Jean De Villiers
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers is clear that his team need to take a massive step up before they face the Wallabies in Perth in their next Castle Lager Rugby Championship game on 6 September.
The Bok captain arrived home from the great Salta escape – where the Boks needed a penalty four minutes from time to beat a plucky, aggressive Argentinean team – knowing that the weight of public outrage at the result would be waiting for his team.
But De Villiers is a pragmatist, and, as he points out: it wasn’t the greatest of performances, but a win is a win.
SuperSport
While there is a lot for the Bok management to work on before they take on the Wallabies, and even more before they head to Wellington to face the All Blacks a week later, it isn’t all doom and gloom in the Bok camp, even though it may seem so for their fans.
“We’re not happy with our performance but definitely happy with the two wins,” De Villiers said on arriving back in Johannesburg.
“I think we all know that this is a very tough competition and if you keep on winning – if you are not firing on all cylinders, that is a positive result. We’ll take the two wins but there’s still a lot of hard work that needs to be done before the next game.”
While De Villiers is still adamant that the Argentineans are a lot better side than their 12th place on the IRB rankings portrays, he accepts that the pressure is on the team to show they can do better when they head to Perth. Argentina’s lowly log position comes mainly from the fact they play a B-team in the June internationals and only have their European based stars for the Rugby Championship, meaning their ranking has been in freefall for the last two years.
The ranking clearly isn’t something Los Pumas care too much for, and most rugby fans will agree that on the evidence of the last two weeks they would give most teams ahead of them on the rankings a massive fright, if not condemn them to defeat.
Still, for a team that constantly talks about concentrating on their own game, the Boks have a lot of work to do. They aren’t satisfied with how they played, something that De Villiers took every opportunity to underline.
“I think that’s a good thing (that the public expect more from us),” De Villiers admitted. “If the supporters and public can put as much pressure on us as possible to achieve better and perform better, then I see that as a positive sign. I think once we are happy with mediocrity and just putting up an average performance then I think we are in trouble. We see it as a good thing and we know we didn’t play well. We need to up our game and we need to improve.”
The Bok captain said he did take note of the impressive All Black performance on Saturday in putting up a half century against the Wallabies in their demolition at Eden Park, but that for now, they are in the distance. First priority is the Perth game, and that is where the Boks need to focus their attention right now.
“They were impressive but we are only seeing them in three weeks’ time,” De Villiers said on the All Blacks.
“The focus for us right now is Australia and putting up a good performance against them, after that we’ll take on the next one.”
“At the end of the day we’re happy that we won two out of two and we’re top of the log at the moment in the Rugby Championship.
“But we are very realistic in the way we played and what lies ahead for us.
“There needs to be improvement and if we want to walk away with the trophy at the end of the tournament we need to put up better performances.”
Hondo wrote:
@ nortierd:
Nee kyk ou maat ons was flippen lucky, ek dink ons luck is opgebruik, ons beter begin speel
@ nortierd:
150
Yes you are right , but like McLook said why do we wait so late, it is insane. Imagine the bloth on HM,s CV if he is the first Coach who lost to Arg? He might have another bad one coming up , i cant remember that any Bok team lost 5 in a row vs NZ
will check that now
151 @ superBul:
Presies, ons moet begin speel, en ophou verskonings soek om amper teen swakker lande te verloor.
Te hel met hulle, ons moet hulle baie gemakliker klop as wat ons doen en ophou worry oor hoe goed hulle kamstig is
@ superBul:
Nee wat hy is save van 2001 tot 2004 was daar 8 in n ry
@ superBul:
Wanneer het Pretorius daai strafskop oorgesit in Rustenburg?
Dit was mos om die rekord getal verlore te stop?
146 @ superBul:
At least praat Nortie nie kak van my agter my rug terwyl ek op ‘n langnaweek rus nie…
As jy ‘n probleem met die Rugby-Talk.com advertensies het, sê dit in my gesig, sodat ek jou reguit moer toe kan stuur, in plaas daarvan dat jy loutere kak praat.
Ek het nie nog tyd vir jou twak ook nie.
@ grootblousmile:
Welkom terug, lekker gerus?
157 @ nortierd:
Ja, baie lekker!
Ons het mos Vrydag vroegmiddag vertrek, op pad het ek klompie rekenaartoerusting by kliente afgelaai… 3m x 3m Elektriese Projektorskerm, groot 3D ready Cinema Projector met vol HDMI, Projector Ceiling Mount, 20m High Quality HDMI kabel en ‘n paar ander goete en geite.
Toe’s ons fort na ons bestemming toe, tussen Groblersdal en Marble Hall. Daar aangekom was ons net moer rustig.
Saterdagoggend het ek saam met julle gekuier op die All Blacks / Wallabies game en daarna is ons fort om na paar venues te gaan loer.
Het Saterdagmiddag laat / vroeg aand ‘n paar lekker groot wynglase vol Old Brown Sherry gedrink terwyl ek rustig gesmul het aan ‘n 500 Gram Portugese Espetada en Porra brood, by Jugamaro Predator Park.
Toe terug na Lookout Lodge, waar ek rustig die Toets gekyk het terwyl die res van die mense vroeg gaan slaap het.
Sondagoggend ‘n lekker stywe Engelse ontbyt genuttig en toe het ons die pad terug gevat… was seker so 14:00 tuis… en toe ‘n vet middagslapie geneem.
Was net rustig, relaxed en alles!
@ grootblousmile:
Man het so n break nodig
@ nortierd:
But Argentina are not palookas:
The performance of the Pumas in TRC proves it – on occasion they’ve performed WAY ABOVE their standing/rating & general expectations vs. the Bokke, the Wallabies & to an extent, The All Blacks, in the TRC.
You must remember that ARG now plays the Top 3 rugby nations more regularly than any other rugby nation not in the top 3. That is (unfairly) negative for status if you only look at short term outcomes/results. But medium to long term that is a qualitative boon for their rugby.
PS: Samoa, Fiji & Canada? I rate/respect Samoan rugby ( but not their coconut shies).
@ Angostura:
I do get what you are saying, I am being obtuse, but I honestly don’t rate them as highly as others.
Any team in world rugby currently with a comparatively similar record, won’t be taken serious, and, deservedly so.
Irrispective of whether they are on the up (or down) I measure our performance, and I’m sorry, we fell way short.
At Loftus the excuse was the weather, I have yet to hear what our excuse was for Saturday.
Or should we say that the weather saved US in the first test?
@ Angostura:
“PS: Samoa, Fiji & Canada?”
Playoffs in ’87, ’91 and ’95
Samoa have made more playoffs than Argentina
@ nortierd:
semi finals?
@ nortierd:
The best thing about having a glass half full is that there’s more room for tequila. Think about it.
Kenia made the semi final in the Cricket World Cup played in SA in 2003. I wonder if they will be regarded as cricket giants because of that feat.
Angostura wrote:
No, checked all knock out games, from Quarters.
Arg made the 2007 and we beat them 37-13, which seems about the score we should beat them by.
@ Nama:
Nou is jy sommer domastrant …
164 @ IAAS:
IAAS, it’s not a question of being negative, but if we keep saying “it’s ok, we won” then our rugby will soon be going the same way as the rest of our country, down the drain because we embrace mediocracy.
This is not Bafana playing Argentina in soccer, this is the second best side in the rugby world playing what is still, a minnow rugby country.
@ Angostura:
Hoekom? Verskil die reels? 😉
Nama wrote:
And, I might add, we didn’t.
@ Nama:
But, we can’t compare the Proteas to Kenia cricket….they have only choked once in knock out phases, we have choked in all but 1 knock out phase
Fellas,
Look, this past weekend’s Test was’nt a good one for the Bokke, but at least it was a squeeky win.
It showed up some glaring shortcomings, which must NOW be worked on, corrected, shored up, fixed… whatever you want to call it.
Worst Springbok performance in the scrums I have ever seen in all my years!!
The Pollard experiment does not seem to have worked, so I guess it’s back to Morné Steyn and Shampoo Poodle (Lambie).
Damian de Allende did not work at No 13 either, Juan Smith is waaaayyyyy past his sell-by date and Ruan Pienaar was diabolically bad.
The locks behind the front row appeared unable to shunt the front row forward at the scrums, so for me it would be best to go back to Bakkies & Victor, with Lood on the bench.
Better we know now where to change and improve, before the big Tests are upon us, from 2 weeks from now.
@ nortierd:
I’ve had a debate with you about ARG, not about the Bokke:
**
But re the Bokke:
On Saturday the Bokke were a disgrace, they did not build character, their performance was without character.
I was horrified by their scrum running backwards, popping up & disintegrating.
Some say they can’t remember when last they saw a Bok scrum humiliated like that – I say I’ve NEVER SEEN or HEARD of a Bok scrum humiliated like that. Bokke numbers 1-8, but especially 1-5, together with their coaching team will be well advised to accept accountability for that fiasco, rather than spin $hyte about building character.
And the same goes for the dismal performances of the Sharks (this weekend) & the Bulls (this CC campaign).
And that’s me for tonight, lest I say something untoward, ciao
@ grootblousmile:
Dieselfde is gese na die 2de toets teen Wallis in Junie. Toe Steve Walsch ‘n strafdrie aan die Bokke toegeken het om ons met 31-30 te laat wen.
Lyk my ons het intussen niks gedoen om aan daai tekortkominge te werk nie en dit is my groot bekommernis. Geen waarborg dat ons dit in die volgende twee weke sal doen voordat ons die groot honde pak nie.
@ Angostura:
“But re the Bokke:
On Saturday the Bokke were a disgrace, they did not build character, their performance was without character.”
But that is exactly what Nortie (and myself and Super) have been saying. Include their performance at Loftus also.
@ nortierd:
I know the Boks were below par in the last 2 tests, Heyneke knows it, JDV knows it, the whole Bok squad knows it.
I think you, too, might know that now. 🙄 😆
There is a lot of work to be done before we take on the Aussies and the AB’s downunder. Everybody knows that. The set pieces were abysmal – HM has been lamenting the number of quality no.5 locks of international standard in the country. It is not his job to turn a no. 4 lock suddenly into a quality 5 lock. Juandre Kruger fell short, Flip did a hatchet job and is now injured. Bakkies is a no 4 lock through and through – so what does he do? He has to rely on a 21year old playing a handful of tests to do the job. Do you now understand why he wanted Matfield back?
And it now looks like Beast, Bissie and Jannie have been played into the ground – and need a break. Gurthro fell short on Sat, Malherbe, Jannie’s back-up is now out for the season.
Would you like Heyneke Meyer’s job, Norty?
I wouldn’t.
@ Angostura:
Cheers, have a good evening
@ grootblousmile:
156
Ho nou, whats this all about.
As far as i remember i said what i said when you were here. And i did not go on and on about it. Show me the post where i went behind your back.
When we were great partners in this site, the group of friends did a lot of sugestions and together we build the foundation of this site. One was that we will never do what Keo did. Adds trough the middle of articles etc.
Whatever you do now is your problem, and if my advice or opinion is ignored so be it. On witch tread did i go behind your back. I would love te re-read it.
But remember Keo did not listen when we asked him things. You have chased almost all our Bruvvas away, and sorry old mate that is going to happen to many more.
I am thick skinned and live far from major rugby centres so i will take your abuse.
I wont run like Puma, Supa, K9, Ed the Lion, AB, Ex Player, King Paul,…… i am still loyal to this site.
174 @ Nama:
Ons sal maar moet sien…
Die Wallabliksems was ook nou nie juis inspirerend die naweek nie, hulle het heeltemal uit die bus gemoer.
As ondersteuners kan ons maar net toekyk, raas, skel, hoop, cheer, die tekortkominge bespreek, opbouende kritiek probeer gee… maar hopelik sal ons ondersteun met ons volle harte wanneer die volgende Toets aanbreek.
Met Frans Malherbe se besering is dit nou miskien tyd vir een van die Lions vaskoppe om by die Bokke aan te sluit, hopelik is Victor weer reg en so ook Willem Alberts.
Soos ek sê, kom ons kyk wat gebeur, ek dink beide die Bokke en Wallabies is stilletjies embarrassed en sal alles in die stryd wil werp om reg te maak wat verkeerd is.
176 @ IAAS:
I fail to see why I have been taken on so often these last two weeks then, if the general consensus is that we were crap.
That’s what myself and Nama and Super have been saying, yet, we were taken to task for saying it?
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