Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer on Wednesday defended himself against allegations that he been too conservative during his up-and-down first few months in charge of the national team.
He also confessed to having made “a lot of mistakes; I’ll take that on the chin” and said that he was “not a guy who knows everything”.
At a media briefing at the Boks’ Waterfront hotel here, ahead of the three-Test tour of Ireland, Scotland and England, Meyer said candidly that he took great pride in his post and had spoken to many coaches and players in his endeavour to improve the team’s fortunes.
“First you have to put the basics in place, and (it is difficult) when you haven’t always had the same team.
“The one criticism I sometimes feel is unjust is that we kick too much. But in all six Test matches we played in the (Castle Rugby) Championship we kicked less than our opponents.
“When we scored what I thought were five reasonably good tries against Australia (in the thumping 31-8 victory at Loftus) and missed three, everybody said it was a bad Australian side … then they go out and draw against New Zealand and New Zealand don’t score a try.
“Suddenly I don’t hear that the All Blacks are conservative and they don’t play great rugby.
“But I don’t want to compare myself with other teams. Obviously you have to grow as a coach and a team and obviously you want to play better rugby and score more tries.
“Sometimes I feel that we’ve been together for nine Test matches … I know it may sound a lot but you get in three days of (preparation) before the Test and have two sessions. So we want to grow.
“I’m very positive, as I’ve been in this position a number of times. I know where we’re going and we’ve blooded a number of youngsters which I’m very happy with … that they’ll be at the (next) World Cup.”
He said that some these players would still only be around 24 by then, yet have played 35 Tests.
“Then suddenly you’ve got a team, and a lot of depth. But again, I’m never satisfied and have high standards – I want to win every single game.
“And you know, we have been in positions to (do that) … we could probably have won 90 percent of those (surrendered) games if our kicking was better.
“(Never mind) conservative or expansive rugby – you do have to kick your goals and that is one thing we need to rectify.”
Meyer said he was keen to complete the northern hemisphere tour unbeaten.
“It’s been a long time since we did that abroad, and it won’t be easy. I’m also keen to examine some of the overseas-based players we’ve pulled in, especially forwards, who are still young enough to potentially play the (2015) World Cup.
“I need to see which players are tough enough to win tournaments away from home and in very different conditions.”
By Rob Houwing
59 @ Puma:
You’ll be made Author in December… and will have to keep the content coming!
60 @ grootblousmile:
LOL. Will post here, but I am no Author….hahaha.
61 @ grootblousmile:
See Bananaboy post here on the weekend. Good to see him here. Great fella and has a really good rugby brain too. Hope he posts more often here.
😆
Puma tell you what boet, you do a nice markegting drive and get a few good bloggers to come blog here.
I feel like a DOWNLOAD today… been busy with huge, huge downloads now for 2 days!
Must have downloaded at least 25 Gb worth of stuff already in the 2 days, and yet no end in sight with what I want and need to get.
Great to have UNCAPPED internet though, so cap limit is no problem.
… and no, it’s not music or movies or video’s or TV series and shit…. but that’s about how much I’m willing to divulge on an open forum…. hehehehe
63 @ Puma:
Yip, he did.
64 @ Sharks_forever:
LOL. How? I only blog here now and nowhere else. Will be kinda hard now…hehe. Used to promote this site a lot though on the otherside.
Saw Bananaboy post here, good fella and enjoy speaking with him. Wonder what happened to Winston? Also used to blog here a lot until he moved to Joburg.
66 @ grootblousmile:
Good hope some more follow us over here.
42 @ Sharks_forever:
and 43@Grootblousmile:
Yes as far as I know thats correct they will be using the new replacements laws for these tests ie. you must have complete front row cover on the bench and so get 8 replacements now – as they have been using this season here up north – its a good thing I think as should reduce the farce of games with uncontested scrums. There was an article saying there might be more of the new laws used this series that would be new to the Boks but that have been in force this season up north and also been used in New Zealand in the ITM cup, not sure if the Laws they will be using have been finalized but its crazy its been left this late to decide and would mean some adjustment for the Boks and not much time for them to be taught to adapt to them – if I get time tomorrow will try and dig up the article and also look around and see if there is any confirmation from IRB now as to which if any of the new Laws will be used.
What value will placing Marco Wentzel on standy give to the Boks?
He is a journeyman.
Surely it would have been a better idea to include / place on standby PSDT or a local who will become a Bok as opposed to a HN journeyman?
I refer to previous comments with respect to Lambie being given a chance and wish to quote verbarum from a report in the Mercury ( 1/11/12) by Ashfak Mohamed .Steyn is set to reclaim the No 10 jersey ahead of Patrick Lambie and Elton Janjtjies. Quoting Meyer “I’ve said that I want to win every single Test match and I dont believe that (Lambie) has tried too many things at Test-match level. He has been tried-and-tested at Currie Cup and specifically Super rugby level. But I also want to use this tour to look at two possibilities” Meyer said. “I’ve always been open with Patrick and said to him that if he wants to be a 10, especially with the World Cup being in England(in 2015) he has to be able to kick tactically. Patrick has improved on his tactical kicking game. He will definitely be a contender there and I think he can be a great 10 going forward. But by saying that, after this year I want to stick with the two 10s who I know will play in the World Cup”. How ambigious is that. Does he say that he will take Lambie to the World Cup or is this just another way of quietening Lambie supporters. How much tactical kicking has Morne Steyn ever done?
@ Loosehead:
I agree 100%
@ shenzi:
Me thinks we all know the answer to that, and it’s not a nice answer, I have a feeling HM is going to do to Lambie what he has done to KD.
Morning everyone.
@ Puma:
Good Morning Mr Bones,(knees) 😆
75 @ Sharks_forever:
Howzit bro,
Jees I am useless with this typing stuff….hahaha. Just typed a long post and bloody hell it has disappeared into cyberspace somewhere….hahaha.
Sharks_forever wrote:
What has HM done to Kurt Darren?
75 @ Sharks_forever:
I am with shenzi that Meyer has set up Lambie to fail. Now why must he prove himself? WHY? He has done so many times already. Unfair on Pat really. Nothing wrong with Pat’s tactical kicking at all. Just have to go back and look at the cc final of 2010 and see he was already great doing it then already. So Meyer once again is just making up excuses as he really only wants Pat there to cover from the bench.
Allister Coetzee had said on Super Sport last week to Rich, that if he was coach he would have made Lambie his flyhalf last year already in the world cup and would still have him as flyhalf. Said he is world class.
So how can Meyer not see that? This is nonsense by Meyer setting up Lambie to fail, by only giving him one shot. If he truly wants to give him a chance he must play him in all 3 games on this eoyt. Just watch Pat misses once at goal or kicks it out on the full he will be dropped. NO 2nd chance for him, but there have been 2 year of chances for Morne and plenty chances for Goosen as he is Meyer’s chosen one. Unfair on the younster really. A chance means a few full 80min games. The pressure on Lambie to prove himself in one game will be massive. That should never be put on any player really. I said it in a post last night already.
Also why did Jaco come from no-where to get to start at outside centre? How the blooyd hell did that happen? When Juan de Jongh was already there waiting his turn forever as well. How did a fullback jump the queue ahead of Juan? Juan should start in this tour end of story and so should Lambie. Morne should have been left at home, simple as that. Should be Lambie and Jantjies covering fh. Jaco must go and play fb, but I feel we have better than him there now as well. Ludik should have been given a chance and Aplon should have been given more than one chance by Meyer as well. Though Alpon is getting on a bit now so fair enough.
Also reading on sports24 about Meyer selecting the overseas players. That will make many think it is okay to go play overseas as they will still get selected. Not the way to go really, he should be selecting only from home and only select players from overseas if we have none here to fill those places. Flo is a good selection as we really don’t have much that do the fetching role here. Now he wants to bring a lock in from there too. Eish! no it should be from the players playing here, or bring in Botha that we all know what he can do.
Now had my gripe again…..hehehe.
77 @ Loosehead:
Kurt Darren! hahahaha.. Good one….. 😆
Also why play Hougie on wing? We have two specialist wings on tour. Should give them a chance first. I think Rhule is the real deal young or not I would give him a start. Have Hougie on the bench, otherwise give Mvovo another chance he scorec a brilliant try for us against England the last time round.
@ Puma:
scorec = scored
This from Sports24.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Boks need rest – Heyneke
2012-11-01 07:50
Heyneke Meyer (Gallo Images)
Related Links
Lambie to get chance at pivot
Bok skipper Jean declared fit
Marco Wentzel on Bok stand-by
Cape Town – Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer says the matter of injuries rests heavily on his mind and feels the time has come to change the systems in place for the national team.
The heavy workload of the Boks in recent months have resulted in numerous injuries and as a result hookers Bismarck du Plessis and Tiaan Liebenberg, prop Coenie Oosthuizen, lock Andries Bekker, loose forwards Heinrich Brüssow, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Pierre Spies, Jacques Potgieter, flyhalf Johan Goosen, centre Frans Steyn and wing Bryan Habana are all unavailable for the tour.
Meyer feels South African rugby should take a leaf out of New Zealand’s book and rest the players for extended periods in an effort to ensure good health.
“Without wanting to be critical of the way things are done here, I would like to see changes in the systems going forward,” Meyer said.
“I think New Zealand have got it right. They intend to rest (Richie) McCaw on their European tour.
“There are some great players with injuries when one looks at Frans (Steyn) and Bryan (Habana).
“Okay, JP (Pietersen) is back from injury, but the injured players can do a lot for the team, they are important for us.
“The (incoming) youngsters do well but when you have names like Habana and Steyn in your backline you have a really good team.”
The injury-depleted Boks fly to Europe on Saturday and play Ireland on November 10 in Dublin, Scotland a week later in Edinburgh before concluding their tour against England in London on November 24.
Why do you have Morne then playing Meyer? He has played almost 2 years non-stop?
Fransie came back in June to Durban, played for the Boks in the June Tests, then for Sharks against the Bulls and Cheetahs. Then rested, never had to travel for the play-offs, semi and final back and forward. He should still have been with the Boks as he had quite a lot of rest. Frans Steyn got injured in training with the Boks Meyer!
Agree about other players, need to be managed better by their franchise during the long Super Rugby season.
Then the extra long Super Rugby season we can blame saru for that.
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