For those who want Heynecke Meyer as Springbok coach , here is a article by Simnikiwe Xabanisa where Meyer reveals some of his rugby knowledge and thoughts.
Former Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer thinks it’s more a case of the laws playing into the All Blacks’ hands: “The new rules, especially at the breakdown, favour them. They’ve always played a continuity game that goes through phases.”
Meyer said the game favoured ball-in-hand teams.
“The ball is in play more now and it suits the All Blacks to keep it because all the 50/50 calls go for the team with the ball,” he said. “It suits them because their players have got unbelievable skills and ability.”
The question vexing South Africans who go to FNB Stadium for the historic Test against the All Blacks on Saturday, is how can they be beaten?
Meyer said the most important thing was to accept that “you can never beat them at their own game”.
“You need to break their rhythm, play a stop-start game and force the set-pieces because the only place you can attack them is the set-pieces,” he said.
“If you kick out you need to sacrifice distance to make sure that you kick into the stands to stop their quick lineouts. “They can definitely be taken at the lineouts and we’re good enough to do that.”
Meyer said it was more difficult to put pressure on their scrum, because it is good, but “at least your defence is set”.
Having already mentioned line kicking, he said a huge part of the answer lay in kicking.
“When you kick off, you have to mix things up by kicking short and down the middle so that guys like Victor (Matfield) can contest the ball,” he explained. “If you kick long, they keep it and are good enough to do that for 15 phases, and suddenly you’re under pressure on your own 22.”
Meyer cautioned that the kicking would have to be judicious: “People think it’s easy to have a good kicking game – Fourie du Preez has worked for eight or nine years to have a kicking game like that. The All Blacks have also worked hard on their back-three’s reception of the high ball and they’re basically picking fullbacks there at the moment.”
Meyer said kicking along the ground could also be useful. “You need to turn them by kicking long grubbers to the corners because they can’t counter-attack from that. Also, if you kick behind them they can run out of steam because they won’t change the way they play.”
He said altitude could also play its part. “What you want is for them not to get early points so you don’t have to play catch up,” he said. “If you kick correctly, altitude can catch them out in the last 20 minutes.”
At the breakdown, Meyer said the Boks couldn’t afford to give them quick ball, so they would have to appoint an openside flanker to disrupt them.
Asked how the All Blacks’ new high tempo could be countered he said the easiest way was to have the ball: “We never had the ball in the first two Tests and under the new laws the team that has the ball is the team that controls the game. “But in the last 20 minutes we must force the pace because they will tire at altitude.”
Good thoughts. I tend to agree with all that.
Cobus Visagie had this to say
What has he made of the Boks’ performances recently?
“There are a number of problem areas but I think what I’m most qualified to comment on is the scrum. You have to ask why it is possible that we have the heaviest pack of forwards in world rugby but can’t outscrum Australia? That for me is kind of worrying.
“If you look at Aus v NZ for instance, technically and with regard to the speed of the game, things have picked up again with the law changes and I think that perhaps we are lagging behind and have been shown up.
“With the game speeding up, the breakdown in particular, the size of our players is counting against us and it shows in our defence at times,” he says.
What about refereeing?
Saracens fell foul of refereeing interpretations that saw their boss, Brendan Venter, face a disciplinary hearing last season. Can he sympathise with the Boks struggling with the interpretations in the Tri-Nations?
“The criticisms of the interpretations by the refs were valid and we found the same things with Saracens last season. We played two styles across the season as we had to change the game plan because the refs changed their outlook. We can’t say the rules have changed because they haven’t that much but their interpretation and the directives of the ref co-ordinators changed massively and that affected the players.”
What else is wrong with the Boks?
“We’re doing quite well in the lineouts and kicking well, but not exceptionally. There needs to be massive improvement in the scrum because the pressure is going to increase as there is a move to reward the dominant scrum via penalties.
“The biggest area where they’ve let themselves down is the defensive patterns. The Boks have been found to be narrow on defence a number of times and look slow, whereas in 1995 and 2007 and under Mallett it was good. Either the defence coach isn’t good enough or there’s a problem in the team.”
Why can’t we have Heyneke Meyer as the Bok coach. Why is SARU short sighted? Personal racial quests imho. Sigh
@ rugbybal:
If you read the next article you might not feel so desperate. PdV is not that way off.
The one thing i agree in the next article is his view on motivation. Victor as a prime leader in the Bok team must feel a bit flat now. I know he wont say it now but read his book after retirement. He pushed himself and his troops to goals all the time. There must be very little in this 3N to play for. Add to that , his real motivational partner FdP is not there and one can see why the Bok brains trust is not at 100%
Look everyone in the back of their minds is aiming for 2011. The Soweto test will have a great motivational purpose. If we beat them here then it will be all forgotten, then we have to try and get ourself up for the Aussies.
All this said it is worrying that we lost our motivation against our arch rivals the All Blacks. The best thing will be to drop the EOY grand slam dream and rest all the big guns.
4@ superBul:
Comparing Peter and Heyneke is like comparing a bicycle and a high performance Sports car…
Heyneke sees exactly what should be fixed and how the All Blacks should be played, Peter cannot see the wood from the trees….
The difference is truly staggering….
That said… I like Peter.. I just wish he would leave the sideshows though and focus… and for goodness sakes Peter, get rid of your 2 current Assistants… and get a quality man like Heyneke envolved. The leading Forwards exponents in coaching circles are Heyneke and Proudfoot… and anybody, yes anybody is better than Muir for the backline, how’s about Pieter Rossouw or Fleckie for that role…
@ grootblousmile:
His loyalty , or is it forced on him, to Muir and Gold will be his downfall.
He is still keeping all the politicians off our back and he still have the team behind him but he needs new experts in tho fields. Creative back line and defense.
@ grootblousmile:
One thing that Peter picked up this week is that the 2 styles the Springboks play is confusing. Will be interesting to see how it was fixed. Will he go for the WP or Sharks/Bulls approach.
@ grootblousmile: hoe’s daai kop vandag GBS?
@ superBul:
Super I do agree with you. PDV is not far off the ball, but why can’t we have the best? Boks should have the best, in SA it has become a norm to settle for second best because of racial shit.
Look, we have to support Pieter de Villiers, he is our coach. but for goodness sake, why keep Dick Muir and Gary Gold, is it not time for some fresh ideas?
We have to support Divvie, yes… but it does not mean we have to be blind as far as his obvious shortcomings are concerned.
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