Hard education for Meyer
8 Oct 2012
RYAN VREDE writes that the Springboks’ Rugby Championship campaign left Heyneke Meyer with more questions than answers.
Meyer has been consistent in his view that he will have a clearer idea about the players he can take forward and those that don’t meet his expectations after the completion of the southern hemisphere showpiece. He has also explained that his opponents, the best in the game, would expose flaws in his tactical philosophy, and that he would make adjustments accordingly.
He would have hoped that process would be less complicated than it now will be, but Meyer has to be decisive in light of his team’s inconsistent showings, which saw them finish 14 points adrift of the All Blacks, and well behind them in all of the most important aspects of their play.
He admitted that dropping Morne Steyn was one of the hardest decisions he has had to make in his short time as coach. But it was the right one in light of the flyhalf’s chronic struggles. His replacement Johan Goosen impressed in short cameos off the bench in Australasia and was good as a starter against Australia at Loftus. But his goalkicking, so good in Super Rugby, lacked accuracy, while his weak tactical kicking game, a deficiency exposed against the All Blacks in Soweto, wouldn’t have filled Meyer with confidence ahead of the northern hemisphere tour. I wouldn’t be surprised if Meyer reverts to Steyn for the three-Test tour, using Goosen as an impact player.
Fourie du Preez is in the closing stages of negotiations with his Japanese club Suntory Goliath which would allow him to be available in the Test windows. This would ease the pressure on whoever Meyer opts for at flyhalf for the year-end tour. Du Preez’s value is unquestionable, and his potential return will also be crucial in building depth in quality in one of the Springboks’ most crucial positions (in the context of their game plan).
Meyer lacks a commanding presence at No 5 lock, with Andries Bekker continuing to struggle for consistency. I wrote after his self-confessed nightmare in Mendoza that there needed to be an investment in him because there just aren’t any better alternatives in South Africa or abroad. I still feel that way. Bekker, however, has to deliver with greater consistency and authority.
There continues to be legitimate questions around Zane Kirchner’s retention, many believing Pat Lambie to be a better long-term alternative. Francois Hougaard, having been deployed as a wing after failing to meet Meyer’s expectations as a Test scrumhalf, has yet to exhibit the form in the position he did for the Bulls between 2009 and 2011. JP Pietersen’s return to fitness will see him take Hougaard’s spot in the starting line-up for the November Tests. There are players with greater utility value available to Meyer as impact options, bringing into question Hougaard’s prospects of making the match 22 (with either Pienaar or Du Preez covering scrumhalf on the wood).
Viewing the Springboks more broadly, Meyer has endured heavy criticism for his perceived attacking conservatism. Their method won’t alter dramatically in the coming years, with Meyer hoping the execution thereof becomes slicker. There are, however, fundamental flaws that need to be addressed, most notably their predictability at the gainline (i.e a lack of variation in terms of runners in support and the angles of those attacks). There also needs to be a greater level of precision and innovation in the opposition’s 22m. The Springboks created numerous scoring opportunities throughout their Rugby Championship campaign, but failed to convert a large percentage of those.
Defensively they were average, with too many of what Meyer deemed ‘soft moments’. This is the bedrock upon which the best teams in the game have built their success and it must be the hallmark of this Springboks side.
There are undoubtedly positives, with a young pack largely fronting well, the emergence of a clutch of gifted rookies and Bryan Habana nearing his best form. Those things stir optimism.
Meyer has said from the outset that the first year would be his toughest. I doubt he expected it to be as testing as it has been. There are mitigating circumstances for him, injuries to key senior players the most notable of those. But his side cannot regress from this point.
28 Comments
8 Oct 2012, 10:53 am
dragon in training
8 Oct 2012, 10:57 am
I wish someone could coach
Taute to kick the ball out (Mitchell dropped him for this in 2011)
Strauss not to knock the ball on
Goosen to make his kicks
Kirchner not to run backwards in defense ( like Terblanche used to)
The forward pack to catch kickoffs
Goosen not to be so injury prone
Coenie to be a tighthead
Jean to pass properly
Habana not to rush up for the intercept
Then we would score more tries and concede fewer.
Everyone knew the ABs would score after halftime, no one knew they would make it look so easy.
8 Oct 2012, 11:06 am
@Lions_Soutie-2:
jean’s pass to habs for the try was ok?
otherwise…..yep agree.
Frans is our best 15, and if we could get jacque fourie back, jean and him would be a much better defensive centre combo. my ideal backline….
9. du preez/ruan
10. jantjes/goosen
11. habs
12. JDV
13. Jacque Fourie
14. JPP
15. Frans Steyn
super experienced, and probably a tad younger than the current AB backline.
8 Oct 2012, 11:13 am
@munkiboi-3: His passing is generally ok, just sometimes tries a blind pass which never works out
8 Oct 2012, 11:14 am
As great as he was Fourie Du Preez is now playing in a very poor league, how is he going to be the answer? he’s only going to kick more ball anyway and SA need to learn to hold on to the ball not boot it to Australian and New Zealand back threes.
If you want to bring a player back bring Bakkies Botha, he was outstanding again at the weekend.
8 Oct 2012, 11:19 am
Bullf’ngshit
FdP did Fckall since 2007.. zero since 2009 at least.. ever since 2009 FdP and Morne Steyn were almost single handed responsible for Boks ultimate slump to the worst spate of losses ever in their history.. go count the goddamn losses again..
Hougaard has to take the 9 position and CHANGE this goddamn brain dead game plan.. kick this dumb coach OUT before it gets any worse than the downhill spiral ever since Streauli.. White’s little Resurrection act by Eddy Jones notwithstanding we have NOT been going anywhere since the year 1999 and that is FACT..
8 Oct 2012, 11:24 am
Ryan you might add HMs failure in selecting the best possible coaching staff… If he appointed the best personnel his record might have been much better…
1. Loubscher certainly isnt the best attacking coach SARU could afford and its disgraceful that the bok backs are coached by a backline coach with only vodacom cup experience. HM didnt have the luxury to shop around, the timing due to his belated appointment made it difficult to find quality coaches without a contract, but thats no excuse… Loubscher could have been handed a short term contract… HM had success at the bulls with a great BL coach with a lot of experience and excellent credentials in Louden… why not appoint a coach with similar experience and success?
2. An excellent defensive coach like Nieharber would have been snapped up by any other international coaching team. Why wasnt he appointed?
3. Koen….I dont know what his coaching success record is but it seems he’s making great kickers mediocre…
4. Why isnt Matfield involved with the lineouts? The boks’ lineout was their biggest weapon and teams including the ABs avoided lineouts at all costs… And its clear that it was due to Matfields brilliance and unique understanding of this crucial set piece. Why not use him to make the boks just as mighty in this department…?
The reason everyone would say is Bulls bias… but these selections should be criticized a helll of a lot more that player selections! problems??
8 Oct 2012, 11:28 am
The problem is not only the coaching staff per se, but their roles too.
The All Blacks have Wayne Smith as backline and attack coach.
The Boks have Ricardo Loubscher as backline coach and Johan van Graan, the forwards coach, as attack coach.
So Meyer not only selected inexperienced and unknown assistants, but their job descriptions are, well, unusual to say the least.
8 Oct 2012, 11:33 am
Regarding team selections… HM is talking a lot about inexperience… But the some experienced players are letting the team down…
MS finally got the chop, but JDV should be next. He could easily be replaced by a younger player and it wont make much difference… the difference would be that a younger player could get a chance to gain test experience and perhaps make a bigger contribution than JDV…
After next year’s super rugby comp I hope FSteyn and Jordaan becomes the next boks center combo… Its going to be exciting seeing them play together! Steyn to be a much better player with the Sharks than the boks. If you compare the way Whitehead is used to the way poor Steyn just bashes it up! WHitehead seems to play intelligent rugby and seems to create space for his outside center, hopefully Steyn will do the same…
8 Oct 2012, 11:40 am
@willievz-8:
Thats true. So it would make sense to appoint a backs coach with world class credentials, if that was the case i doubt van Graan would have had the role of attacking coach too…
8 Oct 2012, 11:42 am
I can see us retreating into the Laager at a rapid rate ……
Hier kom groot kak….
8 Oct 2012, 12:38 pm
it can’t be the white coach. He picked his own assistants, not like PDV who got his assistants as watchdogs.
Since the start Ricardo get all the critic. Even if he did not have all the experience, a qualified merit coach like HM should at least have provided guidance.
No one is now calling for HM to resign.
“we are not satisfied, but at least his one of us”
8 Oct 2012, 13:13 pm
@adi-12: Not true, stuff this color talk always… People are calling for Meyer to go. Bottom line is this, his assistants also suck. Howies Fourie should be attach coach, Nieharber defense coach and Percy the kicking coach (he kicked the ball straight, like our 3 current kickers, not with a Curve like Koen, Plus, he is a great motivator and shouldn’t be changing their styles at this stage anyway, rather should be boosting their confidence.)
8 Oct 2012, 13:51 pm
@fitz1ella-6: 1oo% agreed
8 Oct 2012, 13:52 pm
I’ve been saying it for months. Who is Ricardo Laubcher and Johan can Graan? The Bulls defensive record is average at best and we all know their lack of attacking rugby and using their backline appropriately.
We are surely now well and truly in NZ’s shadow…..and worse, they will continue to evolve while we, like most NH rugby teams, are stuck in the good old ways.
Meyer might get it right in a few years, but my prediction is that we will see a new coach being appointed sooner than expected. 4 wins from 9 games this year is simply not good enough…..not for a bok team.
8 Oct 2012, 15:35 pm
@willievz-8: the incredabrain is no longer backline/attack & defence coach….mick byrne takes the skills/attack & forwards..ian foster is backline…
smith has been in argentina with dave rennie for 2 weeks conducting coaching clinics.
8 Oct 2012, 16:52 pm
This would be my 26 Man squad for the EOYT…..
15. Patrick Lambie / Andries Coetzee.
14. J.P. Pietersen.
13. Jaco Taute / Juan De Jongh.
12. Jean De Villiers (c).
11. Francois Hougaard / Bjorn Basson.
10. Morne Steyn / Johan Goosen.
9. Ruan Pienaar.
8. Duane Vermuelen / Joe Van Niekerk.
7. Josh Strauss / Arno Botha.
6. Francois Louw.
5. Juandre Kruger.
4. Eben Etsebeth / Flip Van Der Merwe.
3. C.J. Van Der Linde / Frans Malherbe.
2. Adriaan Strauss / Schalk Brits.
1. Coenie Oosthuizen / Heinke Van Der Merwe.
8 Oct 2012, 17:59 pm
The Bulls’ coaching outfit did not make the grade. All Meyer’s assistant coaches need to depart now. Matfield should take over the forwards’ coaching job – he did it at the Bulls anyway. Van Graan was just a face on the team photo with a huge budget for consultants to do the coaching. This is alas not news in Pretoria. Every insider will confirm this was it not for the fact that they might lose their seat in the Blue room.
8 Oct 2012, 18:10 pm
Reposting and earlier comment: Curious about people’s responses:
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, 18:55 pm
@rex-19: Totally – the lashing on Sat comes as no surprise to me. The Boks have only been on a downhill since winning the WC in 2007. The B&I Lions Tour made that very clear – though we won we almost squandered two games by racing into the lead and then fading so badly that we could hardly hold them out in the last 10. Had those 2 matches lasted another 10 minutes the Boks may well have lost. Thereafter it was all downhill at a rapid rate.
We dont clear out with ferocity at the breakdown (Argentina have been doing very well in this regard), our scrums are not totally dominant, our lineouts are shaky now Vic has gone, our loosies are not being competitive enough on the ground and guys like Alberts and Vermeulen dont have much speed (McCaw is everywhere all the time) perhaps this is also an indication of poor conditioning and fitness on the Boks side. Our scrumhalves at present are utterly lame and provide no danger around the rucks and scrums, our flyhalves cant kick, our centres make virtually no linebreaks and their defense is suspect, our wings (namely Habana) have been the cause of numerous defensive lapses and not taking their chances and finally our fullback is not a danger to his granny in a race. When Dagg or Beale or O Connor get the ball I usually gulp. Never the case with Kirchener OR Lambie. Playing to our strengths is another way of saying were too dumb to learn. Bok rugby is in huge k@k. We also play with no passion and no maturity. When the going gets rough we tend to panic – we dont stand up and consolidate. I hardly ever see the Blacks panic. I´m really sick of it.
Add to that our handling is suspect and hardly any of our players can offload well or fail to try to. Gives you a fairly complete picture of our state at present
8 Oct 2012, 20:19 pm
where have all the meyer supporters gone.probably crawling under a rock somewhere.
haha hailed as the messiah but they got the antichrist instead.
come back mallet and pdv
8 Oct 2012, 20:24 pm
@saru1983-21: I asked exactly the same question on another thread just now.. where the fck are these moronic idiots hiding out now.. they were crying out for a messiah and look what crawled from under a rock.. a goddamn imbecile without a damn clue in the world.
He better fck off and fck off fast because I can’t see this fool turning this disaster around.. not now and not anytime in the near future they are so blinded by outright denial its eating up their own rational thinking and there is zero light at the end of any tunnel appearing out of the doom and gloom anywhere near any horizon anytime soon if ever.
8 Oct 2012, 20:41 pm
This moron is so goddamn lost its getting beyond painful now its getting damn insulated denial driven to self destruction .. watch this dude blow.. he gonna blow and don’t let me be the first to tell you I told you so.
I got no hope for this fckup.. its far worse now than its ever been anytime in the past 10 years since Streauli, White and PdV.. this is as low as any rugby team ever wanna go and that is the pits.. how much lower you going to sink the country’s rugby morale Herr Meyer before you wake out of your self inflicted slumber and REALIZE you know absolutely Fck ALL about how a winning rugby philosophy or strategy or selection process or idea vaguely looks like… Dumb f’ng Imbecile moron idiot supreme.
8 Oct 2012, 22:36 pm
Why all the hate? HM is only doing what’s worked for him in the past. Remember? The game plan that won him 3 currie cups and a SR title. His appointment was based on these credentials…
He was 40 mins away from losing his job at the Bulls (having coached their s12 team to a then record of 11 games played 0 wins), till a 19 yr old fh (hence his obsession with Goosen) rescued his season. Eventually going to win the cc and then going to dominate the domestic scene for the next five years… It took him another five years to win his first SR crown (having converted a 1.95m blindside flanker into a openside flanker, explains why he though Marcell Coetzee would excel in that role).
So patience people, we’ve seen this before, it might just end well…
9 Oct 2012, 00:05 am
HM literally takes YEARS to learn what he ought to have known from Day One in the coaching job pitched one level higher. He’ll flush all proud records and achievements clear down the lavatory while he oh-so-slowly and oh-so-stubbornly-reluctantly learns only the basic new higher-order skills he needed to bring to the park on his very first day.
So, his charges “have faith” in him? For what? It surely can’t be for his provenly-useless Noord Transvaal ten-man “game plan” which was falling apart at the end of the Naas Botha/Buurman van Zyl era a generation ago already.
Rugby is not a matter of faith anyway — it’s a matter of skill. Skill of the players combined with skill of the coach who, at test level, really ought to be the master right from the get-go and not bumble along, serving a long and bitter apprenticeship making a total fool of himself in the exalted company of proper test-coach masters.
A Springbok coach ought to be so good at his well-paid job that he is capable of innovating the entire game itself — of devising brand-new stratagems and counters that would forever elude a lesser rugby brain. And of drilling and implanting these moves into his entire team. U14E coaches tell their wee stumblefoot charges to “go out there, have fun and see what happens, but be sure you tackle properly, boys”. And why not? It’s appropriate at that level. But it’s pretty much the same “method” used by HM. And it’s not appropriate at tier-one test level any more than serving up a Big Mac and fries at a formal state banquet is appropriate. I doubt if HM even grasps this.
It’s only a matter of time before we’ll hear those infamous Straueliesque words: ” Judge me at the World Cup”. That would surely be the white flag of surrender of a man who has been weighed and found wanting.
9 Oct 2012, 00:11 am
Mxhosa – it may end well; whatever that means. What won’t change is this piecemeal approach to Springbok rugby. What the ABs clearly have over everyone else is continuity in selection of coaches, players and an approach to the game.
They’ve found a formula that works and they keep improving it. Even if HM’s Boks win a few, it will be remarkable if we see consistency and a gradual transformation in the whole Bok/SARU mindset. Until that happens, we’ll have more Saturdays like the last one against the ABs than not.
What a pity it is that we’re in a situation where we pretty much know who’s going to win most of the time. It would be great if the ABs could never really say for sure whether they’d beat the Boks.
The problems are glaring. Who does one look to to solve them? We just should not be in this situation at all. There are reasons for it. Until they’re addressed we will not be the best in the world. Plain as that.
9 Oct 2012, 12:57 pm
You have to add Jean De Villiers to that mix, Ryan. He has been garbage at 12 for two years and even worse at 13.
With the imminent return of some injured players, the problem areas remain 5, 10, 13, 15 and some team nous.
9 Oct 2012, 17:48 pm
@seamus-27:
Problems are at 2,3,5,8,9,12, 13,15. I am not convinced Strauss is an adequate back up to Bismark. We don’t have a back up to JDP at tight head. Kruger and Vermullet are still teething in test rugby. Hougie and Pienaar have been awful at 9.Steyn is no 12. JDV is no 12 and he isn’t a 13 either. Niknaks is very consistent at being predictable. An immediate improvement at 2 will be either of Chilli and BDP.
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.