Collective will won it for WP
29 Oct 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in his Business Day newspaper column, says Western Province lifted the Currie Cup in Durban because they played as a team.
World Cup-winning coach Jake White was often quoted as saying the 15 best players don’t necessarily make for the best XV. Rugby, White argued, was a team game and he viewed the team as a collective.
Western Province, in beating the Sharks in the Currie Cup final in Durban, won it with a team effort. Individuals were inspirational, but it was the collective will of the team that saw them overturn a 12-3 deficit to win the title for the first time in 11 years.
Springbok and Bulls legend Victor Matfield, in summary of Province’s last minute semi-final win against the Lions a week earlier, suggested the 20m rolling maul was massive in the context of the team dynamic and that it could finally see Province turn individual potential into team reward.
There has always been a feeling among players up north that the delights of playing for Western Province (and the Stormers in Super Rugby) give players a celebrity like status in Cape Town and that the individual often stands taller than any team collective.
Brilliant individuals played for Province and the Stormers in the last decade but as a team they always fell short of success in the Currie Cup and Super Rugby. Something always seemed to be missing and Matfield felt the way this Province team worked for the win against the Lions and the way eight forwards worked in unison and refused to be beaten in the last minute of the game was something he had not seen from a Province team.
Just maybe, said Matfield, this is the start of something special.
Just maybe it is because the semi-final was not won on individual brilliance and neither was the final. Sure there inspiring individual performances, especially from lock Eben Etzebeth, but the most inspiring aspect was how the players believed in each other and played with the cohesion of players who believed that to win it they had to believe in the qualities of their team-mates.
Province were underdogs and not expected to win so they also had an advantage in that there wasn’t expectation. It does make a final easier when so few anticipate victory, even if so many hope for the victory.
The Sharks were expected to win. Their match 22 had superior pedigree. They demolished the Bulls in the semi-final and they were playing at home.
Their players also expected to win and if anything mentally they didn’t give the final the necessary respect. They will dispute this but they played like a team who believed the opposition wasn’t good enough to win. I’d argue their focus was wrongly on who they were playing instead of the fact that they were playing in a final.
The intensity and edge needed to compete and win a final wasn’t there from the Sharks. All the edge came from the visitors.
Supporters will ask how is it possible not to pitch for a final? It’s certainly not through a lack of desire. Experienced coaches always warn of the danger of players being too hyped in their preparation and mentally playing the game in the week and being drained come match day. This wasn’t one of those occasions because there wouldn’t have been doubt within the Sharks camp that they could be successful.
The Sharks coaches would have feared complacency, but no matter the caution a player has to believe he could lose if he is to ensure he doesn’t. I just don’t think it ever occurred to the Sharks players they could lose and sport continues to produces finals in which the overwhelming favourites get done in a one-off because the desire to win is not matched by the fear of potentially losing.
The better team on the day won and it’s hard to argue with a result that goes to the team that gets it right. Province got it right in the final. They deserve every ovation for the performance.
I also think Bok coach Heyneke Meyer and his selectors deserve applause for being bold enough to select London-based Saracens hooker Schalk Brits in the Bok squad.
It sends a positive message that if you play well enough you will get selected, regardless of where you are based or how old you are.
Brits has played well enough, especially in the last two seasons. Equally so the Toulouse-based former Bulls prop Gurthro Steenkamp, who is another deserving national call-up.
659 Comments
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29 Oct 2012, 16:13 pm
@Skeppie-447: We seem to be saying the same thing then. I’m sick of all these people blaming the ref because they weren’t winning right from the start. I say all credit to WP for turning it on when it mattered – they deserved the Cup. But all this bitching about favouritism from the ref is so lame, undignified and not even remotely true.
29 Oct 2012, 16:14 pm
@wnbb-448: An area in which Jean Deysel has done exceptionally well, his performance in cleaning out at the breakdown against both Griquas and the Bulls could be described as being “Bakkies like”
29 Oct 2012, 16:20 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-450: Good afternoon Pedigree.My post not directed at
any of those I referred to as friends in my post.You have taken
a fair amount of abuse here.
Very kind regards PS Weather will play its usual part in EOYT.Glad Vermeulen
and Alberts will be there.
29 Oct 2012, 16:22 pm
@Heavens Game-196:
Ha hhaaaaa haaaaaaa
Pielneus
29 Oct 2012, 16:25 pm
@BokkeYouBeauties-449: Thing is Coetzee is not an out and out fetcher he is a hybrid. If anything he is one of the better ball carriers in SA but certainly not as good a fetcher as Fourie, Flo, Brussow etc
29 Oct 2012, 16:26 pm
@ryecatcher-453: Kind regards to you to
If Puff the magic dragon Meyer doesn’t get his selections right, we might be in for a world of pain….. He can select a pretty good team with the players at his disposal.
Let’s see if he does it. The most telling selection will be at 10 against Ireland.
May the forces be with us all if it is Morne Steyn.
29 Oct 2012, 16:26 pm
@Jeraldjay-440: yoh, i’ve always given credit nothing new…
29 Oct 2012, 16:27 pm
@katman-451: Ok…then we agree. If anything I think WP got the rougher end of the stick with the ref so my sharks deserved what they got. Anyway that’s the way it goes, I reckon it’s fair to say the sharks were SA’s best provincial team of the year over both competitions with the stormers/WP being an inch behind. Either way it bodes well for SA rugby, the Bulls will always be a force and three strong sides from SA is essential.
29 Oct 2012, 16:29 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-456: Pedigree don’t put a hex on bok rugby by saying it out loud……
29 Oct 2012, 16:31 pm
@Transformation-457:
Just taking piss Transie.
I was supporting the Kings on Friday and thought they performed better in the wet conditions. Just couldn’t convert early on when it mattered most.
As I’ve said before, Solly has what it takes to turn things around.
29 Oct 2012, 16:35 pm
@katman-451:
What I find amusing here, is that YOU have decided the refs calls didnt favour the Sharks in the first 20, and you’re getting upset with those that disagree with you.
I dont care at all what posters were posting during the game on sat, that doesnt change anything.
Watch the game again and take your foot out of your mouth.
29 Oct 2012, 16:40 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-456: Guppys re Flo’s injury
Is Karma trying to tell Meyer something, perhaps? All these injuries are adding up to a bit of a pig’s ear of a squad. So who’s going to make it into a silk purse? Hypothetical question time: If Morne falls over and hurts his brain cell and if Elton spills some of that gooey, shiny stuff he puts on his hair on the bathroom floor and then slips over in it, and if Sideshow Bob hits himself in the eye with a dreadlock while putting his hairband on and Jaco Taute gets a severe case of the runs… Who do you think will play at 10 and 15, because Lambie’s bum is superglued to the bench.
Karma’s a *****, HM. Best you don’t piss her off any more than you already have
29 Oct 2012, 16:45 pm
@Stawm-461: I watched the entire game on Saturday, uninterrupted, unbiased and un-inebriated. So I’m cool thanks. No amount of replays will change anything.
But just so I’ve got things straight – you want me to agree with a bunch of ref blamers here that Peyper was crooked in the Sharks’ favour (and then mysteriously let WP win anyway) because, I don’t know… you say so?
29 Oct 2012, 16:48 pm
@katman-463: I don’t think he was biased, but i think he definitely got many calls wrong, and they went the way of the Sharks,
That’s my opinion. No conspiracy, no payoff, just a case of moment getting to him.
29 Oct 2012, 16:54 pm
Man, this is boring already. I maintain the ref had a good game apart from a couple of errors on either side. And I maintain that no fan of either team involved can truly offer an objective take given the nature and intensity of the moment.
And that is the end of that.
29 Oct 2012, 16:56 pm
That ref almost gave me a heart attack…..bloody blind bat.
But thank fark justice was done.
Not saying he was crooked…..just saying he was farken incompetent.
29 Oct 2012, 16:59 pm
Jirrre katman you still at it
29 Oct 2012, 17:02 pm
@Dawn-467: Jeesus, tell me about it. Not easy being the lone voice of sanity in this soap opera.
29 Oct 2012, 17:06 pm
Die wind het al klaar vir Peyper weggewaai
29 Oct 2012, 17:08 pm
@Dawn-469: More like the Paid Peyper, if you ask the WP ladies here.
29 Oct 2012, 17:10 pm
@katman-463:
@katman-465:
Is it at all conceivable in Katman World, that you could be wrong?
I dunno, maybe?
I also watched the game twice, and the refs mistakes are blatant and obvious. I’m not saying he was biased in any one direction, but he made more mistakes than should be acceptable in a CC final.
Simple as that.
Had WP lost, they would have had a valid claim against Peyper.
29 Oct 2012, 17:12 pm
@katman-470:
Just give up the fight already. Support WP, you know in your heart you want to.
You love CT and all that goes with it.
29 Oct 2012, 17:12 pm
@katman-463: I must say. Maybe so, maybe so… but interesting that the Sharks had plusminus the same game blown from Lawrence and Peyper. Not thaaaat much in it….. but both times the team who should’ve have won – based on general game on the day, did.
29 Oct 2012, 17:13 pm
@Skeppie-455: Correct Skeppie.That fact is proven on one Aussie stats website which states that Coetzee together with Alberts could not effect one turn over of all the loosies that played in the super final.
29 Oct 2012, 17:16 pm
@Stawm-472: Never! I’d sooner fall pregnant than abandon the Lions.
And no, it is not remotely conceivable that the katman is wrong. If it hasn’t happened till now, it’s not going to happen.
29 Oct 2012, 17:16 pm
Der are favourites and den der are favourites…
29 Oct 2012, 17:16 pm
@Stawm-472: Can’t happen mate.You just can’t become a WP supporter….. you have to be born into in it.
29 Oct 2012, 17:17 pm
Watsup Shooter
29 Oct 2012, 17:19 pm
@katman-475:
Forsooth and forsake, the Lions hath forsaken thee long ago, and languish now amongst the swine in the lower levels of rugby life. There they will find redemption, but not for many moons.
Open your arms and come to me. I am WP.
PS
The Katman is as wrong as a pork pie in a synagogue
29 Oct 2012, 17:20 pm
@katman-475: falling pregnant is no accident, it usually happens after the falling
29 Oct 2012, 17:20 pm
@wnbb-477:
If religions of the world can take on stragglers, then why not WP?
It is done.
29 Oct 2012, 17:21 pm
@shooter-480: one could say, like falling from the S15 ladder
29 Oct 2012, 17:23 pm
@Dawn-478: Could’ve have been much better thanks Dawn. For instance, the Lions and Bulls could’ve been in the final. I feel like I just watched an Aus-Eng game
and they didn’t draw.
29 Oct 2012, 17:23 pm
So you fall off a ladder you fall pregnant
WTF
29 Oct 2012, 17:24 pm
@Dawn-478: But congrats to you Weepees. They done super.
29 Oct 2012, 17:25 pm
So no angst for you then!
29 Oct 2012, 17:26 pm
@Dawn-484: the wait of expectation…
29 Oct 2012, 17:27 pm
Where’s that moaningshark
29 Oct 2012, 17:30 pm
HM for President. cheers for now > >
29 Oct 2012, 17:36 pm
Falling pregnant or watching games against Russia and Spain!!!What a farking choice for old Katters indeed.
29 Oct 2012, 17:52 pm
@katman-475:
Come on over to the Dark Side…
29 Oct 2012, 17:55 pm
@WP-Forever-491:
Kattoh is secretly there already.
He already lives under the shadow of Mordor!
29 Oct 2012, 17:59 pm
Taute will never play centre for WP/Stormers. We have too much talent in there already. Heineken needs to wake up. The world moves faster south of the Jukskei. Lambie is streaks ahead of all # 10′s in SA. Taute at 15. Klaargelag.
29 Oct 2012, 18:03 pm
@Jinx2-493: Like JJ, Taute’s call up to the national squad was premature.
JDJ is better by a country mile at 13
29 Oct 2012, 18:07 pm
@stormersboy-494:
Agreed. HM busted in the spirit. JdJ will be a Bok legend on a par with Gysie.
29 Oct 2012, 18:11 pm
Four finals against the Sharks this millennium and three victories. I really don’t want to quote Shane Warne’s word for Cullinan here,but……..
29 Oct 2012, 18:15 pm
The Bresler’s and the D. Fourie’s probably don’t have the Old Boys’ connections to make the the Boks. Creative, tough as nails, bittereiders with dynamo engines cast aside for Boys’ High syndrome.
29 Oct 2012, 18:16 pm
They should never doubt the commitment of the man to play at any level.
http://www.rugbydump.com/2012/04/2520/juan-de-jonghs-big-hit-breaks-ben-tapuais-collarbone
29 Oct 2012, 18:29 pm
Great win WPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what a weekend. Now looking forward to the EOYT.
hopefully we play to our full potential and win 3 from 3. The first game is going to the toughest IMO. Playing Ireland away has always been tough for the boks. Scotland should be a breeze. We should take England as well. To take 3 from 3 hinges on the first game
29 Oct 2012, 18:37 pm
@Skeppie-455: Marcel Coetzee and Burger are similar type players. They great and cleanouts, support play, fantastic work rate, even win the odd lineout…..but average deck players. We need a good deck player to balance the loosies. Id pick any of those three you mentioned above Coetzee. Once Burger gets back and fully fit there would be no place for Coetzee in the squad….unless Burger performs horribly once he gets back.
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