The International season is done for the Southern Hemisphere and for Springbok rugby for 2014 and the only rugby of real importance left for us southern rugby junkies, are the 2 remaining HSBC Sevens World Series Tournaments in 2014 – the Dubai Sevens this coming weekend and the Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens Tournament the week thereafter.
In the meantime the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby sides are extremely busy with their preparation work, conditioning and getting ready for Super Rugby 2015.
The question is, what has the Springboks learnt from the year of 2014 and from the End Of Year Tour?
Will we see a total change of tack and a move away from the high-ball kick and chase bombs from the Springboks? Very few International Tests remain before the start of the Rugby World Cup 2015 (18 September 2015) in England, however a full season of Super Rugby and the abbreviated Rugby Championship still loom in 2015 before the World Cup starts.
Is that enough time to put things right as far as the Springboks are concerned and is there enough time left to find critical answers in the midfield as well as cementing selections in other toublesome positions, like the front row props?
The other lingering question is who will capatin the Springboks, should Jean de Villiers’ injury be serious enough to keep him out of The Rugby Championship and the Rugby World Cup? Will it be Fourie du Preez or Victor Matfield or perhaps Adriaan Strauss or Bismarck du Plessis – only time will tell but with Victor Matfield already having acted as Vice-Captain in 2014 and specifically on the End Of Year Tour, surely he has to be regarded as the favourite at this stage!
Lessons learnt:
SuperSport reports that South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer is not going to hit the panic button despite suffering a second November tour defeat when they went down 12-6 to Wales on Saturday.
The Springboks also lost to Ireland in Dublin, although they responded by beating England at Twickenham, and then Italy.
In a game in which South Africa had overseas-based players unavailable because it fell outside the test window, Meyer said his side had not had sufficient strength in depth.
“I know we are much better than this. All credit to Wales, they played well, but this being the fourth game on tour, and with some players unavailable, it was always going to be tough and we were always going to be under pressure.
“Every single loss you have to look in the mirror but, saying that, we always knew our depth was going to be under pressure, a lot of youngsters coming from the bench today.
“You don’t want to use that as an excuse but you have to have these games, outside of the window. We said we wanted to play this game with a lot of youngsters to see what they can do. But it’s never great to lose,” he added.
Meyer said the defeat for South Africa, who could meet Wales in the World Cup quarterfinals if they both get out of the pool stage, would have no bearing if they met in the tournament.
“I still believe we’re on the right track and I believe we can win it (the World Cup),” he said. “Usually we have a very experienced bench come on to help win the game for us. But it won’t have any bearing on the World Cup.
“We have a lot of great players to come back – we’ll have an unbelievably strong squad. We’ll be well prepared.
“We’ve learned a hell of lot (on tour). You have to lose games unfortunately and you have to learn from that. We learned a lot of things after (defeat) by Ireland, and against England.”
Death of the high bomb:
Rugby365 reports that Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer says that he might have to change tactics after another costly yellow card conceded under a high ball.
The visitors went down 12-6 to Wales on Saturday in a tryless match at the Millenium Stadium to finish the year with a whimper having lost two matches in Europe under Meyer.
Wing Cornal Hendricks was sent to the sin bin in the 63rd minute after competing for an up-and-under, which left them with little chance of overhauling the home side.
This was very similar to what happened in the Boks’ other defeat on this tour against Ireland in Dublin, when hooker Adriaan Strauss was sent to the sidelines and Meyer said that he would have to consider whether kicking and competing for the high ball is worthwhile going forward.
“We said we have to learn from this and we have to look hard and see where we can go from here.
“We need to look at our tactics, I don’t know if it is worthwhile going in the air anymore because it is always a 50/50. We are very big on discipline and in the Rugby Championship we gave away the fewest yellow cards,” he said.
Meyer admitted that the loss of Hendricks effectively signalled the end of their chances of winning the game, and added that the lack of clarity on what is legal when competing in the air is problematic.
“The yellow card for Cornal was probably the end of it because we were six points behind and needed to attack but you have to go into defensive mode.
“I am not saying it ws the wrong decision and I am not saying that we lost because of that, but it is a grey area in the game I believe.
“We play by the laws and we work really hard on that, the referee is always right.
“Up in the air it is always going to be a 50/50, it is not for me to decide so in future we might have to let the guy go down and then tackle him but worldwide everybody goes up for the ball and I think it is a grey area that they need to sort out in the game,” he explained.
Meyer said that his team had been frustrated by the quality of possssion they had on attack and simply made too many errors to caitalise on their opportunities.
“The main thing we find is that in the northern hemisphere we don’t get quick ball and it is frustrating at times when we are on the front foot and don’t get quick ball
“It is obviously very disappointing, I always said that our character and depth was going to be tested. We always knew it was going to be tough and I just think in the end there were too many mistakes,” he said.
Who will capatin the Bokke?
Sport24 reports that Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez are the favourties to captain the Springboks if Jean de Villiers fails to recover in time for next year’s Rugby World Cup.
The 2015 Rugby World Cup only starts in September, but De Villiers’s injury appears to be so serious that it could force him to miss the showpiece event.
In that case, Matfield appears to be the favourite for captain, while Du Preez is also a candidate.
Other likely candidates are Adriaan Strauss and Bismarck du Plessis.
The 37-year-old Matfield has made a stellar return to rugby this year and captained the Boks when De Villiers was injured at the start of the Test season.
Du Preez has been sidelined with an ankle injury but should be back in action next year.
“Fourie could also be captain. I hope he’s going to be fit for the World Cup, because we’ll definitely need him if Jean is not going to be there,” Meyer said.
Folks we all know that it will be Matfield. Was always going to be Matfield, or Spies.
Those bulging biceps, those huge forearms, that hard, flat tummy…………………..
@ Loosehead:
He’s still the lineout king though but will the legs last on the heavy fields up north in a knock out tournament.
2 @ NZINCHINA:
Possibly a more apt question is whether the aging body, another year down the track will survive a Super Rugby campaign without serious injury.
If the “old man” gets a serious injury at his age it could well end his carreer, and THEN the SA coaching team would be in a deep amount of smelly, sticky stuff.
We have a lot of good leaders in the squad, I am not that concerned. Matfield, Strauss, Burger, Vermeulen, FLO, Bismark enough to wait until the month before the tournament to see who is fit and in form
We have a real issue at 5 for backup. The only guy who looked half decent at 5 for the Boks in the past years (apart from Victor) was Flip vd Merwe, as much as it pains me to say that.
The no 5 position is critical as they call the lineouts, we just dont have any depth there at all.
@ Scrumdown:
Sure it’s risky alright, if he goes down who are the next TWO in line. We’ve only just sorted out of locking stocks in recent years and are pretty well covered there.
When is PSDT due back from injury?
PSDT is probably due this coming season. Problem is he’s more of a 4/7 hybrid.
@ Stormersboy:
Flip is really the ideal however he’s also injury prone.
Hang about…………….the Vanilla Gorilla will be at the Bulls (again, blerrie huursoldaat) this season.
Strauss to captain the Boks!
10 @ Loosehead:
Just about the best choice IMO.
Matfield might not be everyones flavour as captain, not even mine…
but geez, credit where it is due. We had to hear at the start of the year about his old aging body… which is fair.
But he still outlasted just about everyone this year.
Yes because Strauss had an outstanding captaincy record at the Cheaters.
If Jean doesn’t make it then it will be Matfield and if he doesn’t make it then it will be Flo.
@ Loosehead:
I also like Strauss, but with better management of Bissie in SR next hear he will make a bigger impact for the Springboks, while with not a lot of backup at the Bulls, Strauss might have the play full time.
Then again ludeke will probably regularly rotate Strauss with Jaco Visagie… Not for the sake of resting Strauss for the world cup, but because he actually rates Visagie.
MacroBok wrote:
Or maybe even with Callie Visagie?
@ gunther:
I also think Matfield is our best bet as captain.
Selecting a player based in the overseas wont work as he wont be able to attend training camps.
The NZINCHINA wrote:
Our problem has been that the next TWO in line has regularly been injured as well.
@ Scrumdown:
Sorry 😳 the bulls have two hookers
Jaco Visagie and Calie Visagie
@ MacroBok:
An overseas captain for the WC will be fine. After all they are going to give jean as much time as possible. If he doesn’t make it we will only know at the end of the English season by which time it won’t matter.
And the guy who was earmarked to replace matfield in 2012, Andries Bekker was dismal for the Springboks.
With Bakkies Retiring, Eben will also have to stick to number 4.
A recall of Johan Muller might not be out of question either and after 16 matches of SR, Ruan Botha from the Stompies will also be in the picture.
@ gunther:
Maybe, I am just consider all the training camps mid season (which is bound to happen). Should we have them without our “possible” captain?
also Stephan Lewies is on the bok fringes.
Gosh when you think about it, Bakkies really dropped us.
Meyers Record is now 70%
if next year in a worst case scenario we have another bad year
NZ (L)
Aus (L)
Arg (W)
Arg (L)
Jap (W)
Samoa (W)
Scotland (L)
USA (W)
QF (L)
He could end with a record that reads
46 Games
29 Wins
a WP of 67%
Still making him the third most successful coach behind Mallet and Kitch
Gosh just proves how inconsistent we have been in the modern era.
46 Games 30 Wins
Well maybe Meyer can sneak in a test match against Urugay or Canada inbetween?
24 @ MacroBok:
Namibia or Botswana would be a better option!
gunther wrote:
Yes he actually played well at 5 in the tri nations lasy year, plus he does bring real grunt as a ball carrier and strongman. His discipline lets him down from time to time but still, at this stage he’d be my second choice if he was fit.
@ MacroBok:
I really rate Ruan Botha. Monster of a man, and if he stays fit and has a good season he could force his way in at the last minute.
Guys we all know that Big Vic will be the man if he is fit, and he’ll be up to the job.
Still, we have no idea who will be fit, available and in form come September so a lot of this is moot
I see that Willem Alberts will captain the Springboks when they take on the Proteas in a Cricket match on Friday…..
Only in South Africa lol
‘Sportbilly @sportbillysays · 1h1 hour ago
I see Heyneke Meyer is pleased by the Boks form in 2014. In other news he congratulated Eskom and Sanral on another fantastic year’
To throw a spanner i the works, what are the chances of Elton returning to SA after a season in Japan rejuvenated, sharp, fit and ready to command a starting place in the Lions team, having a great SR season and forcing his way into the Bok team for the WC??
Hondo would say that it is already decided…….
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