Jake White
Heyneke Meyer
On Rugby-Talk recently, debate in the comments sections between Sharks supporters and other South African supporters often turned and revolved around Jake White’s management or mismanagement of his core players and around the players who will have to do duty for the national side, the Springboks.
The argument often used by Sharks supporters were that the June Internationals are less important, against weakened sides and that Jake White needed to do exactly like he did, play his players week after week and arguably into the ground.
Players like Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Willem Albers and more pertinetly Francois Steyn have looked increasingly jaded and this past weekend’s Sharks loss against the Stormers was a stark reminder of the situation.
One of the regular journalists I share the Press Box at Loftus Versfeld with, Brenden Nel, of SuperSport, penned an interesting article on this same matter. I think he nails this one on the head, here is what he says:
Brenden Nel – SuperSport
Here we all thought that, for the good of South African rugby, Springbok rugby needs to come first?
After all, that is what counts in most Sanzar countries – the national team, a year before a World Cup, should always take priority.
Not in South Africa.
Any self-respecting rugby fan has to stop and shake his head when hearing Jake White now blames the Springbok training camp for his team’s loss to the Stormers this past weekend?
Last week the Bok management were asked to put certain players on ice – including Frans Steyn – because they were medically unfit to play.
The Boks complied and what did White do? He continued to play these players into the ground.
It is true that the Sharks players are “exhausted” with eight games on the trot and an overseas tour to boot.
In most sides there is a squad system, where players are rotated so that the coach gets the best out of them.
The Bok camp had been planned for months, to coincide with all five franchises being in South Africa. It wasn’t something that was sprung on teams by surprise
The Bulls also had a number of players out this past week and also suffered a shock loss to the Lions, but you never heard them complaining about the Bok camp.
They simply got on with the job, accepted they were not good enough and then moved on.
It is one thing to want the Sharks to do well, and it is increasingly certain that they will be South Africa’s only representatives in the final weeks of Vodacom Super Rugby.
It cannot be at the expense of Springbok rugby.
The irony that White misses is that he used to bemoan Super Rugby coaches overplaying players, and not keeping them fresh for Springbok rugby.
He was the same coach who sent Victor Matfield home from a Tri-Nations tour because he was unfit, only to see Matfield play the next Saturday for the Bulls.
He was also the same coach who chose Chiliboy Ralepelle against overwhelming advice that he was not ready for test rugby, but played him anyway.
In both cases the coach he was at loggerheads with was Heyneke Meyer.
Now Meyer is Springbok coach and, whether you are a Sharks fan or not, the bottom line is that the Springboks remain this country’s first rugby priority.
While I hate to say it, this would never happen in New Zealand.
There the franchises channel up to the All Blacks, and the black jersey is the No 1 priority, even if it harms Super Rugby aspirations.
With their centralised contracting system players are placed on sabbaticals to increase their longevity, their conditioning is done so that they are at their peak when the international season rolls around.
If a player has too much game time, you’d be sure Steve Hansen would be on the line asking for said player to be rested.
In South Africa the tail wags the dog. Jake tells the Bok coach not to train Steyn, then plays him himself.
It is a situation that is alarming in itself, one that will never contribute to the Springbok success, and one which highlights the problems that Saru CEO Jurie Roux is desperately trying to fix.
The bottom line is that Bok rugby matters little to White, except when it is a stepping stone to getting back into the international game.
His history speaks for itself.
In this case the Boks deserve as many fresh players as they can get, and Super Rugby coaches who work with, and not against them ahead of a tough international season.
@ grootblousmile:
I don’t think so! Fake the snake… 😆
31 @ Gumboots:
It’s a bad year for South African sides in Super Rugby, not one single South African side remaining with a chance in the competition… only another side from Africa, from the Independent Republic of Kwa-Zulu Natal.
I now have no team to support all the way to the title and will have to make do supporting my Bulls in the remaining games of the open Rounds… then watch as the other Nations battle it out for the crown.
Luckily we have some Test rugby now in June!
@32
You referring to the new country, Superior Team of the Republic Of Natal Territory, aka STRONT for short?
😀
33 @ nortierd:
Yeah… the same one which has the disgrace called Nkandla on their soil.
Dis nou ‘n regte STRONT storie daai!
A Jake bashing and i only joins now, dammit i hope you guys stay on for a while , i just need to get my shotgun.
35 @ superBul:
Hehehe
Earlier this season when some thought Jake would come to the Bulls, i sweared that i would stop watching rugby.
Now if I was a Sharks supporter, from the country of STRONT, I would come vloek all you guys silly!
Fark, I hope something makes them laugh before Thursday, otherwise their faces might stay that way forever!!
Who will be Bok Captain? Did HM decide?
37 @ superBul:
Nah, the Bulls are’nt that desperate, don’t worry!
grootblousmile wrote:
Nkandla is the only success story to come out of Natal
😆
@Super
Both barrels of that shotgun, I hope.
Vic should be captain, shouldn’t even be debated
South Africa, the 2012 champions, opened their campaign with an impressive 61-5 win over Scotland. Center Jesse Kriel and winger Lloyd Greef both scored two tries.
I completely forgot to pick any game
Was the games Televised?
@38 GBS
They have a month to regroup, no rugby before the SR and the Sharks resume their march to the title.
You know this next month is only for us supporters of the loser teams who are out of SR.
superBul wrote:
Yep, we were 05:30, round about that time
First game was 03:30 already
Think Friday when we play NZ ir will be 09:35
46 @ nortierd:
Yip, Friday’s game against the Baby Blacks is at 09:35 SA Time.
@ nortierd:
46
that would have been possible to watch , i completely forgot. I work way too hard.
Next game is tough
superBul wrote:
Yes, the Baby Blacks at home, we saw how home ground gave us an advantage 2 years ago, and even the English and Welsh last year.
Going to be very tough. The Baby Blacks game was similar to ours, tight for a while, and then blew the opposition away in the last 20
I better get in more sleep, i just saw i DID pick in JWC
Poor picking……………
Cheers, I am going to turn in now!
Me too, good night
Cheers guys
@ grootblousmile:
Last thing I heard the Independent Republic of Kwa-Zulu Natal was a banana republic;
“Banana republic is a political science term for a politically unstable country whose economy is largely dependent on exporting a limited-resource product, e.g. bananas. It typically has stratified social classes, including a large, impoverished working class and a ruling plutocracy of business, political, and military elites;[1] this politico-economic oligarchy controls the primary-sector productions to exploit the country’s economy.[2]”
Ill leave it to you smart guys to make the comparisons to the Sharks yourselves 😀
I just type a looooooong post to tell you guys how silly you are and when I posted it I got disconnected and lost the post 🙂
Now I don’t feel like repeating myself.
Fok!
And please Heyneke, don’t play Frans Steyn in the June tests. Not because the Sharks need him rested, but because he plays like doos. Worse tackling record in the SR completion, almost as bad a distributor as De Allende and obviously not 100% fit.
The boks cant carry passengers.
And that includes JJ Engelbrecht as well.
Ok, so i’m done here. I probably wont be on here for the rest of the week. Not because the Sharks lost, but because I have actual work to do. 🙂 It seems if we don’t say what we do around here all the time we are perceived as being in hiding. 🙂
Ben – As jy hier lees, sterkte met die Bulle se situasie ou maat. Jy is een van die min ouens wat regtig bekommerd lyk oor jou span wat swakkerig vertoon en nie die skuld daarvoor by Jake soek nie 🙂
Snoek wrote:
Lol
Was looking forward to reading it 😉
Lekker werk die week
So HM has appointed Matfield as captain, no surprise there and the right choice IMO.
Snoek wrote:
Add GBS en My maar ons is GLAD nie happy om Mid table te eindig nie, was dit nie vir die Bokke nie was daar baie toue om Loftus se Jakarandas
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