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.

With the imminent return of some injured players, the problem areas remain 5, 10, 13, 15 and some team nous.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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.

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

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

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.

smith has been in argentina with dave rennie for 2 weeks conducting coaching clinics.

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.

Hier kom groot kak….

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…

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…