for as long as we was, as Meyer believed Steyn had the ability to win matches. If Steyn could come through a bad patch of form, he would be an asset to South Africa once more.
But Steyn has struggled consistently this season, and has left Meyer with no choice but to pick someone else. That someone has proved a revelation, unlocking attacking strengths that most South Africans believed non-existent. But as good as Goosen has been for the Bok attack, the problems in front of goal have continued.
Goosen went into the Pretoria Test with an ankle injury, and this affected his goal-kicking. The responsibility was then passed to Ruan Pienaar, who succeeded with three from seven attempts. In total, the Boks were successful with three from nine attempts. It’s just not good enough.
The Boks aren’t going to score five tries against the world champions. The South Africans are capable of beating the All Blacks, and recently showed in Dunedin that they have the forwards and the defensive structures to match the New Zealanders. With Goosen at 10, they will have a flyhalf who can ask attacking questions, but they won’t run riot as they did in Pretoria.
The simple truth is that these clashes are always close contests. One kick can win the game. The Boks didn’t take their chances in Dunedin, leaving 21 points on the park through wayward goal-kicking. They can’t afford to make the same mistake when they host the All Blacks in Soweto this week. They can’t afford to miss one kick, let alone seven.
The All Blacks arrive in South Africa having already won the Rugby Championship. Will that detract from their motivation, will it make them easier to beat?
They arrived in 2010 for the final game of the then Tri-Nations, and still managed to edge the Boks in front of nearly 100 000 fans at Soccer City. The Boks must take nothing for granted. They must take every opportunity.
Their recent goal-kicking form doesn’t inspire confidence, and Meyer must treat this as a matter of urgency.
Frans Steyn injured the same troublesome ankle in training last week and was forced to miss the Pretoria Test. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was ruled out of the Soweto finale, or at least excused from any kicking duties.
Goosen’s own ankle problem stopped him from kicking last Saturday. Will it be that Pienaar is asked to continue this week? If so, he will need to be far more accurate.
Meyer claims that Pienaar ‘stepped up’ at Loftus Versfeld, but the reality is that Pienaar missed four kicks (10 points), while Goosen missed two (six points). That’s a total of 16 points that went begging. That’s more than the total of the three tries that Meyer lamented.
The Boks have been poor in this department over the course of the competition, converting just 19 of their 37 shots on goal (a record of 51.3%). It’s unsurprising that wayward goal-kicking prevented them from edging Argentina in Mendoza, as well as winning the Test in Dunedin.
Morné Steyn has goaled 13 out of 20 (65%), which is a poor return for a first-rate international kicker. Some of the individual penalties that he’s missed have also been crucial ones.
One more goal in Mendoza and the Boks may have avoided an embarrassing draw. More success in Dunedin (Steyn kicked one out of five on that occasion) and the Boks would have recorded a famous victory.
Had Steyn converted these kicks, we may have seen the Boks still competing for the Rugby Championship crown at this late stage, rather than just playing for pride. But then Steyn is not solely to blame for the Boks’ erratic and unreliable goal-kicking, as the other goal-kickers haven’t been any better.
Frans Steyn is viewed as a freak, even in Test rugby circles, due to ability to convert long-range penalty attempts. But his stats in the 2012 Rugby Championship don’t make for impressive reading (two from six) and bring the overall goal-kicking average down.
Goosen has converted one from four attempts, and Pienaar three from seven. Last Saturday was the first time Pienaar kicked in the Rugby Championship. His two from four return in the first half was enough to keep the scoreboard ticking, but in a closer contest perhaps the kicks he missed would have been scrutinised as bad misses.
What sort of form is Pienaar taking into a tight clash with the All Blacks? Meyer claims that kicking coach Louis Koen will address the problems in the build-up to Saturday’s game, but the stats over the course of this tournament, of all four kickers used, don’t inspire any more confidence in Koen than they do in the kickers themselves.
The All Blacks are the benchmark, and history will show that South Africa rarely beats New Zealand by outscoring them in terms of tries. It has so often been the case that goal-kicking edges these massive match-ups, and in that respect Pienaar, or whomever takes on the responsibility, will have a decisive role to play this coming Saturday.
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594 Comments
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1 Oct 2012, 14:05 pm
@J.B. Cowper-249: What’s your point?
1 Oct 2012, 14:06 pm
@Dawn-223:
History is littered with examples that indicate that we are in serious danger. An ethnic group without a safe demographic core is always vulnerable.
You are a coloured lady, right? You’re in the same boat as us. But most people would rather ignore the danger signs than face reality.
1 Oct 2012, 14:08 pm
@STBUR-252:
That’s as may be but you cant live your whole life thinking that you will be destroyed.
Then you might as well come to a dead stop.
1 Oct 2012, 14:09 pm
@STBUR-245: I’m sorry. I can not relate to, nor can I find any common ground with what you are preaching here. I’m not going to call you any names or challenge you to any further debate on the matter, as it is clear we are living different realities.
I prefer my reality, as I get to live without paranoia; selecting who it is I communicate with, based on the decency an individual exhibits, regardless of his/her background, race, culture, religion, wealth and heritage. Fortunately, there are enough like minded individuals out there, of all races, to keep me company.
Back to rugby.
1 Oct 2012, 14:10 pm
@STBUR-248: Do you really feel that the national government is on a campaign to wipe out all white people in SA?
1 Oct 2012, 14:10 pm
@J.B. Cowper-249: So you’re saying that Frans Steyn should do all the kicking? Even when injured yes?
1 Oct 2012, 14:12 pm
@PielNeus-228:
No. It says all are equal but whites may be discriminated against if it redress the “wrongs of the past”. If you dispute that then how on Earth can BEE be legislated? Discrimination against whites is the law.
The irony of this is actually the more effective way for the ANC to have destroyed us was to do away with any racial terms. Because the existence of BEE makes it us vs them and creates a counter identity which resists. All they had to do was to say if your parents were impoverished then you get x, y, z or preference or whatever. That why the vast majority of everything would still be in black people’s favour. Of course that would mean that they would not be able to reward their already rich cronies…
But that just goes to show the racist SA constitution has nothing to do with redress or helping the impoverished. It has to do with entrenching power for a special class based on race and effectively legislating away any chance of whites retaining power.
1 Oct 2012, 14:13 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-256: Why wasn’t Pienaar handed kicking from the beginning? Ease Goosen into his first start without the stress of kicking.
Unless the plan was to sub Pienaar later, thereby giving Goosen time to find his rhythm but still doesn’t seem right.
1 Oct 2012, 14:14 pm
@PielNeus-228:
And no… Hitler is not an altuist. Is was an insane madman that warped a good idea. Kar Marx layed the groundwork for what was to become the West’s pathological altruism. Jeez dude, no wonder you are so easily taken in by all the liberal BS. You seriously have no clue of the events that have led us to where we are today.
1 Oct 2012, 14:15 pm
@gonzo-258:
Kudos.
You can spell “rhythm “
1 Oct 2012, 14:16 pm
@STBUR-257:
Sounds like apartheid
1 Oct 2012, 14:16 pm
@stormer in a teacup-230:
Yet the built-in, legislated, state-sponsored racism espoused by our constitution doesn’t make the list of “wrongs”? Hmm…
1 Oct 2012, 14:20 pm
@gonzo-258: I think the plan was always to give Goosen the duties, purely to see how the kid went. He kicking stats are pretty good, and I don’t think there was that much of a risk involved by giving him the responsibility from the getgo. However, thank the wind and the moon and the stars, that they did pull him pretty quickly, when it was clear he was struggling (that must have been Plan B).
But my ONLY concern now is: Meyer might try and justify a return for Morne Steyn against the AB’s, and cite our kicking woes to back him up……..(which would be total mayhem, as Steyn has been kicking like a Tikflying mule since February). Wouldn’t put it past Meyer to pull a move like this….
If Frans Steyn is fit to play, no need for Morne (dearhellno) as Pienaar (who will prob take the kicks from the outset), Steyn and Goosen should be able to manage – fingers crossed.
1 Oct 2012, 14:22 pm
@STBUR-262: Do you truly beleive the current climate in SA marginalises whites and is totally pro black? If so how would you explain this to the millions of dirt poor black people living in the desolate squalor that “our” people put them into?
1 Oct 2012, 14:24 pm
@cane-232:
*lol* You must be a goffel or a complete idiot.
You hate discrimination and love equality, but state-sponsored discrimination against whites is ok.
Whites have a vote in SA… but as we are <9% of the population we are of no consequence politically. It comes at zero cost for the blacks. Apartheid came about because the Afrikaners had just experience 200 years of horrific oppression and they could only have a country of their own by NOT giving the vote to black, who the vast majority at that stage my friend still had no idea what democracy even was. Giving blacks a vote then would have carried a very large cost, in fact it would have cost them everything. So what exactly are you comparing?
Seems that accepting facts as they are is not your thing. You have a brainwashed position in which SA whites are evil cnuts that should be discrimnated against and it matters not whether they live or die. So essentially your opinion is as racist as it comes and serves as the perfect mirror that I had hoped it would.
1 Oct 2012, 14:37 pm
@Dawn-246:
I had a bad batch of cornflakes this morning. *shudders*
Actually, I am far more liberal than my postings here. But I have just had it with the veiled, smug double standard BS that I keep on seeing here. Especially from some of the pathetic white posters on here. There actions, or inaction/apathy/social-points-scoring, is what is endangering my children and grandchildrens future prosperity and survival.
I am mean if we cannot even be honest about what our constitution is how can SA ever be successful? How can my people ever have a place in it if we must pretend that what is happening is not happening or that we should pretend that we don’t exist?
Sure, hiding your head in the sand makes the converstation easier, no liberal NZer gets upset but then nothing gets done either. There is this trend in the West that unless what you have to say is agreeable to everyone then you shouldn’t say it even if saying it is imperative for your survival. Some topics are supposedly taboo, for example, that a white person wants to be white, he wants his kids to be white and he wants them to be safe and secure. None of that involves hurting anyone else yet the moment you do you get equated to Hitler because you didn’t buy into the Orwellian self delusion that race does not exist and that it has no effect on anything – despite our consitution and major economic legislation (BEE) being based on race discrimination.
What is happening with white people is one of the grandest processes of self delusion in world history, right up there with the Easter Islanders, Aztecs etc.
1 Oct 2012, 14:38 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-263: wish there were more debates on this…dont know what this thread has now degenerated to?
1 Oct 2012, 14:39 pm
@STBUR-241:
“You do not believe in equality. If you did you would not be uncomfortable with someone like myself wanting my people’s future ensured. You would also be appalled at the racism built into our constitution.”
you make this assumption, not knowing whether Ive even seen SA’s constitution? which by the way, I havent… when was it drafted, ratified and when did it come into effect? how can I be appalled at something Ive never read ?
equality is not about race, and it is not about preserving “my people”, thats your first and biggest mistake… it is about the fundamental rights EVERY human being should have… no matter what culture, race or religion they are..
it is only then that people can come together and celebrate the diversity that each subset of “my people” can offer, and share and learn with and from each other..
my culture was almost lost, but it survived and is now an integral part of my country… education is key, but all you are endeavoring to do is drive the wedge deeper…
your views are draconian in the extreme
.
1 Oct 2012, 14:39 pm
@Dawn-260: I’d love to take credit but my browser told me i misspelled it twice before i guessed the right way and the squiggly line disappeared
1 Oct 2012, 14:40 pm
@STBUR-266:
Gotja.
1 Oct 2012, 14:40 pm
The way I see it, life isn’t fair towards individuals, or even generations. This big old seesaw of power involves plenty of over-compensation on both ends to make up for whatever injustice has been taking place. And those caught on the wrong side of the up or down swing will be treated unfairly for probably their whole life, as will their children and perhaps even their children. But the fairness here is seen from a long long way up and spans centuries.
Think of it as an ecosystem. To regain its balance, or to remain healthy, many individual species within it will suffer terrible fates. But at a glance, from a distance, it’s beautiful and serene. That’s SA in a nutshell. We, as whites (and mostly Afrikaners) are in an unfortunate position as individuals, and will be for probably the better part of the next century. But no amount of lamenting this is going to change anything. Bad sht happened and the other end of the seesaw has been sufficiently loaded to swing things around for a long time.
And if the outrage of the unfairness is too much to handle, then one must seek your future elsewhere. There’s no shame in that either. In fact, that’s exactly what brought so many of our settler forefathers here in the first place.
I’m sticking it out, and I’m prepared to take a few knocks for the bigger picture.
1 Oct 2012, 14:41 pm
@gonzo-269:
1 Oct 2012, 14:43 pm
@Dawn-270:
I’m not just saying “gotcha” for the sake of it, I really do get your point.
1 Oct 2012, 14:45 pm
@STBUR-266: @STBUR-266: eish
“that a white person wants to be white, he wants his kids to be white ”
I just want my kids to be happy and to enjoy life..
I dont care if theyre purple, pink or blue…
1 Oct 2012, 14:50 pm
@poppa69-274: You just say whatever you think is going win you some inane little one-upmanship contest here. I don’t get the impression you have any real convictions (apart from the legal kind).
1 Oct 2012, 14:54 pm
@Dawn-250:
Well it is not a foregone conclusion but the evidence is right there if you are willing to see it.
BEE is not about redressing “injustice”. That could’ve as easily have been achieved by saying any person whose parents are impoverished or from certain level of income qualifies for x, y, z. No need to even mention race. It would stop this situation where blacks that come from rich families still gain rubbish advantage because of BEE while the poor are left behind. But if you are honest we all know BEE is not about redress, it is about disenfranchising white people.
I mean why on Earth is it so important that the majority of players in the Bok team should be black when it is an inconsequential sport to majority of them? It has nothing to do with equal opportunity. It has to do with displacing white people from every part of society, that is the motivating factor. Because ultimately if 80% of blacks played rugby and their economic situation improved then their representation in the team would be much higher. Solving society would impact on everything else.
There is debate in parliament about removing Afrikaans as an official language. Why?
Why is Stellenbosch under pressure to teach in English? Why do they actively try to get English black students to enroll (and move great distances) there when there are plenty of universities more suited? It is because Stellenbosch is still an Afrikaans bastion and the ANC wants to eradicate it.
Why is there critcism of white neighbourhoods/schools? What does it matter where people stay? As long as everyone has access to accommodation and schooling we can stay where we are. Why not criticism Indian communities? Jewish schools? It has to be about breaking the core of the white population, breaking it, miscegenation and our ultimate extinction.
The British did the same to the Afrikaners. They did not allow the use of Afrikaans in school etc. It how you obliterate unwanted minorities without the use of force. The silent war that the rest of the western world is pretending is not happening because they don’t like uncomfortable conversations anymore. It is better to be silent and PC than to protect your own.
1 Oct 2012, 14:56 pm
@katman-275: so your whole comment wasnt some inane attempt at one up man ship then katman?
you can question my convictions all you like, you have not one iota of mine, the fact you base your assumptions on a blog is really rather special of you..
does that halo ever slip?
1 Oct 2012, 14:57 pm
@Dawn-253:
You are right, you can’t but unless you talk about it and make it a matter of importance how else will my people prevent it from happening.
I mean, should the blacks have remained silent about Apartheid because otherwise they would be unhappy all day?
1 Oct 2012, 14:57 pm
@STBUR-265: afrikaners never suffered 200 years of horrific oppression man.
seriously.
they took their wagons and fukked off from the cape because they werent allowed to keep slaves. SLAVES FFS!
and bear in mind that it was only a tiny fraction of the afrikaners that trekked bud, most stayed put, happy in the cape.
afrikaners founded two republics and when they lost their autonomy in the boer war, they gained the right to vote less than a decade later and gained full political power less than 40 years after that, which they entrenched by manipulating the voting through redefinition of ward boundaries.
1 Oct 2012, 14:58 pm
Crikey Patricia!
After reading some of this inane drivel I’m in tow minds whether I should read Keo’s integrate don’t exterminate thread or not.
1 Oct 2012, 14:59 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-254:
That is your choice but the ultimate consequence will still be the exinction of your and my people. It also shows how effective the Marxist brainwashing has been that you are willing to forego your people’s history, identity and future so that you don’t offend anyone.
1 Oct 2012, 15:00 pm
you really are the epitome of ego katman, its sad really…
1 Oct 2012, 15:00 pm
i suppose another unintended consequence, in a long list of tragic consequences, of mad bob’s ‘liberation’ of zimbabwean land from ‘the british’ is the death of corrie sanders at the hands of a bunch of murderous vermin scum zimbo’s (there are good people in zim, but these are none of them).
thanks bob
thanks again….
1 Oct 2012, 15:00 pm
@STBUR-257:Luister why is your KIDS must to be white? You weet your family has probably 90% likely black blood there somewhere, isnt it?
You gotta say WE buddy, not MY..
It is your attitude will kill Afrikaaner, stifle a peoples flame – flame needs oxigin, neh? open arms buddy.
1 Oct 2012, 15:01 pm
@Dawn-260: Hi Dawn, are you back at work yet?
1 Oct 2012, 15:02 pm
@stormersboy-285:
how will they tell?
1 Oct 2012, 15:02 pm
@poppa69-282: One man’s ego is another man’s bullshit detector, Poeps.
1 Oct 2012, 15:02 pm
@STBUR-281: how can marx be the source of the western worlds altruism when his philosophy was only really implemented in the eastern world and by that i mean russia and china?
1 Oct 2012, 15:03 pm
@gunther-286: There’s less parking.
1 Oct 2012, 15:04 pm
@gunther-286: @katman-289:
1 Oct 2012, 15:05 pm
someone really should use a good dose of rubber on these violent strikers.
followed by a bit of the sjambok in a nice quiet place.
demonstrate peacefully or else.
1 Oct 2012, 15:06 pm
@poppa69-90: Good post.
1 Oct 2012, 15:06 pm
@Skeppie-255:
There is a significant enough segment of those that wield power that choose policies and practices to encourage it yes. For others it is merely expedient to maintain power based on racial fear mongering but whether it is intention or not the result and practical outcome remains the same.
The real problem though is not they are doing it, but because white people allow it to happen. Many are unwilling to admit to themselves that they have a right to exist. They are too afraid to be a called a racist. Just look on here, I ask for my groups right to exist to be ensured and then I am equated with Hitler. The pressure within the white population to not be seen as “racist” is so immense that it has hamstrung us to even ensure our survival.
There are many that feel like I do but they don’t feel comfortable to talk about it because they (like me) just want to get along but they also want their own group to survive. I have had it with that. Unless you talk about it you tacitly accept it.
That Sharkspedigree guy is a prime example. He has given up on wanting to preserve himself or his group.
1 Oct 2012, 15:08 pm
@gunther-286: @katman-289: He he he
Touche’
1 Oct 2012, 15:09 pm
@katman-287: well if anyone knows bullshit I have no doubt you da man katman..
1 Oct 2012, 15:10 pm
249 whats happened to Steyn this season hasnt done much to justify all the hype?
1 Oct 2012, 15:11 pm
@poppa69-295: Is it so wrong for me not to tolerate it?
1 Oct 2012, 15:11 pm
@STBUR-293: personally i couldnt give a toss how people view me.
i call it as i see it but i also dont want to restrict myself to a single defined identity based on my language or race.
its boring.
add to that the fact that like it or not, we are here now, in a mixed race, multicultural society and you have to adapt or die bud.
afrikaners are actually the most impressive grouping in teh country in terms of sustaining their culure imo as they do it through art and cultural festivals etc and this is the heart of a culture and language, not exclusion.
p.s. my daughter is a fluent afrikaans speaker unlike her limited dad.
1 Oct 2012, 15:13 pm
@katman-297: well, when youre so sure of another mans convictions that you just have to call bullshit,. I wouldnt call that tolerance..
Id call it ignorance, or ego.
your choice obviously..
1 Oct 2012, 15:13 pm
@NZINCHINA-296: Your punctuation is terrible. Many people scroll past when faced with such an unreadable post.
Just trying to help.
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