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, 14:49 pm
@gunther-195:
“came right” oh dear
12 Nov 2012, 14:50 pm
@nama1-190:
funny thing is, i can see skop giving a half time speech like that if he was ever a coach
12 Nov 2012, 14:53 pm
@gunther-195:
so many of them opened up their cans of ‘i told you so’s’ only to see it go wasted
12 Nov 2012, 14:53 pm
SARU warns over email scam
2012-11-12 11:21
SARU logo (File)
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Cape Town – The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is alerting people to an email version of a Rugby World Cup scam aimed at Springbok supporters.
In the latest version of what was once a cellphone-based attempt at fraud, individuals receive emails telling them they have won £1m in cash in a Rugby World Cup promotion, purported to be run by SARU.
Typically, the message reads: “We wish to notify you that your email address was automatically selected during the RUGBY 2011 world cup finals in New-Zealand and has won you GBP1 000.000.00 Cash (One Million Great Britain Pounds) Payable through our Paying Bank.”
A SARU spokesperson said: “We can categorically confirm that no competition has ever existed of this nature and that the email should be ignored.” (news24)
Beware guys…and girl!!!
12 Nov 2012, 14:56 pm
@Marty-199:
“So, I agree with the part that we must peak for WC 2015 and build now (and that results 2012 \ 2013 are not that imporant). Keeping this in mind what players do we include into the squad now already?”
Really??
Out of the 24 or so tests in 2012 / 2013, you won’t mind if we lose 15 (or even more), as long as we are building for the RWC in 2015?
You know the saying: Losing becomes a habit.
How will you know HOW to win the RWC if all you did in the years leading up to it, is lose?
12 Nov 2012, 14:57 pm
Hope Gurthro is ready, or play the Rock at prop, he is slow enough.
12 Nov 2012, 14:58 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-203:
Nama and Co had been saving up special 12 Year Old bottles of I told you so.
They’ll be hoping to open them in the next couple of weeks.
12 Nov 2012, 14:59 pm
@NZINCHINA-201: Oopsie!
12 Nov 2012, 14:59 pm
@NZINCHINA-201:
Jip.
We are satisfied with anything this team dish up as long as they win. No matter how ugly or unconvincing.
Strange how people changed their minds about what a “right” performance is by the Boks now that HM is coach.
12 Nov 2012, 15:00 pm
@nama1-209:
I like it when the Boks win.
I think our buddy in china is trying to be funny.
12 Nov 2012, 15:02 pm
@nama1-204:
You would have to be pretty stupid and gullible to fall for that.
12 Nov 2012, 15:03 pm
@nama1-205: No, losing does become a habit and I am not saying that we need to disregard the results altogether. But SA rugby should learn from Jake White and start building around a team that will able to win WC 2015. So, for example, keep Jean de Villiers and Habana, etc. to groom certain players that will be introduced slowly. Hence, they should be introduced to the SQUAD way before 2015. Like Paul Jordaan; he should be the understudy of someone like de Jongh. Let them train together and see how these type of players develop.
I do think that holding back on introducing youngsters because of their age is overestimated – when did the likes of Wilkinson and co. shine on the world stage.
12 Nov 2012, 15:04 pm
@WP-Forever-211:
There’s always one.
All sorts of idiots have access to a computer.
Just ask capo.
12 Nov 2012, 15:04 pm
@NZINCHINA-201:
Your boys let through, what, three tries yesterday?
Two of them by a ********, at that…
12 Nov 2012, 15:04 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-203: @gunther-207:
Much more likely than that can of WHOOPASS that your Bulls were suppose to dish out that one year.
12 Nov 2012, 15:05 pm
@gunther-213:
I think it’s often a case of common sense and greed competing at a primal level in the brain.
In some lower-function individuals greed is stronger than common sense.
Just look at our Cabinet.
12 Nov 2012, 15:12 pm
@nama1-215:
Tac’s whoopass that he keeps with his pre 1994 Koo baked beans?
12 Nov 2012, 15:14 pm
@WP-Forever-211:
Jip.
Can’t believe people still fall for that.
@Marty-212:
Why can’t we do that and still keep on winning. The All Blacks do.
12 Nov 2012, 15:16 pm
@nama1-215: Don’t be so harsh on them Nama.To use Gunther’s phrase: They will eventually came right…whether it’s five or ten years down the line.
12 Nov 2012, 15:17 pm
@WP-Forever-216:
Indeed the force is strong in those ones.
12 Nov 2012, 15:18 pm
@nama1-205:
What you getting your knickers in a knot over…
Heyneke Meyer is in a massive re-building phase with this Bok crop and he’s lost 3 from 10… but for a few miss-kicks they’d be on a 70% win ratio playing disjointed rugby…
Tut tut…
12 Nov 2012, 15:19 pm
@WP-Forever-214:
Prove that the AB defense can be unlocked. Why were we not able to do it?
12 Nov 2012, 15:19 pm
Eish, but the “journalists” at Channel24 can be obtuse at times:
http://www.channel24.co.za/Gossip/News/Steve-Hofmeyrs-Wiki-page-hacked-20121112
Sure, it’s really hard to “hack” into somebody’s Wikipedia entry…
12 Nov 2012, 15:19 pm
HM’s poepstring is wound far too tight.he needs to take a chill pill,granted after he went Mitchell on the boks at halftime they upped their game but that kinda coaching does not usually work thru the long run.He should take a leaf out of Gary Kirsten’s book and learn to relax a little.Too much pressure,and it’s gonna blow!
12 Nov 2012, 15:19 pm
@gunther-217:
That’s the one.
12 Nov 2012, 15:20 pm
@wnbb-219:
Indeed.
Every dog has its day.
12 Nov 2012, 15:23 pm
@nama1-225:
Talking about pitches earlier weren’t John Allan’s rugby legends involved in building specially designed astro turf pitches for rugby with PPC.
They were supposed to be low maintenance.
12 Nov 2012, 15:27 pm
@nama1-198: you just want to have a go at SuperPat
he was playing behind a disjointed pack in 1st half, 2nd half ruan decided to dictate play from 9 – FdP style
12 Nov 2012, 15:28 pm
@bryce_in_oz-221: If it was not for Steyn’s charge down against the Argies we would have added another test to the losing column.Right?
12 Nov 2012, 15:30 pm
@bryce_in_oz-221:
“knickers in a knot over…”
Oh dear!!!. The man said something about results not being important. I quote:”So, I agree with the part that we must peak for WC 2015 and build now (and that results 2012 \ 2013 are not that imporant).”
I asked him about it…he answered.
What “knickers in a knot” are you talking about?
The kicks were missed. The Boks have a 50% win record currently. That’s what the records will indicate. That’s the stats that count…..not what could’ve been.
12 Nov 2012, 15:37 pm
@gunther-227:
I think I’ve read somewhere that they opened one in the Eastern Cape somewhere not so long ago.
I though about astro turfs as well as an alternative in arid areas like ours but your “traditional” rugby players will probably be very hesitant to play on it.
Saffa handed an astro turf soccer pitch over in Springbok as part of the 2010 SWC legacy program earlier this year. Maybe SARU can look into that.
12 Nov 2012, 15:39 pm
@nama1-231:
The traditional ones might not like it but in the poorer areas where they are less traditional it might be just the thing.
12 Nov 2012, 15:39 pm
@WP-Forever-214:
The Scots are talking up a big game, they reckon you’re there for the taking they don’t fear you anymore, who would have thought….
12 Nov 2012, 15:42 pm
@Transformation-228:
(Hope he returns to this site)
You know I like Pat. Maybe just not as much as Puma.
Was actually trying to highlight the fact that a change at FH made zero difference because the game plan remained the same…until JdV and Pienaar took things into their own hands after half time.
12 Nov 2012, 15:47 pm
@gunther-232:
Agree.
12 Nov 2012, 15:48 pm
@Gumboots-177: Bud, we won. That was the goal and we achieved it. What do you want to do? Chuck out the coaching staff and start all over again? And then when they win and don’t meet your standards do it all over again?
12 Nov 2012, 15:53 pm
@nama1-235: astro is good for football ,but I don’t think it would work for rugby unless you are protected like NFL players who sometimes also play on astro.
12 Nov 2012, 15:58 pm
@wnbb-237:
As long as it’s not sand-based astroturf…
12 Nov 2012, 16:15 pm
@wnbb-237:
I think Astro is the standard in the NFL with only a couple of exceptions. You’re right about needing protective clothing though, it’s a must.
12 Nov 2012, 16:30 pm
@David-239: Not absolutely true.18 of 32 NFL teams play on grass.
12 Nov 2012, 16:40 pm
@Transformation-228:
12 Nov 2012, 16:46 pm
They use a different type of artificial pitch for rugby.
The “grass” is longer and the base is different.
12 Nov 2012, 16:51 pm
@gunther-242:
must still give you some serious carpet burns though.
12 Nov 2012, 17:25 pm
@mshiniwami-64: Pienaar was not bad at the weekend?
12 Nov 2012, 17:57 pm
Losers “enjoy” losing. They’re pro players, not sightseers.
12 Nov 2012, 18:05 pm
@wnbb-229:
errm, but I can also say the same thing withregards to A.smiths try for the kiwis against us in dunedin or for that prop scoring out on the corner for the ozzies against us.
12 Nov 2012, 18:06 pm
@NZINCHINA-233:
yes, maybe about time they get a reminder then….
12 Nov 2012, 19:04 pm
@Big Hit-244:
Pienaar is the one of the main reasons our backline doesn’t fire… Even our forwards look average when he’s at scrumhalf.
Meyer wants our scrumhalf to be the game controller which means we end up getting slow ball from the rucks because Pienaar is taking his sweet time to make decisions…. We should rather let our flyhalf be our game controller and get a scrummie who focuses on recycling the ball quiicker. Then we will be able to run at an unset defensive line and will have more players running in space.
At the moment, our momentum is being killed by slow ball.
The All Blacks have the right idea… They have selected Aaron Smith who has been brilliant for them. Quick, nippy, irritating and sniped when there’s a gap… He doesn’t control the game like Pienaar tries to do… That’s Carter’s job. We would improve if we changed our mindset and let our flyhalf control the game.
12 Nov 2012, 19:44 pm
@Daddy-248: The SA forwards look average because they ARE average, most of the good ones are out injured while others like Alberts are out of form. The ball is coming back slowly because the forwards aren’t making the requisite headway in the carry. Pienaar isn’t slowing it down, he just isn’t speeding it up.
If you pick a 9 like Heini Adams alongside Lambie you likely would see more ball going wide but the SA centres are so very one-dimensional I’m not certain they would reap dividends.
12 Nov 2012, 20:02 pm
Dusky.
I know you’re out there somewhere. Check this out.
‘Hairdryer’ treatment works for Heyneke
November 11 2012 at 01:21pm
By SAPA
The Springboks came from12-3 down at half-time to beat Ireland 16-12 at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.
Dublin – Coach Heyneke Meyer admitted he delivered a few choice words at half time to turn South Africa’s ‘unacceptable’ performance into victory in Dublin on Saturday night.
The Boks were fortunate not to be trailing by more than 12-3 at half time in their opening November Test match, with discipline a major issue and Ireland’s Jonathan Sexton equally willing to punish any indiscretion.
A fourth defeat in five trips to Dublin looked on the cards, but following coach Meyer’s intervention the visitors turned the game on its head and scored an unanswered 13 points to secure a deserved win.
“I can’t tell you my message at half time,” Meyer said, half smiling, after resorting to his version of the ‘hairdryer’ approach of Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson.
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