Butch bullish
26 Sep 2007
Butch James believes he is finally realising his potential at test level.
James described his performance against England as the best in a Springbok jersey, but more significantly as proof that he can control a game from flyhalf at this level.
James starts against the United States on Sunday in Montpellier and he is desperate not to lose the momentum of the England performance.
“The England game was the injection I needed at this World Cup. I thought I did okay against Scotland a few weeks before the World Cup, but I was very disappointed with my game against Samoa. I struggled to get into the game and wasn’t getting my hands on the ball. It was an indifferent start to the tournament and I owed everyone a big performance against England,†James told the Cape Argus. “I felt I delivered it and it meant a lot to me because a guy like Jake (White) had backed me unconditionally this season.â€
James, seven years after his test debut, delivered on the expectation that first won him a test start against France in 2001. White and Bok technical advisor Eddie Jones agreed it was James’s best yet and both predicted equally mature performances from their flyhalf in the World Cup play-offs.
“He has confidence and he has comfort that he arrived in France as the number one flyhalf in the squad,†said White. “I always knew he had the qualities to play like he did against England and he knows we have big expectations of him at this tournament. He has finally settled at test level, but that is also because he has been given a chance to find form.â€
James, having made nine consecutive starts for the Boks in his debut season in 2001, played just three times in the next four years. In the last season and a half he has doubled that game time for the Boks.
“It certainly helps to know your role in the squad and it makes a big difference when the coach is up front about whether you will be playing or not. I knew at the start of the international season this year that I would be starting against England at the World Cup, provided I was fit and playing well. Jake had given me that assurance and because of this there could be no reason for me to fail. The coach gave me every opportunity to succeed and surrounded me with people who could also make sure I delivered for the team.â€
Jones, in particular, gets an early mention from James, but scrumhalf Fourie du Preez gets the biggest rap.
“What a pleasure playing outside of him (Du Preez). He relieves so much pressure on a flyhalf because he has such an outstanding kicking game. He also reads the match so well and has a sense of when to do something or bring me into play. This is the first time in my test career that I’ve spent consistent game time playing as a combination with him and I’ve felt the difference in my play,†said James. “Eddie’s advice has also been influential, in that he emphasised the maturity required of a flyhalf. He felt I needed more composure in the opening 20 minutes of a test and there are certain plays that get me involved early and allow me to settle. Jake and Eddie have spoken a lot about game sense and of game plan implementation; be it in the first 20 minutes or the third quarter of the game. I now understand the structure to playing flyhalf for 80 minutes at this level a lot more than a few seasons back.â€
James’s discipline at the World Cup has also been outstanding and he said the team was extremely mindful of the need to maintain this standard against the USA and in the play-offs.
“We haven’t lost our physicality or our aggressiveness, but there is a lot more control and discipline in what we do. We showed great intensity against England and we have to produce that kind of display against USA because after that there won’t be any more matches in which to find the consistency needed to win this tournament. Once you get to the play-offs you simply have to produce or you’re out.â€
White will confirm the match 22 against USA only on Friday because it is a Sunday match. However, Akona Ndungane and Albert van den Berg will get starts. Neither is expected to start in the quarter-final.
232 Comments
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27 Sep 2007, 00:11 am
Read about this movie thing and it sounds really exciting!! not sure how much rugby is planned to be shown because I think the focus will be on Mandela. But they will certainly have to recreate the 1995 final scenes because that is where it all took place! that magical moment!!South Africa becoming one..even for a fleeting moment in our history…it showed what South Africa can become not what it had become. That vision in 1995 remains elusive and we must strive towards it.
There have been many sports movies but this one,if it is made properly will trump them all…It would be great for rugby and for South Africa when it is produced! Jeez I dont mind being an extra sitting in Ellis Park and waving my Bok flag like crazy!
27 Sep 2007, 00:20 am
wow, im shocked to hear that its only now that butch has been told how to play in terms of structure at #10. that knowledge should be developed early on in school rugby days.
why has it taken EJ to get butch up to speed. what the heck are our provincial, club and school coaches doing?????????????? no wonder we lack so much tactical ability on the pitch.
27 Sep 2007, 03:17 am
Tomsta
I think that because the flyhalf position is so contraversial in SA and seems to depend on the coach at the time, that we have not had a settled flyhalf who can play his own game,instead they have to follow orders to keep their position and not use their natural flair.
Butch has always been my first choice flyhalf,and if it wasnt for his yellow cards and injuries he should have played for the Boks for the last 7 years.
He would have by now been one of the worlds greats,I actually earmarked him in his first season for the Sharks.
Also being English and in your face has not made him a lot of friends with our Northern supporters.
PS I am a WP supporter so no bias.
27 Sep 2007, 04:01 am
More Manly
How is your week panning out ? I have seen no mention of the Chivalry in while … are you banned ?
27 Sep 2007, 04:16 am
Hi Princess
Good to hear from you………naah Ive just been sulking.
27 Sep 2007, 04:26 am
Manly
Sulking ? Why ?
27 Sep 2007, 04:49 am
Cos of that **** display of rugby against Tonga
and the chokers 11 SA cricket team,who should be forced to wear chokers bearing the word choker and then choked with said choker.!
27 Sep 2007, 04:58 am
#148 who is going to play Hansie Cronje and the bookie? Hi Princess.Hows Ms Stiletto today. Hi Fern
27 Sep 2007, 04:59 am
Manly
Oohh my you really are in a p*ssy mood
Wanna go cruising in the Chivalry & make fun of Australians ?
Don’t be sad – a Bok v AB final is only a few weeks away (hopefully) and while the outcome will not send you off into convulsions of joy (again hopefully) at least you will get in 80 mins of lusting cheering
I had a meeting with a guy yesterday who spoke to my chest the entire time – I thought that was un-pc nowadays but apparently not !
27 Sep 2007, 05:02 am
Gee and what a chest Princess!Disd he speak English or French. Off to lunch. The prawns are begging.
27 Sep 2007, 05:08 am
Hola Quota
I am a bit tired … long day yesterday. Why do airlines think that when you arrive after 10pm at night you would enjoy nothing more than a mile long walk to to immigration ?
27 Sep 2007, 05:09 am
159
Course its not, in business u have to let a counterpart know you appreciate her most impt. assets.
27 Sep 2007, 05:09 am
Quota
Oohh like you would know ! He was American so he spoke grammatically damaged English. You know prawns are bottom feeders …
27 Sep 2007, 05:13 am
Hey Biggles
You old chauvinist ! Or do you suffer from Napolean Syndrome too ?
You would not have enjoyed the flight back – storms everywhere at the moment it seems. But a beautiful fine day here today
So what is your prediction for tomorrow night ?
27 Sep 2007, 05:18 am
164
Morning Princess,
Its not chauvinist at all. Its a win-win situation for both parties. You should take it as a compliment.
I only fly as a last resort. I always think that any flight could be my last. Why risk it if you can find another way to travel.
I predict we’ll will win comfortably. All is well with us when Wilkinson is playing. Kind of like u guys and McCaw.
27 Sep 2007, 05:24 am
Princess
….did someone say lusting….anybody???
You sure the ogler wasnt just vertically challenged..?..you should have secreted a Bin Laden jack in the box in the cleavage….
27 Sep 2007, 05:28 am
So you back in your beloved HK from the vast wilderness of KL and I see successfully negotiated all impending typhoons and such, what else you successfully negotiate RP with those flashing stilettos most likely still moist from conquest hmm?
27 Sep 2007, 05:30 am
Biggles
Love your spin – “take it as compliment” indeed !
Honestly flying is probably the safest mothed of transport around – you are infinitely more liek to die /get injuerd ina car accident.
You might win but I doubt it will be comfortable. The Tongan lads tire in the last 20 mins & that is where they have lost their games – your poblem is so do your old boys.
McCaw has been rested for plenty of games the ABs have won …
27 Sep 2007, 05:33 am
I’m going to start claiming royalties on all these wonderfully accepted pseudo titles by now fully entrenched in the Keo vocabulary thesaurus eg. Ms Stiletto, and Chivalry etc, etc, after all it was humble lil me that dreamed them up to begin with, so where do I address my royalty claims to hm, Keo, or Manly, or Rugby Princess, or perhaps all three i.e. royalties x 3?
27 Sep 2007, 05:36 am
Skop who???….never heard of him.
27 Sep 2007, 05:40 am
When alluring chests are bared, if only slightly mind you, you may find all manner of un PC male species will invariable allow their attention to automatically be lowered without much coercion by the conscious mind I must add, No real fault of their own I must also bring to your attention as such automatic reflexes are somewhat unavoidable due to lack of conscious control of natural downward pulling tendencies attracted to that which is most naturally familiar to uhm the lower sense stimulation predomination of said male mind.
Explanation sufficient?
27 Sep 2007, 05:42 am
Biggles, your other name is not perhaps Denis Bergkamp by any chance is it?
27 Sep 2007, 05:42 am
Manly … Lusting ???
Yes he was definitely vertically challenged but that shouldn’t stop him from being able to look me in the eye when he spoke to me surely ? Anyway I was in a business suit so any cleavage he was seeing was in his imagination !
27 Sep 2007, 05:43 am
168
Lets be honest, the Kiwis wouldn’t even come close to the ABs if McCaw wasn’t playing. I’m willing to bet Scotland would’ve fielded a full-strength team if he was unavailable too.
Who is the replacement?
The Tonga game will be tough, but I’m confident of a win and a subsequent crack at the convicts.
27 Sep 2007, 05:45 am
On topic, Butch is a perfect fit for this Springbok team.
Solid defensively, good hands, creative, decent tactical kicker, wholly committed and capable of the unpredictable.
With Steyn outside him and Du Preez inside him Butch is playing with virtually no pressure and it allows him to play his best.
27 Sep 2007, 05:47 am
#169.skopy all those words come from the make believe world that you and rugby princess engage in here on this blog.maybe you 2 should see a shrink instead.rp throw in some cooking classes as well.
27 Sep 2007, 05:47 am
Mnr, Skop Skiet, address to be forwarded to the arbitrator commission authorized to deduct said Royalties from all parties inadvertently or intentionally in breach of using said terminology originated at source by the rightful owner Mnr. Skop Skiet. From here on out, please cough up.
27 Sep 2007, 05:47 am
More Skoppy
Yes home again (at least for a few days) & all negotiations successfully completed without having to resort to the use of stilettos even once
No, your explanation just confused me or was the the true original intent ?
27 Sep 2007, 05:50 am
I detect a little hint of, what is that other term, oh yes I think they refer to it as ‘jealousy’ or something of that ilk, or not ferny boytie?
27 Sep 2007, 05:51 am
172
Haha, no Skop, Bergkamp was a great but part of me never forgave him for the late goal keeping us out of the ’94 World Cup.
I can see his logic with the plane thing. Definitely. Sometimes losing someone can bring a reality home.
Who do you support in football (obviously SA) but do u follow the Netherlands too?
27 Sep 2007, 05:51 am
More Fernly
Ask any psychologist – A healthy fantasy is a good thing
& until you have yr stomach pumped after eating my cooking don’t knock it !
27 Sep 2007, 05:54 am
C’mon Princess I was sure you had left your blonde on blonde head back in NH, surely the explanation in post #171 is sufficiently illuminating to even the most simple of astute minds, unless you want me to simplify further that is?
27 Sep 2007, 05:59 am
no need for a stomach pump rp,i puked just now whilst reading you and skopy’s replies to my post.
27 Sep 2007, 06:00 am
Sorry to disappoint you Skoppie but the “Chivalry” is all Princess,Koos and mine…but I will credit you with the Ms.stiletto and honour the copyright.
Eish, please refrain from speaking about that swan diving round ball game on this site
27 Sep 2007, 06:02 am
Skoppy
Am tired today after landing late last night then came home & unpacked in case Fern (aka : Matha Stewart) tried to sping an inspcection on tme this morning … Pls forgive my being slow on the uptake.
27 Sep 2007, 06:03 am
Seems that flying in todays world is almost accepted as one of those absolute necessities as mode of transport and is entrenched in our daily activities as something unquestioned, until the gas runs out that is, when .. 2012-15 ??? What to do thereafter, cyber-transport or ‘beam me up Scottie’?
27 Sep 2007, 06:03 am
184
Don’t pretend you don’t watch it too.
27 Sep 2007, 06:04 am
#181
“& until you have yr stomach pumped after eating my cooking don’t knock it !”
Suzie….is that you???
27 Sep 2007, 06:04 am
Jeez Fern – What did I ever do to you to make you so vitriolic every time we meet ?
27 Sep 2007, 06:07 am
186
Scottie actually passed away a couple of months ago. They shot his ashes up into space on a mini-rocket. I doubt he’ll be able to help…
27 Sep 2007, 06:08 am
No Manly, ‘Chivalry’ was a Skopskiet invention, if the blog still exists you may kindly revert back to its very first inception on this blog as you, Princess and Koos were so articulately conversing one fine morning, I injected the concept of Chivalry, or chivalrous, and I must add you all 3 latched onto it pretty quickly and almost instantaneously adopted this new terminology as your ‘own’. Please revert or should I be getting the arbitrator to point out your inadvertent ‘error’.
27 Sep 2007, 06:08 am
Manly
In my own defence – that only happened once & it was the result of alcohol poisioning rather than my cooking ! I was serving Stoly-Bolly & got the recipe the worng way round … hence 2 shots vodka & 1 shot champers instead of what it should have been – 1 shot vodka & 2 shots champers
27 Sep 2007, 06:12 am
Actually Skop I believe it was I who accused Koos & Manly of a lack of chivalry when they planned to take off in the Koo’s Valiant (an earlier model of the vehicle that later came to be known as a Chivalry) leaving me to fend off an angry Os in a red dress & high heels …
27 Sep 2007, 06:13 am
You can bere the stomach pump as ferny’s ‘strong’ (unless I should be using the opposite) disposition has taken care of its own problem by resorting to puking, all one has to do is utter some little retort of intelligence and ferny stomach muscles will automatically resort to a pumping action.
27 Sep 2007, 06:18 am
Sorry Skoppie but that would be one citing commission youre going to lose.
Big Hit,
I NEVER watch soccer,even though I played it until 12 yrs old.
27 Sep 2007, 06:20 am
My memory, although having tracked its way through arduous years of daunting reaches, is definitely not dead and buried just yet, ‘Chivalry’ was introduced to this blog by one said Mnr. Skop Skiet, please refer to the original blog, way back when while you were all 3 dodging and ducking and diving around Os chasing you in red dresses and fish net stockings, that was before the advent of Pudding and Vetkoek taking center stage in your wild days of wild imaginations in the ‘chivalry’ mind you.
27 Sep 2007, 06:21 am
So Princess…considering you dont eat seafood or spicy food,what do you eat????….Tongans?…..a favoured delicacy back home.
27 Sep 2007, 06:22 am
102
Jonny Wilkinson and Jonah Lomu are rugby’s only superstars. Only either one of those could be described as the truly global face of rugby.
195
You’re missing out on a great sport.
27 Sep 2007, 06:27 am
rp if having to choose between eating your “food” and eating you,full well knowing you are a redhead kiwi chick with irish blood(pauses to swallow back the bile shooting up in my mouth) i would prob choose the broth.
27 Sep 2007, 06:28 am
Skop – I believe you are mistaken
Manly – Who said I don’t eat spicy food ? Love chilli ! Pick of this week must go to a restaurant called Prego At the Westin Hotel – Incredibly wonderful flavoursome Italian food !
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