Meyer laments obstacle to dominance
31 Oct 2012
Heyneke Meyer has reiterated his call for a central contracting system as a means of making the Springboks the strongest force in the game.
The success of Meyer’s first season in charge has been compromised by a string of first-choice players going down injured, while there have also been a host of withdrawals of impact and fringe players. He will undertake the year-end tour without the services of Bismarck du Plessis, Bryan Habana, Frans Steyn and Andries Bekker, who are widely considered to be among the best in their positions in the game. They are all sidelined because of what Meyer has attributed to the destructive and cumulative effect of the longest season in their careers.
Meyer has voiced serious concerns about the well-being of the elite players in the recent past and has again suggested that something needs to change or risk their careers being cut by many years, in the process undermining any potential for the Springboks to become the world’s pre-eminent side.
‘My strength has always been to change flawed systems which I hope I can still do while in charge. New Zealand get it right from a player management point of view. We have to look at that as a way forward otherwise we will never be the top team in the world,’ Meyer told keo.co.za. ‘Our top players simply cannot play Currie Cup, Super Rugby and Test matches. Also their social and family life suffers because they are never at home. We are going to lose more players to overseas teams if this doesn’t change. If we want to win consistently, not just one or two here and there, we have to look at the systems going forward.
‘We’re not in an ideal situation and I’m worried about all the injuries, particularly since there are some world-class players unavailable,’ he continued. ‘This tour was already a tough one and with the injuries it will be tougher. It is frustrating because I wanted to try new things and build on what we’ve done so far. But when you have new players coming into the group you have to go back to basics. If you consider that Fourie du Preez and Jaque Fourie weren’t available, and Frans Steyn and Bryan Habana were injured recently, if I had all those players fit suddenly the backline is helluva experienced. Hopefully one day I can pick that backline.’
Team doctor Craig Roberts, however, eased some fears around the availability of players in the squad who are carrying knocks. Francois Louw’s neck injury has responded well to treatment and he is expected to play for Bath on Sunday. Adriaan Strauss will participate fully in training this week after a knee injury, while captain Jean de Villiers (hamstring) has already started running and will be available for selection for the Ireland Test.
Meyer confirmed that he had settled on the 32nd player to tour but could not say who because details were still being discussed with his club. Locks Bakkies Botha (Toulon) and Marco Wentzel (London Wasps) are on standby. Meyer extolled Wentzel’s lineout value (he has been the Premiership’s most successful lineout receiver), while adding that he still held Botha in high regard. ‘I’d love to have Bakkies involved because I think he has two or three years left in him at Test level,’ he said. ‘But he isn’t going to start ahead of Eben and he isn’t a bench player.’
By Ryan Vrede, in Cape Town
190 Comments
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1 Nov 2012, 11:16 am
@Te Rangatira-146:
Dude, really what do you expect?
Whatever is a prize idiot and you nhave Bakkies there thanking him and saying all Bakkies elbows and high shot and spear tackles were due to camera angles. He was one sentence from blaming kiwis.
1 Nov 2012, 11:21 am
@Hurricane-151: that youtube clip of botha is sp damning..
notice all the little blokes he “stood up to”
thug, plain and simple, and to think he will go down as a bok legend really is indicative of the filthiest rugby playing nation on earth…outstripping the french is no mean feat by the way..
bakkies blames camera angles? what a knobkerrie..
1 Nov 2012, 11:27 am
@Robzim-145: WTF? Deysel got up and continued playing as if nothing happened…
T’was a dramatic dive to milk a card/penalty… Nothing more.
1 Nov 2012, 11:27 am
@Hurricane-151:
You know Hurri, we are all protective of our teams honour and reputation and an eye for an eye is all good when its man on man, who goes down first, but trying to defend cowardly punches from behind which caused serious injury and ended a players career is crapp.
1 Nov 2012, 11:32 am
@Heavens Game-153: No, I’m afraid he was genuinely sat down by the Canuk. The only drama there was real life drama.
1 Nov 2012, 11:35 am
@Heavens Game-153: K – A – K.
Deysel heard his ancestors talking to him for a few seconds there…..
1 Nov 2012, 11:44 am
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-156:
1 Nov 2012, 11:45 am
@katman-155: Maybe he was genuinely sat down by the Canuck – definitely from a place with a proud icehockey heritage of argie bargie, making him a man apart from the rest the Proud Capie Locals or wannabes in the rest of his team – but he also genuinely stood up afterward…brush himself off… no harm done…
And then carry on regardless…
Naa, WP local yokels definitely overrate their own hardness…
1 Nov 2012, 11:47 am
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-156: What do you know about ancestors, whitey mlungu wifey? uma uyakuluma insibi, qaphela… mhlawumbe uzonuka futhi…
1 Nov 2012, 11:48 am
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-156:
i wonder what they were saying?
‘i see dead mielies’… ‘kill all your cattle’…
‘m.onkey is five, devil is six’….
1 Nov 2012, 11:48 am
@Heavens Game-159: I know nothing. But ask Deysel, he was the one chatting to them for about 50 seconds.
1 Nov 2012, 11:50 am
@Heavens Game-159: substitute insibi for uthuvi and then thats about right…
1 Nov 2012, 11:51 am
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-161: Nope he wasn’t… Just a count out to yellow card… And it did work, innit?
1 Nov 2012, 11:52 am
“Heyneke Meyer has reiterated his call for a central contracting system as a means of making the Springboks the strongest force in the game”
The more this clown speaks the more of his cognitive acumen is revealed:
To whom did he dish out Springbok contracts?
Where are many of these contracted players today?
Who then, will get contracts in the future?
And I would like to qoute his own wordings: Once a Blue Bull, always a Blue Bull.
Thank you for your views HM, BUT no thank you.
1 Nov 2012, 11:55 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-160: If there were ancestors and they were saying stuff is probably would have been along the lines of – Hey Jean why hasn’t this team also got Pink jerseys… The fkker punches like he could be in Pink …
1 Nov 2012, 11:55 am
@Heavens Game-158: Ja, he’s an old school deysel engine. Hard to break.
1 Nov 2012, 11:56 am
@Heavens Game-163: Did it matter in the grander scheme of Currie Cup things?
1 Nov 2012, 11:59 am
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-167: Yes, because at the time it just seemed too easy… and it was… until the day of the final when the black swan happened…
1 Nov 2012, 12:00 pm
@katman-166: hehe
1 Nov 2012, 12:03 pm
In my opinion a lot of the current headaches are down to selection policies.
Of the currently available options he should be looking at certain aspects of players and play them according to their best position. Marco Wentzel brought in for 5 is an inspired choice I think and he may well become the Boks premier 5 option from what ive seen of him. he has a great running game and offloads well whilst doing all the lock basics very well. He is regarded as one of the best jumpers in the Premiereship. For one he has really got it right.
But these need to be looked at.
2. Why inlcude Chilliboy when Deon Fourie has outperformed him and has leadership abilities?
6. Marcell Coetzee´s repeated inclusion – from the outset I thought of him as someone who flies about and does the basics well but is largely ineffectual in terms of breaking the gainline in Alberts manner or stealing ball on the ground. He should be dropped from future Bok teams. Francois Louw, Siya Kolisi, Burger and Brussouw should all be seen as preferabble options though almost all are injured at present.
8. His continual inclusion of Pierre Spies before injury was worrying when we had players such as Ashley Johnson, Josh Strauss and Ryan Kankowski available. 8 is a problem position for us at present and I really think he should narrow down options to Vermeulen, Kankowski and Johnson
9. Francois Houghaard has never been a good 9 – ive said as much for years – now finally it seems that is recognized. Ruaan is good when he´s on form but he is hesistant, spend s alot of time looking up instead of getting on with it and can really mess up when he´s rattled. Not blooding players like Vermaak or some of the up and coming 9´s is going to be problematic as currently we do not have a dominant scrummie.
10. The continual drawn out circus of dragging Morne Steyn in when he is clearly still out of sorts is plain wrong. leave him to improve in next years Super Rugby or forever hit the road. Not looking at Lambie as a viable option at 10 till now has been shortsighted in the extreme.
12. Playing De Villiers at 12 is a major issue for me because he tends to kill all ball in that position – he seems to fare better at 13 but making him captain means that he has now become the new John Smit. When the reality is we have far better centres who should be playing and breaking open space for the wings. Currently the up and coming Jan Serfontein is a great prospect, F Steyn is our premier 12 and even Juan de Jongh makes a good option at 12.
13. Playing a tired de Villiers at 13 or bringing in taute on 13 when he has some brilliant talent available for the position really irks me. our premier option when he returns is obviously Jacques Fourie but Juan de Jongh, Paul Jordaan or even Lionel Mapoe make good options but I still think that 13 is the best position for Francois Houghaard – he is devastating in that position – instead he is now wasted on wing where he blows hot and cold. He has a great step and is a good defender making him a great fit for 13 but he isnt even considered for that position. In all the years ive watched him play he fared best at 13 for the Bulls.
15. Continual inclusion of the very tired and broing Zane Kirchener to me is problematic. Zane has performed well when needing to finish off tries but on the counter attack he is utterly lame – when one has the likes of Israel Dagg and Kurtley beale who are both incredibly dangerous on counter attack one soon realises that kicking on Zane is a very safe option by comparison. Hopefully Taute will be brought into this role fulltime and possibly we can blood another player as we are extremely short on supply of good 15´s at present. Coetzee from the Lions may be another option and always thought that Riaan Viljoen makes a decent 15. Better than Zane at any rate.
Some simple positional changes and advice but putting together a team from the current availables and all of a sudden it looks a lot more dangerous:
1 Beast
2 Adriaan Strauss/ Deon Fourie
3 Jannie dup
4 Etzebeth
5 Wentzel
6 Francois Louw
7 Willem Alberts
8 Vermeulen
9 Jano Vermaak
10 Lambie
11 Raymond Rhule/ Mvovo
12 Juan de Jongh
13 Francois Houghaard
14 JP Pietersen
15 Jaco Taute
1 Nov 2012, 12:07 pm
@Heavens Game-165:
ja, deysel is an yster. i dont know who’s tougher, him or kanko considering kanko got up immediately after that head high stiff arm elbow tackle to his throat/larynx/esophagus by that KIW prop.
1 Nov 2012, 12:28 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-171: Ja… Sharkies… They not built for wearing Pink Jerseys…
1 Nov 2012, 12:56 pm
KIW = KIWI
1 Nov 2012, 13:11 pm
Seems to me that HM could make a good director of rugby!! He is not a very good Bok coach but maybe manager come director, he seems to have a good head for that
1 Nov 2012, 13:15 pm
Bakkies, jean dysel is not an yster boet, one little tap by the Canadian and he landed on his ar se looking all confused. I expected more from him, big drop in my estimation….
1 Nov 2012, 13:22 pm
Deysel??Hmmmm.Are we talking about the same oke that got farking Jebbed and rolled around like Ronaldo??
1 Nov 2012, 13:26 pm
@PissAnt-143: Yes, then the inverse for Bismarck is through, the margin of the difference blows your theory that NZ players play less SR & Test rugby than SA players.
1 Nov 2012, 13:27 pm
There is one thing that was not mentioned here, Goosen started the last test injured. HM played him even though he was injured. This coach does everything he tell others not to do.
1 Nov 2012, 13:52 pm
@XhosaKid-177:
No not really.
Because in that period Smit missed 10 tests through injury, 6 in 2008 after the Thorne tackle which took out his groin and 4 on the Grand Slam tour in 2010 to Europe because he had to go for an operation. Smit was only ever rested in extraordinary circumstances since 2004. His absence in any other test match was through injury.
Even that being the case, Smit still played more than Keven at test level.
So that is two players now that we can hold up in this debate, Morne and John vs. Dan and Keven.
1 Nov 2012, 14:04 pm
this whole debate is nothing new.
heyneke meyer spends his interviews just looking for excuses instead of getting on with the job he was chosen for,
and to be quiet honest with you if i had his players we would not lose a game because there is very little you can coach a talented player and all you need is
to forget about game plans etc and let the players play out their talents and the rest will take care of itself.
and i would chose form players and not go about making excuses of why i did not chose lambie over steyn and that the all blacks kicked more than us.
this is a ridiculous statement considering that they were not in the identical positions when they kicked.
to be quite blunt the man in charge is not the guy to be there.
1 Nov 2012, 15:06 pm
@whatever-175:
ja, but the measure was for how easy it was for him to get up again from that punch.
@PissAnt-179:
very interesting, thanks.
i mean no offence but XhosaKid mentioned he was in stats/finance/numbers or something related so am surprised by how he’s come up wrong on this (going by your numbers and analysis of course).
1 Nov 2012, 15:18 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-181:
Not so much right or wrong here.
I am quite interested by the outcome of this as much as anyone. I am off the belief SA players play more rugby than their NZ elite counterparts and I am open to any statistics that show otherwise – so far, two players looked at suggests we do.
1 Nov 2012, 16:25 pm
@norman-180: Dood, totally agree. HM needs to be careful of distractions from coaching the current players effectively at the moment. These guys are really good and most will compete well with the No 1 choices who are injured. Just keep quiet and think how you are going to blow away the NH teams…cause he really needs to if he is gonna get respect end this year.
Somebody else needs to fight the “central player contacting system” battle in the media. He should perhaps get the SA Players Association to put their foot down on the amount of rugby the guys have to play. They are good at ensuring contracts are done fairly so why not let them carry the agenda for reducing national players amount of rugby games? If the players and their representatives and associations are not singing the same tune as HM then why should SARU? Collective pressure from all stakeholders will be much more effective than an under pressure sub 50% winning rate coach.
1 Nov 2012, 22:41 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-181: @<a
Analysis?
It was comparing two players.
Do you know how stupid it sounds?
1 Nov 2012, 22:43 pm
@PissAnt-182:
lol you compared two playerd and that suggests what?
I tell you what it suggest, one of those players played more than the other.
No way in hell can you say NZ players play less rugby than SA players.
And now Bakkies thinks this is legit lol what a joke
2 Nov 2012, 07:24 am
@Hurricane-185:
hurri, you need to let go of the irritated anger, boet.
2 Nov 2012, 07:27 am
@Hurricane-184:
you are setting yourself up for ‘egg on the face’ here, buddy.
if pissant took the time to do the math and stats on this it will probably point to this.
2 Nov 2012, 10:16 am
Pleeez ! Deysel was coldcocked or whatever you call it. Anyone receiving a hard punch to the head/face area would go down if they were not expecting it.
The fact that he got up after and carried on playing shows what a toughie he is. That was no biachslap he received.
3 Nov 2012, 00:10 am
@188, he was tussling with Sinclair, so he should have been expecting it. He was looking the guy in the eye and got smacked. Would not want this wus on my tag team
3 Nov 2012, 07:02 am
170.Slumtown: Are you a coach by any chance. If not you should be a selector because you talk a whole lot of sense.
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