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, 13:11 pm
Just to put some of you ignorant fools right:
Fatfuckken Spermwhale Vermeulen did nothing for WP in beating the Sharks…
Damagers in Chief were
De Jong (And to think you fools always thought Donkey is a better player )
Etsebeth
Fourie
Catrakilis
Groom
The rest were nothing but average, however playing in a masterful Nienaber holding pattern…
Dumbfucks
29 Oct 2012, 13:12 pm
Also don’t mistake my statement for me saying Arno is *****…..he just seemed to get it easier than some other players who worked very hard and performed very well before they got the nod.
29 Oct 2012, 13:12 pm
@Heavens Game-191: Dont undo that beautifull comment you mother wrote on your behalf on Sunday…..
@gunther-183: You just dont get it??
Deon played well all season and did not receive a call up as no 6 or 2!!
Arno hardly did anything great but received a call up as no 8….. no relation to the position they play.. but in the way Arno walks into a team just like that!! Nothing proved yet!!
I know I might be biased towards him, but I feel about Arno like a feel abour Marcell.. .I jsut do not rate them… like plenty of Bulls do not rate Duane….
29 Oct 2012, 13:13 pm
@gunther-198:
Thelo and Rob must have offered Fourie a truckload to stay at WP. I’m sure the Toulon offer must have been lucrative.
Either Rob got Habs to take a paycut or Thelo cancelled his account at Wembley Roadhouse.
29 Oct 2012, 13:15 pm
@Heavens Game-201: Their is no’i’ in team you guppy fool.It was ‘Province’ great team spirit and collective will as per Keo that got them over the the line against a star-studded and Bok-laden Sharks team.OK.
29 Oct 2012, 13:15 pm
@Heavens Game-201: And what about ratings for that Brilliant LCullen Loosie of yours? Jammer meneer die bus is vol K dwg daniels?
And the must be Bok Bressler? Nowhere!!
Reinach was shown to be no messiah after all…
And that Whitehead chased away like a dog by Wp with Jordaan must be the new bok centres i reckon..
But the best player from the sharks must have been your personal Fav Mvovo….
29 Oct 2012, 13:18 pm
@Provvas-203:
Deep breaths now buddy.
It’s already been expalined by three different people.
I’m not sure how to make this clear to you in your second language
@Jeraldjay-204:
not much chance of either of those happening.
maybe they’ve applied for lotto funding.
would be apt seeing as they win something once every 11 years.
29 Oct 2012, 13:18 pm
@stormersboy-199: I didn’t want to swear again. I’m swearing too much.
29 Oct 2012, 13:18 pm
@Heavens Game-201:
So got some gusto back….let me ask you this……what did Alberts do……..????
Watch the game and you will see spermwhale impregnating your shark runners on defense…..taking them back at the speed of knots….and we all know sharks can’t breathe when they move backwards…..
To add to your list:
Joe made try saving tackle and some huge clearance kicks, those kicks turned out to be our line outs anyway!
Habana made try saving tackle on in form JPP
Gio tackled better than Krusty ever will since Krusty likes to run with opponents showing them the try line!
Our front row got tight head….even if it was after jannie went of and the press wrote of our scrum…..
29 Oct 2012, 13:19 pm
@Heavens Game-201: WTF would you know?
Playing chess in the Rovers Club house doesn’t make you a Rugby player and it (clearly) doesn’t make someone with any rugby knowledge.
29 Oct 2012, 13:19 pm
@Heavens Game-201: O and Vermeulen did nothing cause he got no worries from that Jammer menneer die bus is vol K dwg Daniels to worry him.. at all..
How did you rate Peyper… or should I not start with that?
29 Oct 2012, 13:19 pm
@Provvas-203: Did Marcel Coetzee played in Saturday’s final?Seriously,he got found out as nothing but a flash in the pan very similar to that fake of a rugby player ,Jakkie Potgieter.
29 Oct 2012, 13:21 pm
@Heavens Game-201: Fatfuckenspermwhale Vermeulen REALLY enjoyed drinking beer out of the trophy.
Keegan enjoyed his Framboos Oros. (Or so I hear)
29 Oct 2012, 13:21 pm
@gunther-207: was not sure if you got it already…
29 Oct 2012, 13:22 pm
@stormersboy-210:
HG is more of a battleships guy.
29 Oct 2012, 13:23 pm
On behalf of the knowledgeable I would like to take this opportunity in congratulating the WP u/19′s and then the Province senior team in doing Cape Town proud. U/21 you did us proud as well. To all the coaches, managers, wives, girlfriends, etc, it was all so worthwhile. WeePee jou lekker ding. We all danced the night away – thanks Juan for your patience.
To the Shark supporters – next year is another year and most were gracious in defeat.
29 Oct 2012, 13:23 pm
@wnbb-212: Ja cannot recall him carrying a ball or making a tackle… but I am sure the bloggers from Guppie country will quickly post you his stats on metres gained and tackles made and what have you!!
Cause they keep telling me he was best at that in SR…
29 Oct 2012, 13:23 pm
Ai “manne”, meet julle alweer voele!!
29 Oct 2012, 13:23 pm
@gunther-207:
I’m sure 3 different people has called you a poephol….so it must be true then!
29 Oct 2012, 13:25 pm
@gunther-215: Hahahaha
29 Oct 2012, 13:26 pm
@Nikita-216: I hope you kicked it Gangnam style. All throughout the night
29 Oct 2012, 13:27 pm
Oh,and another thing:These sharkievarkies have been going on all season about bmt as part of their DNA,but when it came to the biggest moment of the final on Saturday,Ludick bailed out and didn’t backed himself to beat the last man.I,HOWEVER,do remember JdJ ,unlike Ludick,floating past the Sharks last man and not looking for a way out to pass the ball.Big difference.Delusional should be part of guppy DNA.
29 Oct 2012, 13:28 pm
Kyle Cooper is my favourite Sharks player.
He probably wasn’t allowed in the dressing room after the game.
29 Oct 2012, 13:28 pm
@Hoops-219: ….and he loves it…..poephol i mean.
29 Oct 2012, 13:31 pm
Speaking of fakefucks how is myh little poodle fondler today?
did you stab anyone this weekend or did you just take it easy on your knees?
@Hoops-219:
Are you sure you two aren’t related?
You both can like to be finking the same fing at the same time?
29 Oct 2012, 13:32 pm
HG just for you…….
BOOOM!!!
We are black we are white
we were f@cking a$$ raped last night…
29 Oct 2012, 13:34 pm
The following words will not be tolerated:
abuse, adulteration, besmearing, besmirching, blight, corruption, decomposition, defilement, desecration, deterioration, dirtying, fouling, foulness, greenhouse effect, impairment, impurity, infection, misuse, polluting, profanation, rottenness, soiling, spoliation, taint, tainting, uncleanness, vitiation, pumafication, shackladies, sharklevertingdeserting.
Yours truly
29 Oct 2012, 13:34 pm
@Provvas-226:
29 Oct 2012, 13:35 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-213: On the WP facebook page they got a pic of JdV(donkey for heavens game) and Deon Fourie filling the cup with some lovely liquid.HG must be pissed-off that the weather is so kuk in France at this moment.
29 Oct 2012, 13:35 pm
Or if you will HG:
we are white we are black..
we sure as hell are ****!!
29 Oct 2012, 13:35 pm
To ALL sharks supporters
Go have a cold one tonight knowing that not everything is about rugby.
Next year we will have countless encounters that will fire us up but in the end it is just a game.
These two teams will wrestle it out for some years to come and some of those we will lose.
You had a good year and was unfortunate you left it so late in S15 and had to travel to the moon and back!
29 Oct 2012, 13:36 pm
@Provvas-230: cr@p
29 Oct 2012, 13:37 pm
Poor HG.
He brings it on himself.
Talks the big game weeks and i mean weeks before the match….. tell how its going to play out then pop….no fukn boom at all.
Then has the nerve to give the supporters of the winning team more rubbish of what was said 2 years ago….lol.
29 Oct 2012, 13:37 pm
WE ARE BLACK
WE ARE WHITE
WE ARE FARKIN *****
BOOOOOOOM
29 Oct 2012, 13:38 pm
@Nikita-227: Almost sounds like you are describing the sharks game there girl..
29 Oct 2012, 13:38 pm
@Provvas-206: One poor battle doth not a poor warrior make…
Daniel has been a farken warrior all season… A player of players… He had a poor final, (probably one of 2 bad games the entire season – the other against the Tahs) but he is no bad player… at all.
You fools must wind your farken necks in…
29 Oct 2012, 13:39 pm
@wnbb-234: Hahaha
BOOOM!!!
29 Oct 2012, 13:39 pm
HG and Keo have the same effect on the teams they back.
A bookies nightmare.
29 Oct 2012, 13:40 pm
@Heavens Game-236:
Boom – smoked in celebrations.
29 Oct 2012, 13:40 pm
HG, wrong again, for the umpteenth time this year alone.
What a rugby ‘kenner’
29 Oct 2012, 13:40 pm
@Heavens Game-236: He is not a bad player??Try KUK.
29 Oct 2012, 13:40 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-213: Oh… So all of a sudden the Currie Cup counts to you and other twats… After continual WePee agreement, with you as cheerleader, with 10 or so Keo articles telling everyone how insignificant the CC is now…
Typical…
29 Oct 2012, 13:41 pm
Give us a HOOHA HG, you absolute moron!
(and he keeps coming back)
29 Oct 2012, 13:41 pm
@gunther-238:
lol
29 Oct 2012, 13:42 pm
@Heavens Game-236: Careful with the folls word after all your booms and fizzes and pops…
Honestly, Like Schalla, one bad tackle does not make him a bad player! I still like Daniels above Spies and Arno Botha that is for sure…
29 Oct 2012, 13:43 pm
@stormersboy-210: How’s my little bitchy pseudo hooker…?
Oh “Captain”, my “Captain”…
A Keo Captain of industry deigns to post directly ….
29 Oct 2012, 13:43 pm
Ahhh a lot of typically immodest WPians on here today shouting to the rafters…..oh well can’t really blame you. Your side were excellent on the weekend and deserved the win, congrats and enjoy!
29 Oct 2012, 13:43 pm
@Provvas-245: fools…
29 Oct 2012, 13:44 pm
@Heavens Game-236:
They must wind their neck in? Do you listen to yourself?
Go to News24, that’s where trolls like you thrive.
29 Oct 2012, 13:45 pm
First Comment after the win, so big Congrats to Alistair and WP Players. Province were definitely by some measure better conditioned than the Sharks and it showed in the closing stanza of the 1st and 2nd halfs. i think Plum also c0cked up by introducing the “Bok stars” into the starting line up. The players that played currie cup and gave the Sharks their overwhelming points lead at the top of the log deserved to play in their final. But hindsight is a wonderful thing i guess. I still think Players like Alberts and Beast and Jannie have played way too much rugby, neither one of them have produced an outstanding game in a long while.
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