Meyer’s men must enjoy the adventure
12 Nov 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in his Business Day newspaper column, says a defeat in 2012 should not be seen as a disaster by the Springboks.
What should be an adventure seemingly has the restriction of a chore. The Springboks are playing with fear of failure when they should be playing with the freedom of fantasy.
It starts with an inexperienced management whose passion for the job is being transferred with too much tension and not enough enjoyment.
Somebody within the leadership of South African rugby has to give Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer comfort that it is not life or death each time the Springboks play.
It may feel like we’ve lost someone on those Saturday evenings when the Boks stumble but sport’s cruelty that a team is only as good as its last game is also its kindness, because there is always the next game to win to allow us all to feel life again.
Meyer needs a soundboard. He needs a man of integrity, with the necessary international experience to allow him to talk out loud without a judgement being made that he is inadequate for the job.
He is good enough to guide the Boks to a position of strength in the world order but he must feel he is operating in a vacuum, a lot of it self-inflicted because of a belief that to ask is to show weakness.
I write this as an observation.
The desire to get it right for fear of letting down a nation is causing anxiety. The players deliver on passion but there has been minimal fluidity in the Tests played this season.
I worked within the Bok management a decade ago at a time when the playing talent was not as inspirational as now and when results were poor. No player ever lost deliberately.
They lose because in most cases they aren’t good enough on the day. The Boks won in Dublin because Ireland weren’t good enough, player for player, or as a collective.
The Irish passion lasted for 40 minutes — 20 minutes more than is the norm for any home team with fantastic support. The 12-3 scoreline, however, was not a reflection of any superiority.
The second half was comfortable for the Boks because they were stronger in the collisions and were never threatened in defence.
The Boks were rightfully expected to win but the pressure the coaching staff are feeling was illustrated in Meyer’s post-match admission it would have been a disaster had they lost.
It would have been difficult to accept given the Boks’ superior playing pedigree but it would not have been a disaster.
The coaching staff ideally want to win every weekend, but there has to be realism that the heart of the Bok pack is new to international rugby and that the coaching staff are feeling as vulnerable. If ever a team is given a pardon it is in the first year after a World Cup when most rebuild in the hope of peaking at the next World Cup.
Meyer’s approach that every Test has to be viewed as a World Cup final is not flawed in that he never wants to diminish a Test match but the execution is creating trepidation when there should be expectation.
There have been short bursts against England and Australia in Pretoria to confirm a player’s ability to play with width, keep the ball and be effective on the attack.
But the overriding sense when watching the Boks is of a conservatism that fears mistakes, fears getting it wrong and doesn’t want to contemplate defeat. The All Blacks, as they did in South Africa, would have punished the hesitancy we saw in Dublin. The context is it wasn’t an impressive rugby performance from the Boks, but it isn’t down to a lack of coaching, game plan or limited player pedigree.
The pack selections are a reflection of the best available but playing Jaco Taute at outside centre and Zane Kirchner at fullback is to limit mistakes and not create opportunity.
Taute at fullback in the place of Kirchner, and introduce the flair of Juan de Jongh, and the backline would be transformed.
The rugby isn’t hard to get right, but it’s the mindset from within that isn’t proving as easy.
The Boks will develop into a very good team, but they’ll get there quicker if the management and by extension the players accept that the stumbles are part of the adventure and not the curse of the adventure.
Meyer, in his first meeting with Bryan Habana this year, told him to find his smile again and he would find his international form.
Where others viewed complexity Meyer recognised the simplicity in the equation.
Smile, Heyneke. It could just be what transforms fractured performances into fluid ones.
258 Comments
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12 Nov 2012, 11:43 am
@kaksioek-42:
Carel du Plessis was only given eight matches at the helm.
After a poor start to the Tri-Nations in 1997 – a narrow loss at Ellis Park against the All Blacks, and then two away losses to Australia and New Zealand – there was a concerted media campaign to get rid of him, led by, amongst others, Mark Keohane.
One of the best Springbok performances was the last with du Plessis as coach, when we thrashed Australia at Loftus, scoring eight trees to their three. Percy scored two tries that day, Jannie de Beer ended up scoring 26 points.
After du Plessis Mallett was appointed, and we embarked on an amazing winning streak.
12 Nov 2012, 11:46 am
@poppa69-50: Province teams all play touchies after training and it seems to be working wonders, except they play it in the showers………
12 Nov 2012, 11:47 am
@mshiniwami-46:
but oz have had 4 seasons of continuetry with deans involved. Injuries in this case are only half the story, Sa has had any number of retirements and players unavailible (dupreez,bakkies,guthro,jaque fourie,etc)
Our new coach was only emplyed in the new year with assistants only able to join him after the inbound tour?
so seriously? Do you have your own business or manage a team of employees of 50+ or so?
If you did you would understand the ethos of building a team requires time.
12 Nov 2012, 11:48 am
@WP-Forever-51: I know all of that. Point it out to Brigadier Van Zyl and KWAGGA ROBERTSE. Meyer is lucky he has had 10 games in charge.
12 Nov 2012, 11:48 am
South African rugby won’t develop to a constant NZ standard until we completely revamp our entire schools rugby coaching and selection philosophy in line with what NZ has been doing for ages.
Check out this Rugby Management Policy from St Peters College in Auckland and compare it to how we think in SA. Specifically look at the Selection Etiquette section:
http://www.st-peters.school.nz/StPeters/media/images/Documents/Sport/Rugby/SPC–management-policy-2012—Website.pdf
12 Nov 2012, 11:48 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-47:
Yeah same how it fels to be Lambie,De Jongh,Aplon,Jantjies,Hougaard, etc or basically ANY PLAYER who is a ball player/X factor guy under Meyer….Pretty fckin depressing
12 Nov 2012, 11:48 am
@poppa69-40:
Most South Africans can’t either!
12 Nov 2012, 11:49 am
@KWAGGA ROBERTSE-52:
12 Nov 2012, 11:51 am
@WP-Forever-51:
no, the real problem with DuPlessis is that he should never have been there in the first place. Any number of players will tell you that he had no idea, nada. no planning withregards to touring or anything. Hell, the boks even arrived late for the test match in nz when they leaked 55 points. What sort of preparation is that?
and You would compare DuPlessis with Meyer?
laughable
anyone will tell you that. Oh, and I still see duPlessis hanging out in Stellies opposite Paul roos every so often.
12 Nov 2012, 11:52 am
@poppa69-50: Poppa, I meant that one session per week is dedicated to skills exclusively. On the other days while doing warm-ups we do skills training as well. We do touch rugby as well. You need to keep the laaities interested in the game.
What I was trying to get across is that at very junior level (U/13 in our case or even younger), the coaches use the bigger boys to bash it up instead of using their skills. By doing this, the level of skills never develops because the coach is only interested in winning.
12 Nov 2012, 11:53 am
@PissAnt-57:
12 Nov 2012, 11:53 am
@kaksioek-54: Why should he consider himself lucky? Becuase you said so?
I’ve pointed out my views on Meyer enough times already. No use doing it again.
12 Nov 2012, 11:56 am
Hey Poppa, welcome back! Seriously. Thoroughly enjoying the exchange between you and PA.
12 Nov 2012, 11:56 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-53:
Mate you can spin it however you like.White had a depleted team of largely scarred nobodies in 04,the first team that tok field vs Irish in series had hardly an real caps or contunity
And Oz have a Inferior pool to us by far,look at the super rugby performances and depth chart? its night and day.No excuses
The point of have a business of my own is a moot one as it highly subjective and context is very different in a rugby dynamic/environment than that of te corporate world.
As a matter of fact though I do have/own a company of my own and no dont have 50+ employees.More around 20-25.But still that has little to no bearing here
Spin this nonsense all you want,it still stinks.if it smells and looks like sh*t,mate its SH*t
First coaches like Ewen McKenzie at Reds had tremendous success with an even worse state of affairs.
Spin spin spin
12 Nov 2012, 11:57 am
@CharlesM-60: ok my mistake… umfezi has highlighted my point about weight for age groups… it places emphasis on beating a man with skill rather than size or strength..
12 Nov 2012, 11:58 am
@mshiniwami-56:
that’s pretty funny and I would expect more from an experienced blogger like you.
Every article you read will tell you that meyer is very concerned withregards to the lack of x-factor amongst his backs.
By the way, Lambie is playing so is hougaard, dejong is on the bench and covers 12/13. Elton is not on the bench but then so what….all he would have done is sit on the bench for another 80 minutes?
I believe Taute to be a far superior selection than dejong anyway. So he doesn’t play 13 regularly? did jean devilliers play 14 regularly, or frans steyn at 14 and 13, what about Smit at 3? there are many instances of coaches trying to get what he sees to be his best players on the park all at the same time which means in some instances players aren’t in their preffered spots.
With players coming back from injury next season we will have a vastly stronger side and by default much better depth to call on.
12 Nov 2012, 11:59 am
watching the boks on saturday i just couldn’t help feeling that none of them are enjoying themselves, having fun or playing with any exuberance…
so many sports people say that they will play their sport while it is fun and when the fun stops it it time to reassess things and look for something else to do…
seems the joy of playing rugby has been sucked right out of the boks…
sad to see…
12 Nov 2012, 12:00 pm
@mikeybrass-63: cheers Mikey
12 Nov 2012, 12:01 pm
@race of tan-48: The french clubs hold the players ransom and the RC clashes with the french league.
12 Nov 2012, 12:01 pm
@CharlesM-60:
In my experience rugby players from school to club level (where I have been involved) are not coached on the game, they are instructed on how to play the game (the way the coach believes or sees fit).
Coaching requires players to get an understanding, a purpose on what they need to do, not being told what to do and ordered to execute.
Once a player understands a specific purpose/exercise/strategy/area of play their game automatically improves by at least 5%.
We have a lot of rugby instructors in this country, we have very few rugby coaches.
12 Nov 2012, 12:01 pm
@mshiniwami-64:
reds got smashed by 65 points by the bulls this season.
don’t blame injuries, or do we on this occassion?
you talk twak and selectively select philosophies depending on the situation and slant of your argument.
12 Nov 2012, 12:05 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-66: What Meyer says in articles and what he actually does are as far removed from each other as Israel and Palestine.
Taute is definitely a fullback, so I’ll play him at 13.
Lambie is defintely a fullback as well, but because the people like him, I’m playing him at 10.
I need to rest Morne so instead of leaving at home to rest, I’m dragging him to Europe, because he is the “Outsurance” of the team.
Keegan Daniel is ideal for the Boks when we play a team like Australia, so I’m going to drop him from the squad all together for the Aussie test abroad.
You see?
So when Meyer says he wants players with the X-factor, what he is actually saying is: “If they can’t kick, I don’t want them”. A la Rhule……..
12 Nov 2012, 12:06 pm
@mshiniwami-64: Keo has changed his tune now along with Meyer, the WORLD CUP is now the be-all and end-all of Test rugby, not WIN RATIOS!
Mediocrity triumphs
This entry was posted on Monday, December 4th, 2006
We are not a mediocre sporting nation that settles for second best. And what the Springboks have offered in the last 24 months has been second best, writes Keo in his Business Day column.
An opportunity was lost in not dismissing Jake White as Springbok coach. One victory, against an England side whose only success in their last nine internationals was against the Boks, has created an illusion of comfort.
The President’s Council determined that White was the right man to lead South Africa to the World Cup. They were comfortable in everything White was doing and expressed confidence in his so-called World Cup plan and in his team’s performances for 2006.
Apparently they also accepted White’s belief that Santa Claus lives.
Flying White to Cape Town from London to give him a pat on the back, at a cost of R40 000, was a farce and another example of the flaky fiscal discipline one associates with the South African Rugby Union.
The President’s Council, devoid of individuals with the rugby technical background, was ill-equipped to analyse White’s Boks. The structural weakness within the national organization was again exposed through the absence of a strong National Director of Rugby and a rugby technical committee. It is this Director of Rugby who should have led the inquisition into the national coach and Springbok rugby.
This person should have probed the details of White’s 59 percent success rate in 37 tests, which is less than the Boks historical test winning average of 62.24 percent. White’s success has dropped each year, from 69 percent to 66 percent to 41 percent in 2006. His selections have been poor; his choice of game plan equally poor and his refusal to change has stunted progress. These are all issues a rugby committee should have dissected.
Why could the Boks only score 18 tries in their last 11 tests? Why did they leak 33 tries in the same period? What was the explanation for crushing defeats at home against the French and All Blacks? How did the Springboks lose 49-0 to Australia in Brisbane and 32-15 to Ireland in Dublin? What technically was wrong with the Boks in Dublin that Ireland broke the Bok line on 18 occasions? Why were blokes picked and played out of position all year?
the last paragraph should be asked of the coach EVERY end of the season!
accountability!
12 Nov 2012, 12:08 pm
@PissAnt-70: Very true !! I’m really trying to get that across to the boys as well. When they realise why they are doing something, the execution improves. When it succeeds in a game, they enjoy it even more !!
12 Nov 2012, 12:08 pm
On a different note: How many tries has Taumololo scored this year? Sheez man, his try against Italy had to have been his 50000000000000000th?
He scored plensch in the WC last year, and loads in the S15….
12 Nov 2012, 12:10 pm
Peter de Villiers had a 60% winning record after 10 matches.
That included a win over the All Blacks in New Zealand.
12 Nov 2012, 12:15 pm
Boks had better be sharp against the Scots this weekend.
Gray, Strockosh, Denton, Blair, Visser, and the whole front row are class. (Ford had an off day but is a very good hooker usually)
12 Nov 2012, 12:16 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl-66: “I believe Taute to be a far superior selection than dejong anyway. So he doesn’t play 13 regularly”
hahahaha
since when?
12 Nov 2012, 12:16 pm
@PissAnt-70:
very good point…
more a schoolmaster “do as i say without question” attitude than a maturer “what can i do and how can i best help you to realise your collective talent skills and practise in the match-playing environment”
12 Nov 2012, 12:16 pm
@PissAnt-70:
from mccaws book, about his coach at 7 years old
“the best thing about barneys coaching was that he made us all part of the team. his mantra was that everyone loves playing good footy, and good teams produce good players, he rotated the captaincy every week, rotated the kicking duties, both for touch and goal, and kept meticulous records of who did what in his exercise books. He wanted everyone to share in the team responsibilities. He had a cup that he’d award to the player of the day, which never went to the kid who scored the most tries, it always went to the kid who had lifted his game the most from the week before.
the one thing he did stick to was the positions he chose to play us in.
Barney remembers me as being “ball hungry” but there was no individual starring stuff, you couldnt be selfish with the ball”
this is the over riding philosophy imo of NZ rugby, its about the team first
12 Nov 2012, 12:17 pm
@WP-Forever-76:
With the players at his disposal, he should have had a win % of 70 plus.
12 Nov 2012, 12:17 pm
@ufo-79:
Jake White.
Heyneke Meyer.
What are the similarities?
12 Nov 2012, 12:21 pm
@WP-Forever-82:
exactly…
12 Nov 2012, 12:23 pm
“If ever a team is given a pardon it is in the first year after a World Cup when most rebuild in the hope of peaking at the next World Cup.”
Indeed, Keo, pardon the All Blacks for that shameful draw.
As for the rest, now, I guess, it’s alright for the Bokke to get whipped by the Scots or whatever happens to be playing as long as there is a hope for the redeeming peaking somewhere later for the World cup (and what if it do not happen, then we have other excuses involving cheating).
I guess, I have seen that traditional excuse before. Employed for years by the English. Mediocre performance is acceptable, as long as there is “a higher goal”. Weird how low the standards have set.
No wonder, many okes want Bokke to go north.
12 Nov 2012, 12:27 pm
@poppa69-80: How true. And an attitude sadly absent from SA coaching at all levels, with some rare exceptions like old Basil Brey from Bishops.
12 Nov 2012, 12:28 pm
@poppa69-80:
And in South Africa we cannot wait for the next superstar…
Our schoolboys (and again this is my personal experience) are pushed beyond belief by their parents and coaches. The actual values of sport and the game of rugby takes a very distant second or 10th place.
It is not something isolated to rugby though. Growing up and now my belief is we are almost scared for kids to think for themselves. It might be because we are conservatively overprotective or we dismiss it out of hand (that kids can think and reason).
Back to rugby.
There is a reason any kid picks up a rugby ball for the first time in his life. And that is because they enjoy and love the game. Our processes of development however puts them in categories and through time they view themselves as these limited drones we have taught them to be.
We make them scared to make mistakes – worse, we do not allow them to learn constructively from mistakes.
Practical example.
My 5 year old son has every shaped ball you can imagine, in two’s, three’s and in some cases 5 or more!
He loves playing with them, today it will be a tennis ball, tomorrow a basket ball, then a rugby ball etc etc etc.
Of course as a sports mad dad I buy him all the gear, which at one stage included a kicking tee.
Trying to teach him how to set the ball and kick it became very obvious to me very quickly that as soon as I tried to dictate the little technical aspects of this (feet position, action etc) he became bored as **** in no time whatsoever.
Now, I let him kick any bloody which way he wants to (normally copying the guys he sees on TV) and he is loving it.
It is a lesson I am forcing myself to remember for the rest of my life once he gets older – never lose your love and the fun aspect of the game (any game), then you might as well stop playing.
12 Nov 2012, 12:30 pm
@mikeybrass-85:
Bey…
12 Nov 2012, 12:31 pm
@John Galt-81: South Africa – 15-Percy Montgomery (21-
Francois Steyn 58), 14-JP Pietersen, 13-Jean
de Villiers, 12-Adrian Jacobs, 11-Bryan
Habana (22-Conrad Jantjes 48), 10-Butch
James, 9-Fourie du Preez (20-Enrico
Januarie 60), 8-Pierre Spies (18-Danie
Rossouw 76), 7-Juan Smith, 6-Schalk Burger
(19-Luke Watson 60), 5-Victor Matfield, 4-
Andries Bekker, 3-CJ van der Linde (17-
Brian Mujati 77) 2-Bismarck du Plessis (16-
Adriaan Strauss 76), 1-Tendai Mtawarira.
the above team got nilled @ Newlands in 2008
“pdv inherited a world cup winning team” that had consistently languished at number 3 in the rankings and had never beaten new zealand with any sort of consistency.
in fact a lot of these world cup winners were either disgustingly off-form or injured in 2008 but hey it was divvy’s fault that they lost and didn’t achieve 70%
12 Nov 2012, 12:33 pm
@ufo-87: He was a menance.. Always beating my school’s team with running skillful rugby
12 Nov 2012, 12:34 pm
@mikeybrass-89: menace.
12 Nov 2012, 12:34 pm
Is Pops being nice???????
12 Nov 2012, 12:37 pm
What struck me about Saturday’s game was the way in which play switched from a old-style Bulls-like approach to that employed by the Stormers earlier this year. It was as if the Stormers players – on a directive from JdV – took control of the team’s direction and strategy to grind out an ugly win as they knew how.
At least that was my distinct impression.
12 Nov 2012, 12:38 pm
@Dawn-91: It’s fantastic to see the old Poppa again
12 Nov 2012, 12:38 pm
@PissAnt-86: your last sentence is key and I agree with it completely
its about making it enjoyable so that they develop a life long passion for it too..no matter what level they reach.
Mccaw states in his book that his dad told him he’d enjoy his rugby more if he was fitter, rather then telling him he’d enjoy it more if he wasnt as fat.. a subtle difference but a massive one imo..
12 Nov 2012, 12:38 pm
@PissAnt-70:
“In my experience rugby players from school to club level (where I have been involved) are not coached on the game, they are instructed on how to play the game (the way the coach believes or sees fit).”
So true.
I use to say that players are not coached, they on practice.
There is a big difference imo.
12 Nov 2012, 12:38 pm
@mikeybrass-92: Agreed that was your impression.
12 Nov 2012, 12:39 pm
Pissant you making me cry
12 Nov 2012, 12:40 pm
@mikeybrass-89:
he got a lot of boys playing and appreciating good rugby…
12 Nov 2012, 12:40 pm
Until we move on from the mantra that we need to play to our Bok strength,namely agressive,physical rugby,we will always drag behind countries like NZ,Aus etc etc.What they don’t understand is that players right across the rugby world have grown bigger whether through legal or legal methods.Just stand up to the Boks physically and they don’t have a plan B as a result.The biggest mistake SARU made was to have appointed a coach stuck in rugby’s dark ages .
12 Nov 2012, 12:45 pm
Transformation #88 – Similar thing happenend to Maarkgraaff, he also inherited the mighty 95 Boks and did appalingley, lost our first ever home series v the ABs.
Different coach is always a problem, SARU has never maintained continuity in coaches etc.
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