Springbok coach Peter de Villiers couldn’t put it more plainly. Despite all the talk of resting players and the World Cup next year, the only focus on the upcoming Grand Slam tour next month is winning.
De Villiers went through a torrid performance review after the Tri-Nations, and while there were calls for his head at the time, he was given a vote of confidence to continue at the helm of the World Champs.
But it is clear that he has been told in no uncertain terms that success on the Grand Slam tour is a pre-requisite to continuing in the job, with it been made clear that the Springbok brand cannot suffer further.
That, and the insistence of some senior players that they want to tour, despite the negative scientific facts that support a rest before the World Cup, has led De Villiers to change his mind and when the selectors name the side after the Absa Currie Cup final next week, it is likely to be a strong team with several senior stalwarts in its ranks.
As much as the first game against Ireland is being seen as the key to the tour – talk is of resting players if the game is won at the new Aviva stadium – there is no doubt that De Villiers is under pressure to get his win ratio up on this tour.
He intimated as much when he was quizzed about his approach to the tour on Friday, admitting that winning was the only option on this tour.
“Normally we fight about little things between us three coaches,” De Villiers said, “But those are usually small things we don’t agree on. One thing we all agree on is being successful and we are determined to win these games on tour.
“Winning will never be compromised and while there are some things we don’t have control over, we are definitely never going to make it easy for any opposition on this tour.”
But underlining it all is the amount of planning that has gone into the Ireland game. De Villiers wants, and needs a good start to this tour to lift some of the pressure. Still, while the rest of the country waits with bated breath to see how the Springboks will fare, the coach is still upbeat despite a 12 month period that has brought more disappointment than fans are used to with the Green and Gold jersey.
“I really don’t think the last 12 months were that disappointing. All the games we lost, bar one, we were within six points of winning. It is true things didn’t go our way, but most of the time we were pretty on the money in trying to execute what we wanted to do,” De Villiers added.
“We’ve done a lot of planning with Ireland in mind. The two assistant coaches have done a lot of hard work on Ireland and we have discussed and made it clear where we want to be after that game.”
Dis nie rerig ‘n verassing dat die senior spelers saam gaan nie want wie anders gaan die span coach?
Dit gaan ‘n baie tawwe toer wees, en hopelik is ek verkeerd, maar ek vermoed ons is terug in die dark days toe Struili die coach was. Skotland is baie beter as wat hulle in vroeer jare was en Engeland is ook sterker. Kan nie onthou wanneer laas ons in Dublin gewen het nie.
Pieter De Villiers het ‘n goeie ding gedoen om Jake se span bymekaar te hou, maar nou dat jy moet ernstige besluite maak is hy te lig.
Dis ook opvallend toe Jake coach was, was sy spanne baie consistant, maar Struili het heeltyd gechop en change aan sy span. Dit lyk my Pieter doen die selfde as Stuili.
De Villiers also addressed the issue of ‘player fatigue’ at the media conference.
Earlier this year Springbok management said that it was considering leaving behind several experienced players as part of its planning for the 2011 World Cup.
However, since De Villiers named his 39-man training squad – now reduced to 37 through injury – it appears that most of the regular Springboks will go on tour.
“We were talking about revitalising players [then],” said De Villiers.
“We didn’t talk about tiredness, we talked about fatigue, maybe I did use the word tiredness then, but what I meant was that they needed time away from the game.
“The players were revitalised in those four weeks they went on the conditioning programme away from the game and they looked really sharp when they came back, so it is now the decisions of the selectors on who the team will be that goes overseas,” he said.
At the end of the 2009 season, sports guru Tim Noakes warned that the Springboks would have a poor season if they were not rested.
Following an impressive Super 14, where two South African sides featured in the Final, the national team could only win one of their six Tri-Nations fixtures.
At the time, the senior players in the squad received the most criticism.
“We respect Tim Noakes a lot. He is really clued up in what he’s doing,” said De Villiers.
“Scientifically, he has proven a lot of things right, but then you get science an then you get the real world, and we are living in the real world and we will add the science to work for us in this real world.
“The ideal would be to rest the players, but then you must look at the workload and what they really did.
“If you look at the 1600 minutes [time spent playing] like we said, for Beast [Tendai Mtawarira] and then Bryan [Habana], there is a hell of a difference between the two.
“Their involvement in the game is something you have to add to it. There are a lot of things you have to take into consideration. So, in an ideal world if we can get that right we will have players available for very long periods in their careers.”
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