Demanding more from awful Boks
19 Nov 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in his weekly Business Day column, says this has been a desperate end-of-year tour for the Springboks, and to criticise them does not make one unpatriotic.
From a distance this Springbok tour has only depressed me. Does that mean the Springboks depress me? No. Does this mean there is no hope? No.
Forget what next year could hold. Let’s deal in real time with the considerable disappointment for those of us who appreciate the potential within South African rugby and the quality of player that makes up South African rugby.
Each to his own, be it in acknowledgment or denial, but I find it an insult to South African rugby that so many are so willing to call a win a win and dismiss any dismay as disparagement of the Bok coach, management, players and just anti-South African.
Why is there such irrational and ignorant investment of energy? I can’t explain the conservatism of the Springboks’ approach — and I am referring to the coaching staff.
I expected more and rightly so. I’ll take an ugly win in the World Cup final and I’ll take an ugly win every time if it is against the All Blacks. There are times a team will win ugly, but very good teams with aspirations to be great teams mostly win with a swagger more than a stagger.
I know the Bok players have character and that they take seriously the responsibility of playing for South Africa and excelling as national players. If you have to applaud them for this then they’re in the wrong profession. It’s a given.
I understand that among the goals of the Boks between this year and 2015 is to concede the least points in world rugby and to concede the least tries. Nowhere is there talk of scoring the most points and scoring the most tries.
Christmas can’t come soon enough, and I hope the gift of introspection comes wrapped with whatever else makes its way to the home of Bok coach Heyneke Meyer and his support staff. Nothing has been gained from this tour. The Boks can tackle. The Boks can maul. The Boks have character.
I don’t want South Africa to be New Zealand. I want them to be South Africa. Good Springbok teams have always played rugby. The good ones have had more than just character, a desire to tackle and an effective mauling technique.
The good, very good and great Bok teams have trusted their basic skills and believed that the true expression of their talent is in scoring tries and points — and not in how few are conceded.
I have never understood the flippancy with which the words ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ are used within the Bok context. To condemn the Springboks’ performance in Dublin and Edinburgh is apparently a negative. To applaud the win is to be patriotic, passionate and positive. Again, each to their own.
I prefer ‘accurate’ and ‘inaccurate’ when assessing the Boks. Is it accurate to laud a win fashioned by an intercept try and supposedly brutal defence in the last 20 minutes against a side ranked 10 in the world who a week earlier conceded 50 points against the All Blacks?
To talk of being the best requires more than a PowerPoint presentation and a Vince Lombardi quote.
Heyneke Meyer, my preferred choice as Bok coach, seems convinced 2012 was always going to be a struggle and survival was a more appropriate ‘go to’ than sensation. I haven’t been floored by this defeatist attitude but I have been dazed and deflated.
Apparently to tackle is to care if you are a Bok. Apparently to attack is to risk despair.
Where’s the cheer been in this tour? Where’s the evolution?
A week ago I wrote of the fear of failure within the Boks and the restrictive approach that rewards no risk and the possibility of a mistake.
The Boks, regardless of who coaches them, should have beaten Ireland and Scotland. Both teams are inferior in every aspect. Both teams currently don’t have the pedigree of player to threaten a side with the player resource of South Africa.
I will always have an expectation of a nation with two World Cup titles. To demand anything less is to not care; alternatively not to know.
The players know it has been an awful tour in performance and quality. Perhaps more applicably it has been a desperate tour.
I won’t apologise for demanding more from the coach and the players.
A week ago I said the players should embrace the adventure. Some pounced on this as results not meaning anything. Of course they mean everything, otherwise there wouldn’t be a score and there wouldn’t be a winner. But to accept the post-match virtues of character and player pride for the Bok jersey is to accept being second best.
I won’t, and the optimist in me thinks neither will those who assess the Bok performance instead of excusing the lack of performance.
427 Comments
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19 Nov 2012, 11:43 am
Looking at our end of tour games I draw 2 conclusions
1) Players like Lambie and de Jong JP are wasted in the current game plan It looks like the instruction is if Pienaar doesn’t kick then Lambie must and if he doesn’t then Krusty must and if he doesn’t then another back line member must So the natural ball players are taken out of the game When you think about it Meyer used Lambie as a bench player Why because his kicking game wasn’t up to his(Meyers) standards It was only Morne’s “loss of form” that opened the door for lambie That is also why Jantjies is not on the bench
2) Meyer works from the principal if its not broke dont fix it so until we get badly thumped with the full first string playing Meyer will not change anything. But hey at the end of the day 23 are 2-0 for the tour so the tour goes on and if we win on Saturday Meyer will be a hero but he will have papered over the problem and it will come back to bite him
19 Nov 2012, 11:44 am
@Hondo-49:
So it’s all Kirchner’s and JDJ’s fault
19 Nov 2012, 11:44 am
@rossoneri-46:
They should have won it first, and they did, despite a slightly biased, hostile referee!
Something the Stormers/WP haven’t done in 4 seasons
HM’s task is to win it now, not later, AC is waiting around the corner, in case youv’e missed it!
19 Nov 2012, 11:44 am
Looking at our end of tour games I draw 2 conclusions
1) Players like Lambie and de Jong JP are wasted in the current game plan It looks like the instruction is if Pienaar doesn’t kick then Lambie must and if he doesn’t then Krusty must and if he doesn’t then another back line member must So the natural ball players are taken out of the game When you think about it Meyer used Lambie as a bench player Why because his kicking game wasn’t up to his(Meyers) standards It was only Morne’s “loss of form” that opened the door for lambie That is also why Jantjies is not on the bench
2) Meyer works from the principal if its not broke dont fix it so until we get badly thumped with the full first string playing Meyer will not change anything. But hey at the end of the day we are 2-0 for the tour so the tour goes on and if we win on Saturday Meyer will be a hero but he will have papered over the problem and it will come back to bite him
19 Nov 2012, 11:45 am
@Hondo-49: I do remember him winning 18 games on the trot. Better than any bok team after the fact. JW was also pretty conservative, but we still scored tries and with our backs. The current bok team (coaches) has no idea what to do with the ball.
19 Nov 2012, 11:48 am
@Hondo-53:
If AC makes it, the world will end
19 Nov 2012, 11:49 am
There are some calls for Meyer to replace certain players like Sideshow. There has been a debate about who should be flyhalf. There has even been an outcry for Brits to get a chance.
To which I say – it will make no difference. We might as well replace our back line with loose forwards who love tackling, because that’s all they get to do. Alberts might as well play flyhalf. He gets the ball as first receiver more often than Lambie.
Mallet made the best point regarding our play.
“When NZ get good possession, the back line get the ball, when the Springboks get poor possession, the back line get the ball.”
19 Nov 2012, 11:49 am
@Dawn-52:
Fault? what fault?
HM won it last I checked
Read it again carefuly: the Boks can’t play any different style and win, unless it’s in SA and with Walsh/Owen/Rolland the referees
And certainly not against the ABs
19 Nov 2012, 11:50 am
Really getting back to the very top of your game, Mark. Well written.
19 Nov 2012, 11:50 am
@Dawn-52: Hondo, Suffer_guy and ET…… All fellas you kind of wish would be arrested in Thailand with 750 grams of smack shoved up their @ sses
19 Nov 2012, 11:51 am
@Hondo-58:
I read it and you singled out Kirchner and JDJ
Go read you own c rap againg
19 Nov 2012, 11:52 am
Again
19 Nov 2012, 11:53 am
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-60: And in jail it is easy to imagine what would be smashed
up their @sses
19 Nov 2012, 11:54 am
Im glad you didnt single out any players here Keo.
Its becoming blatantly obvious whats going wrong here.
19 Nov 2012, 11:54 am
@ryecatcher-63:
Good day
19 Nov 2012, 11:55 am
@goodstuff-55:
That was in 1997-1998,
Not in 1999-2000, the loss of Honiball, Teichmann and Kruger, combined with that of Muller and the decline of Percy as aTest player (and a kicker) put paid to the successful Mallett’s attacking rugby
HM was right there and he remembers the lesson.
Simple?
19 Nov 2012, 11:58 am
@catchlightuk.com-57:
Mallett forgot to tell us what happened when Jannie d Beer got the ball under his watch?
Please,
19 Nov 2012, 12:00 pm
I have had to sit and read how kak HM is week in and week out and to be honest he has not been tip top yet it blows my mind how no blame is put in front of our beloved captain who has succesfully managed the art of farking up the basic pass to the person next to him.
Quite astonishing when things are kak its the coach and when things pick up it is the captain takning charge. Had this been Barney in charge he would have been ordered of the farking planet yet the golden boy hardly gets a mention……
19 Nov 2012, 12:01 pm
Can anyone safely say that any of the players are playing at their best potential under HM. The NH are 2nd tier and winning ugly against Scotland/Ireland is not acceptable
19 Nov 2012, 12:01 pm
The Boks 1st half against the Scots was actually very encouraging. Our pack was completely dominant in both the scrum and the lineout, our loose play was strong, defense was huge when called upon, and we made good yards in the midfield channels so varied our ball carrying lines more than before. There were a few too many poor passes, and so our wings were very underutilized, but I felt like the key pillars of first phase and defense were strong, and we had made progress in terms of using JDV and JDJ.
To be honest, I think the 2nd half debacle can largely be pinned on one man – CJ Van Der Linde, who should never have made the Bok squad, especially as a tighthead, given that he rarely even started in a very weak Lions pack this past season. We lost all continuity because every scrum became either a free-kick for early engagement, or a penalty when CJ flopped to the ground instead of letting the Scots loosehead drive his head out through his own ****. He’s nowhere near strong enough to be a test tighthead. That one substitution at 55minutes was a game changer for us.
19 Nov 2012, 12:02 pm
@KWAGGA ROBERTSE-68:
Kuk man
Captain had his fair share of criticism
19 Nov 2012, 12:03 pm
can’t i say @nu$ on this blog? I thought it was great use of the correct biological term.
19 Nov 2012, 12:03 pm
@KWAGGA ROBERTSE-68: ive been laying into Jean for ages – he is the cancer in the backline.
19 Nov 2012, 12:03 pm
@nortierd-31: They were in awe of our forwards and defence, but that was about it.
19 Nov 2012, 12:04 pm
@Dawn-71: Van wie af? Skop en kie sit en kak op HM van oggend tot aand en toe die bokke die game uit die vuur uit trek laas week toe is dit alles Jean se toedoen.
19 Nov 2012, 12:05 pm
@sonofgun-70: post 35 lays it all bare. And if you think about it coldly CJ is not to blame. Heyneke is for picking the useless tub of lard.
19 Nov 2012, 12:05 pm
The difference is,ABs run for the gap and first try to break the line and secondly to offload in the tackle..our players are taught to run through the man,not a bad plan,but not the better of the two!
19 Nov 2012, 12:07 pm
@Slumtown-73: One of only a handfull. Given the same situation Barney would have taken it from all sides with a shovel
19 Nov 2012, 12:08 pm
@ryecatcher-63: The tragedy of that would be: this trio of t-i-t-s would enjoy it.
19 Nov 2012, 12:08 pm
It would be hard to single out any players who are at fault. HM has a game plan and structure that he is making the players fit into. He should settle on the best team and then create a game plan around the player’s strengths.
19 Nov 2012, 12:08 pm
Since South Africans are so good at petitions and we all seem to agree with Keohane.
Why doesn’t someone start a petition where we tell Heyneke “Stop this boring kak. It’s okay if you lose, we won’t call for your head, as long as you play prettier rugby with more adventure like the All Blacks.”
19 Nov 2012, 12:08 pm
@KWAGGA ROBERTSE-75:
Jy moet die threads lees, jong
19 Nov 2012, 12:11 pm
@KWAGGA ROBERTSE-75:
Moenie hier op ‘n Maandag kom inval sommer met die deur en alles
19 Nov 2012, 12:13 pm
@KWAGGA ROBERTSE-78: Jean ain’t good enough. As a captain, as a player – the end (even though he has NOT been the worst player in the backline by a country mile…)
19 Nov 2012, 12:15 pm
@Dawn-83: Jy weet mos ek bliksem sommer in met die deur, koesyn. venster raam en n stuk van die fondasie onder die arm ‘for good measure’
Miskien lees ek daai gedeeltes mis maar daar is verseker nie baie van hulle nie. Either or ons rugby lyk soos n ou bokser wat al hard gedonner is. Moeg en afgemat
19 Nov 2012, 12:15 pm
@KWAGGA ROBERTSE-75: nee, was Strauss s’n
19 Nov 2012, 12:16 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-84: He has not been the kakkest ,agree but I also reckon he is not the dumbest bloke around but he sure makes kak decisions every now and again.
19 Nov 2012, 12:17 pm
@Hondo-66: It was the period you are talking about that lead to the current fixation with kicking fly halfs. That does not apply to the current players available.
Lambie, great running FH has good enough kicking stats. Same for Jantjies and Goosen. You can teach a guy how to kick but you can’t teach him how to play rugby!
I’m not saying we should go all out attack like AB’s etc. But give the backs better attacking freedom, when there is an overlap than attack! If there is a gap go for it.
Bashing it up all day will not win us a world cup or any new players wishing to play rugby.
19 Nov 2012, 12:17 pm
@Slumtown-76: agreed. we’ve been hurt by the non-availability of Coenie and Mujati. However, we have 3 youngsters in Cilliers, Malherbe and Van de Merwe who are all better than CJ (by a country mile). I’d also be interested to know how Eugene Van Staden is doing in France, because he was always a very strong player for the Sharks, and like CJ was comfortable on both sides of the scrum. Unlike CJ he remained comfortable when the other guy started pushing.
19 Nov 2012, 12:18 pm
@trupisero-86: Ja jou gomgat!!! hoe loop dinge daar in donker Afrika
19 Nov 2012, 12:18 pm
Keo’s on a roll with regards to being back to his journalistic best.
not talking about player selections but the setup as a whole.
Very impressive article
19 Nov 2012, 12:20 pm
@goodstuff-88: Our current gameplan shows a lack of trust in our backline players IMO. Time to sharpen the pencil HM.
19 Nov 2012, 12:21 pm
@PissAnt-81: haha well said – why not. Anyone know Heyneke personally? I would love for a journo to ask Jean live on TV why he doesnt pass and always crashes into opposition even if it means having the ball turned over. He´s becoming as much of a rhetoric spinner as HM
19 Nov 2012, 12:22 pm
Good article Keo. Captures what the vast majority of us are feeling.
19 Nov 2012, 12:23 pm
@sonofgun-89: yeah I was liking Van Staden when he was playing Super rugby and Currie Cup – he seemed very solid.
19 Nov 2012, 12:25 pm
1-heinke
2-strauss(c)
3-cilliers
4-etzebeth
5-kruger
6-louw
7-coetzee
8-vermeulen
9-hougaard
10-lambie
11-mvovo
12-de jong
13-taute
14-pietersen
15-kirchner
16-ralepelle
17-steenkamp
18-du plessis
19-alberts
20-botha
21-pienaar
22-jantjies
23-de villiers
19 Nov 2012, 12:32 pm
@Dawn-65: Missed you on here yesterday
but the site was turgid.
19 Nov 2012, 12:42 pm
I got emailed thisbloodyquote from a connection who is a Meyer disciple (in fact, he would probably be the Peter amongst Meyer’s disciples, such is his commitment to the Meyer cause)
“In large part, excellence consists of the willingness to stomach monotony.” – Melitsky
Well I nearly puked……***rolling ogies***
19 Nov 2012, 12:42 pm
@KWAGGA ROBERTSE-90: ag, word daagliks meer en meer rondgefok.
19 Nov 2012, 12:59 pm
Are you refering to the same weak lions pack that dominated the likes of the sharks pack on more than a few occasions??? CJ spent most of his time on the bench for that same weak lions pack!
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