Presenting a Gallery of the top 10 most humiliating defeats under Peter de Villiers since his reign began as coach of the Springboks in 2008.
Peter de Villiers took over a World Cup winning team, and took them to Tri-Nations and British and Irish Lions glory, but along the way he has at times plumbed new Springbok lows and earned unwanted records especially in recent times where the Springboks have seemingly gone from World Champions to Chumps.
Read this article on Sport 24 by Dominic Valentine
Is he the man to take the Springboks to the next World Cup? The number of sceptics is growing…
Number 10)
23 August 2008 – Springboks 15 – Wallabies 27 (Durban)
The Springboks slumped to a 12-point loss against the Wallabies in Durban. It was the first time since 2000 that they had lost to Australia inside South Africa. (Gallo Images)
Number 9)
28 November 2009 – Ireland 15-10 Springboks (Dublin)
Loss to Ireland completed their third loss in a row to Ireland (admittedly the first two losses were under Jake White). This meant that South Africa hadn’t beaten Ireland for five years, and hadn’t beaten Ireland in Ireland for nine years, which is pathetic if you consider that prior to 2004, the Boks had lost to Ireland only once, in 1965. (Gallo Images)
Number 8)
4 September 2010 – Springboks 39-41 Wallabies (Bloemfontein)
The humiliation factor of this Test match was quite high given that the Wallabies hadn’t won on the Highveld for 47 years until this match. With 1 win out of 6 games this match completed the worst Tri-Nations in the history of the Springboks. (South Africa previous worst was 1 win in 4 games before an extra 2 fixtures were added to the Tri Nations calendar.) (Gallo Images)
Number 7)
10 July 2010 – All Blacks 32-12 Springboks (Eden Park)
The most comprehensive beating of the Springboks under Pieter de Villiers, the All Blacks outplayed, outmuscled and outsmarted the Springboks in a one-sided display. The Springbok’s armband protest also came back to bite them in the bum as Blue Bulls bully Bakkies Botha brutally head-butted little Jimmy Cowan from behind, earning a nine-week ban. (Gallo Images)
Number 6)
4 July 2009 – Springboks 9 – British and Irish Lions 28 (Johannesburg)
Peter de Villiers rested players for this dead rubber against the British and Irish Lions, although the manner of the defeat was not humiliating the Springbok series win was tainted by the infamous ‘Justice 4Bakkies’ white armband protest, in which the Springboks protested what they viewed as unfair treatment by the citing commission towards South African rugby. The protest got the Springboks into trouble with the IRB, who gave them a warning for ‘bringing the game into disrepute’. The protest, orchestrated by John Smit and SAPA was given the green light by Peter de Villiers in a show of solidarity. The international press took a dim view of the Springbok antics. (Gallo Images)
6 December 2009 – Leceister 22-17 Springboks. (Leceister)
A hodge-podge Springbok outfit sinks to an historic humbling defeat to a club side, two weeks after having lost to another club side, Saracens. The scrum is utterly humiliated and the Springboks lose their third game in a row on tour and their fourth out of a total of five, thus completing perhaps the worst Tour in Springbok history. (Gallo Images)
Number 5)
Number 4)
17 November 2009 – Saracens 24-23 Springboks. (London)
The Springboks nightmare begins as they slump to a club side, made worse by the fact that the team is coached by a South African coach, and filled with South African players, many of whom had never played for the Springboks. (Gallo Images)
Number 3)
16 August 2008 – Springboks 0-16 All Blacks. (Newlands)
Percy Montgomery’s 100th Test cap and the last time he would ever play as a Springbok at his home ground, Newlands. The Springboks suffered the ignominy of not being able to score a single point against the All Blacks. (Gallo Images)
Number 2)
21 August 2010 – Springboks 22-29 All Blacks. (Soweto)
Not only did inspirational captain John Smit’s 100th cap go down like a damp squib, but our new 90 000-seater World Cup Stadium’s christening result in Tests was a sickening defeat to the All Blacks. (Gallo Images)
And the number 1 most humiliating defeat of all with Peter de Villiers as coach…
20 November 2010 – Scotland 21-17 Springboks. (Edinburgh)
The Springboks had only lost to the Scottish four times before in their history, the most recent being the loss at Murrayfield under the ill-fated reign of Rudolf Straeuli. The loss denied the Springboks the chance of an historic Grand Slam. It was not only the defeat itself which was embarrassing but the way in which the Springboks capitulated, kicking all possession away and playing a dour, predictable game. (Gallo Images)
Thanks for the memories! 🙂
New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has dismissed criticism of Richie McCaw’s tactics at the breakdown as ‘boring’ prior to Saturday’s meeting with Wales in Cardiff.
The All Blacks skipper was blasted by Ireland’s Stephen Ferris in the wake of last weekend’s 38-18 victory in Dublin, with the Ulster flanker incensed by what he perceived as illegal slowing of their possession.
During the Tri-Nations there were repeated calls for stricter policing of McCaw on the floor and Ferris’ condemnation of the record-breaking flank led Hansen to react.
“That’s becoming quite boring now I think,” he said. “He is the greatest openside flanker in the game and he probably knows the rules better than the referees.
“If he makes a tackle and ends up on their side of the tackle, he is allowed to be there and compete for the ball until a ruck is formed. A ruck is not formed until two players are bound over the ball so he is not doing anything illegal.
“Every time he goes to speak to a referee about a penalty, which most of the time he has not given away, a commentator will say ‘there is the ref talking to McCaw again, he should have been yellow-carded’.
“It’s quite disrespectful, but all it does is make Richie play better, so I can put up with the boredom if it keeps motivating him. It’s just an excuse really.”
The weather forecast for London on Saturday – minus 3 degrees and up to five to 6 centimetres snow. If you coming over dress warmly.
Muir feels the heat
The disastrous Tri-Nations campaign, just one win from six starts and last place on the standings, has contributed to calls for the coaching staff to be axed.
While South Africa can salvage something from a poor 2010, by beating England, Muir is also well aware what the consequences will be if there is another defeat.
“Our public back home epitomise what it is about,” Muir said, adding: “It is ruthless.
“They expect you to come over here and get the win and if you don’t get the result then there are going to be heads that are going to roll.
“We have been in this situation before and South Africa is a proud nation that wants results.”
Muir said they are seeing the England game as an opportunity to “turn it around”.
“We let ourselves down last week [against Scotland], but that’s history now and we have to look forward.
“The best we can now achieve is winning 75 percent [three out of four tests] and that is what we’re aiming for.”
Muir felt that in South Africa there are a lot less sympathy for coaches than in a country like England, where the Rugby Football Union backed Martin Johnson and his coaching team to remain in place through to the 2011 World Cup – despite a rocky patch in the early stages of Johnson’s coaching career.
England won just two of their first seven Tests under Johnson – against Pacific Islanders and Italy.
Even with recent wins against Australia – in June and earlier this month – Johnson’s record is still at only 46 percent. But the England coach still has the RFU and public’s backing.
“In South Africa it is probably a bit more volatile than it is here,” Muir added.
“[In that environment] you have to believe in yourself, you have got to believe in your management team and your bosses.
“You have got to have a shared vision and hang in there in the tough times.”
Muir said the Boks are “slightly off the pace” from where they need to be ahead of next year’s World Cup in New Zealand.
“We need to do some clear thinking to make sure we are in line for that,” he added.
Blood will flow at Twickenham on Saturday. That was the warning from England’s South African-born loose forward Hendré Fourie, who is set to be announced on the home team’s substitutes bench for the weekend’s rugby test.
Fourie, 31, made his first start for England against Samoa last week and plays for English club side Leeds. He was born in Burgersdorp.
“It’s going to be a hard, hard game against South Africa,” he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
“There’s definitely going to be some blood flowing. It might be ours, it might be theirs.
“They lost to Scotland and that’s really going to psyche them up. It will be amazing and surreal to play against them. It’s a great chance to show them how good I am and what they are missing out on.”
While it’s unlikely that South Africa will shed too many tears for rather sticking with Schalk Burger and Juan Smith, the former Free Stater has vowed to go into the match “all guns blazing” if he gets the opportunity.
Here and there , there is still people left with hope. Scarce but still a few. 😆
Rugby – 2 hours ago Report comment
It that what you thought of the coaching staff at the end of last year?Come on man,all teams have their ups and downs.This ‘bad’ phase we are going through is perfect!We are going to be in the sweet spot come the start of the RWC.The same coaches beat the AB 3 times in a row.We are playing with half a team.I’m telling you.We are gona sit pretty come RWC and the AB’s are gona be tired as hell.The Boks will bounce back!
Might this be Jakes 10?
Sat, 20 Nov 2004 SAF v ENG 16-32 Twickenham, London
Sat, 09 Jul 2005 SAF v AUS 12-30 Stadium Australia, Sydney
Sat, 24 Jun 2006 SAF v FRA 26-36 Newlands, Cape Town
Sat, 15 Jul 2006 SAF v AUS 0-49 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Sat, 22 Jul 2006 SAF v NZL 17-35 Westpac Trust, Wellington
Sat, 05 Aug 2006 SAF v AUS 18-20 Stadium Australia, Sydney
Sat, 26 Aug 2006 SAF v NZL 26-45 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Sat, 11 Nov 2006 SAF v IRE 15-32 Lansdowne Rd, Dublin
Sat, 23 Jun 2007 SAF v NZL 21-26 Kings Park Stadium, Durban
Sat, 14 Jul 2007 SAF v NZL 6-33 Jade Stadium, Christchurch
ek dink na die naweek gaan daar n nuwe inskrywing wees onder snor se top 10.dat muir beweer hulle gaan dinge omdraai teen england is lagwekkend.al hoe dinge kan omdraai is as die 3 clown bedank.
superBul@6 wrote:
I hope you are right but I have my doubts. This is not a low it is a progressive deterioration. Jake hit a low with PdV the basics are deteriorating. Backline play is getting worse, less and less starter moves, less and less structure and precision at the breakdowns, less and less variation on attack. Tactical kicking is just shit. No game plan when we won in 2009 it was with the bulls gameplan and the bulls players. The moment NZ came up with counters for the bulls gameplan there is just nothing.
England was able to embrace the new officiating at the breakdowns within 3 monts (after seeing how the All Balcks play in the tri-nations). We on the other hand have made absolutely no progress in terms of our ability to play the more open and faster game. Sharks have shown the SA players can play the faster game why is it not happening in the bok camp?
@ McLook:
Exactly.
If you consider the players that we have and the way the Sharks as an example have been playing it totally exposes the intellectual rugby ability of PDV.
One thing that PDV has taught us all by default is the tremendous importance in the modern game of intelligent coaching.
PDV has been totally exposed while coaches such as Plumtree and others have moved the conditioning, pace, skill sets and tactics towards the future.
It is blatantly clear to all but those who will not see!!
McLook wrote:
It is really looking ugly , put Juan de Jong in place of a total backline killer named Jean de Villiers, put Jaque next too him and get our wings fit. Habana, JPP and Ndungane.
And most of all get a back line consultant if you cant get Muir to flark off.
@ tight head:
I just hope that if PdeV survives and win the WC ALL wil come out with hundreds of articles to praise his loyalty and genius management of his team. Look if he is currently the villain he must be the HERO if he is proven right by winning the Cup.
Although i dont like what i see currently dished up by the Boks i can not simply blame Peter alone. We begged for the heads of Dick Muir and i feel he most of all is behind this rubbish.
tighthead @ 10
you mean …. “It is blatantly clear to all but those who will not see” …. your point of view?
@ Ashley:
Mine and that of many other people, some of whom know what they are talking about!!
@ superBul:
Who asked for Dick Muir to be assistant coach?
The man at the top must always take responsibility.
He is in charge and he is the one who makes final decisions.
When the going get’s tough blaming your employees is a sign of weakness and poor management.
tight head wrote:
The same guy that can not get another coach to help him because their own egos are to big. Elkeen op syeie mishoop. En dit is presies waar die volgende afrigter ook gaan eindig want ons is mos te eie ek in SA.
@ superBul:
Nobody will help because it is a mess.
Put yourself in the position of a coach being asked to help.
He must come in and clean up the mess but have no control.
PDV remains in charge and has the power and authority.
Only a madman would come in under those circumstances!!
It is not about ego.
It is about a good decision that allows the man the abilty to fix things his way and keep his reputation and good name intact.
tighthead @ 14
sooooooooooo
the rest of us who differ from those “who know what they talk about” ….. dont?
@ Ashley:
Ash everybody is entitled to an opinion.
However some opinions are more qualified than others.
For example my opinion on tennis is not as qualified as that of Andre Agassi!!
tighthead @ 19
i didnt know that you’re on talking terms with andré agassi!! 😀
@ tight head:
17
I will never get you to agree, but do you really think that when Eddie Jones came in all the previous work done by AC was thrown out of the window and only EJ’s plans was implemented.
I think that only a little buzz word or two was spoken and a adjustment here and there. Any coach coming into the Bok camp would not walk in there with both his hands tied behind his back, that would by Super doff. Clear guidelines can be negotiated and we as public will see what is done, we are not stupid to write of a coach if things did not work out.
@ superBul:
Super you are right we respect the ability to differ!!
Eddie Jones came into a totally different situation than the one that people are asking coaches to come into now with PDV.
The sad reality is that it seems like other international quality coaches do not respect PDV and do not want to work with him.
Why that is, I can speculate, but we would have to ask them.
@ Ashley:
Ek ken vokkol about tennis!!
tight head wrote:
yes that might be true but in a sense where they see us undermining him at every opportunity and they and their Press jump on this.
The fact that he is Afrikaans also made him a automatic target. His way with words too. But we at some stages enjoyed his sayings. Look what happened wit Mealamu and the utterances of the NZ coaches. A totally different way the press handled that.
@ superBul:
PDV has made his own bed with the press.
I cannot excuse him for that.
He continued to dig the hole deeper for himself.
I cannot except that him being Afrikaans is an excuse.
I have not heard a French or Argentinian coach stuffing up like PDV and then blaming their English.
PDV has shown himself not competent for that part of the job, and worse still did not learn quickly.
Yes, the press are a bunch of hyenas, but handling them is a very important part of any international coaches job.
tighthead @ 23
…. en rugby!! stry? stry? 😆
@ Ashley:
Ja rugby ook!!
There now Ash you can keep this and refer back to me at will!!
tighthead @ 27
😉 i’ll treasure this, lol
Dominic Valentine het nou weer n artikel geplaas met die 10 grootste hoogtepunte. “Top 10 Bok highs under Div”
Daai is my tipe artikel hahaha
At the end of the day we have Div and that’s that.
SARU don’t have testes big enough to fire him at this stage, so I believe he will be in his post until after the RWC.
Whether as individuals we support him or not is irrelevant, I think we all support the Boks unconditionally.
Sure he’s made some monumental F-Ups, but as I say to many people, the person who hasn’t made a F-Up hasn’t done anything.
As SAFFAS, we’re not likely to get together outside SARU’s offices and demonstrate for his head as would happen to an English Soccer manager, so I guess we have to accept that the Boks are as they are, and hope that somehow the tide can be turned before the RWC.
I think that this season is already condemned as the worst Bok season in living memory, and not even a 40 point win on Saturday would change that. (OK so maybe it would.)
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