Heyneke Meyer
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer is clear – the best 31 players need to go to this year’s Rugby World Cup.
Meyer began his 1st Springbok training camp with a bit of a stutter as no less than 19 of the 44 players invited to the camp couldn’t train with the Bok management. Add to that the Sharks who are overseas on tour, and there wasn’t too much training that could get done.
But despite that, the Bok coach used the time to reveal his World Cup plans to players, tell individuals what he expected of them and will use the remainder of the time to share calls, plays and get down to technical nuances for the players to take home as “homework” before they meet again in the 2nd camp in a few weeks’ time.
The final squad is only set to be selected at the end of August, when the chosen 31 will be revealed to the country for the showpiece tournament in England. But 1 thing is clear, while competition will be tough between players, only the best 31 in Meyer’s mind will be selected, meaning a number of top players may well miss out.
However Meyer has admitted that he hasn’t made up his mind yet, giving players the chance in the remainder of the Vodacom Super Rugby competition as well as the camps, to make an indelible impression on him.
And with that in mind, he may have an idea of the starting line-up, but Meyer believes beyond the starting 15, the other 16 places are still up for grabs.
“There are a lot of guys who have performed over the years, so form is important but we’ve had 3 years to see which guys can come through and what they can do under pressure,” he explained.
“Although Super Rugby form is very important, test match rugby is totally different – especially in the Northern Hemisphere and especially with Northern Hemisphere referees. Form is definitely important, but in 3 years I’ve come to know which guys can play under pressure, and which guys can play at that level. We still have time to get them back to their best. I’ve got a good idea of my starting 15, but it is still open for every guy to go to the World Cup.
“There are always guys who come in late and others. I can mention a lot but for instance a guy like Jesse Kriel trained with us last year, he was very close to selection and suddenly he is putting up his hand.
“I think the great thing is that I don’t believe in pecking orders – the best 31 must go to the World Cup.”
Despite so many players not able to train, Meyer plans to use the next 2 days at the camp to fill players in a lot closer as to what he expects from them. And with that in mind the time together is worth its weight in gold to the Bok management team.
Meyer did say it was frustrating to have so many players on the sideline though.
“It is frustrating. It is our 1st camp and we only have 2 short training sessions and then it is the start of the season. We then play the tests and then we have a few weeks to prepare for the World Cup. I’m really worried about the amount of time we have to prepare. I think the Northern Hemisphere teams – it is the end of their season – will have a lot of time to prepare and have friendlies. They will be super fit so we will have to work hard to catch up.
“The main thing now is to get patterns going again, and that is where we’re fortunate, because a lot of these guys are excellent players and they picked up new things quickly.
“There are almost 250 calls that players need to know, and that is without their franchise’s calls as well. So this camp is just to get things going again, tell players what we want from them.
“We did a lot of work in terms of strength and conditioning and checked where we were in terms of body mass and fat mass.
“I truly believe if you want to win the World Cup you have to be the fittest team, and that is 1 thing we can all improve on.”
It will also be a chance to reflect on what players can do better, what they can do to enhance their chances of making the 31 and what they are doing wrong. These players know they are all in the frame at the moment and have the inside track.
The next key for them is to make sure their stay at the Bok camp is permanent enough to take them to the World Cup.
SuperSport
What HM means is the best 31 minus Brussouw.
@ BrumbiesBoy:
Like I said well done for finding your plums.
@ Scrumdown:
Three of you on one thread that must be some kind of record ?
33 @ gunther:
Have a quick look at your gravatar & you will see a younger version of me replying…
BrumbiesBoy wrote:
For the record….
http://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20150506/282123520071517/TextView
@ BrumbiesBoy:
Like when the Lions used the wrong ball after the kickoff in the last Bulls Lion sleeps game to win at the last minute?
Ja no well fine.
Dry your legs.
😆
@ BrumbiesBoy:
lol what record? for the record there was also a forward pass from Jantjies in the run up to the lions second try… two wrongs does not make a right of course.
THE try that decided the outcome of the game was Britney carrying 2 brave lions on his back and gently shoving Faf de Klerk out of his way for what seemed like Faf’s 10th missed tackle of the game.
36 @ gunther:
Nope, Spies got it wrong there.
I mentioned his whinge to a staunch, unbiased Tvl fan at work and he pointed out that (we don’t see it on TV but) they put a “new” ball on the halfway line before the kick is taken.
I was at EP for the Cheetahs game & checked…they do do it!!!
So
@ MacroSssss:
Oh, rub it in will you!!!!!!!!
37 @ MacroSssss:
Thanks for the footage, good power by Spies. I may be wrong but I think we got lucky there, in the build up to getting the penalty we could quite easily have been penalized for playing the ball while on the ground, look at how long our player holds on the ball after placing it and is off his feet.
gunther wrote:
Absolutely.
Records are there to be broken.
@ Bullscot:
Definitely a call that could have gone the Lions way. So many things at just that one ruck… was the ruck fully formed? if not the lions could have come from anywhere and fall wherever they like. Possibly double movement from Visser? Whitely just happens to be the one getting blown up for going off of his feet.
Not much different from every Ruck penalty given these days.
42 @ MacroSssss:
I contest that a ref’ could award a penalty at EVERY ruck to whichever team HE wants to, and there would probably be enough evidence to support his decision, or not to question it.
Let’s be honest, it’s a lottery.
@ Scrumdown:
It is just another thing where teams need to learn to use the grey area to their advantage.
@ Scrumdown:
but i disagree that its the team the referee wants to get the penalty, things happen so fast, its usually just the most blatant error that stands out.
45 @ MacroSssss:
I’m not saying that the ref’ decides “I think I’ll give team x a penalty”, I just make the point that he could if he wanted to, and that there are always enough infringements to award a penalty to either of the teams.
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