Twickers to be viewed in isolation
19 Nov 2012
Heyneke Meyer refused to say that a victory or defeat against England would define their season, but accepted that it was critical to deeming the year-end tour a success.
The Springboks have lost three and drawn two of 11 Tests in 2012 and there is a discernible sense that some in the South African rugby fraternity see the result of Saturday’s Test at Twickenham as the one that will determine the success or failure of the season.
This is of course not the case. Meyer has maintained from the outset that he wants his team to be the best in the world. To achieve that end he has to be better than the All Blacks consistently. They are his team’s benchmark, the one they must measure themselves against.
Victories over northern hemisphere sides are expected, even with this injury depleted side. The Springboks are superior across most of the key facets of play and, but for some close calls, trump England man-for-man.
The more reasonable expectation is for them to measure the success or failure of the tour, not the season, by the result. Meyer agreed.
‘Beating England would mean we achieve what we set out to, which is to go unbeaten on the year-end tour. No Springboks side has done that for a couple of years, so that would be considered a successful tour,’ he said.
‘It would also mean that we would have lost three games this season. To put that in perspective, the Springboks of 2009, who were considered among the best ever, lost four. If we win against a very tough England side, that would be very good for this young team and one with as many injuries as we’ve had. But we need one more big performance.’
Eliciting that ‘big performance’ from his players will require careful management from a conditioning perspective.
‘Its been a long hard season for the players, most of whom have played more rugby than they ever have, probably more than any team in the world,’ he said. ‘But that’s not an excuse. In my experience in Test rugby [Meyer was an assistant coach in 1999] the guys have always lifted themselves for England. But we have to be mindful of their workload this season.
‘It is a fine balance getting it right. I’m a training fanatic. I’ve made the mistake in the past with young sides of giving them off, then saw a definite feeling of complacency in the camp. What will happen is that the sessions will be much shorter and less intense. We’ll still do some work specifically related to England, but it has been a long season and we need to be smart in how we manage the players.’
Privately Meyer feels fatigue has been central to their second half fades and he stressed the need for his team to sustain through the entire match.
‘We have to put together an 80 minute performance. We’ve only managed that once, against Australia at Loftus,’ he said ‘The main thing is to drop our penalty count. We conceded 17 penalties against Scotland, most of those at scrum time, which is unacceptable. That’s at least 17 minutes that we don’t have the ball. We have to sort that out, so that we can get territory and get on the front foot.
23 Comments
19 Nov 2012, 15:59 pm
This dragon simply refuses to acknowledge there’s anything wrong with the Boks approach to rugby. Another Robbie Deans in the making. Great at provincial levels, out of his depth at international level.
19 Nov 2012, 16:01 pm
‘Beating England would mean we achieve what we set out to, which is to go unbeaten on the year-end tour. No Springboks side has done that for a couple of years, so that would be considered a successful tour,’ he said.
‘It would also mean that we would have lost three games this season. To put that in perspective, the Springboks of 2009, who were considered among the best ever, lost four. If we win against a very tough England side, that would be very good for this young team and one with as many injuries as we’ve had. But we need one more big performance.’
So now the Boks of 2012 are better than the Boks of 2009 if they beat England?
19 Nov 2012, 16:04 pm
Boks will lift it when they face the ‘ Bleekbene’…..
Go Boys….go do it with a bit of swagger…
19 Nov 2012, 16:06 pm
Privately Meyer feels fatigue has been central to their second half fades and he stressed the need for his team to sustain through the entire match.
‘We have to put together an 80 minute performance. We’ve only managed that once, against Australia at Loftus,’ he said ‘The main thing is to drop our penalty count. We conceded 17 penalties against Scotland, most of those at scrum time, which is unacceptable. That’s at least 17 minutes that we don’t have the ball. We have to sort that out, so that we can get territory and get on the front foot.
Meyer, your Boks will never manage an 80 minute performance because your game plan dictates that the forwards get all the ball and do all the work, which largely consists of running headlong into opposing players. Occasionally, the scrumhalf or – when things get really crazy and/or Morne Steyn is on the field – the flyhalf is permitted to kick the ball to the opposition. This results in more work for the forwards in the form of tackling the living daylights out of the opposition.
19 Nov 2012, 16:07 pm
no scale of comparison that was ever used on previous Bok coaches fits Meyer’s approval…he had his own yardsticks so quit trying to box him…
19 Nov 2012, 16:14 pm
The Boks will, in all likelihood, win on Saturday. England were startlingly poor against Australia, dominated by a pack that had been blown away the week before by France. Their forwards are simply too weak to cope with ours.
But this game plan is pathetic and unsustainable.
19 Nov 2012, 16:15 pm
Please leave CJ in the hotel.
19 Nov 2012, 16:37 pm
@kaksioek-2: meyer is delusional…the 2009 Boks played the B&I Lions and not Stuart Lancaster’s newbies!
get real!!”
19 Nov 2012, 17:23 pm
The haters are out in force.
19 Nov 2012, 17:31 pm
@Tacitus-9: hate is the opposite pole of love
indifference.. now that is a dreaded disease.. when springbok supporters start feeling indifferent to what the coach says or does that is when you should start to seriously start worrying.
19 Nov 2012, 17:47 pm
Sorry but we definitely do not “trump England man for man”.
- Dan Coles has the edge over Jannie
- Ben Youngs is better than Pienaar
- Toby Flood more experienced and better than Lambie
- Brad Barrit better than Jean De Villers who is now over the hill
- Manu Tuilagi better than Juan De Jongh and Taute
- Chris Ashton on par with JP
- Charlie Sharples better than Hougaard
- Alex Goode better than Zane Kirchner
We have the edge in the forwards, but they have the edge in the backs.
19 Nov 2012, 17:56 pm
@Kaizan-11: I disagree with that consensus.
Youngs is not better than Pienaar.
His defence is not that sound and his kicking is nowhere near on par.
Coles is quality but has not outdone Jannie before. Jannie has has Coles for breakfast at Twickenham before.
Flood is more experienced than Lambie, you can have that.
Barrit is a quality defender, That’s it….. Nothing with ball in hand.
Tuilagi is better than De Jongh and Taute
Taute is as good as Goode.
Ashton is not better than JP..
Sharples is a light-weight who will be bruised by Hougaard.
Kirchner is ****….. I agree with you…
19 Nov 2012, 19:19 pm
The English backs showed intent against Australia, had plenty of ball, but their handling was terrible.
Not a sign that they are superior to our backs.
We again play it safe and show no intent, also not necessarily a sign that we are better than them.
I hope they have a similar game against the Boks.
19 Nov 2012, 20:54 pm
@Tbozknows-12:
If someone had asked you before the Scotland game who was better between Pienaar and the replacement scrummie for Scotland, Im guessing your answer would have been Pienaar?…. And look what happened… A lot of people on here (myself included) cite Pienaar’s style of play as one of the reasons our attack is so stunted. He has a good kicking game, but slow to recycle the ball.
Coles is a great scrummager and doesnt give away as many penalties as Jannie.
Barrit is better than Jean on current form.
Taute wont be playing fullback, so no point comparing him to Goode.
No one said Ashton was better than JP. I said they were on par. Dont underestimate Ashton, he is a very decent winger who knows his way to the tryline.
Sharples is very quick and has a deadly sidestep… The difference between him and Hougaard is that on current form, Sharples is scoring tries. Hougaard isnt.
19 Nov 2012, 20:59 pm
@Tbozknows-12:
Would much rather have Youngs over Pienaar as the latter is a liability for us. He had a mare against the scots. Despite a dominant forward showing we still only barely won the game.
Sorry but RP is the Morne Steyn of scrumhalves.
19 Nov 2012, 21:32 pm
@Tbozknows-12: think you are underestimating england there sir. Look at your teams performances this year. They havent been great. Maybe its time to admit that some of these players you think are the bees knees are actually average.
19 Nov 2012, 21:39 pm
@Tbozknows-12:
It is hard to compare backlines when one gets and uses the ball and the other does not do anything with it.
You can have all the best individuals in the team you like, but if they do not get the ball or work as a team then you are in trouble.
19 Nov 2012, 22:45 pm
@Daddy-15: ha ha tell that to the English. They’ll be more than happy to exchange Youngs for Ruan.
20 Nov 2012, 00:39 am
Stuart Barnes on sky port site :
Hi Stuart, I know you have said that Australia were the weakest SH side but the boks have looked pretty average – they have ground out a couple of wins but surely England will be able to match them in the set pieces and handle the physicality we know is coming – the boks do not have the brains or the flair behind their pack like Australia do.
Peter Kendal
STUART REPLIES: Peter, England can win but don’t underestimate the brains of Ruan Pienaar. Just as Nathan Sharpe had more caps than the entire England pack, the Ulster scrum half has more brain cells than just about all the England backs combined (Alex Goode is an honourable exception but lacks the experience and CV to be compared with RP) and look what happened up front Saturday.
In fact your analysis of South Africa could have been an analysis of England for the last nine years! We are currently a smaller and inferior version of the Springboks and will not win without doing a few things differently; a win is definitely possible but your fair assessment of South Africa reads a little rich coming from an England supporter
20 Nov 2012, 08:17 am
@Kaizan-11: I Read the first line of your “magnificent” expertise….
“Dan Coles has the edge over Jannie”…
And then I Lol…
and Lol…
and Lol…
20 Nov 2012, 08:19 am
Here’s another good one…
“Chris Ashton on par with JP”….
Hee hee hee hee…
Whoooa…
20 Nov 2012, 08:24 am
Wasn’t 2009 the year that the Boks played 3N, BI Lions, a comprehensive EOYT against all four home nations, including midweek games against Leicester and Sarries… not to mention a Baa Baa Bok game against the ABs right at the end?
Yet Meyer deems it correct to compare Apples with Pears?
The fool is farken sounding as delusional and illogical as skopdiekant under a full moon…
21 Nov 2012, 14:08 pm
@Heavens Game
Seeing as you have a policy of supporting the opposition to “teach Heyneke a lesson”, you have been deemed unworthy of my time and I shant be engaging in debate with an embarrassment like you.
When you become a true Bok supporter, then your opinion might count.
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