The Springboks might well win the battle on this European tour by winning their tests, but ultimately, they will lose to war.
Victor Matfield was quoted recently when responding to a question on how he keeps the hunger and motivation going in what was a tough and testing but ultimately the most successful year for Springbok rugby in history.
His response; “The more you succeed, the more you want to succeed”.
I think it speaks volumes of the character of Victor and some of our senior Boks who have achieved great success in recent years, which included a World Cup win, Super 14 titles, Currie Cup titles, Tri-Nations wins and of course a whitewash of New Zealand in 2009.
It might also give us an indication of the mindset of our players, and that they feel the job is not quite yet done, where it is said that the aim for our battle hardened players are now to be the first team in history to retain the World Cup.
Success however, can also leave you shortsighted to your weaknesses and blind you to the challenges that lie ahead – and our biggest weakness currently is the depth in our Springbok squad or players being able to slot in at the highest level if and when required.
In 2008 Jean de Villiers capped a magnificent year of rugby where he was also named SA’s Rugby player of the Year. He played every single Super 14 game, every Springbok test (bar one against Argentina if memory serves) and every single Currie Cup game following his commitments following the Tri-Nations.
Back then I warned Jean will not be able to repeat this in 2009, and that in fact, he might actually break down in 2009.
Now Jean might not have broken down completely but he did not finish the Super 14 due to injury and he definitely was not the dominant force in 2009 that he was the year before.
This year it holds true for many of our current top Boks, amongst them Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Fourie du Preez, John Smit and perhaps even Bryan Habana. Even newcomers to the Bok setup in Heinrich Brϋssow and Morné Steyn have played in just about every game they possibly could in 2009.
The optimist in me believes that these guys will stay fit and strong throughout 2010 and up and till the World Cup in 2011, but the realist in me tells me that with the physical and psychological demands of professional rugby, they too will break down at some point very soon.
The current European tour should have been about one thing only – one mission, and that is to find the potential back up depth to key positions within our Springbok team, and we failed before we even started.
The merits of the coach’s initial decisions or selections can be debated, but the actions of the management team directly after the tour hit its first snag with regard to results and injuries suggests that they have failed already.
As soon as the team and squad needed replacements called up, and strategies re-evaluated, the Bok management clearly fell back on the tried and tested rather than the new and exciting.
This may well be due to the pressures of being an international and Springbok coach where results mean everything, but ultimately, this short sightedness and need for immediate or present success winning the current battles, will ultimately lead to us losing the war.
It takes a brave man and brave coach to sacrifice results today in his quest to ultimately win the war, just ask Jake White, but it is a sacrifice that is needed to sustain long term success and Peter de Villiers and his team has failed.
supa @ 30
ek hoor wat jy vir my probeer sê: “dis vrek moeilik om ñ coach te wees want elke liewe d*nner dink hy weet beter” 😆
issitie so nie? 😉
27 SDB.
Dis reg, hy het 2 jaar.
Ek stry met jou so bietjie. Daar is baie posisies wat daar goeie back-ups is. Maar kom ek se ek verwys nou na ouens soos Kichner, Mapoe en De Joghn. Spelers wat MOERSE baie talent het, maar wat nog nie reg is om DAAR te speel saam met die groot manne nie. Dit is waaroor die volgnde twee jaar moet gaan, om hulle, spreekwoordelik, die stem te gee om saam te gesels.
31#
Dis baaaaaie moeilik! Ek was op n gholfdag n slag, toe praat hulle met die Valke coach van so klompie jare terug. Toe se hy:
‘Die eerste ding wat n coach doen as hy n nuwe afrigters pos kry is om ander werk te begin soek’
#32 Dit verskil van speler tot speler. Party is dadelik reg ander nie. Frans Steyn, JDV ens kon dadelik by internasionale rugby aanpas nog voor hulle s14 gespeel het.
D Hougaardt het vir my nooit daar aangepas nie, self al was hy goed in die s14.
Oraait manne, praat weer. Ek is besig om hondsiek te word en moet nou die koue oppad kantoor toe aandurf.
34… Ek dink dit wys mens net hoe moeilik ‘n afrigter van die nationale span se werk is. Hoe gaan mens ooit weet of iemand soos Juan de Jongh ‘n Jean de Villiers of ‘n Derick Hougaard gaan wees…
supa @ 33
lol
36
ek’t so pas besluit om nie meer eendag as ek groot is bok afrigter te word nie, hehehe
Well the easy solution is to go back to traditional tours and play mid week games. That gives the 2nd string players experience and gives the coach time to work on and with the 2nd stringers.
Now all that we need is for the coach to be able to identify the 2nd stringers.
for the most i agree with what orne says
although i understand bok rugby comes first and not province one must always remember who pays these players etc
and i agree with playing a weaker country use other combo’s
loosehead is prolly right in having the midweek games to gel the 2nd stringers together
fact is we dont need 22 good players but50
so if player y replaces player z there is no weakening of the team
but this can only work if 95% of that whole squad is maintained
an example was the Emerging boks had a loose trio of deysel pottie and vermeulen, they weere brilliant together and surely should have been played together again
yet the next opportunity , the next combo was johnstone , pottie and ruabenheimer , and proved to be a dissaster
its not use having consistency with the main team then jumping castle with the backup
what people also forget is the grooming at an early stage of the next bok captain
then its pottie
then its chili
then its whoever
we needa a capt like smitty that makes all different provincial players back him and will run through a wall for him
when matfield was capt things went down a bit as i dont think he gets the different cultures etc to play as one
in that i mean white njon white , eng and afr etc
now people are saying pottie is the next smitty as a capt , who knows maybe they right , but if it is him , he should be captaining that midweek side all the time till he breaks through into the main side
if there is not enough games planned for the b team or emerging team , plans should change to give them more game time as a unit
sharky_forever @ 42
agree
Consistency is needed, we need the guys to play a few games together to evaluate them properly. The current Bok team have a least experienced player in Morne Steyn who played a whopping 8 or more tests in a row, 8 in a row at least, no in out maneuvers , thats the way.
First pick right , then show belief in the player.
bok team named ….
15 Zane Kirchner (1)
14 JP Pietersen (30)
13 Jaque Fourie (51)
12 Adi Jacobs (28)
11 Bryan Habana (54)
10 Morné Steyn (9)
9 Fourie du Preez (52)
8 Ryan Kankowski (9)
7 Schalk Burger (53)
6 Heinrich Brüssow (10)
5 Victor Matfield (89)
4 Bakkies Botha (63)
3 John Smit – Captain (90)
2 Bismarck du Plessis (30)
1 Tendai Mtawarira (19)
Reserves:
16 Adriaan Strauss (5)
17 Wian du Preez (0)
18 CJ van der Linde (56)
19 Andries Bekker (18)
20 Danie Rossouw (43)
21 Ruan Pienaar (34)
22 Wynand Olivier (24)
thanks ash and good day mate ^5
42 – Sharky, howzit brudda. I think maybe next year we should have a Dirt Tracker team play as a curtain raiser before we play ABS and OZ here in the Tri-Nations against a NH club here. If any teams that tour here in June then we do the same have our best 2nd side play them before the main test against a NH club here. Although looking at the fixtures on SuperSport I don’t see any NH team coming down here in June. Well that is what the fixture is saying for now.
Or play the 2nd best side against a NH club during the week before the Tri-Nations games. Something like that to give those players some game time. Then we MUST select who we think are our very best.
Yes one captain should be selected now for that 2nd side and stick with him. Not chip and change. I think it should be D. Potgieter he done a brilliant job for the E. Boks. They should just stick with him. He should start as captain in their next game on the 17th.
Adi op binnesenter, eish.
Thanks Ash, Kinda knew that would be the team. But leaving out Deysel is one HUGE mistake. Should have made place for him on the bench.
sharky_forever @ 46
good day to you too. how’s life treating you?
bdb @ 48
jaaaaaaaa boet. wonder net hoekom pdv wo bly kies as dit lyk asof hy hom tog nie gaan gebruik nie?
Dewald of Deysel moes in Bekker se plek gewees het. Met Danie daar is Bekker nie nodig nie. Snorre en Bekker deel seker ‘n kamer, daarom is hy altyd in die span …
puma @ 49
hmmmmmmm dont know
which of the forwards (currently on the bench) would you have left out?
#50: Middag Asbak en al die ander mense. WO se verdediging is nodig daar in die middelveld. Franse gaan heeltyd die 10-12 kanaal aanval.
Die bank is darem baie sterk vir ‘n verandering, veral met Wian, CJ en Strauss daar.
bdb @ 51
be nice …. stick to rugby!!
bdb @ 53
dink self daai bank is moer sterk
dink daaraan dat jsmith beseer is, fsteyn en jdvilliers nie daar is nie en ons diepte lyk nie te k@k nie!!
lekker en jy ash??
sharky_forever @ 56
nice broetsie
anyway, sien julle ouens so bietjie later …. bietjie besig op die oomblik
I think every one here has valid points, but the object of the game is to win and while you are winning surely you would use common sense and only try out a few players at a time when needed.
As for a dirt tracker side if the best are chosen to play to the best of their ability then i would not have a problem with looseing, but do think there should also be at least half of the experienced players playing with them.
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