Nothing soft about Soweto slaughter
8 Oct 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in Business Day newspaper, writes for anyone to claim a few soft moments was the difference for the Boks is to claim insanity.
The only thing that can save the Springboks now, said a mate of mine, is another 20 years of sporting isolation. Having just watched the match tape for a second time, for professional and not sadistic reasons, my mate may just have a point.
Damn, the Boks took a beating.
This was the most brutal of reality checks and to deny the obvious is to ask for more pain.
The Boks were second best – and by some distance. They have been for some time and there should be no comfort in being the best of those competing for numbers two to five.
The referee did not favour the All Blacks. The referee did not cheat the Boks. The All Blacks did not have an extra man on the field. Statistically all the advantage was South Africa’s, before the start and in the first quarter of the match.
The Boks were at home, playing in front of 85 000 at altitude, and against an opponent who had already claimed the tournament championship and had reached Johannesburg from New Zealand via Buenos Aires.
The assumption – at least mine – was the greater hunger for success had to be that of the Boks. Similarly, when judging the enthusiasm of the two teams.
I wrote before the match that one team wanted to win and the other had to win. I got it wrong in writing the team who had to were the South Africans.
Our boys wanted to win, but were never good enough. Richie McCaw’s men had to win to make another telling statement to those who refuse to acknowledge their achievements.
Clearly, there isn’t such a thing as a meaningless Test for these All Blacks. They set their own standards and they were done no favours by the referee who awarded the All Blacks their first penalty in the 57th minute, by which time they had already scored four tries.
I’ve seen some very talented All Black teams stumble in South Africa because of a high risk and all out attack approach. I’ve also seem some very good New Zealand teams run out of puff as altitude proved as decisive as any home team attitude.
Not in Soweto.
The All Blacks were intelligent in their approach, calculated in when to play for field position and when to trust their defensive patterns and they were ruthless on attack.
These guys played with no risk in the first 20 minutes, preferring to kick the ball back to the Boks and ask them to think. They hardly played any rugby, with the Boks making two tackles and forcing the New Zealanders to make 28.
Yet on 30 minutes the Boks trailed 12-10 and all theory about home ground advantage was secondary to the reality of an on-field beating.
I’ve seen All Black teams batter the Boks in the professional era. I’ve never seen one that appeared so easy and so emphatic as in the last 40 minutes in Soweto.
To claim a few soft moments was the difference is to claim insanity.
I don’t put much store in what coaches and players say after the game. It really is only when they see a recording of the 80 minutes that you get some sense out of them, even though Bok coach Heyneke Meyer will know that no scoreboard could do justice to the one-sided beating in Soweto.
For those of who you may challenge my view go and watch the tape again. Those last 50 minutes especially were torture and the final 10 minutes looked like the winding down of a training session.
There can be no masking the situation and there is also no gain from playing the blame game. Whether it was Johan Goosen, Elton Jantjies or Patrick Lambie at flyhalf would not have made a difference. It would not have made a difference whether the early kicks went over or not. The All Blacks would have come back just those few minutes earlier.
Each week I hear a coach, a captain and a player say a few moments cost them. If they acknowledge the problem is more complex then those few moments will hopefully decrease considerably in the next 12 months.
Questions rightfully have been asked of player performance this season. Meyer has said the season already has answered which players selected were good enough and which were not, but he needs to ask the same questions of his support staff.
How good are they? How good are the defensive structures because players don’t seem to trust each other or trust the system? What is going on with the kickers?
Hard questions have to be asked from within.
There is no need to panic because of the defeat, but I’d start to panic as a supporter if there is denial about the nature of the defeat.
288 Comments
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8 Oct 2012, 11:00 am
insanity,just about right.
8 Oct 2012, 11:01 am
They were quite simply pumped by one of the best All Black teams in the pro-game’s history.
If I can choose one word to sum it up, it would be composure – one team had it, the other couldn’t spell it.
8 Oct 2012, 11:01 am
Soft dragons!
8 Oct 2012, 11:01 am
A little melodramatic….almost as if keo blames the coach for him getting his prediction wrong.
Biggest worry was that we looked mentally soft after the opening 30 minutes. Possibly an insight why a coach sometimes selects players who arent always the prefferred form and technically adept players. He wants streetfighters sometimes.
Defensively 12 and 13 was a problem. But then, it is only the 2nd game together as a combo up against a kiwi combo with yearws playing together. Chuck in a new flyhalf and a relatively new winger and you have a more logical view.
8 Oct 2012, 11:03 am
Herr Meyer don’t have a clue.I don’t see him surving the chop.
8 Oct 2012, 11:04 am
@PissAnt-2: You think so? Richie hasn’t been playing his normal best imho.
8 Oct 2012, 11:07 am
The All Blacks probably played to about 60 percent of their potential.Scary stuff!!
8 Oct 2012, 11:07 am
I wonder if we have a head coach with the will to make decisions outside his comfort zone. If we keep this team and alter a little here and there we will b fine.
8 Oct 2012, 11:08 am
@wnbb-5: We’ll take the northern hemisphere teams. The current team is certainly not as bad as the Strauli era. ABs had a weaker side early in Jake’s tenure.
8 Oct 2012, 11:08 am
Indeed, there doesn’t ever seem to be any reflection of the management’s inexperience at this level by Meyer. Can’t see him ever admitting that without swallowing his tongue.
For me, the All Blacks exploited the inexperience of Taute at outside centre ruthlessly.
Its widely understood to be one of the hardest positions defensively, you can’t pick a fullback there, not against outside backs of NZ’s ilk!
De Jongh was the far better pick, for this match particularly.
8 Oct 2012, 11:09 am
looks to me like nick mallet is twisting the knife into meyer at every opportunity.
the oke is outspoken for sure.
is he punting for the bok job?
that said, the guy makes sense and i would be happy with him being given a shot at some stage but he must swear not to go anywhere near that poisonous solomons character.
8 Oct 2012, 11:10 am
@skunk-8: skunk werent you the guy involved in kwantu rugby club?
8 Oct 2012, 11:12 am
5.personally, i wish we would scrap the year end tour every couple years so there could be a decent 3-4 week bok tactical squad. We need an upgrade on player and playing pylosophy. Playing more positively is more than a team talk it is an entire mental approach that needs addressing some of our players have it but most do not. This could be a few weeks spent addressing everything wrong with our game on a regular basis until we have come up to speed. It could also be a period to get in task specific coaching or whatever is required to address current shortcomings.
Basically a period to take stock and address.
Personally, confidence is something ourmplayers are always short of.
8 Oct 2012, 11:14 am
Dumb fcking coach that spells it out
Common Keohane own up.. you and all your bullbevok messiah seekers you picked the WRONG fckup of a brain dead coach.. that’s what has happened here.. who gonna own up and who is going to sink their brainless head deeper in the sand.. Streauli era re awakened here we go again.. fokmavoort to nowhere..
Get Mallet or an Aussie in because this brain dead deficient imbecile is not leading the country’s rugby heritage ANYWHERE.. any time soon if ever.
8 Oct 2012, 11:15 am
@Lions_Soutie-9: The heavy fields of the north might be Meyer’s undoing.A whitewash for the north could be on the cards.
8 Oct 2012, 11:16 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-13: I agree with you 100%. The players are so “stuffed” at the end of the season – they hardly have any time off. They should perhaps alternate an Emerging Boks’ squad one year and a Boks’ team the next. The guys need to recharge mentally and physically
8 Oct 2012, 11:16 am
11 mallet is a tosser.
Where was his defence when we got nilled in nz 12 years ago.
And ashwin even less…a jake white love child with plenty to say now but where was he when we were getting blasted in the strauli and jake era
8 Oct 2012, 11:17 am
watching the style of rugby the lions, sharks and cheetahs play, its a joke that south african backs supposedly dont have the skills.
meyer said “you will never beat nz playing them at their own game” before the flippen game so guess what? dumbfluck smash bash rugby is the way forward.
but when it goes wide and carthorses like duanne, bekker, flo and willem and JdV get left for dust, you are up shitcreek without a paddle boyos.
8 Oct 2012, 11:18 am
Maybe im not that clued up,but what serious credentials do Ricardo Loubsher have?he was an average player who is now our backline coach.
8 Oct 2012, 11:18 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-17: they are being harsh i agree but maybe its the medicine we need bud because that bok display was woeful.
8 Oct 2012, 11:20 am
15…possibly but not logically as the only time we genuinely can unstuck was aginst the kiwis moving the ball very quickly on a fast track.
Injuries and player fatigue and lack of test depth to call on is a greater concern.
8 Oct 2012, 11:21 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-13: Interesting.Comments like yours where decidely absent during the PdV years.In fact the talk of the town was that PdV would be a disgrace if he has a poor end of year tour.No talk of player management.As i said,very interesting post.
8 Oct 2012, 11:22 am
@rangerman-20: so how did all your wishful thinking pan out.. huh rangerprude.. you dreamed the wrong wishful dream this weekend.. where are all your hyped up infatuated expectations gone to NOW.. dumbass… you and these bullbevok morons like this Brigadier de Doos are same kind.. fck’d in the head till you awaken out your brain dead slumber.
8 Oct 2012, 11:25 am
cut this brain dead coach NOW.. any further downhill trajectory is only going to deepen the wounds.. Now all the messiah seekers are calling for a halt to Eoyt’s so they can try salvage some type of credibility from this brain dead impostors tenure.. 44 % success and heading DOWNHILL.. with not much scope for survival.. I reckon few more losses and this moron chucks it up and retreats back into the laager he tried emerging out of.
8 Oct 2012, 11:26 am
@fitz1ella-23: you seem quite angry today snoeky?
having a tough day cupcake?
8 Oct 2012, 11:27 am
@fitz1ella-23: My goodness but you are a ray of sunshine today……..
8 Oct 2012, 11:27 am
@wnbb-7:
“The All Blacks probably played to about 60 percent of their potential.Scary stuff!!………………..”
No wnbb, …………………………………………………………………that was our best showing for some considerable time.
2nd Test against Ireland, earlier this year AB’s were extremely good. But no offence to the Irish, they are not the Boks.
So lets make that 90% shall we.
8 Oct 2012, 11:29 am
@fitz1ella-24: Aag fok man bly stil. Jy is soos n stoepkakkertjie wat staan en kef vir die melkman.
8 Oct 2012, 11:29 am
Keo for the one thousdand time Soccer City is not in Soweto – show me on a map that it is in Soweto, bloody idiot!
8 Oct 2012, 11:29 am
@cane-27: You guys were brilliant on Saturday. Well done man.
8 Oct 2012, 11:29 am
My biggest problem has been selecting the wrong players and using the wrong tactics. Yes, the boks are in shambles after the PDV era and no thanks to SARU. However what really bugs the **** out of me is that we had 3 teams in the play-offs, 2 in the Semis and one in the final, and yet we can’t product a winning test team.
For me its boils down to the coaching and the players selected. The bulk of the players should have come from the Sharks and Stormers and the Springboks should have borrowed staff from these unions and adopted their playing patterns.
We need some hard players, not some kids at this stage.
8 Oct 2012, 11:30 am
@cane-27: Well done on the weekend bud.
You can be very proud of your team that, IMO, will continue to improve and shatter even more records.
8 Oct 2012, 11:31 am
18.
Come on ranger, the Cc?
Seriously
Most of the cc superheroes get drilled in superrugby never mind test rugby.
As if me playing well at touchrugby on the beach is evidence that i should be pro?
Lets leave the emotion out of it, we got beaten by what statisitically is the greatest and most test match experienced kiwi side of all time fielding 6 u21,s and without our and the worlds best hooker as well as our best 14 and possibly the worldsbest. Hell, our 20 year old flyhalf replacemnt with only 100minutes ofntest rugby under his belt was a 22 year old with 80 pdd minutes under his belt.
This is dissappointing but not a train smash.
My bigger concern is if our currently limited player resources get chucked back into cc this weekend making it an even larger uphill battle endofyear.
8 Oct 2012, 11:32 am
@rangerman-25: @KWAGGA ROBERTSE-26: watching you messiah seekers twisting and turning.. writhing in the pain of abject realization that your last white hope arsehole coach is the absolute impostor none of you were ever old enough or awake enough to recognize.. Now catch a goddamn wake up and realize this moron is a dunce.. supreme.. or has it not sunken in YET.. imbef’ngciles.. You and Keohane were hoping against hope that we were going to turn the corner from the last little spate of downward trajectory under Smit and FdP and PdV.. Now where the fck are we heading.. down the goddamn drain.. clutching at white messiah straws in tandem..
Morons united.. that is SA rugby fraternity.. not a goddamn clue in the world anywhere amongst any of them.. none at all.
8 Oct 2012, 11:33 am
Ranger.
Yeah i was. No longer in durban so i have been out of touch…
8 Oct 2012, 11:34 am
@cane-27: Don’t give Bok supporters false hope Caner!Very devious of you.
8 Oct 2012, 11:34 am
Fcking mobile posting, i am going to get my laptop!
8 Oct 2012, 11:37 am
Never thought I’d ever say this,but right now Heyneke is making PDV look like a great coach.Cannot remember a more rudderless display under his tenure
8 Oct 2012, 11:37 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-33: i wasnt talking about the cc players being elevated for the boks bud.
i was talking about the style of play and the execution thereof.
we underestimate our backs and choose to play a style that doesnt allow them the chance to acctually play to their potential imo.
@fitz1ella-34: you still seem a little angry snoeky.
have a lie down.
nobody is calling for the coach’s head but you
8 Oct 2012, 11:38 am
@cane-27: Well done to your lot, caner. That was some performance.
8 Oct 2012, 11:39 am
@skunk-35: ok cool man, was a long time ago we chatted.
was really sad to hear the club was basically disbanded?
imo they were pushed too soon due to politics and i am gutted for them as we really enjoyed playing them both home and in mashu.
8 Oct 2012, 11:39 am
@Diliza-38: Agree.
But Tacitus, Brigadier, Gunther and Heyneke Meyer will tell you that PDV worked with better quality players.
8 Oct 2012, 11:42 am
@rangerman-11: how emotional were those okes in the studio after the game?
ashwin was firing on all cylinders
8 Oct 2012, 11:42 am
Where are those days when we beat the All Blacks four times in a row?Sadly,we will never see those days again,especially with a thick Tshwane Bull at the helm of the Boks.
8 Oct 2012, 11:43 am
ABs were like the Aussie cricket team of the early 2000s – too good for everyone. Boks played well but were not good enough against this quality team. Instead of dwelling we should think about what we ate going to do to improve
8 Oct 2012, 11:44 am
@fitz1ella-34: You on some kind of misguided self-congratulatory trip here, old poepol? As if the Boks losing is a feather in your cap?
You’ve won nothing here. Whether the Boks win or lose, you’re still the same fcked in the head phony you’ve always been.
Catch a wake up. Seriously, you’re a massive embarrassment.
8 Oct 2012, 11:45 am
Keo “writes for anyone to claim a few soft moments was the difference for the Boks is to claim insanity.”
Just last week you were praising Heineken
8 Oct 2012, 11:46 am
@wnbb-44: Oh yeah,those were the days we had wc winners playing the game…now we only have Dean Greyling,Potgieter,Flip etc etc.
8 Oct 2012, 11:47 am
@Train-45: eating is not going to help.
8 Oct 2012, 11:49 am
@Diliza-38:
I can, 19-0 in CT.
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