What the hell is going on with our beloved Springboks? I believe this is the main question every SA rugby supporter wrestles with at this moment!
Wrong players in key positions, an unbalanced back row, injuries to key players and playing an outdated game plan has all been voiced as probable reasons.
Heyneke has responded to most of these criticisms by making changes to the team but still the team seems to be tentative and almost scared to do anything. They played like a golfer obsessed with his golf swing, so focussed on getting it exactly right that he forgets to hit the damn ball. The ‘Boks in the first half was overly careful, almost scared that they would make mistakes (not getting it exactly right). The result of that –and it has been the case in some of The Rugby Championship test matches as well- was that they became tentative and pedantic when going into contact.
We’ve all seen Heyneke in the coaches box shouting like a man possessed. He is clearly a passionate and intense character. He is clearly a man that attends to detail and who wants to get things exactly right.
Those are all great attributes for a national coach but I believe he is overdoing it and needs to ease up a little with the team especially in the last couple of days before the match. Thing is if you work on detail you slow things down and that is good because you need to work on making sure everyone understands his role. The downside of it is that you get so focussed on getting those steps right that you become careful and tentative.
You then take that tentativeness into the match with disastrous results. You get overpowered at the collisions like this picture shows.
The Springboks came out in the second half with a simplified approach, focussed on hitting the advantage line with speed and impact. It worked. It’s like the golfer who can’t get it right until he decided to hell with this and starts whacking the ball with conviction. A lot of times that brings immediate improvement.
Slowing things down and working on detail is fine but the approach has to change in the last two days before the test. Meyer and the other coaches has to step back during the captains run the day before the match and the players need to do short but extreme high speed repetitions of certain ‘bread and butter’ moves with lots of rest in between.
The focus in the last day before the match is to pre-set the nervous system; essentially to prepare the players to do things at high speed while hitting contact. The high speed stuff can be done against tackle bags and against each other and or against the players not selected to play in the test match. Get the tentativeness out of the system. Do it faster than you are going to do it during the match and spill the damn ball during practice. The nervous system will learn from the exposure and will adapt for match day.
Apart from being over coached I thought the Bokkies were reasonable in the second half. I was happy with Lambie’s performance and thought Ruan Pienaar had a great game. I would have liked to see the backline using dummy runners in order to put Pietersen in space.
CJ van der Linde, Francois Hougaard and Jaco Taute I thought struggled. Zane irritated the hell out of me yet again and he was one of the players (the other one being CJ) who were guilty of losing the ball going into contact. I would like to see Juan de Jongh at No 13 and Jaco Taute at fullback and would not mind if CJ van der Linde is moved to the bench.
I am also not entirely convinced that the loosetrio is well balanced. Willem Alberts and Duane Vermeulen are just too similar in style. Both had good games making lots of tackles but I long for a No 7 or No 8 that can link better with the outside backs.
Also I thought Adriaan Strauss was the man doing all the talking on the field.
I feel that Pat was not allowed to play his natrual game and was trying to impersonate HM in the firsthalf (Not that HM is a fly but he seems to think he has all the attributes)- He was under undue pressure to perform as I am sure that he must have felt it was almost a make or break game. The second half he was more relaxed and fed the line as best as we as allowed by the Irish defence, with one or two darts.This was definitely not a game that our boys can keep in their scrap books. Lets hope that HM is not too harsh and allows a second chance to Pat,not that any of the other Flys would have fared any better in the first half. Bring in de Jongh and as suggested put Taute at FB. I am sure that KD would have made a difference in the forwards.
It’s all the Sharks’ players fault.
For me, it’s simple. We need a visionary, not a historian as a coach
@ shenzi:
As soon as I saw Pat Lambie kick the first 2 Gary Owens I thought to myself, “What the fukc is going on here?”
The SA side were somewhat like a bunch of kids playing for the first time together.
Nick Mallet got it right when he said that it was a below par Irish side, but the Saffas just dropped down to their level.
I’ve said on this website at least 50 times before, THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE REF’S DON’T PENALISE THE TACKLER FOR NOT RELEASING. I can see it, but the SA players just seem incapable of adapting to this “interpretation”.
Granted, the Saffas were better in the second half, but a better side than the Paddy’s would have buried them with the number of penalties conceded in the first stanza.
McLook reckons the SA side are overcoached, and I reckon EVERY SA side is overcoached.
F all individuality or inventiveness. Stampkar, up and under Rugby. K@K to watch, and only effective against mediocre opposition.
I predict another narrow win against the Sweaty Socks, and a loss by 8-10 against the Poms, who whilst probably having had the easiest game of the NH sides this weekend at least took their opportunities.
Wales were rubbish against the argies who were at least full of fire and seemed to have gained somewhat from their Rugby Championship debut year. Juan Martin Fernandes Lobbe was inspirational, and showed the guts necessary to lead a top International team.
The French blew the wobblies away and were both inspired and inspirational in Paris. That little no 10 that sometimes plays in Deben for a team in Black and white had a blinder.
This evening, after the men from the island of the long white cloud have played (and probably defeated) the Sweaty Socks, we’ll all have a better idea of where the real balaqnce of power lies in world Rugby Union.
1. New Zealand, and then a long way back the rest.
Oh, and well done to Samoa who built on their 2011 RWC with an emphatic victory over Canada.
3 @ Just For Kicks:
Are there any in South Africa?
Methinks not!
@ Just For Kicks:
You’ve inadvertently closed the Scotland – NZ article for comments.
Why is the Scotland/All Blacks thread closed?
4 @ Scrumdown:
Agree we are overcoached at the Boks and it seems Stormers and Bulls are as well. Not so with Lions, Cheetahs or Sharks. The reason it is almost impossible to watch the Boks play this one dimensional game they play.
Scotland thread open again
I think to be the best one must compare and endeavor to be like the best
I know Steve Hanson took over a team well settled but he just put his foot down on the accelerator and the results are even better
10 wins out of 11 NO losses, 39:11 tries, average score 43-12
5 wins out of 10 , 3 losses, 20:15 tries, average score 21-18 SA
6 wins out of 12 , 5 losses, 12:19 tries, average score 17-22 AUS, Deans??? How much longer will he be tolerated?
Thetight five were awesome once CJ went off.
The loosies are all to slow. Once Coetzee came on and added some pace the balance was better.
I would drop JDV, make Strauss the captain.
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