From the penthouse to the shithouse
17 Nov 2008
The drop in form for the world champion Boks – and in particular 2007 IRB player of the year Bryan Habana – has been dramatic.
In Edinburgh this morning the talk is rightfully of heroism, bravehearts and lost opportunity. The Scots, ranked ninth in the world, were a try away from upstaging the world champion Springboks. In South African cities the rugby talk rightfully is of disgust at the performance of the Springboks.
One country’s support base had no reason to believe a victory was possible, while the one in which we live had no reason to believe defeat to the sad Scots was a possibility.
Scotland are an ordinary side, so any attempt to justify or applaud this Springbok performance must be rubbished. This was no come from behind win; it was an insult to what was achieved by many of the same players a year ago.
Something has to be seriously wrong when Bryan Habana, the player of the year in 2007, is substituted 30 minutes before the end on successive weekends, and the only surprise is that he wasn’t yanked 30 minutes into the respective matches.
It is becoming tiresome, not to mention repetitive, to hear the players, in their post-match summary, talk of how they went back to a structured game plan at halftime and how they focused on doing the basics and playing to a style that complimented their strengths.
The players may mean well, but in attempting to articulate the performance they condemn the coaching staff because the words are those of players at odds with the coaching philosophy.
This is not a healthy Springbok side. They don’t have the aura of a year ago and it is because they don’t have the fitness, confidence, discipline and self-belief of the side that effortlessly arm-wrestled all opposition at the World Cup. They also don’t have the intellectual capital in what is a very inexperienced coaching trio.
There has been no rebuilding of the side, so that can’t be an excuse, and there has been no growth.
The Boks, for all their failings, may squeeze past England on Saturday, but again it will be more reflective of the limitations of the opposition than any South African revival.
The continued doublespeak in game plan; the contradictions in romance and realism; have left loose-forwards on the wing, locks in the midfield and props at first receiver, with the occasional clean out at the ruck coming from a wing, centre and flyhalf.
South Africa’s strength is physicality at the breakdown and dominance in contact. Against Scotland players attacked as individuals, got isolated and were often turned over, and when the Boks did get numbers to the breakdown there was no discipline. Put bluntly, there was no plan as a team or for individuals, especially Habana, who internationally has gone from the penthouse to the shithouse.
Habana’s decline is alarming and if he is not injured then it must rank as among the more dramatic reversals of form. Currently he can’t catch a ball, run a support line or even make an intercept count, and to see a novice Scottish winger beat him on the outside, much as Welsh wizard Shane Williams did earlier this season, is more mystifying than it is embarrassing for Habana.
Habana should not be playing against England because his form does not warrant inclusion ahead of Jonge Nokwe. A few others should also not be playing against England, but the insular selection policy that picks Brian Mujati ahead of the northern hemisphere-based CJ van der Linde and BJ Botha and Earl Rose ahead of Bath’s Butch James means some of South Africa’s best players will watch Saturday’s Test from the stands at Twickenham.
Fourie du Preez’s injury means there is a scrumhalf crisis, but a bit more innovative thinking could have turned a mishap into an opportunity with the selection of Saracens and former Stormers scrumhalf Neil de Kock, who has consistently been the best scrumhalf in England for the last three seasons.
That, however, would require having a plan – and like with Habana, if there is such a thing I know I am not alone in failing to see it.
These are disturbing times for the Boks because damage is being done now that will only come to the fore when the British and Irish Lions tour South Africa next June.
692 Comments
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17 Nov 2008, 10:30 am
Dragon ****!!
17 Nov 2008, 10:30 am
First ?
17 Nov 2008, 10:32 am
Ah Keo, trust you to lead your young impressionable cohorts with a call to journalistic arms with the title of this thread!
17 Nov 2008, 10:34 am
Spot on 100 %. The coaches are out of their depth.
17 Nov 2008, 10:34 am
Good article Keo. Even if the Boks win all of their matches on tour, their performances are giving the Lions management more than enough ammunition to believe they can guide the Lions to another series victory next year.
17 Nov 2008, 10:34 am
Habana is no more Dragon
17 Nov 2008, 10:35 am
#4 Zulushark: Maybe the players overachieved last year? Maybe their current standards are their true standards?
17 Nov 2008, 10:36 am
Correct.
Some tough calls need to be made, in fact, they should have been made a while back.
Habana has been **** for just about every team he played this, so rather than just looking at it in isolation for the Boks is stupid, he has been far from the player was for the Bulls as-well.
Then rather look at the player, and figure out what has gone wrong with him, than trying to find fault with the Bok coaching staff.
And so to we can look at many current Boks.
Why is Jean and Adi playing the rugby of their careers? Even under a ‘doomed Bok game plan’ (according to some) and players like Habana, Spies, James, Juan and Schalk is playing like ****?
PDV needs to make these calls now if he wants to succeed – get rid of the deadwood and players not committing to the team or team cause – or he must just call it a day.
To see these guys on the field is becoming an embarrassment.
17 Nov 2008, 10:37 am
#3 stodders:
Which part of the article are you disputing?
17 Nov 2008, 10:37 am
Great article – some may say it has a certain bias but for me you have not gone far enough Keo. Schalk is way off the boil and has been for a long time. Juan barring the last two tests has looked tired. As for Spies this man is way off his former glories.
I agree with Zulu too not sure the caoches – note plural – have a clue.
17 Nov 2008, 10:37 am
The job is just to big for PDV.
17 Nov 2008, 10:38 am
Keo, the coaching is the problem – the players don’t beleive in Piet Pienkdas – he does not install confidence in the players like a Jake White, Nick Mallet or Markgraaff would have. We are paying the price for a transformation decision to pick a coach who is a complete idiot. I’m not surprised at all with the situation that we find ourselves in. The Proteas suck big time.
17 Nov 2008, 10:40 am
#7 stodders:
Man, I love those Scots.
And by the way … greetings HM Keo from you gathered loyal subjects.
You know mos we hang on your every word. Literally.
17 Nov 2008, 10:40 am
#7 stodders:
You know as well as I do that to achieve constant successs at this level, the game plan needs to be one which is endoresed by ALL concerned. Right now the coaches has something in mind, and the senior players something else.
I say run by all means, but do the hard yards first. This means taking 8 of the opposition out of the game – their forwards. They must be on the backfoot, then the spaces sill open up for them – look at the sharks this CC.
Hows the latest addition enjoying the windy city ?
17 Nov 2008, 10:40 am
#8 PissAnt:
Yeah sure. Get rid of all the top players. That’s a real good strategy, Einstein.
Sorry for the bite in that first sentence, but I really disagree with your argument.
If we do as you suggest, we will be left with only the players that agree with Snor’s strange vision.
And why? After having a team that was on top of the world before Snor came into the picture?
17 Nov 2008, 10:41 am
The coach is really out of his depth and it is being exposed terribly at the moment
17 Nov 2008, 10:43 am
I did see one smart move of Snor on Saturday. Just a pity he replaced Habana 50 minutes too late.
17 Nov 2008, 10:43 am
one sh*t lost annd it all doom gloom??
17 Nov 2008, 10:44 am
#8 PissAnt: Belaglike stellings wat jy maak – jy wil die top spelers uitgooi – wie wil jy vir Puke in jou span he, dalk Piet Pienkdas op skrumskakel?
17 Nov 2008, 10:44 am
#12 World Cup:
Agree, the batting line up of the Proteas suck.
17 Nov 2008, 10:44 am
#8 PissAnt:
well said!
17 Nov 2008, 10:45 am
Habana is shocking it’s true, but why? Was he brilliant in the CC and then **** in the EOYT? Look towards Ludekak for the answers.
17 Nov 2008, 10:46 am
#19 World Cup: Ten minste as Snor skrummie speel gee hy nie twee/drie tree voor hy die bal uitgee nie.
17 Nov 2008, 10:46 am
Sad ver sad indeed , not much to say but yes Habanna should go on a long holliday . January must learn not to speak to much to the ref. But eish , the handling errors was bad.
17 Nov 2008, 10:46 am
I don’t know what SA rugby was thinking when they employed PDV. I played for the falcons under 21′s when he was coaching the Falcons team. Even then the falcons struggled, he gave us the worst advise ever possible, which made our scrum vulnerable. In my opinion he is not good enough, thats just that
17 Nov 2008, 10:46 am
#20 Kalahari Kid: Batting is fine – the bowling sucks.
17 Nov 2008, 10:48 am
#7 stodders:
The most successfull teams of the past have all had one thing in common, other than they are not all the best players in their positions, and that is they believe 100% in their coach (who is generally a disiplinarian) and his game plan. This leads to heightened self confidence and great self belief. Once you have this going for you, the tough times can be handled quite comfortably. I don’t think the boks are enjoying this aspect at the moment.
17 Nov 2008, 10:48 am
BJ Botha has laast laugh
17 Nov 2008, 10:53 am
#25 Against Luke the Puke:
yeah
and i played for the u21 whilest he was there
and i know from experience that the guy’s a visionary!
17 Nov 2008, 10:53 am
#28 greatest13gerber:
why?
17 Nov 2008, 10:55 am
#28 greatest13gerber:
It amazing how the wheel turns. The one are where they could not afford a injury was in the front row and now we have two and a replacement t/h in mujati who my son could push off the ball.
17 Nov 2008, 10:55 am
#15 Tacitus:
Don’t tell me you buy into this aura kak too?
It is an old argument but I will rehash it quickly.
What aura was there in a team and players that last beat the All Blacks in 2006 by 1 point in Rustenburg, a team that struggled against Tonga and Fiji in the WC, a team that collectively under the previous ‘successful’ regime had but a mid-60% win ratio and even worse against the top teams?
A world cup win in my mind has seriously disillusioned some fans and media people.
This team was mediocre for 4 years under White, and the only real thing they held onto was a winning streak at home but had a losing record on the road (against mediocre teams like Ireland, France and a piss-poor England) only better than Australia!
Peter either had to play White-type rugby when he took over, or bring his own vision to the party. What he did was attempting to build his brand, with White’s players.
The coach is naive, said it before and will say it again.
Here is a kak funny thing though.
Our so called ‘best players’ with this massive ‘aura’ might be the best in our own eyes, but I find it funny how we contribute 3 or 4 players only to ‘World Teams’ when selected or the Super 14 dream team for the last 5 or 6 years.
If they are so great, why do we not see them in the company of the best when independent or international pundits pick the ‘best team’?
Answer this very simple question; how can some guys perform and play the rugby of their life (under De Villiers) and others not?
Do we then question the individual, or the coach or ‘structures’?
Best players – point is subjective at best.
17 Nov 2008, 10:56 am
As long as as Piet hellium, pienk das, snot snor, stem innie bos, is the head coach the boks will never play to their potensial. He is not the weakest link, he is the missing link.
17 Nov 2008, 10:56 am
#29 asha1: #25 Against Luke the Puke:
So you okes must be mates hey ? One of you did’nt listen very well in class
17 Nov 2008, 10:56 am
#29 asha1:
haha well thats what you get if you put somebody on a pedastal if he belongs to be under it
17 Nov 2008, 10:58 am
As much as this hurts me saying this, especially leaving for London on wed to watch the bokke on sat, a thumping may be more beneficial than another of these “****” (Keo, “From the penthouse to the shithouse”, November 2008) wins. Serious change needs to be made. Be it with player selection, training drills or simply learning the rules. The lions will hammer us next year and the sad part is we have the best team in the world and should be dominating world rugby
17 Nov 2008, 10:59 am
#35 Against Luke the Puke:
maybe thats why you struggled bru!
17 Nov 2008, 11:00 am
#30 asha1:
Smit sh*t , bok scrum fcked good
17 Nov 2008, 11:01 am
wp keo! Habana WORST wing on the field in Currie Cup Final.
17 Nov 2008, 11:02 am
#38 greatest13gerber:
you were drunk. werent you!
smit spent 76 minutes of the game (or more) at hooker
17 Nov 2008, 11:03 am
#38 greatest13gerber: The same Smit and co that demolished the Bulls scrum?
17 Nov 2008, 11:03 am
#34 Zulushark:
nope, he’s no mate of mine
and
no, i
never played under 21 under pdv
but
see how easy it is for someone to come on here and make extraordinary claims?
17 Nov 2008, 11:04 am
#34 Zulushark: Very funny.
17 Nov 2008, 11:04 am
Smit not problem, its Mujati.
17 Nov 2008, 11:04 am
#37 asha1:
Its one thing to talk rugby, and another thing to actually be able to coach it and play it. I could talk the best rugby ever, like 95 % of the people on this site and so could PDV, but if you cannot execute your game plan or coach it correctly its worth squat. You could see the world and get the garbage can
17 Nov 2008, 11:04 am
#9 Tacitus: Tac,
I wasn’t disputing the article at all. Was just loving the thread title!
17 Nov 2008, 11:05 am
I cry @ night missing CJ and BJ.
17 Nov 2008, 11:05 am
i say if we go home with 3 out of 3 wins the tour was a success. you don’t just fly to europe and beat all comers.
17 Nov 2008, 11:05 am
The job of an international rugby coach is to BUILD a winning team.
The important word is BUILD.
When you build a rugby team correctly, you start at the foundation.
That is the tight forwards.
First you select your best scrummaging tight head to anchor your scrum.
Then the rest of the tight forwards.
If you do not build the foundation correctly it is only a matter of time before the cracks start to appear.
Building a rugby team is common sense.
You build the base first.
It is pointless looking at all the faults in the team, if you have not built the best base available to you.
We have not done this.
There can only be 3 reasons that we have not done this:
1 The coach is so far out of his depth that he does not understand this.
2 The coach is selecting players based on reasons other than that they are the best.
3 A combination of the 2 reasons above.
17 Nov 2008, 11:05 am
#32 PissAnt: I’m reading between the lines here….. So you are actually saying he should drop the guys who don’t buy into his vision – I’m thinking some fairly senior and influential players here – and start afresh with those that do….? That would be crazy. Surely as a coach your job is to pick the best players available in their positions and formulate your gameplan based on their strengths not the other way round…. Why pick a guy (like Earl Rose for example) who isn’t the best available in his position? Peter Grant should have been there, in fact should have been first choice 10 on tour since they discarded Butch.
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