Heyneke Meyer, the coach of the team with the most “character” in the world.
South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer hailed the character of his team Sunday in the wake of a lucky 33-31 Rugby Championship victory over Argentina in Salta.
Serial match-winner Morne Steyn ignored whistling and booing to slot a penalty three minutes from time and give the Springboks a second win over the Pumas within eight days.
It was the climax of a stirring last-quarter comeback by the visitors as tries from right-wing Cornal Hendricks and flank Marcell Coetzee wiped out a 12-point deficit.
SuperSport
“I do not want to say every weekend that we have shown great character, but we have now won nine of our last 10 away games.
“My guys proved again that they know how to win,” Meyer said of a result that kept South Africa top of the table after two rounds, one point ahead of New Zealand.
“We were down and out at one stage and the team came back. There are a lot of areas to work on, but we are still in this competition.”
Meyer said an ankle injury suffered by replacement tight-head prop Frans Malherbe would rule him out of the other four Championship matches.
Springboks skipper Jean de Villiers believed the energy of the seven substitutes used was a crucial factor in getting out of jail in the heat of north-western Argentina.
“I am not saying those who started did badly, but our bench made a big impact and that is probably where the match was won.
“We see those on the bench as impact players rather than replacements,” said the centre and veteran of 98 Springbok tests.
De Villiers also lauded Argentina, who seemed set for their first Championship victory when leading 28-16 midway through the second half at Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena.
“Once again I am saying that they are a much better team than their world ranking of eighth suggests,” he said.
“We were happy to pull through, but the match could have gone either way.”
Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade and skipper Agustin Creevy found it hard to accept losing just a week after a 13-6 defeat in monsoon-like Pretoria conditions.
“We failed to close the game out after playing at a higher level than the Springboks for much of the game,” admitted Hourcade.
“I do not feel good – there is frustration because we did not handle the closing stages well.”
The Pumas scored three tries for the first time in 14 Championship matches since their 2012 debut and this cheered the coach.
“We must attack if we are going to beat South Africa, New Zealand and Australia and I believe we are on the right track.
He also praised his forwards, who gave the heavier Springbok pack a torrid time for an hour, especially in the scrums.
England-based hooker Creevy said: “There is a lot of disappointment within the team because this is a game we could have won.”
South Africa and Argentina head for Australasia early September to play New Zealand and Australia.
AWESOME!!!!!!
Jean….they are not 8th in the world, they are 12th, if they were 8th you would have lost
@ nortierd:
So you miss Pdivie and his sayings. Here’s one of my favourites. LMFAO.
“There is little difference between winning and losing except you feel better after winning.”
@ IAAS:
He did have some pearlers 😆
I think credit to the boks from coming back from an awful unwinable situation… I think thats good (glass half full)
but we should not be in that position.
@ MacroBok:
5
“I think credit to the boks from coming back from an awful unwinable situation”
The ‘credit ‘ must be shared with Steve Walsh at about 70% to Walsh?
@ nortierd:
4
I don’t any difference between them -nonsense talking wise – other than PdV backed his pearls with wins against the ABs
#8 @ nortierd:
In his only match as coach against Argentina, PdV’s Boks beat them by 63-9 at Ellispark.
What happened here? Two comments just vanished.
@ Nama:
Thanks for the info Nama.
I deleted my posts from earlier, lest I be accused of banging on the same drum or being a douchebag because WP is winning
Ek sal maar so min as moontlik se oor die Bokke, but, as I suspected, he didn’t beat them by 2 points, and they were probably in the top 10 at that stage?
Last Springbok coach who talked any sense in my opinion was……..
can’t really think of one….perhaps the late Kitch Christie?
And he spoke maybe 5 minutes publicly during his whole tenure, mostly left the talking to Francois Pienaar.
The rest were fairly numb, I suspect because of their poor command of English, Mallett and Moss being the exceptions.
@ Pietman:
Pietman, seems like there is no need for press conferences after the matches anymore, we all know what will be said.
Awesome, character building, best test ever…..it’s like a Mills & Boons Book, the same plot, different characters
Found in the Canberra Times….
5. Don’t cry for them, Argentina.
The customary hard-luck stories will be trotted out after their 31-33 loss at home to the Springboks, but they have been in this competition for three years now and they are big boys.
They don’t need the patronising.
They didn’t win because the Springboks had a better bench (Juan Smith is a wonderful story but his replacement Marcell Coetzee helped change the tempo) and were clinical when it counted.
Argentina’s scrummaging and short passing game among the forwards is outstanding – it was last year too – and they have a big left winger, young Manuel Montero, who looks like a real threat in some space. But they have flattered to deceive at the start of this competition before. Judgment is best reserved on what they can bring against the Wallabies.
@ Hondo:
Now you’re talking nonsense.
Stop it.
@ nortierd:
Before tv we didn’t have this problem…and during the 80s old louis Luyt did most of the talking. Just as well because a guy like Johan Claassen looked more intelligent with his mouth shut…
I agree, better that the coaches stay off stage, no need for them to say anything, they either talk nonsense or talk themselves into the shyte like Jake, Peter, Markgraaf and Harry did.
@ Pietman:
I would just love seeing the day they are honest….calling a spade a spade.
No Bok coach should ever use the word, proud or happy after beating certain teams.
Brendan was the last “original” coach, but he learnt his lesson and had a clause put into his Shark contract that stipulated that he doesn’t have to deal with the media
Still can’t believe we only amassed 9 points in total in two outings against the Argies…regardless of all the speeches whoever wants to make on the subject, that is the heart of the matter for me.
Character building and all that altruistic holy bullshyte have sweet Fanny Adams to do with it, their parents should have built the players’ characters at home anyway before they were selected, not our business
We want to see a million dollar winning team in green and gold out there on the pitch, end of story.
@ nortierd:
But Brendan never coached an international side singing the anthem with hands on heart…
@ nortierd:
ok nortie
17 @ Pietman:
Good points.
I suppose the equation is simple, win every game and you win the RC?
Then BP don’t matter. I think that’s what they are aspiring to do in any case
@ Pietman:
Speaking of “character” I see the Sharks also showed some, according to the thread just placed.
Seems like it’s the new buzzword
@ nortierd:
Well, BP will soon matter, since our point difference is so piss poor. Against who are we going to pick up a sizable score now?
Meanwhile this very same Argies are going to go down with points differences of 20+ in the Antipodes and we are left sitting helplessly and unable to do anything about it because we fktup by doing character building and such when we had the opportunity.
@ Pietman:
a win is a win 🙄
@ Pietman:
The 2014 version of Kamp Staaldraad = 2 tests v the Pumas?
nortierd wrote:
Showed some what? Character’ again?
Soon I am going to begin feeling uncharacteristically queasy and start kotsing like Luke when I hear that word mentioned in a rugby discussion…
As long a I never hear the word “clinical” again…….
Well you asked for it. So here it is.
IAAS wrote:
Legend!
Hahahaha now you all see what i meant about HM,s talking. PdeV was the same, he should have left the talking to his media men.
Stormersboy wrote:
“Clinical” just about as applicable to the Springboks’ current performance as the late great dr. Manto’s beetroot juice and garlic cure is to the prevention of HIV.
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