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.’
The Team of The Tournament has to be Costa Rica.
Before a ball was kicked, they were a 1000 to 1 to win the WC.
And they are the first Nation from the NACAC (or whatever it is) Conference to make the Quarters.
They never lost a game in 90 minutes or Extra Time.
They are tiny Country of 5 million souls.
They are the little Country that could.
😉
@ nortierd:
Indeed, one has to give him credit for that.. he also took his captain (van persie) off in a previous match when he did not do as well as expected.
Stark contrast to our own Alister Coetzee who I believe shows far too much loyalty to certain players.
@ Fern:
Every NZ Side has a mathematical chance Fernly.
Such is the magic of numbers.
😉
@ nortierd:
True.
I am not holding my breathe.
@ cane:
Rugny is played on grass.
Mathematically you can turn a tennisball inside out without cutting it.
Pipe down, as you were.
cane wrote:
Well, check this:
“According to the latest global measure of how countries “deliver long, happy, sustainable lives for the people that live in them,” Costa Rica ranks No. 1 as the “happiest and greenest” country in the world. (And that was before the World Cup.) Canada, in contrast, ranks No. 65. Costa Rica is smaller in size than Nova Scotia and has only 4.5 million people, but it is one of the most bio-diverse countries in the world. The global index by the respected British think-tank the New Economics Foundation reports that Costa Ricans have the highest life satisfaction in the world and live longer than Americans. They are on track to be the first “carbon neutral” country in the world by 2021.There are more than a half-million plant and animal species in Costa Rica, and it is home to 900 bird species alone, more than Canada and the U.S. combined”
Source: www dot thestar dot com
@ Fern:
It gave me GREAT JOY when I read that you were RED CARDED fernly.
What happened?
Did Pieterman pull you out of the shi t ………………………………..Again?
@ robzim:
And Robzim,
they are completely surrounded by Countries that are run by Drug Cartels, Dictators, Thugs, Generals or the CIA.
And I understand they have No Army.
Amazing.
cane wrote:
Never realized that we are a surrounding country of Costa Rica…..
@ cane:
I am being punished today for my sins today dont worry.
Was bitterley cold and now I am in the office reading a Enviromental Impact Study on Wetland Delineation.
“the wetland delineation was based on the legislatively required methodology as described by DWAF(2005)”
Snore…
@ nortierd:
Goodnight Naughtie.
I see you are Scribe now.
Well done.
Hang in there Fernly. Hang in there.
I could do with a little Costa Rican “green” right about now…..
Just saying. That could.have something to.do.with their happiness. …
@ cane:
Cheers Caner
@ nortierd:
I tried being reasonable, I didn’t like it.
Clint Eastwood
😉
@ cane:
Legend
Nawty is not a scribe by any streatch of the imagination,even I can write a better article.
Josey Wales: When I get to likin’ someone, they ain’t around long.
Lone Watie: I notice when you get to DISlikin’ someone they ain’t around for long neither.
Fern wrote:
I guess you are right, but I know how to spell “stretch”, so maybe that’s why I got the job?
@ nortierd:
Ever heard of “poetic justice”?
nortierd wrote:
🙂 🙂 Boom
🙂
Maybe I should submit a write-up after the Sharks SR victory.
Nawty due to your belligerent remarks I have downgraded the curry I am going to make you from a lamb curry to a tin fish curry.
@ nortierd:
61
Ag man, it’s only Tue
We have to see the makeup of both teams, Peyper will follow instructions for sure but it’s too early to run the compound trade off 😉
We can take a Cue from Matfield’s behavior last Saturday: he had been assured Joubert will swing it, but no one (apparently) explained him later that the Force’s win put paid for the Bulls’ mathematical tiny chance for the P/Os, the match became merely a garbage time event, so Joubert felt free from SARU’s shackles! :0
Wait for Thu
> @ Fern:
“Nawty is not a scribe by any “streatch” ……………………………….”
Yeah Right!
Fern wrote:
@ cane:
You still up?
Should you not have been passed out already?
112 @ Hondo:
By the time the match starts the Sharks will know exactly what they have to do to finish second, or whether they can’t finish higher than 3rd irrespective of their result.
After the Crusaders v Highlanders match we will know what they must get.
@ nortierd:
67
Lambie might be back too, although rusty and not a match fit?
I wonder if Zelinga will be in the match squad?
Likely JW will revert back to FS for a FH but then their centres situation will worsen
117 @ Hondo:
Zeilinga is a contentious issue with the Shark supporters. He played the Friday evening against the Kings, so many felt that Jake should have selected him rather than Swiel.
Swiel is now a handy scape goat for their loss.
I’m sure if they still have a mathematical chance of ending second that Jake will risk Lambie, but if the Crusaders has sewn up 2nd spot on Saturday morning already, he will be silly to risk him so soon after his injury lay off. Maybe he will come off the bench then, just to get a feel again?
@ nortierd:
116
That of course goes without saying; if the Sharks will start the game confined to 3rd place at best, Peyper obviously might try to rectify his ruined for good reputation?
The difference between that 2012 Sharks and current one is the team spirit which seemed to be gone, in 2012 the Sharks didn’t have referees support but reached the final in a legendary style, this year even Peyper can’t carry them over?
The Key are Daniel, Bote and Sykes which no longer feature in the Sharks plans
119 @ Hondo:
It’s strange, but the spirit they showed overseas, especially against the Crusaders with 14/13 players, shows that they do play for each other.
It’s only after they returned and the Bok camp that things seem to be different.
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