Three disasterous Tri-Nations Tests in Anzac and some terrible experimentation in the June Test window, and here we sit…. after a super Super 14 season where 2 South African Teams ruled the roost…
Is it time to wield the knives and chop a few heads in control of the Springboks?
Should Peter de Villiers (coach), Dick Muir (assistant coach), Gary Gold (assistant coach) and even our National captain, John Smit be told “You have reached the end of the road.”?
I am asking these questions, not stating them as fact. I am a disgusted Springbok supporter and I am frustrated!
Let’s look at this as clinically as possible, putting personal grudges aside, placing National Rugby first and let’s forget about Provincial bias.
So, tell me… who do we blame?
Who do we ascribe certain evident shortcomings in the Springbok make-up to?
Do we make wholesale changes or cut 1 or 2 assistants and one or 2 players?
My feeling is that the core of the Springbok squad and Management team should remain, and only cut the really dead wood, which means a player or 2 and an assistant coach or 2.
Let’s ask, where does Springbok rugby’s failings lie at the moment:
- Motivation and mental preparedness seems to be lacking
- Balance is absent in key aspects of play
- Fitness and fatigue is being questioned
- Media blunders are the order of the day
- There is a clear lack of dicipline in player ranks
- Game plans or lack thereof is a problem and those that do exist are stale and last year’s recipy
- Defence is woeful
- On-field combinations do not perform
- Set pieces (lineouts and scrums) are weaker than it should be
- Injuries to key players are hampering play and the style of play
- Lack of depth in a few positions seems to be evident
- Intelligent rugby has made way for thuggery and brainless play
- Tactical kicking has been found severely lacking
There are probably more to consider, so consider the above a shortlist.
We need to ask who is responsible for fixing these shortcomings and a fair assessment has to be made whether those responsible does indeed possess the capacity to fix these problem areas.
Motivation and mental preparedness:
I do not think that there is any doubt that the National coach is responsible for proper player motivation and mental preparedness, whether by man-managing the team players correctly or by utilising experts to help with that.
We have heard from all over that Peter de Villiers is such a good man-manager, such a good motivator… but I’m not of that opinion anymore. There are even rumours of a rift in Bokke camp, but until those are corroberrated it must be held to be mere speculation.
One can clearly see from the media outbursts that Peter de Villiers himself has lost focus, that he’s chasing all sorts of shadows, rather than fulfilling his No 1 priority, that of motivating and coaching the team. In stead we see the blame shifted on Northern Hemisphere referees and all sorts of external factors.
I leave it up to you to brazenly come out and say what you think in this regard!
Balance is absent in key aspects of play:
We have bemoaned the method of player selections…. think about the selection of Jean de Villiers on right wing, that of Ryan Kankowski on blindside flank in stead of at No 8, that of Wynand Olivier, that of Ricky Januarie and Chiliboy Rallepelle. The absence of fetcher flanks have been a hot topic for discussion, the balance of looseforwards have been questioned, the absence of SA’s 2 premium Super 14 hookers have been rued.
These factors, although we have all differed in our exact application thereof, runs through all our general discussions!
Who is in charge of these critical aspects… the National coach and the selectors, of course.
Have they got it right and are we moaning just for the sake of moaning and should we be far more patient with these selections or are we, as armchair critics, hitting the nail squarely on the head, you tell me!
Fittness and fatigue is being questioned:
I do not believe for one minute that there is a lack of general fittness in Bokke ranks, maybe an odd lazy fattie yes, like Ricky Januarie and John Smit, but the rest of the players make up those superstars who competed for the Super 14 title, those whose praises and fittness and endurance we lauded and applauded, those same players who were so expertly managed by the Bulls, Stormers and Sharks.
I say fittness and fatigue is just an excuse to justify other glaring shortcomings!
Tell me how you feel about this, baffle me with your brilliance or bullshit!
Media blundrs are the order of the day:
Peter, this is for your ears, fella, you are almost solely to blame here, the world’s media laughs at you, they say you are a joke and a commedian, a costly joke who puts South Africa in such a bad light, it is’nt even funny.
Won’t you please just shut your trap and concentrate on coaching!
Get your own focus right, get your own house in order… and get down to the business of rugby!
Lack of dicipline:
We can blame 3 different referees all we like, we can contend that they are Northern Hemisphere donkeys for as long as we like, and we might even have a point or 2 in saying that their performances was partly to blame, but let’s look at the Yellow Cards and Suspensions dished out…. Bakkies did in fact headbutt Jimmy Cowan and both Jaque and Jean did in fact tip-tackle their 2 opponents…. those infringements and subsequent bannings cannot be laid at the foot of a referee… those were obvious and blatent indiscressions!
In addition the penalty count hardly favours us, it hardly would with such little possession of the ball.
3 Tests down under and 3 times we had to play for a duration of the game with less than all our players on the field. This only means ONE THING, our dicipline sucks!
John Smit, our National captain, should be able to control his charges on field and Peter de Villiers should make it clear that undiciplined players will be severely dealt with.
In stead, John Smit is one of those unfit players who barely manages to keep up with the pace of the game and Peter de Villiers tries to deflect criticism by moaning about other matters and coming up in defence of clear diciplinary blunders by players.
Personally I have had enough of on-field ill-dicipline now to last me a lifetime, I am deeply disapointed by the thuggish behaviour perpetrated by 3 of our most experienced Springboks.
I want SA rugby to clear up their dicipline considerably, what do you think?
Game plans or lack thereof is a problem and those that do exist are stale and last year’s recipy:
Anybody who is of the opinion that the Springbok Game Plans are sound and need no correction? Come on, hands up!
Go and stand in the corner with the sign around your neck, which reads “I am an ass!”
It is patently clear that with application of the rules, as they currently stand, that possession has been far more important than in previous seasons. Yet the Springboks choose to apply exactly the same game tactics as last year, with the exception that they now do not have the availability of a few key players to execute those game plans!
Juan Smith, Heinrich Brussow, Fourie du Preez, JP Pietersen and Bismarck du Plessis are not in the squad, neither do our current wings seem interested enough this year to follow kicks up as dilligently as last year. In stead we opt for players who just cannot fulfil those obligations and roles and we shun those who would have been almost equal substitutes to be able to fulfil those roles with distinction.
Change the mindset Mr Coach, approach the game much more with the breakdown battle in mind, with sound defensive structures sorted out… and for goodness sakes, play to strenghts where the Bokke abound with ability.
You cannot continue last year’s recipy, the barley is stale, the hops are all “vrot”, the brew is sour!
Defence is woeful:
When last in our whole rugby history have the Springbok defence been so terrible?
Did we not see a blueprint for this type of terrible defence earlier in the year at the Lions….. oh yes we did, hey Mr Dick Muir!
How many more first time tackles must be missed to realise that this is simply not good enough?
Boys, why in heavens name have you not studied the Stormers defensive patterns and talked to Alistair Coetzee, Robbie Fleck and the brainstrust at the Stormers, hell their defence was top-notch barely 2 months ago against the same foe!
Buckle up, we’re in for a bumpy ride if this trend continues!
On-field combinations do not perform:
Does our backrow forwards inspire any confidence, do they gel as a unit?
Does Ricky combine well with Morné Steyn and the forwards in front of him?
Does Wynand Olivier and Jaque Fourie combine well as centres and are they a potent weapon on attack together?
Does our front row achieve at least parity in set pieces?
… no, none of these questions have a positive answer, in fact quite the opposite is true….
Select looseforwards who compliment each other, play a scrumhalf who plays in the mould of our injured General, Fourie du Preez and play a combination in the centres who shone for their Super 14 Franchise together, Juan de Jongh and Jacque Fourie!
Set-pieces are weaker than it should be:
So, old Os du Randt is with the Bokke as an assistant…. fine player he was… but is he a coach of substance at all?
Not if you look at the state of our scrums, not if you look at how far back we’ve been scrummed in only 3 Tests!
Victor Matfield, what’s wrong with you, you seem to have lost your lineout lustre bud…. time to step up to the plate again and study why they manage to neutralise you so easily now!
John (Barney the fat dinasaur) Smit… Cappie, your lineout throwing is just absolutely ghastly, fella. Tell us if you’ve reached sell-by date or get with the program, for goodness sakes! No wonder the media are wondering whether you should still be in the fold!
Injuries to key players are hampering play and the style of play:
Oh where is Fourie du Preez, where is Heinrich Brussow. Come on, get better soon… we miss you…. we need you!
We need a right wing like the JP Pietersen of a couple of seasons ago, not the one mascarading as JP Pietersen this season!
We need Fransie Steyn back in SA, one who’s head is swithed on and not up the arse of his agent. One who is not so focussed on the skirts in Paris and one who will give his heart back to rugby in SA!
Bismarck du Plessis, as much as I do not like your ill-dicipline, get better fella, John Smit is dragging the boat down at hooker. We need your extra fetching capabilities at the breakdown points…..
Else, kindly bring Gary Botha or Tiaan Liebenberg to the table, things cannot continue as they are in the hooker berth!
Lack of depth in a few positions seems to be evident:
Do I really have to convince you that we are a bit short in depth at tighthead prop in SA, or that we have not prepared someone in Brussow’s absence… or heaven forbid Morné Steyn breaks down with injury at flyhalf.
What happens if Jaque Fourie is injured or suspended….. wait, that has just happened!
When are we going to address proper depth in these positions?
Intelligent rugby has made way for thugby and brainless play:
Having looked at the styles of play of the All Blacks and this past weekend the Wallabies and compare the style of Springbok play against that, I can only come to one conclusion, we play dumb, brainless rugby.
Come on Peter, you have to come up with more intelligent play, something which will jolt the other teams into errors, not this same old, lame routine. Are you with me or still running around blaming referees?
Come on, forget what Dickie says, he does’nt know much about rugby anyway, phone Pieter Slapchips at the Bulls and Fleckie at Province… fix the thing man… and use a proper mechanic!
Tactical kicking has been found severely lacking:
Tactical kicking, when done well, is a wonderful weapon in the rugby armoury, but then you need the personnel to effect tactical kicking well…. and Rickie Januarie is not one of them!
…and if you do not have the personnel to do it, stear away from it, because doing it badly means only one thing, turnover possession!
This is not rocket science, fellas… give us what we want and what the Nation deserves!
@ LondonBul:
As hulle hom fire ontketen dit weer n hele reeks ander nie rugby geraamtes
@ superBul:
Ja, ons is met hom opgeskeep tot die RWC 2011. Plus dit gaan SARU ‘n moerse lot geld kos om van hom ontslae te raak.
Hopelik kan Heynecke oornaam daarna en dinge weer uitsort.
@ LondonBul:
Soos ek vroeer gese het EJ het Jake gered, hoop maar Peter kan dieselfde inspirerende aansteling doen.
Regtig manne, die sirkus is verby. Die eerste keer toe ek vir Snorre gehoor het, was toe Schuster hom uitgevang het daar buite Nuweland by die treinstasie, deur hom daardie heliumgas te laat suig het. Nooit gedink hy gaan eendag ‘n bokafrigter word nie, maar nou ja, in SA is alles moontlik.
Sal nou ‘n nuwe afrigtingspan en kaptein moet aanstel.
Dit gaan ons net mooi niks help om al drie tuiswedstryde in die 3N te wen nie, ons moet oorsee in NZ en Aus kan wen, daar waar dit saak maak. Die slag is gelewer, die afrigters en sekere spelers is geweeg en te lig bevind, game-set-and-match, overs ka dovers, ‘n nuwe bedeling moet nou begin.
Looking in from outside the bokke bunker, may I pass my own view on the situation that Springbok rugby finds itself in?
For a start, don’t let anyone tell you that Rugby-Talk bloggers aren’t smart and don’t know their rugby. This analysis from GBS and subsequent comments, the likes of 4man et al, make excellent reading. GBS raises the relevant issues and highlights ALL the negative factors currently affecting bok results.
To my mind, old mate 4man hit the nail on the head when he blames lack of leadership; my definition of leadership is: The ability to move the human heart; to show others that by accepting the leader’s vision of a situation and acknowledging that by helping the leader in the achievement of his/her goals, the individual’s goals and objectives will also be achieved along the way, to the overall satisfaction of all.
My question: does PdV, in the execution of his role, provide leadership as I define it?
GBS gives close analysis of factors and problems, i.e. game plans, fitness, thuggish behaviour, etc. However, those issues are all part and parcel of the symptomatic status of the SA game, they form the diagnosis, the prognosis must relate to leadership, IMHO.
Nonetheless, I don’t doubt for one minute that the boks are going to be extremely difficult for both the ABs and the Wallabies to beat at home in the coming weeks.
Personally I would like to see Jake, Eddie Jones and Gert Small and maybe Allister back as coaches. I believe that will sort everything.
I don’t think that will happen so for PdV to fix this he need to: 1) select inform and proven combinations and stick with that 2) stop chopping and changing the starting line-up 3) work hard on the defense and breakdown structures 4) bring back Juan Smit, Brussouw, Bismarck and Frans Steyn 5) stop bringing players of colour from nowhere into the bok squad in the hope of finding black superstars.
I’ve got nothing against players of colour but you don’t become a superstar overnight. All superstars like Federer and Tiger Woods reach stardom after at least 10 years of consistent exposure to competition at the highest level. It is unfair to the player, the team and SA rugby to throw inexperienced players with talent in at the deep end.
In essence I agree with almost everything in this post and feel just as frustrated and disgusted.
Stop the players from talking to the press. Especially about the Refs.
Read this on Supersport
And while Peter de Villiers and John Smit hid their frustrations well at the televised post-match press conference, it was left to Ruan Pienaar, speaking to the travelling media, to express the anguish all the players must have been feeling with the performance of yet another Irish referee in George Clancy.
“It was very disappointing. It was very tough for us in the breakdowns and I thought there were a couple of harsh decisions against us, especially on attack. They spoilt our ball, slowed it down a couple of times. I’m sure Australia will be happy with the way the breakdowns were blown in this game, but I thought the referee was harsh on us. Every time we made a mistake in the ruck, he penalised us, but when they did the same thing, they would get away with it,” Pienaar said. “Every time we got some good momentum, they would get their hands on the ball, fall over it, and it certainly didn’t help us.”
grootblousmile wrote:
1. where is the wonderful leadership of JS, on field shock showed by senior men not good body language.
4. was under control for a while, maybe we must get a player or 2 to confirm their support for PdV if they still do. We must stand behind our man, to hell with the All Blacks and Aussies calling our coach a clown.
5. Maybe the buddy buddy approach by Div must stop.
6. Our players do not believe a word that DM says, who in their right mind can after this years S14.
7. Defense is non existing or NO it is there Lions style , like Dick Muir taught them.
8. Combinations? what combinations.The selections is plain stupid.
10. The only one where we really dont have a equal replacement is Fourie du Preez. The other players can be replaced if the right ones are picked
13. Execution is poor, the kick is as good as the chase and the follow up
super @ 23
exactly
en ons juis 1 van hul eie op die oomblik in sa besig om ñ cc span af te rig, 😉 😉
Look if they are going to stick with PDV he need s to change a few things.
We all want a coach that has confidence in his own convictions, but he also needs to be less sensitive to criticism and humble enough to realise that it is not working.
He needs to relplace Dick Muir as a matter of urgency. Preferably with Pieter Russouw.
He needs to replace Gary Gold with Heineke Meyer.
Keep Os and Percy.
Then he needs to call in all the respected coaches of the Super 14 and give them a session where they can criticise the players, himself and the game plan in order for all the negatives to be surfaced.
Only then will they be able to move forward.
As far as the players are concerned. They are not over the hill, but they need rest.
Remove John Smit, Victor Matfield, Morne Steyn, Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana and perhaps a few others away from rugby after the Tri NAtions and let them not touch a rugby ball for 3 months, this is the only way for them to switch off, mentally, physically and revitalise their passion for rugby. If this is not done, we will not stand a chance to win RWC 2011.
superbul @ 39
agree but for point 13
think both nz and aus are playing from deeper, especially their back 3, than they’ve done last year
result of it is when we now kick on them, they have all the time in the world to field those kicks and counterattack
if we try to kick into the space now created, it becomes a 50/50 ball as they also run unto the ball, where from the position they’ve played from last year they wouldve been sitting ducks
biltongbek @ 41
well said!!
SA played very well against France, wobbled a bit against Wales and Italy. PDV must get rid of his 2 assistants. Appoint 2 capable and adaptable coaches in their place.
He must also get rid of his video analyst and put JW in his place, because JW it is brilliant at that.
.
And rest players urgently. And select like players for like. If FS is not selected, who else can fit the bill with long range penalties and drops?
Not rocket science
lions4ever @ 43
ive also thought about jake as an analyst
but
who’s gonna coach the team from the behind the bushes (yeah, thats one of the reasons ive heard for the success of last year …. can you believe it)
if jake is part of the coaching staff?
😆
44
shouldve been … from behind the bushes
Best thing about this weekend is!!! Wait for it, wait for it…..
THE BOKS CAN’T LOOSE.
Volgende naweek is dit weer wildtuin tyd. Gaan veld toe en kyk hoe k@k die bokke.
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