Gap widens between Boks and Blacks
6 Oct 2012
RYAN VREDE writes the Springboks regressed dreadfully on attack and defence and they are now even further from their goal of overhauling the All Blacks as the pre-eminent team in the game.
Having watched the Springboks run in six tries against Australia at Loftus, I wrote last week that their defensive showing was far more impressive. I said this because it is the bedrock upon which sustained success against the game’s elite is built.
The Springboks end the Rugby Championship having conceded 10 tries in their six Tests. To put that into context, the Blacks (the best defensive side in the competition) conceded six. The Boks’ defensive effort today was woeful, missing 12 tackles, crucially half of those coming in their own 22m.
For the first try Jaco Taute’s failed touch-finder presented the Blacks with a broken field opportunity, the kind they relish, and they were duly punished. There was criticism of Bryan Habana for the second try, but that criticism should have been of his failure to make the hit, not that he pushed out of line in an attempt to do so. There was a three-man overlap. It was the right decision.
Straight after the restart the Blacks were at it again, Taute this time missing his hit in midfield. The Boks were all at sea for the fourth, made to look like rank amateurs.
If the Boks want to become the force they envision, a start would be that no side should come to South Africa and score four tries. Not even the Blacks.
They can draw confidence that there aren’t terminal flaws in their defensive system. There were soft tries in Dunedin and Perth before this. In this youthful team’s short time together they will have already learned that at this level the margin for error is fine, with victory and defeat potentially resting on a single error. They cannot continue to make these mistakes.
The addition of Francois Louw certainly helped their defensive effort. However, the Springboks didn’t win nearly enough of the gainline battles to amplify Louw’s potency in this area tonight. They started promisingly enough, but a sustained effort is what was required. With elite teams so sophisticated in this discipline, the opportunities created from pressure defence will account for more of their scores than intricately worked moves will.
On attack it was a frustratingly familiar story. There were once again missed opportunities, but not enough to have altered the result.
The Blacks out-thought, out-muscled and out-mongrelled them at the breakdown, never allowing them to get any flow or tempo into their attacking game. The legality of some of those ruck steals or recycle slows was questionable, but Test rugby is often a street fight, and today the Boks brought a plastic baton.
Their brute force in contact will win some games against weaker opponents than the Blacks in the years ahead, but there needs to be a greater coaching focus on intelligence going into the contact area and awareness when in the tackle. This was the standout feature of the Blacks’ attacking play this evening. Where the Boks’ carriers look to steamroll their way through a tackle, the Blacks attack the space either side of a defender so well, allowing them to free their hands and have the option of an offload. The support play for that option is never lacking, and herein lies a valuable lesson for the Boks.
The Blacks are the benchmark for this Bok team and this evening they looked impostors to their throne. The log reflects a 14-point different between the teams, but the gap is much more vast and will continue to grow if the Boks don’t address pressing issues with great urgency.
Follow Ryan on Twitter
Follow SA Rugby magazine on Twitter
63 Comments
6 Oct 2012, 19:17 pm
hahha ek sien nou die boertjies begin ook all black truie te dra
6 Oct 2012, 19:18 pm
The story of this game yet again was Opportunities. The ABs took theirs. We didn’t take ours.
Either you take your opportunities or you lose the game. The choice is yours.
6 Oct 2012, 19:19 pm
Has Meyer fcuked the nation up that badly.
bwahaha Mallet and ashwin having a lekker uitkak session on the telly
6 Oct 2012, 19:22 pm
Bokke had enough possession to win this game. The difference between the two teams was from 9 to 15. From 1 to 8 your boys were very good – contested the breakdown very well and hit the ball up powerfully. You do seem to play the game sometimes on automatic pilot … for example when we were down to 14 men why would you persist in the pick-and-go? Makes no sense when our backs are short one man. You do have a young team though and given the right coaching and the right environment, your boys will get better. But you do have to start scoring tries. Surely in all of SA rugby you must have backs with pace and vision and great hands. Find them.
We kiwis are lucky to support such a great AB team. They will not always be this dominant so we will enjoy this period of greatness while it lasts. At some point Carter and McCaw will retire and we will have to find replacements for those once-in-a-lifetime players.
6 Oct 2012, 19:25 pm
@JaffaBoy-4: “automatic pilot” equals stupidity
6 Oct 2012, 19:32 pm
Our defence is our strength – but not today; it was awful with no cover coming across – couldn’t believe my eyes – Taute is nowhere near Test level.
The leadership should take a lot of the blame – study Bok play over our history and see if we ever come out the gate for the second half all psyched up and rearing to go; that’s where they won – that crucial first 10 minutes of the second half they always treat as crucial – we don’t for some reason.
But let’s be fair here – they played really, really well; something missing in our game – including a reliable kicker: let Frans Steyn, the only South African player with self-belief under pressure, to take ALL the kicks when he comes back.
6 Oct 2012, 19:40 pm
What has happened to our players when it comes to kicking? Does Louis Koen have them kicking soccer balls or what? Why was Percy’s contract not renewed? And where can I find stats to compare kicks at goal under Percy’s coaching and also since Koen took over?
6 Oct 2012, 20:04 pm
My prediction was out by 1 point.
6 Oct 2012, 20:11 pm
It was a pathetic performance!! But this article highlights the problem we face in South Africa. We now firmly believe, from our fans, journalists and coaches, that our only way to victory is through forward domination and strong defence. Positive inivative backline play is not even suggested or attempted anymore. We were a country that developed players like Danie Gerber and Carel du Plessis in the past but now have evolved into a one dimentional, boring, dumb team.
6 Oct 2012, 20:24 pm
Who is this team “the Blacks” the writer keeps referring to?
6 Oct 2012, 20:29 pm
@jamesboag-10:
oh here we go
6 Oct 2012, 20:32 pm
@jamesboag-10: nice trolling.
6 Oct 2012, 21:16 pm
All Blacks vs Springboks since neutral refs (1992):-
69% wins
82% in NZ
58% in SA
6 Oct 2012, 21:16 pm
Sorry but we didnt cover ourselves in glory today. The AB’s allowed us to run head on into them, absorbed the pressure than made our vaunted ” defense” lokk laughable in the end. Probably not fair to pick on individuals but we HAVE to blame someone or else just accept that we are 2nd best…period !! Sorry, but Taute is out of his depth, Goosen doen’t seem to have the “bottle” to be a class fly half, Jantjies is just so-so. Yet we have a proven match winner sitting on the bench waiting for HM to give him a nod i.e., Lambie ! And sorry, but Koen must go…where is Percy ? In the forwards, Vermuelen is NOT an 8th man. Oh for Kankowski, oh for Bismarck….. And Coenie proved to be either unfit or just another disaster waiting for a place to happen….as it did once he got on. And the writers keep telling us Louw is the answer….. We got KILLED in the loose and on the ground !! No speed….we cant play 3 lumps at loose forward, we need speed and brains, not just bash it up ! We out weigh their pack by 60 kgs but didnt dominate at all in the tight and just got hammered in the collisions and to the loose ball. Where are you PdvW when we need you !! That last comment is sarcastic but HM seems about PdV’s equal, no better……
6 Oct 2012, 21:23 pm
One other point…..we have a great left wing, world class….and yet we make him play right wing, then tell all the other right wings in the country that they are kak, and pick a scrumhalf, not good enough to make the team in his own position in their place. Nice logic, nice compliment to the other wings in the country, even Habana.
6 Oct 2012, 22:16 pm
@yank-14:
What are you guys saying now! First its goosen needs to be in there (despite his relative inexperience at test level) and now he’s not good enough? I mean the ABs didn’t hit their stride until their 5th and 6th game in this championship. Everyone talked about their handling errors but all I saw was that they needed to do that in order to get better and practically learn from their mistakes. Just as they did so do Boks, you can’t expect them to be spectacular out of nowhere. The grassroots structures incl. management may be diff. between the two countries but all in all you need to concede a bit to gain a lot and while the ABS managed to win their games despite their errors, its because they’ve learnt this early on. You can’t just rely on raw talent (as Australia is very guilty of) to win but the environment of learning and allowing for mistakes for both players and management. So long story short = calm the heck down (at least for now)
6 Oct 2012, 22:52 pm
@GoodGame-16: Ignore Yank. He is being an idiot.
7 Oct 2012, 00:47 am
The gap has widened? Based on what, one game? That’s crazy. If the teams played again next week and the Boks lost by just one point, would the headline be “the gap has shrunk”? Then the next game, they lose by more, so “the gap has widened” again? This is such a shallow analysis. A gap may widen over a year but it cannot do so based on just one game.
7 Oct 2012, 01:12 am
And still most the Keo muppets not too mention the coach’s cannot see the forest for the trees… my long-standing point remains since the 1/4 final exit!
-the Boks are shocking at the ruck-point on their own ball never committing enough players at speed nor clearing out opponents with brutal efficiency as a unit…
-NEVER counter-ruck on opposition ball as a unit
-NEVER pick-and-go with pace and as a unit
Until then the Keo mug- punters can continue to aimlessly spruik every which rookie over Morne Steyn or 6 as a ‘saviour’!
Well done All Blacks truly a smarter, more skilled, more brutal 22 than the Boks will more than likely ever have.
7 Oct 2012, 01:54 am
@Monty15-18:
Er… are you a bit simple… with every win the All Blacks move further ahead of the entire rest… and the world record for consecutive wins only illustrates that gap even further…
7 Oct 2012, 02:32 am
Poor ol Monty, – at least his glass is half full I suppose
7 Oct 2012, 02:41 am
@yank-15:
Now where were you when I complained about this kak for about a month now?
See how nobody will react to your point because apparently a “game breaker,” “X-factor-player” like Hougaard should not be criticized in any way.
@Monty15-18:
It has widened from 10 points (when the AB played kak) to 16 points (when the AB played well).
Did you not notice?
7 Oct 2012, 02:49 am
Gap widens is aload of poo.
Reality is this is where the Blacks are and they arent unbeatable. They underestimated us in Dunedin and today they gave us the respect, hence the thrashing. They still werent that amaising.
I been calling ourselves a “B” team because we are not far from that, full of youth and missing around 10 1st choice candidates.
Because in SA we are a dumb breed of people we dont know how to sit down together as a country ie, SA Rugby and discuss how the whole structure of rugby should be played in SA. So no frenchise gives a toss about their players and their welfare although they blab bla bla about how they do. May it be greed, selfishness, stupidity thrown in, Bok rugby will never reach the heights at a constant level in the professional era.
HM has done an impressive job considering what cards he has been delt. He has made some poor decisions too. I think getting a 20yr old child to kick the first goals is really really…. stupid. The pressure is immence already on the kid, so why on earth put more than is necessary. Bla Bla the Goose can handle pressure, mmm, so he handled it today very well, did he?
Pinaar the more experienced player should have taken the first kicks is it not logical , the “golden egg” would have had time to then settle in after his emotion start “was borling his eyes out before the match” nog al, and once feeling comfortable he could have kicked. You cant ask a child can you manage, will you be able, because he is naturally going to say yes , because he gets the feeling the coach believes he can…aahh, very fustrating to see.
Janties can on and kicked beautifully although i didnt see him the rest of the match.
Blacks took out the Goose, he was a target and cheated as they do best.
Glad to see the ref pulling at some of the rucks although not enough. Richie should have been sent off. ****** he pees me off how he gets away with murder.
Habanana might have scored a try but anybody could have done that. What annoyed me is how he caused the next Black try, looking for an interception. It hasnt taken long for his head to expand in self glory. He is garenteed to loose posession come ruck time and being an experienced player, missing a pass on the try line…. arrrr, i dont know?
Frans Steyn was very sorely missed.
There might be a gap between the two sides, but one is well experienced the other not, BUT no doubt the Blacks are better and will remain better until some structures and education changes.
As one guy said the Blacks are like a learning organisation. They first absorb, learn adapt then strike back. What a formula…..
The Blacks have always been poor starts always, the 1st 20mins is your domain… good luck in the next 3 quarters!
Like a bomb, the Boks a re brought down to earth, good stuff. Hopefully the drwaing board for you HM- noting Phisically wins games , is a thing of the passed bud, its time to make this a watershed moment and rethink plan A and come up with plan B C D.
About 80% posession in the 1st 20mins, WOW, so what happened there after? The Blacks were toying with these Baby Boks, letting them play ball, seeing what they had. much like a Killer whale tossing a seal around.
Gap huge, well there’s been a gap for over a decade, so why are we talking about gaps. just read the stats!
7 Oct 2012, 02:51 am
And so the most injury ravaged side in the history of Australian rugby ends up higher on the log than the Springboks…
Wooden spooners…
7 Oct 2012, 03:52 am
@Greenies-23:
I have asked this before as someone else said Boks missing 7 players, now you say 10.
Please name these missing players.
7 Oct 2012, 04:13 am
@Greenies-23:
” missing around 10 1st choice candidates.”
Name them.
Would that be VM, FdP, Bakkies, Jacques Fourie, Gurthro, Schalk, HB, Morne, Frans, Bissie, Juan Smith, John Smit.
That’s 12. You’re sure some of them should still be 1st choice?
They were all there when we lost in the 1/4 of the RWC except Bakkies and Juan.
7 Oct 2012, 04:24 am
@nama1-26:
Players retire… that’s the nature of the game… to list them as ‘missing’ is desperation… not one of those ‘retired’ players played S15 this year, another has been dropped (by public demand) and another decried by public when he was captain…
7 Oct 2012, 05:41 am
When Keo predicted another Bok triumph, the writing was on the wall and when forward coach Van Graan spoke Bullish at half time, I knew it was game, set and match. Another rugby lesson for Heyneke Meyer and his bunch of praise singers deputising as assistant-coaches. And there is more to come!
7 Oct 2012, 06:19 am
To me the Boks talked them selves into a tactical flaw. Whether it was the game plan or just a focus issue who knows, but they got so focused on the tight stuff and breakdown that they over committed (often not very effectively) and left too much space out wide for the Bok backs to cover. Most of those AB tries were far too easy. More or less just going around the outside through numbers or cutting the line to find no effective cover defense. Where were all those players? They were too focused on ‘playing a ‘tight game’ and too slow to react when it suddenly wasn’t tight any more. The 3 loose forwards did some good work and made some good turnovers, but it was a bit like there were 8 tight forwards on the field and they weren’t soaking up the inside pressure well enough to allow the backs to structure there defense with men to spare. Couple that with the AB loose forwards (and some tight forwards) constantly appearing in the backline and the slightest tackle miss or defensive misread leads to a try. I must admit that I really wonder what has happened to Brousow? Is he just completely out of form? If not, he would make a difference to the Bok loose trio.
I think if (when?) the Boks added back Burger, Brousow, and Bismark, that Bok pack would look much more effective around the park and defensively. Only question mark perhaps is whether Burger still has the game that he once had. As for the backs, JdV has been one of the better recent captains in how he represents the Boks off the park (he speaks pretty well and comes across as a genuine sort of character), but I really can’t see why he gets picked as a player. Haven’t been able to understand that for years now. As for the rest of the back line, pick them and play them consistently for a while. Expecting ~20 year old guys to become instant game winners is stupid. But chopping and changing all the time because they don’t, will destroy them and the team. At this stage I would be starting Goosen, but best with F Steyn outside him. I would also start Lambie at 15. He also looks like a really good talent. Habana on one wing, Peterson on the other when fit, then only need a good 13 to complete the picture, plus of course the coaches licence to take some risks. Great backline play and great counter attack involves taking risks, but if on average you score more than the risks cost you, you are on the right track.
7 Oct 2012, 06:30 am
Rod Kafer was spot-on in his analysis of the Bok’s defence pre-game… they spread out too much leaving 3 or four tacklers on each side of the heat out of the game and not enough protecting in the middle contributing to their poor breakdown performances on both their own and opposition ball…
7 Oct 2012, 06:34 am
So glory boy Goosen lasts another game and a half. You guys wanted Morne steyns head and got it. But who is at fault now that the backline do not run the ball?
Let me tell you….
MS was overplayed, since 2009 very little rest and played most tests and super games. The break will do him good.
Louis Koen must f-off. He is coaching the kick out of our kickers.
Jean Div still cannot pass to the right, that limits us to attack tio the left
Bekker, the less said the better
You get what you ask for, do not blame the coach if Habana goes for an intercept and the defensive line opens like the red sea. Defense also went to hell when Jantjes came on.
Kners daai tanne julle klomp p o e sies……
7 Oct 2012, 06:39 am
One has to simply concede that the All Blacks are the greatest rugby team on the planet.
7 Oct 2012, 07:00 am
@Xkreni-WP-31:
Well, a few wanted Goosen in and looked what happened.
Over the few weeks i have read that Goosen is the one. Some on here even said Goosen is as good as Carter but its only Carters experience that makes up for it.
Goosen is not the only answer. You need more than him. He is an unexperienced player and alot on here have got ahead of themselves. He has yet too show anything great at all. Time will tell but a few on here need to calm down and look at reality. You need more than one person to beat the ABs.
7 Oct 2012, 07:09 am
@Predawn-32: Indeed
@Xkreni-WP-31: Louis must fcukoff and keep Morne Steyb where ever hebfcuks off too. The factnis that 1 kick against the Lions in 2009 kept him in the side ever since.
HM is a moron and should rather try and coach the nulle out of the relegation zone.
7 Oct 2012, 07:58 am
The Boks will continue to lose to top tier teams unless they address issues at 2 levels.
The first is the deficiencies of Heineke Meyer, being arrogant, a slow learner, control freak, emotional and biased. He must realize he is now operating at the very top level of international coaching with very little margin for error and that the things that worked for him at provincial level will not necessarily cut it at international level. He also does not have the luxury of time to fix these errors. 2 wins out of 6 are just not good enough.
How can he/Saru fix it? Meyer must surround him with those who are the very best in their field. On attack think Eddie Jones helping Jake White and on defense think what Jacques Nienaber is doing at the Stormers. Rassie and Mallet also comes to mind. He then needs to listen to their advice in terms of strategy and selections and have them helping him out in the coaching box. Most international teams now, have very strong coaching teams working as a team. Seeing Meyer sitting on his own in the coaching box, going off like lunatic, is an indication of a stressed and frazzled mind, prone to making the wrong decisions at critical times. His loyalty to his old provincial players and staff is also already costing him dearly, ala Greyling and Morne Steyn. What he has going for him is an incredible player talent pool, that is at the moment very poorly managed.
The second issue that is costing the Boks is the lack of skills at all levels in SA rugby. The Bok backline skills were clearly lacking on Saturday, with them having difficulty to just move the ball out wide without any errors and their poor defensive system. Traditionally SA coaching focused on power and strength and with it an emphasis on size. In contrast in NZ and Australia they place a very high premium on skills training, as opposed to just relying on brawn.
SARU and the Boks coaching team clearly need to step up the emphasis and investment in skills training all the way up from junior to the top level.
7 Oct 2012, 08:24 am
Congrats all blacks awesome killer rugby.
Meyer *** you and your dumb bash pick and drive domkrag s h i t rugby.
The wp players in tgis team were actually the problem imo. Jdv bekker (laziest f u k ever) habanana and even etsebeth were sh it sh it sh it. Duanne is a carthose as is flo. Too slow for test rugby but i think you were all told long ago.
7 Oct 2012, 08:26 am
we got schooled..when the ab’s got the ball ,later on in the game, they had space,speed and the skills . we were static,panicked and just generally at a loss at what to do. if we dont commit to improving our rugby brains we will forver be behind the number 1 team. it was embarrassing for us. it’s time to clean out the cupboards
7 Oct 2012, 08:43 am
When we take the world record next month we will own EVERYTHING in world rugby, McCaw the greatest player to ever play the game.
7 Oct 2012, 09:05 am
Shame how poor province players get blamed for a very outdated game plan…
I have said from day one that no matter who HM chooses the results will be the same. Once the game plan is changed and we get mature coaching staff then only will our rugby improve.
The forwards played their hearts out. The loose trio is the best in years. Flo has made a world of difference to the team and Province better get him back fast. Vermeulen is a revelation… I would start with Coetzee and play Alberts off the bench, but once again it won’t make any difference.
Well done Kiwis you are light years ahead of the chasing pack…
7 Oct 2012, 09:16 am
After a good nights sleep you Yarpies must be keen to watch the highlights of the test match, click on link below
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/our-experts/7780405/Untouchable-All-Blacks-take-game-to-next-level
7 Oct 2012, 09:18 am
defensively taute and hougaard did not impose themselves and the backline got schooled by the ABS. with everyone fit the following outside backs would be much more resilient.
11 – Habs
12 – Frans
13 – JDV
14 – Pietersen
7 Oct 2012, 09:34 am
@Xkreni-WP-31:
Pretty much it summed up all the well known factors
Other than 2009, the referees won it for us then.
“Defense also went to hell when Jantjes came on.” overstating the obvious didn’t HM realise that by adding Jantjies to the squad he will have to play him?
The only money I made yesterday was on a bet stated that the Boks will lose if Janjies comes on prior to the 73rd minute
It’s that simple
7 Oct 2012, 09:37 am
@NZINCHINA-38: A player like McCaw sums up why the Boks are struggling. McCaw has more rugby brains than our whole team combined, a WHOLE lot more.
We try plan A, plan A doesn’t work. What do we do? Try plan A, plan A doesn’t work. What do we do now? We all know by now…. WE TRY PLAN A!!! Genius!
7 Oct 2012, 09:40 am
@Hondo-42: Jantjies was better than the limping Goose. He manned up in defense and if our old backs had just a smidgen of ball skills left he would’ve been much more threatening on attack. Whenever they receive a pass from Jantjies they fall over themselves. See if Mapoe or Taute have such difficulty with his passes in CC, or a guy like Willie le Roux etc.
The longer you play in SA it seems the more your handling declines…
7 Oct 2012, 09:40 am
@lepel-43: ‘
….and if plan A don’t work it is the players fault for not being able to adapt or implement it… So sick of HM’s excuses – the messiah is a waste of time and space…
7 Oct 2012, 09:41 am
Most astonished aspect yesterday was that the ABs went from 19:16 to 32:16 while Dagg was sin binned and Nomu substituted!
7 Oct 2012, 09:55 am
Donkey de Villiers is so slow that he’d battle to make The Sharks second team. Guys like Daniels, Botes and Sithole would finish him on a flat straight.
Time to sweep out the flotsam and bring in a fresh replacement.
7 Oct 2012, 10:18 am
@Predawn-47:
It has also now been a while since “Bonecrusher” (I nearly said bonehead) Alberts crushed any bones. Or since the Beast did anything more than to stand hands on his knees next to a ruck staring at the opposition players.
Sweep out and bring on the fresh ones as you said.
7 Oct 2012, 10:32 am
@Robzim-48:
Plenty of better players than them. Alberts has been running into defenders all season. Meyer’s gameplan has made him a walking bruise.
7 Oct 2012, 10:33 am
Fact is Donkey is yesteryear’s hero…like five years ago.
7 Oct 2012, 10:36 am
Rangerman – WP players were the problem? You’re seriously delusional. Stop your petty provincialism dude. Vermeulen and Etsebeth got through more work than any in the pack. Habana is the only Bok backline player with any penetration. How hopeless were the Boks when Sharks and Bulls players dominated the lineup? Rather focus on a poor management team.
7 Oct 2012, 15:23 pm
Gap widens between Boks and Blacks????? Is P duh right? The only way to beat the Blacks is with blacks?
7 Oct 2012, 15:26 pm
more blacks v all blacks. That would be cooooool
7 Oct 2012, 19:16 pm
@W.P-51: Agreed. Management team is a bunch of second raters. Heyneke’s praise singers should be deported back to the Bulls’ camp. Loud mouth Van Graan inherited the best pack of forwards in the world (Bakkies, Victor, Danie, Guthro) when he became the Bulls’ forward coach. The next thing we notice is that Uncle Heyneke promoted him to the Bok forward coach. If this isn’t vintage Broederbond tactics, what is?
7 Oct 2012, 20:42 pm
yeah, the problem is Ryan, the mentality is consistant to what you guys wanted. When Div spoke of running at space you guys spoke up the ‘traditional strength’ argument. When the rest of the world values skill over bulk, Meyer values bulk over brains. Stop the mentality that games are purely won and lost up front, they do lay the foundation, but the bulk of your points has to come from 9 to 15, and thats what wins you matches, not purely territory or posession, or upfront dominance but points. The likes of Gerber,blanco and cullen.. We need brains…
7 Oct 2012, 22:42 pm
again, for all of oru big players that should be able to power intp gaps and free their arms up for an offfload, we did not seen ay offloading. the one move that included it was a try.
By now we should know that the AB’s are highly trained in slowing and stealing ball at the breakdown, by whatever means possible – that means we should avoid teh breakdown at all costs by offloading.
8 Oct 2012, 02:54 am
The Boks backline has been an endemic problem. They never sorted it out even when we had some of the best forwards in the world. The reason we’re “rebuilding” is because there was no foresight to begin with. Has there ever been a “weak” AB team? No. Even when they’re rebuilding, they remain immensely competitive because they’re continuously drafting in new players and managing them well. Graham Henry traveled to the US to learn from the NFL. Even though the ABs were already excellent, he was still looking at other ideas to solidify them and improve them further. In SA we keep talking about our “traditional” strengths – which, without innovation are fast turning into our weakness, because it’s all we know. There is no sense of development, no one appearing to take a really hard look at our game and asking “what’s missing?” And “what’s missing” is abundantly clear. We are one-dimensional, our selections are off, we have no coherent backline nor backline play. We doggedly insist on doing things our way when an injection of techincal nous from someone like Plumtree or Mitchell might really help. Is it a surprise that the Sharks played so well in the Super 15? They have a Kiwi coach and we have players who can offload and play exciting incisive rugby…except when they show up in the Bok team. As has been pointed out recently, the Kiwis manage their players better. We have far too many key players injured for it to be merely due to chance. Until we rectify these things and add what’s missing, we will continue to stagnate. It’s amazing that we go through the same soul-searching year after year and never really see progress in our game or our approach to it. Everyone is so worried about our inability to play like the ABs, so they default to this nonsense about our “traditional” strengths. The definition of a delusion is adhering to the same beliefs against all evidence to the contrary. Our focus on these so-called Traditional Strengths is preventing us from developing new strengths and new traditions.
8 Oct 2012, 04:25 am
Spot on Rex.
8 Oct 2012, 05:22 am
I agree rex – its like we dont have the current personell to do anything about it, so we hide our head in the sand . I refuse to believe that we dont have a single coach in the whole republic that can understand and manipulate backline processes and work out and coach good set pieces. Our highschool rugby has great running in it, and good set piece moves. But at higher levels, the level of understanding and coaching and adaptability of players does noot seem to go up. its still viewed as a “intuition thing”, which a player eaither has or has not.
Frankly thats rubbish. Why is there no S African that has made a science out of it?
8 Oct 2012, 06:28 am
When Heineken moved up from success at Currie Cup to a greenhorn at Super 12 level, his Bulls team won only 2 out of 22 games over two full seasons, and they got the wooden spoon.
The man is a VERY slow learner. His record proves it.
And that there is a substantial gap between Currie Cup rugby and Super rugby is nowhere in dispute. Nor is the fact that the step up to test rugby is an even larger step. Once again, just like the last time, Heineken has fallen feel first clean through the cracks. And he denies it has happened. He cannot grasp that he just doesn’t have the coaching nous to hack it among proper test coaches. His tenure will, once again, involve a l-o-n-g learning curve and he sees nothing wrong with using the lucrative test coach position as an experimental kitchen and a personal development laboratory.
He says “the players have faith in me” as if his rugby tuition is some sort of religion into which devotees have to show prior commitment in order for the magic to work. It doesn’t cross his mind that if any player dared contradict or scoff at his “system” he’d drop them and they’d lose lots of money. So they have no choice but to pretend he’s their messiah.
Hallelujah, Heineken! Huzzah!
Yeah, right…
8 Oct 2012, 08:10 am
heyneke out!
8 Oct 2012, 08:25 am
Sjambok – I think you are probably correct. There are definitely people who understand the problems; whether they’ll get a look-in at the coaching level is another matter. Cobus Visagie is a pretty astute analyst if you’ve seen any of his columns. I have no idea whether he can coach. Alan Solomons is another – and he does have a record as a coach.
People keep talking about Mallett. Well it’s not as if he didn’t make his own major mistakes- getting rid of Teichmann at a most inopportune time has to be the main one. He has a huge ego, with all his rugby smarts, and that can get in the way.
Naka Drotske’s team plays good rugby. The question is whether their defensive liabilities would be replicated at a higher level or whether with the righ defence coach, they could find the right balance. We have David Campese resident in SA. Could he be helpful? Who knows. Why isn’t the rugby fraternity seriously considering personnel who could sort out these problems?
So there are people around. Mitchell and Spencer might be helpful as consultants. Everything should be considered. But the problems are glaring and until we face them and solve them, we will never reach our potential as a rugby nation, or we will never know what it truly is.
8 Oct 2012, 09:21 am
Sad to say, but we will never catch the ABs. We may achieve parity for fleeting moments as they go through change-of-the-guard periods. But as soon as their team settles, we will remain no match.
That is until there is a radical mind-set change in our own rugby philosophies. I will continue to hope, as there are signs of such change at domestic level. In the Currie Cup, more and more teams are adopting a ball in hand approach. It is the difficult route to success, but one that promises to take our rugby to a higher level of sustained excellence. For too long we have hoped and prayed for that messianic player that can win a game on his own. For too long have we gone into matches with the mindset of dominating up-front being the be-all-and-end-all. It is time to realize that at the highest level, one can never guarantee upfront dominance for 80 minutes, and even if this were possible, the result is still an uncertainty.
One difference between NZ and SA rugby philosophy is clearly visible when noting the crowd reaction to drop goals. In NZ it is met with a mixed response, while in SA, especially up north, crowds get all excited as though this were the be-all-and-end-all of the game.
Personal perception is that in SA crowds don’t really care how a win is achieved. It is great to win, but if it all depends on one or two players, anyone can see that sustained success will remain a pipe-dream as players are injured or experience loss of form.
The ball-in-hand approach demands a greater level of team cohesion, taking the game to its ultimate level. One can draw the analogy with soccer, which is dubbed by its fans “the beautiful game”. It is indeed a beautiful game, but only when the teams involved produce seamless passing moves to create scoring opportunities. It becomes something less beautiful when dominated by individuals.
So why have we never really bought into the ball-in-hand approach? Simple, it requires too much work. It requires for players to develop a psychic understanding with their team-mates. It requires for players to believe and be encouraged that creating opportunities for team-mates is as gratifying as scoring the points themselves. It requires for players to develop and master all the skills they should have gained at age-group level. To coaches, this could possibly seem a daunting task, especially when senior players still cannot do something as elementary as passing to both sides. No, the more individualistic crash-ball and kick-and-chase approaches can yield the result, be it that these are non-sustainable. It is the game at its most primitive level…
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.