Rugby is a highly emotionally driven medium, but Springbok coach Peter de Villiers will do well to apply some sober thinking as he plans to fix what has gone wrong in the last 10 months.
We have heard from just about every expert in just about every field of what the possible cause for the problems are Springbok rugby has experienced since to European tour in 2009, but like going through the birth of your first child and learning from your mistakes as a parent, Peter de Villiers will be well served to take note of all the advice and opinions, but only take forward what he will need to be a more successful coach from now to the World Cup.
As a first-time parent you are flooded with information and opinions from anyone or anything who regards themselves as an expert in the field of parenting. Of course not really knowing what you are doing at first, you try and read and listen as much to guys out there but you also quickly figure out that only certain aspects of parenting apply to you and your child, and although there are some hits and misses in those initial months and years, you pretty much know and trust yourself to know what the best way forward is for both of you.
As far as metaphors go this is about as close as to what I can imagine De Villiers is feeling right now albeit him being the stepfather in this instance ‘adopting’ Jake White’s baby.
You want to be the best you can be for your ‘baby’ and do all the right things but you are also very consciously aware that not all tips and information applies so much to you and that sometimes, the risk of doing the not so nice things now will pay dividends in the near future which means you have to bear and grunt through the bad times knowing it is for the greater good of your ‘baby’.
Emotionally De Villiers has invested quite a lot in certain individuals when he started out, in many ways those investments paid off but since this baby, the Springboks, have grown and matured he also has to be very honest with himself if those same individuals and investments applies to his child which has now grown and matured a bit in the last 3 years.
These investments include his support staff as much as it does certain players and given where this team finds itself now, Peter will do well to honestly assess if those individuals still add the value, or are as necessary as they were in those initial months and years he took charge.
I also figured out with my own son that as he grew older I could not let him get away with as much as I did in those initial months and years and as he got more mature and wise, I had to be more disciplined with him.
This could also very much apply to Peter and the Springboks to not only make him become a better father or coach, but also let his babies or players benefit from a much harder stance and more disciplined environment to ensure they also develop.
As with your child, you will never be able to totally detached emotion from your method of guidance and parenting, and the same applies with rugby. For a sport so driven by emotion it is one of the key ingredients of the game but it also should never override logic and the obvious no matter how tough it sometimes is or will be.
Now is the time for Peter to take away those freedoms and toys he allowed his ‘baby’ in those initial years and introduce mediums, objects and a more disciplined environment to stimulate this team to better things and not allow them to become stuck and limited to all those things that works for a 1-year-old team.
Pretty soon when it comes to being schooled, he will realise that his ‘baby’ already 4 years old still has the mind and mindset of a 1-year-old and that all his friends has moved on leaving him behind to join the ‘Sonskyn’ class, and no tantrums or fighting will be able to allow him to catch up to his peers.
Being a parent like being a coach is tough, you don’t always get it right, but the reward of seeing your baby or team grow and mature makes all those tough times and tough calls you had to make worthwhile.
All this makes the old cliché of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater take on a whole new meaning doesn’t it?
“the brain develops in human beings from conception to birth. This rapidly developing process is affected continually by the environment in which it is taking place. What mothers eat, drink, and feel– the environments which they themselves experience– affect daily the neural development of their unborn child”
This is from website I found. Let’s say PDV is the mother, then he better watch what he eats and drink (say and do) as it might screw up the baby’s development 🙂
lol…hierdie artikel laat my terugdink na my studente jare. Kan nie mooi onthou waar dit was nie, dink amper dit was in Potch (of Bloemfontein), waar die eerste-jaar meisies met bakstene moes rondloop. Die bakstene was hulle babies en hulle moes agter die bakstene kyk asof hulle lewens daarvan afhang. Amper soos wat ons vertel is ons gewere is ons vrouens in dier army, en jy mag haar nie laat val nie 🙂
Morne, n’ baie mooi “analogy” meneer.
Morne, nice artikel. Ek is seker sommige mense gaan met my saamstem, is dat n mens geneig is om jou eerste kind oorbekermd groot te maak. Baie mense gee hulle tweede kind meer leisels, met die gevolg dat die eerst kind in baie gevalle die slim een of die mees geskoolde een is, en jou tweede kind die meer sportiewe waaghalsige een. Ek reken wat ek wil se is dat mens versigtig moet wees hoe jy jou baby help om te ontwikkel, want mens staan die gevaar om partykeer te veel op een ding te fokus en laat dan sodoende jou baby nie toe om die basics te reg te doen nie.
@ bos_otter:
A nice expansion on the analogy and I agree. That could also well be the case.
Jis…ek is niks lus wir werk vandag nie…my produductivity het soppas zero geslaan.
Bos, jy is reg, PDV moet sy kind nou meer “waaghalsig” groot maak.
Ek voel dit so aan my gat dat Divvie se Springbok babatjie nou ‘n verwaarloosde 3-jarige is, met so vuilbekkie en snot wat uit die neus loop… so wille kyk in die ogies…
… en die 2 Babysitters, Dicky en Gary…. sit eenkant en dop terwyl die baby sopas 3 keer in sy broekie gakakkas het….
Morne, jy gannie girls oppie saait broeis maak met hierie thread! 😉
GBS, terwyl altwee “Don’t worry, pee nappy! sing”…..
11@ fender:
Bwahahahhahaaaa
Netso….
… en terwyl hulle elkeeen ‘n spliffie vou….
@ grootblousmile: lol…so true
Let’s strip away all the information and characters involved and have a no nonsense look at what we have seen the last 3 games.
After that we can all ask ourselves the million dollar questions:
How is this going to be fixed?
Does the current coaching team have the ability to fix it?
We have seen our team unable to keep up with the pace of the game.
We have seen our team unable to match the ball handling and ball retention skills of the opposition.
Amongst others, these are the 2 most concerning factors to me.
These problems are not small and are not fixed very quickly.
Pace relates to condition, athletic speed and correct running lines.
Ball handling and retention, especially done at pace, are not skills that are learnt quickly, but require a lot of repetitive practice amongst other techniques.
Now, ask yourself how on earth can a Springbok team be caught behind on just these 2 issues?
I am purposefully not bringing into this selection and game plan, as those are the obvious areas that need improvement, however these 2 areas are meaningless if we do not have a national team that has the basic skills, conditioning and pace to match the Aussies and Kiwis.
The coaches are as guilty as Jackie Selebi and no amount of papering over the cracks can fix that.
Tighthead, as much as I agree with your trend of thought, the Bulls and Stormers didn’t struggle with these issues.
So the question is what type of training sessions are the springboks having.
@ tight head:
What went wrong:
We were not innovative enough in our approach and a few key injuries left us exposed in vital areas of our strengths as a team.
Innovation and adaptation in a team sport or specifically rugby is goal-orientated. Always wanting to improve, pro-active rather than re-active and a constant need and want to refine and improve skills – is all defined and only possible if every individual has a hunger or a goal to do so – very important, this include short term goals as much as long term goals.
Key ingredients in innovation also includes a sound structure or platform from which it is built from or around, and introducing new and fresh ideas and approaches to this platform or framework. Leadership skills becomes vitally important.
Short term and long term success is also hugely subjected and dependend to specific role definition and individual responsibility.
These are the most important factors in my mind not only to grow every year but also remain focussed and motivated.
Where we failed in 2010 from my view was the inability to establish reasonable, and achievable short term goals. Leadership both within the team and outside (management) wained).
Through this we neglected and mismanaged the core structure (players) from which this team is built around, wrongly identified and implemented or used fresh new players or tactics and therefore failing to re-motivate the player members and management members to achieve success in 2010.
We were guilty of looking beyond the now and concentrated too much on individual importance within a TEAM sport than the team itself.
Goals became individual goals and not team orientated goals or benchmarks.
This lead to indiscipline both on the field and off the field in fitness and conditioning.
A highly disciplined, mentally stimulating environment going back to basics is needed in order to get both individual and team discipline in check at all levels, and with all individuals.
Establish short term and long term goals, make sure they co-incide with one another in their aim and most importantly, ensure you have a buy-in from all parties needed to implement and support this.
Communicate this to the team in a team context, and to the media and supporters in a public relations context.
Become a united front again, instill discipline and motivation and quite frankly, cut your losses (or individuals) if they do not fit into this plan or scope.
@ tight head:14 – Tighthead, Very interesting post that. Have to agree there. Why is our team not looking conditioned? I know on just about every site people just mention John not being conditioned, but looking at the whole team none of them look conditioned to me.
Then have to agree with biltongbek, the Bulls and Stormers done it in the S14 and there they all looked conditioned and their ball handling was superb. I have mentioned this to you before. How for goodness sake we can have the Bulls and Stormers doing it just two months back and once we get all the players together we just look clueless and not conditioned at all? How can that happen so quick? Is it complete body and mental tiredness? I think that is a massive part here. Also we are missing 6 players from last year. Do they make a difference? I think plenty.
Still really puzzles me, how we could have two teams in the S14 final and once they all together (most of the players come from Stormers and Bulls) now they playing terrible. Is it the coaching as well as comeplete physical and mental tiredness and some players missing? Don’t know but these are great players.
@ biltongbek:
Exactly Biltong.
That is exactly my point.
There is too much denial going on here.
There is too much confusing patriotism with blind support for a coaching team who have failed in the very basics required at international level.
I am sorry, but I am beyond trying to be nice to PDV because of his background.
If he is not up to it, then so be it.
Why protect him?
We cannot beat excellence with mediocrity.
Only fools believe that.
@ Morné:
Well exactly Morne.
So the harsh reality is that you would make a better coach than PDV.
I am serious.
16@ Morné:
Go have a look at EVERY sucessful Enterprise, business individual, Corporation, Team…. they all have 1 thing in Common…
They all have Short Term, Medium Term and Long Term goals, clearly defined and pragmatically planned…
That’s what’s been bothering me about Snorrie… the way he and the selectors and coaching staff approached the Tests prior to the Tri-Nations, smacked of a hap-hazard approach, of crisis management… of satisfying the whim rather than being pragmatic in approach and satisfying the Goal-oriented approach…
It’s easy to say that the Long Term goal is winning the RWC or establishing a permanent No 1 spot in world rugby, but there has to be a clear methodology and a natural progression!
Without being privvy to the inner workings or seeing Bokke practices first hand, I can guarantee that it lacks a rudimentary structure based on building an overall approach….
I cannot believe that there is a lack of fittness, not after the Super 14… I cannot believe that good players have become bad players…. it must have a lot to do with dicipline, structure, game plans, selections and focus, I’m convinced of that…
… and these aspects MUST be laid at the foot of the Management Team….
@ tight head:
Thanks mate but I am not nearly good (or stupid) enough for something like that! 😉
@ grootblousmile:
Yes it comes down to the senior leadership and management team.
And yes pretty much what you said, focus was lost in the now because their heads was heading or in tomorrow or next year already.
There seems to be a distinct lack of planning or rather a hap-hazard attempt at it going into the international season.
Decisions are way too reactive and almost never pro-active which is a key identifier where there is a lack of planning.
It is concerning.
@ grootblousmile:
Exactly Rudi.
Unless we stop pretending and face the real issues head on we will never get ahead of the opposition.
I cannot believe the denial that is going on.
A simple question that everyone should answer for themselves:
If the Boks were your business and winning meant income or loss to you what would you be doing?
Supporting the coaching team and believing everything will get fixed?
9@GBS en 11@fender
eish ….. bly ek hoef nie daai doeke te ruil nie!
GBS said: “….must have a lot to do with dicipline, structure, game plans, selections and focus, I’m convinced of that…”
Ek stem saam dat daar defnitief ‘n tekort aan dissipline, struktuur, ens is Elke ou speel vir homself en vergeet dat dit ‘n span sport is en dat elkeen van hulle SA verteenwoordig. Ek wonder of iemand al ooit v PdV gese het hy is die BOKKE se coach….
The best way I know for certain that Dick Muir is not “A Planner”… is the fact that he never identified and reached his decision about what is his core group or squad in the Super 14… we saw week in and week out plenty of changes (under the guise of rotation) whereas we clearly saw from Alistair Coetzee and Frans Ludeke an approach of consistency.
In the June Test window, I saw much of the Dicky Muir trate in Snorrie’s teams…. not that the overall group was bad… just that in certain positions there was a blind faith and no clarity who was best there.
I think we’re in for a bumpy ride in the next 3 Tests… and possibly thereafter.
@ grootblousmile:
I think it was mentioned, re-define your goals, get the buy in from all stakeholders (including assistant coaches) and if anyone does not buy into that plan, simply cut them.
23@ J.M.E.:
Baie mense het al gesê Rugby is nie Rocket Science nie….
Dit gaan oor paar basiese dinge, wat donners goed gedoen MOET word….
Hel, dit kannie so moeilik wees nie, en mens verwag van die Nasionale Afrigtingspan om al daai merkies behoorlik te tick!
#10 Nee wat Kitaartjie, my dae van kukdoeke ens is verby!!!!!
I have a brilliant idea….let’s follow the Korean way of dealing with failure…
“N.Korean Football Coach Gets 14 Hours of Hard Labor”
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/08/03/2010080300925.html
#25 I totally agree………just the fact that the assistant coaches are in two minds is a great cause for concern and really i do not have much faith in tricky dicky and goue gertjie!!!! PDV should have the best we have to offer to assist him meaningfully!!!!
28@bos_otter
hehehehe….. maybe moet hy maar gaan doeke omruil as straf …..
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