Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has a few tough calls to make after Bryan Habana and John Smit struggled through Saturday’s Tri-Nations Test against the Wallabies at Loftus Versfeld.
News24
While man of the match Francois Hougaard made it clear afterwards that the Boks intend crushing the Aussies in Saturday’s second Test in Bloemfontein, it will be difficult to do that if all the senior players are not performing well.
If Smit inspired his troops with some inspirational words for their comeback in the 44-31 victory, it would have been his most significant contribution as he was virtually invisible on the field.
Habana was a lot more visible, but for the wrong reasons. He conceded two tries. The first came after he dropped the ball from an Aussie kick-off and the second when he was caught in possession when he tried to run from deep inside his own 22m area.
“He missed one ball and slipped. I don’t think there is a lot to be worried about,” De Villiers said when asked about Habana’s form.
De Villiers seldom criticises the performances of his players in public. However, he probably would have thought hard about calling up Bismarck du Plessis, Gio Aplon or even Bjorn Basson.
Sport24 learned on Sunday evening that Aplon will link up with the Boks on Monday.
Frans Steyn also had an unhappy day in the No 15 jersey at Loftus, but it will be counter-productive to axe him now.
De Villiers made the point on Saturday night that some of his senior players are exhausted and that is probably the case with Smit and Habana.
Sports scientist Prof. Tim Noakes listed Smit and Habana among the players who should not have toured Europe in November last year because by then they had already played more than the recommended 1600 minutes for the season.
Chiliboy Ralepelle made an immediate impact when he replaced Smit on Saturday and twice won turnover possession for the Boks.
However, Du Plessis’ record for the Boks suggests that he should be their first choice for the No 2 jersey.
De Villiers admitted that the workload on senior players like Habana, Smit and Victor Matfield was too heavy.
“I have to look after them and make some difficult decisions over the next few months. If it works, it will make South Africa very proud and happy.”
This could point to the players possibly not touring Britain and Ireland in November rather than there being drastic steps straight away.
Hougaard’s performances at scrumhalf in the last two games also showed how effective young players can be when introduced at the right time.
A major positive from the Loftus Test is the character that the Boks showed to fight back after conceding three tries inside the first 10 minutes.
Smit acknowledged that the lack of accuracy in the first half was a problem.
“When last did you see Bryan knock the ball or slip? It’s the kind of mistakes we’ll have to cut out. It’s not the kind of Test rugby that will win the World Cup,” he said.
Hougaard is aiming for a spectacular victory on Saturday.
“I don’t think we’re going for 17-10, we want to crush them this time.”
Met Uysh in his blog called For the love of it, posted this last week. OK , almost all others disagree, but read his stats compilation.
I had a moment this morning when I, once again, got totally mindless in anger with Supersport’s, Gavin Rich. Many people cannot see for themselves how players perform on the day and they rely on the media to inform them. If that media is biased in any way, a fair picture cannot be painted. For instance, the Rapport reported Bryan Habana’s performance as a 6 out of 10, and said he had a good game. No mention of his coming off the defensive line time and again.
Gavin Rich took a positive article and could not resist taking a stab at Captain John Smit again. Saying, as fact, that he had a mediocre performance! Now, let’s take a step back Gavin, and ask, on what basis, do you single out John Smit, and say he had a mediocre performance?
John Smit made 19 successful tackles. He missed 2 tackles, one which was because Nonu’s boot slipped off.
Compare this to our best loose forwards. Juan Smith: Made 20, missed 1. Schalk Burger (who had a fantastic game!) Made 19 missed 3!
Smit was in fact the best forward defender after Juan Smith!
Ball Carries. Smit handled the ball 8 times. He passed it 6 times, of which 1 resulted in the creation of an opportunity. He then carried the ball twice, both times crossing the gain line and winning 5.5metres each time.
Again, lets look at our best player of the day, Juan Smith and also our best front row this year, Guthro.
Juan Smith handled the ball 12 times, passed it 5 times and 1 resulted in the creation of an opportunity.He carried the ball 10 times and made the gain line 5 times, including a line break. He made 8.3metres per carry.
Guthro, in this match, handled the ball 7 times and passed it once, but didn’t create any opportunities. He carried the ball 5 times, only crossing the gain line twice. He won 3 metres per carry.
We can just as well also look at Spies, who’s job it is to carry the ball over the gain line. He only succeeded 57% of the time, and when he did, he won a measily 3 metres.
Let’s look at rucks, or the first three at the rucks, both defensive and attacking. Smit was the first three on 22 occasions. Burger was there on 23 occasions. Now, forgive me if I am wrong, but it is the loose forward’s job to be first at just about each and every ruck situation? They are much faster and agile than a hooker. Van Der Merwe, who also had a great game, got to 20 of the rucks.
Habana is n QUOTA.
true banana habana is a quota but aplon will be the same… I never thought i will say this but will rather have aplon on the pitch than babana….
habana needs to go back to currie cup and find form, perhaps he needs to rest as well, although I think in his case this is perhaps a smoke screen, he may have been on a rugby pitch for more than the suggested minutes, but then his workrate has been poor, you can’t compare his 1600 minutes with that if John smit’s
Just wonderfull how the Bulls supporters completely ignore the sad Spies and critisize other players?
Pilletjie, Habana ain’t no quota, but you are a racist.
@ Boerboel:
I don’t think anyone is ignoring the performances of Spies, having said that he did have a better game this weekend.
But you can’t ignore the blatant mistakes Habana has made over the last weeks.
He keeps on breaking the line on defense, and this weekend his mistakes cost us two tries.
I do also hope that Aplon plays in place of Habana, Aplon has shwon his guts and determination, and it will be the best thing for SA rugby if Habana realises that his place is up for grabs if he doesn’t perform.
@ biltongbek:
My problem is with Pill and Durban Bulle referring to Habana as a quota. Durban Bulle even include Aplon as a quota.
Habana did make mistakes and serious ones, I don’t ignore that.
7@ Boerboel:
Well I suppose you must take it from whence it comes.
Not sure how anyone will discribe Habana as quota, he holds the record with Lomu for the most tries in a RWC, he was also rugby player of the year in 2007.
He won the bulls their first Super 14 title and also shares the record with Joost for most tries scored in a springbok jersey.
Wow!
@ biltongbek:
Sentimentality has no place on a rugby field and there are many fine young wingers putting their hands up.
Spies is being exposed time and time again and I’d love to see what a trio of Brussouw, Juan Smit and Joe van Niekerk can do. Balanced in every way, but that’s fantasy.
How is Joe doing currently?
@ Die Valk:
I am not sentimental in any way my friend, I have no problem when a player who is clearly off form to be replaced.
I am merely showing that a player with his achievements cannot be seen as a quota player.
The problem you have with joe van niekerk is simple, he doesn’t play in SA, we have a plethora of talent in the back row, so how do you compare him with what we see week in and week out?
5@ Boerboel:
Gedra jouself Boerboel… hier vloek en skel ons mekaar nie uit as rasiste nie.. dit sal nie weer geduld word nie!
@ grootblousmile:
Huh? Wie vloek en skel? Wat noem jy dit as na iemand van kleur verwys word as ‘n kwota? As jy die woord rassis wil verban moet jy maar kwota byvoeg op jou lys.
12@ Boerboel:
Dis nie onderhandelbaar nie, jammer.
1@ superBul:
Gavin Rich is a Sharks supporter…. by the way. Heard him on Saturday telling Cardinelli, who sat next to him in the Press bench that.
So it speaks volumes I suppose from a Sharks supporter to suggest that a Shark (John Smit) did not play that well.
My own observations during the game was that Chiliboy made a very positive impact when he came on to replace John Smit…. he immediately was everywhere on defence and critically stole 2 balls in a very short space of time.
To me, Habana was the worst Bok on the field, and from the chorus of moans and groans as well as laughter around me, it seemed that the journalists agreed with me, it was a hot topic for conversation at halftime and after the game too…. and a journalist even asked Snorrie that question outright at the presser. Last week already I called for Habana to be put to pasture (amongst others) and this week was just affirmation for me that I’m spot-on in making that call.
gooooooooooooooodmorning everyone!!
just a few observations from saturday’s game
..
1. francois hougaardt have the ability to become as good as (if not better than) fourie du preez …. just hope fourie dupreez will continue playing an active role in the development of this player
2. juan smit … jys ñ fokken yster, mater!!
3. habana …. hmmm, what to do? keep playing him or send him back to his province? yes, he’s had a shocker in that first few minutes, but became better as the game went on. in fact, habana on two occassions that i know of were in excellent positions to score after running excellent lines. had he scored on those occasions, would everyone still have felt that he needed to be dropped or would the general consensus be that he has shown glimses of returning to form and that we should stick with him a little longer?
ashley @ 15
bloody hell
its afternoon already!!! 😯
..
phew, been
busy as a bee
busy
busy
busy!!
Hello All
What I would really like is the computer boffins (Bos Otter) etc….to put the live feed up as soon as they find it.
I am hopeless at searching the games out. I did get to see about 20 mins of the game at the end….the important bits….Vic dominating the later line outs, a lovely Bok try and Frans Steyns new chins.
@ Ashley:
It’s only 11.10am here……I have been super productive too, now a blog/skype moment coming on I think!! 😉
hoesit all habanna is tired same as juan last year same as vic john danie bakkies if not rested they will break down physycally like fdp or mentally like bakkies,give the young guns a chance and let the old dogs rest for the wc next year we will need them and we will need them at 100 percent not 80 or 90
bluebird @ 18
😯 surely not as productive as me!! 😯
no-one can be as productive as me … 😯 or can they? 😥
@ Ashley:
I’m sure I am, well at least maybe when I can be bothered 🙂
To me, the debate about incumbant Bokke players and their form is an important issue.
In some positions SA is fortunate to have very able players waiting in the background…. for instance we have Bjorn Basson and Lwazi Mvovo just itching to get a run at left wing, both in fine try-scoring form, solid on defence.
Similarly we have some of the world’s top hookers not in the Bokke fold at the moment… Bissie, Tiaan Liebenberg, Gary Botha and Adriaan Strauss.
The problem areas regarding depth surely has to be Tight Head prop, Flyhalf, Outside centre and Fullback… but even here we have some options…. think about Lambie at flyhalf, Juan de Jongh who could cover either Inside or Outside centre, Aplon and Kirchner and Daniller as Fullback options.
Having played so much rugby, these upcoming players need to be in consideration for the end of year tour… leave the clearly fatigued at home then…
Only one more Tri-Nations match left… this coming Saturday, where I expect to see these jaded players take the field again and few, if any, changes made to the team and squad.
@ grootblousmile:
Selections are key. If the coaches select the right players, there is enough depth. But and this is my biggest concern, we need to start selecting on merit only, and the adminitstrators need to realise they are causing more harm than good by not having a public and behind closed doors policy of merit only.
@gbs ek stem saam met jou dit wil my voorkom of asof prof noaks se voorspelling waar word,nou weet ek mense gaan se maar die blacks speel net so veel rugby.as jy gaan kyk na die blacks is hulle senior spelers gem 4 jaar jonger as die bokke se groot 5 en daar le die probleem
24@ smallies72:
Op wie moet ons die fatigue en hoeveelheid minute gespeel blameer?
Is ‘n groot deel van die blaam nie op Snorrie self nie…
Hiermee bedoel ek byvoorbeeld Matfield wat nooit teen Wallis moes gespeel het na die Super 14 Final nie, miskien ook nie die 2 of 3 weke daarna nie…
John Smit wat miskien ook nie moes gespeel het in die 1ste deel van die Junie Toetsvenster nie…. en daai klomp goeie hakers moes ingespan gewees het… Gary Botha & Tiaan Liebenberg veral.
In die plek van Habana MOES beide Bjorn Basson en Lwazi Mvovo al genoeg kans gekry het.
Op heelagter moes daar nie die kommunikasieprobleme tussen Snorrie en Fransie Steyn gewees het nie.
Duane Vermeulen en / of Willem Alberts moes lankal in Spies se plek diens gedoen het.
In Ricky Januarie se plek moes daar al van die 1ste week in Junie ‘n ander ou gewees het.
Beast moes al so 2 keer in die plek van Gurthro gespeel het (nie dat Gurthro swak is nie).
Vaskopstut is die moeilikste van die lot…. wie moes nog daar kans gekry het??
When Habana went to Slaapstad I remember writing that if he is not carefull it could be the beginning of the downhill to his rugby.
New Wife, lekker Slaapstad social life and a new team enviroment.
He needs to think about his personal hunger for achievement in the game.
Too many distractions!!
26@ tight head:
It’s all about the pace mate.
Get it, got it, THE PACE
Haha!
@gbs vaskoppe word beter soos hulle ouer word ek sal by die twee bly maw dup en van verder sal ek hulle so sterk as moontlik maak want vaskop os nou een plek wat jy nie denamiet soek nie maar domkrag dan sal ek kruger en nel op die selle pad sit wat jou sal op stel tot en met 2015
Habs seems to be in the wrong place on the field all the time, i mean isnt a wing an opportunist player that hangs around the fringes waiting for the ball.
met nel en kruger kan jy tot 2020 gaan beide is nog bitter jonk
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