Gavin Rich

Gavin Rich

Heyneke Meyer, as every Springbok coach has before him, will have his year’s work measured by how his side goes against the All Blacks.

That is just the way it is in South Africa and Meyer would have known that before he accepted the job. But if anyone thinks it’s a fair contest, and that he is pitting himself against his All Black adversary Steve Hansen on equal terms, they need to think again.

The expectations of South Africans do not match the rugby realities of the two countries. New Zealand’s centralised system, with Super Rugby coaches and players contracted to the NZRFU and everything geared towards making the All Blacks excellent, gives Hansen a leg up that Meyer doesn’t have.

SuperSport

Meyer has often spoken in recent years about the improved relationship between the national coaches and the franchises. He is not wrong about that. But it’s still not equal to the system in New Zealand. If it was, he would not have been confronted with the contradiction we saw in the Super Rugby season when the national coach was talking about the need to be cleverer and quicker and the top local franchise, the Sharks, was playing rugby that belonged in the Dark Ages.

Ditto for most of the other South African franchises in Super Rugby, with the Cheetahs being the only exception but themselves also confirming the folly of thinking you can play an expansive game against Kiwi teams that are just better conditioned for it. The Cheetahs developed a bit of a trend in their matches against New Zealand sides this year – they would contest for the first half or maybe, at a push, up to the hour mark, and then their opponents would run away with it.

Does that sound familiar? It’s also what happened to the Springboks when they played the All Blacks in the deciding game of last year’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship. I keep hearing or reading people suggesting that game proved the Boks are capable of mixing it with New Zealand by playing the Kiwi fast paced game, but I can’t see that point.

The All Blacks ran away with that game in the last quarter, when they were completely dominant and the Boks started blowing air bubbles after their fast start. The All Blacks won by 11 points, which is a sizeable margin at international level and particularly at a ground which was considered the home team’s fortress.

At the end of the last end of year tour, Meyer said that conditioning and mental toughness were what the Boks needed to work on in order to close the gap on the All Blacks. But he only has his players for a very short window, and never for longer than two weeks before his team has to play a test match, so he has to rely on the fragmented South African system to do the rest.

Meyer just isn’t with the players long enough to condition them for a faster game and affect the revolution in playing style many are calling for and which he has occasionally hinted at.

Western Province is one provincial union that has realised that an up tempo game requires a lift in conditioning, and because they had a Kiwi coach and a Kiwi conditioning coach a couple of years ago, the Lions also have it right to some extent. But for the rest there isn’t much evidence of that.

You don’t need to have watched the recent All Black game against the Wallabies to wonder if rugby in our country is played in slow motion in comparison to in New Zealand. I’ve watched a bit of the ITM Cup, and the impression I have is that the game is much quicker paced there too than the Currie Cup, even though the conditions here should suit the quick paced game more.

The Dunedin clash between the Highlanders and Crusaders in Super Rugby was just one of many matches between Kiwi sides in that competition that looked like it was being played on a different planet to that inhabited by our teams.

So, while I agree with the many arm-chair critics who reckon the Boks should in time be looking to emulate the All Blacks, and the Sharks’ overly rigid plan in Super Rugby was flawed, I can’t see how Meyer can be expected to overnight reinvent the way the Boks play when that reinvention isn’t happening at the lower levels.

The players selected for the All Blacks have been reared on a faster paced game and it is second nature for them because they play it in Super Rugby as well as in the ITM Cup. Most importantly, they are conditioned for it.

Getting the Boks to a place where they can compete with the All Black pace and skill will require long term planning and synchronised conditioning and skills programs across all levels, something that hasn’t been much in evidence in post-isolation South African rugby. When that changes, but only then, will the clash between Bok and All Black coaches be a genuinely fair and equal one.

15 Responses to The rugby championship: Opinion – Gavin Rich – Hansen vs Heyneke not an equal contest

  • 1

    Good article, good points that i agree with. I would add though that i don’t think bokke fan’s don’t want them to play exactly like the AB’s however would appreciate a more expansive game plan combined with our traditional strengths.
    SA rugby could do well with a centralised system like that in NZ. If u watch the junior players, craven week, varsity cup etc. There is a style of play that im sure fans would love to see the bokke play. The argument that SA players don’t hv the skills to play an expansive game is one i dissagreee with.
    It is coach out of the players at seniour level.
    HM is a good couch but with some fundamental floors.
    The thing that rly pisses me off about him is his point of saying he selects a player based on the personality as one and maybe the most important factor. I call BS on that. HM’s checklist for selection goes like so. SIZE! IF HE KNOWS AND HAS WORKED WITH PLAYER BEFORE. IF HE HASN’T WORKED WITH THEM, THEN ITS SIZE FIIRST. He avoids selection and or fielding players in form over size and or a player he is familiar with. Two examples come to mind: Francios Hoegaard on the wing while specialist in form wing Lwazi Mvovo warms tge bench. Another is end of year tour vs Scotland, starts Bakkies Botha instead of Peter steph du toi. If ever there was an opportune moment to give the young man a run that was it. NOW confirmation of this double standard is his willingness to start Pollard. He has a history with him and was identified by HM a while back.
    Another serious prob is fielding players like Willie and then expecting them to play differently. Wille is given freedom to play his game until we meet the aussie and ab’s then its kick. WHY?

  • 2

    1 @ the layman02:
    Hello Layman, welcome to Rugby-Talk.com, the Friendly Rugby Website & Discussion Forum.

    I saw the mail come through to me (as Administrator of the site) that you had registered.

    You will find this a friendly community!

    Hope we see lots of you in the comments sections.

  • 3

    @ the layman02:
    Welkom hier by ons.
    Laat weet bietjie wie jy ondersteun 😀

  • 4

    3 @ nortierd:
    Die man is ‘n Tjark….. hehehe

    Hoop hy ‘s ‘n tawwe Tjark, nie een van daai sagte Pajama Sharkies nie!

    Delighted

  • 5

    Dis lekker om nog sharks op die site te kry

  • 6

    @ grootblousmile:
    Overjoy
    Fresh Shark meat…..
    Kom ons hoop so, glo darem hy sal rondhang

  • 7

    Hierdie Aussie NRC is flippen lekker rugby

  • 8

    So….Oscar not guilty of premeditated murder

  • 9

    @ nortierd: @8
    Nort – you think he’ll get a guilty for culpable homicide? What sort of sentence does that carry?

  • 10

    How about a live Oscar thread? 😆

  • 11

    @ GoBokkeAndIreland:
    “If she finds him guilty of culp he may still get a prison sentence. But there is no prescribed sentence. Could also be suspended sentence,” reckons attorney David Dadic.

  • 12

    @ GoBokkeAndIreland:
    @ MacroBok:
    As Macro said

  • 13

    @ MacroBok:
    Hey MB. Thanks for the info.

  • 14

    My blood is starting to boil.
    The-Incredible-Hulk In-pain Censored

  • 15

    @ GoBokkeAndIreland:
    No problem.

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