Heyneke Meyer
Lood de Jager
The joke is going around that Heyneke Meyer describes everything the Bokke does as “AWESOME“!
Well, the South African public have reason to be AWED by the AWESOME display of the Springboks and their AWESOME coach!
Not only are the Springboks playing a very well-rounded and balanced game, 2 and a half years into Heyneke Meyer’s tenure, but it appears that the Springoks can now call on 40 odd players to do National duty for them at any given time.
Not only do the Springboks have locks of absolute world class to burn, the looseforwards are equally impressive, the midfield options have been greatly bolstered… and the flyhalf stocks are suddenly no concern anymore, with well-rounded performances by Handré Pollard and Marnitz Boshoff.
The biggest problems still for the Springboks, seem to be adequate depth at both loosehead and tighthead prop.
With almost 30 frontline Springboks out with injury and / or not available due to the International Window having closed before the start of the Test on the weekend, the mix-and-match Springboks certainly excelled on the weekend.
The 5 Springbok debutants, Handré Pollard, Marnitz Boshoff, Marcel van der Merwe, Stephan Lewies and Teboho ‘Oupa’ Mohoje also distinguished themselves on the field of play.
At the end of the June Internationals, the Springboks and Heyneke Meyer finally have reason to smile!
Lood de Jager – Scotslayer:
If Frik du Preez, now 78, remains Springbok rugby’s most luminary example of perfection in the broad requirements of second-row play, then young Lood de Jager went out of his way to try to emulate him in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
The towering Cheetahs customer, in his first start for South Africa against an outclassed Scotland, put in a dynamic, magnificently untiring and versatile shift to only confirm that coach Heyneke Meyer will have the most pleasant of headaches at lock when all candidates are fit for the assault on World Cup 2015.
De Jager, the 21-year-old from Alberton, did not win the official player-of-the-match award after the rousing, eight-tries-to-nil triumph – it went to JP Pietersen on a day when the task was agreeably tricky.
The choice of JP Pietersen was puzzling though, and it is our measured opinion that Lood de Jager deserved those honours in his first starting Test.
With 10 minutes or so to go in the game, I’d already counted at least 19 great tackles by Lood de Jager! Add that to his 2 superb tries, and he towers (pun intended) above anybody else in the game.
Springbok depth looking great:
South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer admits he faces a pleasant selection headache ahead of the Rugby Championship following the team’s commanding 55-6 thumping of Scotland in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
The Springbok coach watched his side, missing as many as 30 players through injury and unavailability, run in eight tries as they overwhelmed the visitors to record their second biggest victory margin over the Scots.
The dominant display has also convinced Meyer that some of the debutants, including the impressive Handre Pollard at flyhalf, are good enough to compete in the Rugby Championship against Australia, New Zealand and Argentina later in the year.
“We have close to 30 guys out so it will be difficult to pick a squad once all of them are fit again,” Meyer told reporters.
“Handre is already a matured player and he combined well with (centre) Jan Serfontein today. They are pressuring the first choice players and a lot of the new guys will be contenders for the Rugby Championship.”
After leaking soft tries the weekend before in the narrow 31-30 win over Wales, Meyer was pleased with an improved defensive effort, key to any potential success in the southern hemisphere championship.
“One thing that stands out for me was us not conceding tries,” he said. “We kept the Scots out for those last minutes when other teams would have leaked a try. Our defence was awesome, but we also played very well on attack.”
The Boks do have a worry, however, over veteran scrumhalf Fourie du Preez’s ankle injury, the extent of which is not immediately clear.
“We hope the injury will not prevent him from playing in the Rugby Championship. He will undergo a scan as soon as possible to determine the extent of his injury. His control of the game is important to us for the Rugby Championship.”
Scotland coach Vern Cotter was able to pick out the positives from the defeat for his inexperienced side, saying they would learn from it as they build towards next year’s World Cup.
“It illustrated a lot of the things we are going to have to go away and work on to become competitive before the Rugby World Cup,” he told reporters.
“But honestly, much as we hate losing and especially by a score like that, there are some very positive things to come out of it.”
“Adam Ashe played his first game at 20, Grant Gilchrist has come in as captain and done exceptionally well. I think all the players have done well. If we take away what we gave South Africa and add more of what we tried to develop on the field, then we can improve.”
“We have to keep doing the good things and take away the bad stuff we didn’t do well. If we don’t offer as many opportunities to the opposition as we did today then we can shift in the right direction.”
A number of chaps I know are bound to choke on their coffee and / or piss in their pants because of the stance and contents of this AWESOME article… hehehe
I think it is AWESOME!
Now for the bigger task at hand… hauling in the All Blacks…
I’m so EXCITED after reading this AWESOME piece. 😉
Awesome is all I can say…
Having Meisiekind in the Bok squad is for sure not AWESOME! 😈
I would like to suggest that every new thread that comes up must at least include the word AWESOME… Then we can see who is the most AWESOME blogger…
…meaning the first reply obviously… doff moment… 😆
@ Gumboots:
Kinda like the “dragons” thing on keo?
SA Played with an intensity that I haven’t seen from them for a while.
HOWEVER, it needs to be borne in mind that the Scots were VERY poor.
That said, a team can only play what’s in front of them, and all of the newcomers did what they had to do.
A very enjoyable game to watch.
Rage wrote:
Yeah exactly…
Got a glimpse of the Commonwealth Games batton an hour ago, looking forward to going the 7s at the Games – now that is going to be AWESOME!
@ Gumboots:
#5 now that sounds like a good plan at least then will get a comment (that is not my own) on the articles I post
I hereby declare,
that I cane,
will be seeking the first #1 Awesome Post.
I will seek to do this,
not for myself,
but for the Glory of my Nation.
cane.
12 @ cane:
Fat chance, Mainstay Cane!
@ grootblousmile:
It is now written.
Done and dusted.
😉
A quick scroll to the top of the page reveals that Groot is in fact the first Awesome #1 Poster.
LOL.
The true test of both HM’s commitment to giving “new blood” a chance, as well as a game plan that was obviously “different” to that employed against the Taffy Bastids will be how he (HM) approaches the big boys in the RC.
Let’s be realistic, Saturday’s game was a bit like the playground bully having a go at the new grade 1 kids.
The true test of a team remains the MIB.
cane wrote:
Well he does have something of an advantage!
15 @ cane:
Cane, as an outsider, what do you think of the human race….. errrr apologies… I meant, as an outsider, did you watch the Springbok Test and what did you think of the game?
@ grootblousmile:
I only watched a ‘highlights” package of the Test Match. 10 minutes max.
But putting 50 points on any top 10 IRB Rated Team is very impressive. Very Impressive.
Your Lood de Jager looks like a School Boy……………………………..an impressive, rather large and athletic School Boy. I’m sure he has a great future. But wait until be can at least grown half decent facial hair.
Don’t rush the lad.
Pollard looks the real deal.
But once again, don’t rush the lad.
Stay with Morne for the RC.
We have a very interesting RC coming up.
😉
P.S. The best think that can happen for NZ,
is that we lose our 1st two matches. Even the first three.
Nothing works better than “SHOCK TREATMENT”.
“The best think “”.
Should read “THE BEST THING”
😉
19 @ cane:
I suppose one has to see the game in perspective.. a Scotland side with injuries against a Springbok side with injuries and unavailability of a number of players.
It would be foolhardy to make a too hasty conclusion on how the Rugby Championship would play out!
What it does provide is happiness and relief that the depth in most positions at the Springboks are being developed and integrated nicely.
However, these same Scotts played against the Argentinian Pumas the week before and just pulled off a 2-point win, so things look rather bleak for the Pumas in anticipation of The Rugby Championship.
Now normally these Argentinians resort to a very negative type of game, when they are faced with such odds against them, so I expect much of the same from them in 2014.
It becomes important for the Springboks, Wallabies and All Blacks to really punish the Pumas, and score Bonus Point wins, both home and away against them… and that’s where the difference might lie again in The Rugby Championship… the All Blacks seemingly being able to achieve that easier than the Bokke and Wallabies.
Do you really think the All Blacks need to be shocked awake and do you perceive that they are too harry-casual in their approach?
Even though YOU support the All Blacks, where do you perceive All Blacks shortcomings / weaknesses / defects to be?
@ grootblousmile:
Good afternoon GBS
Keep in mind that the Scots played against a Argie side devoid of their 1st choice players. It was more like a Pampas side that used to take part in our Vodacom competition. I don’t think one can read too much into that result other than that Scotland C beat Arg C.
Referees for Saturday:
Stormers vs Bulls at Newlands
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Marius Jonker (South Africa), Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Cheetahs vs Sharks at Free State Stadium
Referee: Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)
Assistant referees: Stuart Berry (South Africa), Francois de Bruin (South Africa)
Television match official: Deon van Blommestein (South Africa)
So, Berry is involved in a Shark game again. Advantage Sharks even if they rest their Boks as JW alluded to.
@ grootblousmile:
No Team has ever won the Rugby WC back to back.
And there is a good reason for that.
Selectors/Coaches become blinded with loyalty to those that achieved for them in the past.
NZ is no different in this respect. We are all (contenders for the next WC) getting close to the point of no return in blooding new players and giving them the experience and confidence necessary to perform at the very highest level.
Meyer is doing nothing for SA Rugby in continuing with Bakkies and Victor.
Likewise, NZ, need to move on from Ritchie and Danny Boy.
These players are immortals of the game, but it’s time to say “So long, it’s been nice………”
Only SHOCK TREATMENT will rectify this for both our Nations.
Next WC Final…………………………………………………… The Lizards of OZ vs Old Blighty.
21 @ grootblousmile:
Hi GBS, again both Scotland and Argentina were fielding quite a few players not first choice in that game so possibly also hard to make any conclusions of how well Argentina will fare in the Rugby Championship. Do they still have Graham Henry helping them?
Scotland are not England thats for sure, so it is awesome to see South African confidence at this stage of the season, though I have an awesome feeling that I am about to witness yet another bout of awesome deja vu.
22 @ Nama:
Hi Nama you beat me to it again 😀 was finishing typing the comment then got interrupted with someone at the door, as you say both teams were playing without some top players, don’t know Argentina rugby too well but think to say it was a C team of theirs is maybe stretching it, but surely they will have quite a few more top players about for the Rugby Championship. The Boks need to look at their 2nd last test win against Wales as a yardstick and plan from there for the Championship, although you cannot take away the confidence boost they will have got from scoring lots against Scotland, even if both squads were without top players, am sure that quite a lot more Boks from Saturday’s game will be in the squad for the Boks next game than Scots will be in Scotland’s next game.
@ Bullscot:
The way I understand it, their squad for the RC is on a training camp. That would probably be their best 30+ players hence my statement that it was their C-team.
I think it is the wrong approach by them. They did the same thing last year. Took their RC squad to train in Miami and look how that ended up. They should have given their RC players game time against Ireland and Scotland. It would’ve been much better preparation for the RC than an 8 week training camp.
@ Nama:
Sorry for not greeting.
Hi Bullscot.
@ nga puhi:
Popps,
Did you know Mac Herewini passed away a month or two back.
An absolute Auckland great.
And one of my favourite All Blacks of all time.
Played against the 65 Springboks.
@ cane:
nah didnt know he’d passed Cane..
knew of him but never got to see him play.
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