Jake White
Does Jake White have a valid point in blaming player fatigue on the last couple of results that went against the SA Conference leaders, the Cell C Sharks?
While it is true that the Sharks lost a few players to the national cause, it wasn’t as if it was the bulk of their side. Frans Steyn played one match, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira and Willem Alberts were all either rested or rotated during the 4 Test matches in June. JP Pietersen had the biggest work load for the Bok team if measured in minutes played.
In contrast, the Waratahs players who were involved in the Test series against the French, for the Wallabies, seemed to have lifted their game to an ever higher level.
The same can be said of the All Black players who were involved in a tough 3 Test series against a strong England side.
Does fatigue, when playing for the national side, only affect South African players? Not if one looks at how the Cheetahs Boks stepped up against the Sharks this past weekend. Their players also played all the preceding weeks, were involved in the training camps, played Test matches during the June Test window, but on Saturday they didn’t look jaded at all. The same can be said of Duane Vermeulen who played almost every minute of every Stormers match as well as the Tests.
The Sharks are good enough to still win the Super Rugby title this year, the pedigree of their players and coaching staff is second to none in the SA Conference, but they should be focussing on mental fatigue rather than physical fatigue. We have seen this picture play out many times before in the past, with both the Stormers and the Sharks. The Stormers have made an effort to address this issue with the appointment of previous Bok psychologist Henning Gericke, and it looks like that move is bearing fruit.
Producing one’s best rugby when it’s “back to the wall” and “underdog status” type rugby is good enough to pull off one surprise victory, but not over a sustained period of time and not to win a competition of this nature.
The following article was published on SARugbymag:
Sharks director of rugby Jake White has blamed his side’s late-season implosion on a heavy workload, but still believes they can go on to win the competition.
Defeats to the Stormers in Durban in late May and the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday have seen the Sharks slip from first on the combined log to third. To finish second and secure a home semi-final, they now have to beat the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday and hope the Crusaders slip up against the Highlanders.
White blamed the amount of rugby his team has played over the past three months for their latest setback.
‘The Sharks players spent themselves in the four weeks that they were playing for the Springboks and also being involved with the camp leading into those games,’ the coach said. ‘Consider that those players have played for 12 weeks in a row. That is three months without missing a Saturday. Three months of having to front up on Saturdays without taking a break does take its toll. I have no doubt that it’s not the Australasian tour, it’s just the workload that is catching up to the players.’
White insisted the Sharks could still win their first Super Rugby title.
‘Everyone assumes that if you finish third in the competition going into the play-offs, you have absolutely no chance; you may as well call off the competition when the teams finish first and second. This team [the Sharks] has won the [South African] conference, they have 46 points and still have a chance of getting a home semi-final but if it doesn’t happen it’s only the first year [of White’s tenure]. Everybody is so negative about the fact that ‘gee, they can’t win the competition anymore’. I still think we have a massive chance of winning this competition and I still believe we can.’
Cape Town – Jaco Peyper will referee the South African Super Rugby derby between the Stormers and Sharks at Newlands this Saturday (19:10 kick-off).
Peyper will be assisted by Lourens van der Merwe and Quinton Immelman, while Deon van Blommestein will be the Television Match Official (TMO).
Why am I not surprised.
Hondo….care to shed some light on what SARU is planning?
@ nortierd:
A Stormers win would set things up nicely.
NZINCHINA wrote:
Yep, I’m also hoping for a Stormers win. Won’t change the fact that we had a shitty year, but at least it will show they are hopefully on the right track and playing better.
BrumbiesBoy wrote:
good on you mate ! 🙂
Stormersboy wrote:
Don’t phone….it’s a scam.
My one staunch Bull friend phoned and started getting suspicious when the call center operator got really excited when he heard he is suicidal about the loss. He was then asked if he knows how to drive a truck…….turns out the call center is in Afghanistan.
@ nortierd:
The Sharks look like they are fading a bit, without a home semi I think they are gone.
@ NZINCHINA:
They showed that they can win away from home, but to end 3rd and then win at home, fly to NZ and win a semi and then to Aus to win the final is a tall order.
Both the Crusaders and Waratahs will relish the opportunity to have another crack at them. Crusaders with Carter back and Tah’s with Folau back is a more daunting challenge than the Sharks with Lambie back IMO.
John Galt wrote:
Interesting point but on what do you base it?
Are there any statistics or medical evidence to back up such a statement or do you just assume it is the truth because the NZ and South African coaches said the Aussie conference is less abrasive?
@ robzim:
Who do you think will be going through to the final?
I’ve got Germany to beat Brazil and Argentina to beat the Netherlands
@ nortierd:
@161
It was to be expected. It will be interesting to compare the percentage of sharks games reffed by peyper to the averages for the competition. It certainly gives them an unfair advantage to have the same ref so many times and it does not do the integrity of the competition any good.
@ nortierd:
The Stormers need to help them out then, all for a good cause.
nortierd wrote:
I also have it like that and reckon Germany will win the final.
@ nortierd:
And I also have Chris Froome to beat Contador in the Tour de France but it is going to be one hell of a race where one bad day or bad luck can change everything.
71 @ robzim:
I stand corrected, but it must be the 6th or 7th time Peyper is their ref.
It’s very strange isn’t it?
They did lose to the Highlanders and Stormers at home with him, but it was more due to the Landers scoring 4 tries and nullifying the penalties against them. They did get the customary yellow, as has most of the opposition when playing the Sharks with Peyper as ref, but they still won.
Stormers will have to play out of their skins this weekend, but they look ok at the moment, hopefully we can keep them out and match their forwards
NZINCHINA wrote:
No way. Stormers need to front up big time, will be great if we can beat them twice in the season.
robzim wrote:
My thinking as well
The Dutch game against CR was something else….they should have won by about 5 goals, nothing went right for them
Bulls picked an exciting newish team.
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Jono Ross, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 Morné Mellet
Substitutes: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Jesse Kriel, 21 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22 William-Small Smith, 23 Dean Greyling
Still lacking a quality 8th man, Ross will be much better at blindside. Will be good to see an Rensburg and Kriel come on. A front row of, Marcel, Strauss and Mellet (Kirsten, maybe Nyakane) will be pretty awesome going forward.
@ nortierd:
TBF, Peyper is a pretty good home town ref for anyone.
MacroBull wrote:
He seems to be the designated Shark’s ref though
77 @ MacroBull:
Good to see Hougaard on the wing.
They should beat the Rabble by 30 plus
I’m hoping for an All Southern Hemisphere Soccer WC Final.
Fcuk the Euro-Trash.
@ nortierd:
@74
If we can get 60 minutes out of Liebenberg it will help a lot.
“Deon versus Matfield” was a mismatch of note as expected but at least we will not have to go through that torture much longer thanked to the French 🙂
@ cane:
I want Germany to win, has always been my favorite World Cup side.
You just want Argentina to win so that they will still be hung over by the time the RC starts
82 @ robzim:
Lol, shame, poor Deon. He got the yips and the squirts at the same time when he saw Matfield in the line out. I see he is injured, so might not play against the Sharks, but we must hope sick note makes it through the week and the match….no real cover at hooker if Tiaan gets injured
And here is the Information you have ALL been waiting for:
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN FOR THE HURRICANES TO MAKE THE PLAY-OFFS?
1 – Blues need to beat the Chiefies.
1A – And Chiefies must not get a bonus point.
1B – Blues to score less than 4 tries and win by fewer than 39 points.
If the above happens then:…….
2- The loser of the Bumbies/Force match must not get a bonus point.
Look out Tahs…………………………………………..here we come.
A lot of math went into working out the above,
and I know a lot of you,
might well struggle in this area. (well Fernly anyway, I’m sure the rest of you could have managed just fine).
I thank you all in advance for your good wishes and prayers.
cane.
@ nortierd:
Never thought of that………………………………….but that’s as good a reason as any.
And my oh my………………………………What a hangover it will be.
Then again, it could be a motivator of absolutely huge proportions.
😉
nortierd wrote:
My favourite team of the remaining ones is the dutch although their coach Louis van Gaal makes it a bit hard for me to support them. He is not only one of the most arrogant personalities in any sport ( makes Jake White look like a humble saint) but will also take over at Manchester United when the wc ends and that is even more reason to dislike him 🙂
87 @ robzim:
It was a masterstroke from Van Gaal to sub the keepers with seconds of the ET remaining , threw the C Ricans totally for a loop.
Canes have a mathematical chance.
Pathetic
@ cane:
Sorry Caner, but you can permutate. ( nice new word ) all you want….bottom line is, any side that loses to a pisspoor Stormer side one week after the Lions put 30 points past them, doesn’t deserve to be in the top 6
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