OK, the shouting AT Heyneke Meyer & Co is done for his broader Squad selection of 32 players, some real bolters in and some surprising omissions… which did not exactly go down quietly and without a fight.
Now the 22-Man team for the first England Test and the first Test with Heyneke Meyer in charge has been announced too and generally there should be more or almost complete agreement for the run-on 15 chosen.
So, what is the first objective for Saturday, for a team and squad who have only spent a few days together?
The average South African expect a win against England and nothing less, I would be happy with a 1-point win , but a win nonetheless!
Can or should we expect highly innovative rugby or expansive rugby from the outset?
The answer is simple, you would be daft to expect the Springboks performing miracles from minute one with innovative and expansive rugby!
Rather expect conservative rugby, within tight structured playing patterns. Expect direct rugby and rugby which seeks to exploit weaknesses around the England No 9, No 10 and No 12 channels.
Expect our lineouts to be good to possibly exceptional, but don’t shoot from the hip if this new Bokke side is not perfect in the lineouts.
At the other set piece, the scrums, just expect the Bokke to have parity, we all know the Northern Hemisphere sides are all strong scrummagers.
At the breakdowns I would like to see good counter-rucking and a lot of emphasis placed on winning the ground-ball battle on the day.
I expect, no I actually demand the Springbok defence to be resolute, well organised and accurate and to tackle with hart and passion!
Expect Morné Steyn and Francois Hougaard to be testing the oppostion back three with kicks, with the Bokke speedsters chasing those kicks hard to put massive pressure on and all in all expect the Springboks to play a territory-based game which necessarily means kicking for the corners and in behind any opposition back who is out of position.
New backline moves and helter skelter running rugby at all costs and a complete performance by the Springboks is as likely for the Springboks as for me to get pregnant.
What I expect from South Africans is to support the Springboks fully and for them to put their disgusting negativity aside, in support of our country’s senoir rugby side!
Go Bokke!
Aangesien ek al amper vergeet het hoe dit voel om te wen, sal enige wen my Saterdag gelukkig maak ! 😉
1 Punt wen is goed, al is dit hoe vervelig.
Die laaste ouens wat daaroor kan kla is die klomp in die kaap. Met hul vervelige gameplan is hul besig om hul opposisie dood te verveel, soos Saterdag weer bewys is. Baie doeltreffend maar alles behalwe ‘mooi’. So hulle sal saam juig oor enige vervelige wen, solank dit net wys op die telbord.
Groot uitdaging vir HM, kom ons kyk of hy met die Bulle se gameplan iets kan uitrig wat die Bulle self nie die afgelope 3 naweke kon regkry nie.
Sterkte aan die Bokke en HM.
NS. as ek vir een ou dingetjie kan vra: net nie die wurmpie by die losskrums nie, groot asseblief !
1 @ bdb:
Janee, daai wurmpie telegrafeer presies wat gaan gebeur… dit is ‘n onding en moet so spoedig doenlik sneuwel!
As I have already expressed elsewhere on this site, winning is all that matters. It doesn’t matter how ugly you win, if you win consistently, everyone will try to follow you. There are no extra points for “beautiful” rugby. So go HM and the Boks! May you make the Poms rue the day they set foot on SA soil and may they have nightmares about the result for generations to come!
Just a query that have which maybe our great rugbu gurus (here’s looking at you bidibi :-)) can answer. Why are we not picking 23 players? Is it not allowed that a team can pick 8 on the bench provided that you pick a full front row? I thought this was the law now. Am I mistaken, is it just for the Northern hemisphere, is it just being trialed or are teams just not interested in doing it. This thing has really been bugging me and Smiles, you are my hope to put me out of my misery.
4 @ The_Young_Turk:
In the Junior World Championships, 23 players is already implimented.
In some European Competitions as well, I believe…. but NOT for general IRB Tests yet, so only 22 in the squad it is for now.
I would also like to see the 23-man squad system, providing for a full replacement front row, because uncontested scrums is a bain I could really live without.
@ grootblousmile:
Ah, grazie mille, mio amico.
6@ The_Young_Turk:And that is why he is god
tradisionele bok rugby het nog nooit gegaan oor flair en pozazz nie,maar oor n krag pak n goeie scrummie n flyhalf wat kan skop senters wat die snot uit hulle oposiesie uit tackle en n agterate drie wat kan afrond as die geleenheid daar is,en dis al wat ek soek van die bokke,ons is nie die fancypants wallas nie of die ladida blacks nie,ons is die bokke en jy moet bang wees vir ons want boeta ons gaan jou seermaak voor en die strafskoppe skop en jou horrel tackle
1). Changes makes you flexible. Being stubborn and resistant to new things will make a normally stressing situation even more so. Change helps you be fluid and go with the flow.
2). Change makes you smarter. If things never changed, you’d never learn anything new. And every time you learn a new skill — even if it’s just how to adapt — you are that much smarter than you were yesterday.
3). Change reminds us that anything is possible. It’s easy to think that anything that’s stuck will always be that way. But when you see things change, whether it’s in your life or some one else’s, it’s encouragement to know that nothing stays the same forever.
Laugh when you can,
apologize when you should,
and let go of what you can’t change.
Life’s too short to be anything, but happy
In other words – GO BOKKE
Interesting piece by David Williams – Financial Mail:
How does the most successful SA side in the Super Rugby tournament produce only three men in the Springbok squad of 32 for the three-test series against England?
The Stormers are in second place on the table and, after their clinical surprise win over the Bulls at Loftus on Saturday, they are virtually assured of a home semifinal.
The trouble is teams don’t score tries, individuals do. It seems to have become part of the Stormers’ DNA that they battle to cross their opponent’s tryline. But they are happy to take their victories by other means — a formidable defence and penalty goals. It is an approach that has not served them well as individuals.
The Stormers have scored just 22 tries in 13 matches this season, the least of all the sides and equal to the Lions, who are second from bottom.
In top spot, the Chiefs have scored 40 tries, just one more than both the Sharks and the Bulls, who between them have provided 25 of the 32 Bok squad members.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said he would not be appointing a captain until he had consulted the players. He could easily have appointed the new Bulls captain, Pierre Spies, but Spies still has to prove himself as a leader. As a player, he has never again reached the inspirational form that he showed before the 2007 World Cup, which he missed because of a lung ailment.
The appointment of Fourie du Preez as scrumhalf and captain was reported as a fact a fortnight ago by the Sunday newspaper Rapport, whose intelligence is usually good, so Meyer must have changed his mind in the week before the announcement of the squad. It seems he was persuaded, by the scrumhalf himself, that Du Preez was rusty after a long layoff . One would have thought the coach would not have wanted him to play in such circumstances. In any case, Du Preez has apparently not shown an appetite for the captain’s job.
The choice of Jean de Villiers as captain in the end is entirely justifiable. He is the senior man in the side and he has proved that he has both the vision and the temperament.
This insecurity over the scrumhalf position was the first wobble of Meyer’s tenure. He will need to handle Francois Hougaard carefully to ensure that he does not feel like a second-choice number nine in the coach’s eyes.
But everything else Meyer has said and done has been calm and logical. His explanation of his selections on Saturday evening reminded one of the way that Nick Mallett used to deal with the media — transparent, articulate, engaging.
Meyer’s opposite number, Stuart Lancaster, has been impressive with the British media . England seem better prepared and less frantic than they have been on previous visits.
Lancaster, unlike his predecessors was not a star player himself, or even an international (and nor was Meyer). Watching the way these two thoughtful coaches handle the next
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