Halfback heroes laud Bok progress
22 Nov 2008
Ricky Januarie and Ruan Pienaar believe Saturday’s showing at Twickenham is an emphatic sign South Africa are heading in the right direction.
As a flyhalf, Pienaar has only three Test caps to his name while Januarie only started this fixture due to Fourie du Preez’s unavailability through injury. They battled as a combination against Scotland but against England they emerged as major contributors to the 42-6 win, with Januarie named Man of the Match and Pienaar the chief scorer with 20 points.
Pienaar praised Januarie for his typically robust display and the way he alleviated the pressure in taking on much of kicking duties. But the Bok No 10 stressed that the victory over England was down to a superior team effort.
“Ricky was great in the way he kept turning their forwards around. I think the whole team played well as a unit, and there was an intensity that has been lacking in previous games,” Pienaar told keo.co.za.
“They broke our line a few times but we scrambled well to stop them from scoring.”
Many thought Du Preez’s kicking game would be missed, but Janaurie provided a solid showing in this department.
“I have worked very hard at my kicking,” the scrumhalf told this website. “I know I didn’t do well at Murrayfield last week and I was always looking to improve my performance. Ruan and I also didn’t gel last week, but I think we did very well against England.”
Pienaar, himself a retreaded No 9, believes the Boks are showing significant signs of progress.
“I think we are starting to play better as a team. Personally I still made a lot of mistakes but I improved on last week’s performance.”
22 Comments
22 Nov 2008, 21:11 pm
Champions!!!
22 Nov 2008, 21:11 pm
dragon champions
22 Nov 2008, 21:13 pm
#3 montyfan:
22 Nov 2008, 21:13 pm
world champions
22 Nov 2008, 22:04 pm
Januarie had an average game – according to me – but hey I’ll take the win and move on.
All the PDV haters are pulling their hair out tonight – I luv it!
22 Nov 2008, 22:05 pm
Scattergun JC, I said it before, from your first effort, your posts stinks. After the the guys gave you some lip on your scattergun post you are back to copy and paste. Oh boy you are such a loser….
23 Nov 2008, 00:28 am
I think scattergun JC had too much lemonade today.
23 Nov 2008, 00:56 am
#5 Slappes: I also did not think he was brilliant, although superior to Danny Care. However, Ricky managed to pop up at the right place at the right time every time!
23 Nov 2008, 00:59 am
5 Slappes —— PDV DID NOT PLAY.
Well done to the mighty SPRINGBOKS!!!!!! To all the players you can hold your heads high with pride
23 Nov 2008, 01:28 am
Wel gedaan aan altwee van julle Ruaan en Ricky. Ruaan jyt die potentiaal om die beste losskakel in die wereld te wees outjie! en ek is trots op jou. Jy het jou eie trots weg gesit vir die beste vir die Bokke en om losskakel te speel n kans gegee het. En jy is briljant (soos ons almal geweet jy sou wees
) Dis nou n regte Bok, n regte egte sportman en n leier. Hou so aan.
23 Nov 2008, 01:32 am
Ja JC you suck man. On your caricature it looks like you’re wearing a red jersey – is that a Welsh jersey perhaps? Might explain why…
Anyway, Keo can get me to cover the Boks European tours – I already live in the UK and go to at least one of the games every year – so they’ll save money and I’ve probably got more experience of writing for blogs and as much knowledge of the Boks as you. One thing I don’t have is your pessimism!
23 Nov 2008, 06:40 am
#6 crowbar:
Sad sack…
23 Nov 2008, 15:06 pm
#9 bokworldchamps: neither have any of the so-called great coaches you nitwit!
23 Nov 2008, 16:52 pm
#12 bryce_in_oz: Boet, the pot calling the kettle black. You are something else, Aussies loss is SA’s gain in your case.
23 Nov 2008, 22:06 pm
And with Ruaan staying at 10, any combinations between him and Ricky/Fourie can only get better. Hallelujah that they have finally settled on a bloody 10. I am glad that they are using Steyn at teh end of games at 10 as well- it makes sense to have a backup 10 too. Perhaps Steyn can move from 15 to ten at teh end of games, and Conrad Jantjes to 15.
I am still not impressed with him (Conrad). Wghen he runs he must charge hard in one direction until his opposite has committed past the point of no return,and only THEN change direction HARD and break the tackle. Not change directions (slightly) twice to end up in same path, and then get tackled anyway. That stupid shuffle of his is embarrassing.
24 Nov 2008, 07:10 am
#15 SjamBok: What is it that Jantjies does ?? Considering the fantastic team effort on sat he was awful, missed tackles, caught behind, kicked out on the full 5times. Seems churlish to whing about him but surely FS or even Ruan would do better…
For me the man of the tour is JPP. He was also my mom on Sat.
24 Nov 2008, 09:10 am
When Jake White started, Ricky January was his first choice scrumhalf. He got injured, moved to the Lions and gained weight and Fourie cemented his place.
Fourie played very well in the World Cup and got injured for some games in 2008 and Ricky got his spot back.
The Ricky/Fourie thing will go on back and forth and it does not bother me one bit.
They both perform well in big games but the other has the backing of the media in the form of JC.
On his day Fourie is the best and so is Ricky. They are two different players who are not necessarily tasked with grooming Ruan, i think.
24 Nov 2008, 09:22 am
#16 bananas
i think Jantjie’s time is up but he i’m sure he will benefit from playing for a winning team and the adage of not fixing what is not broken (bok team) will help his cause
For me, FS on the bench was humbling and good for his development. Coming of the bench to make match winning impacts 3 weeks in a row is solid development for me.
i know what he has done in the past but now he has gone through the stage of being a young prodigy but needs to be maaged like a man and PdV is doing that.
The same goes for Jacque Fourie, a very good player with an exceptional scoring rate. he comes off the bench to kill games off and i think selections have been spot on in that regard.
Talking to Von Giba about Martin Johnson’s approach; the feeling we had was that Johnson could have started with Toby Flood who has at least 20 caps and has been in gruelling encounters.
Cipriani could have been given the second half or the last quarter for each game in the entire tour because i believe Flood could have offered some stability. i know Toby is not talented as Cipriani but this is a team sport and Martin knows that.
Quade Cooper got in as a sub in one of the close games Oz played on this tour and had 1 linebreak and a try. What’s important is that Cooper is a test player and is handled differently from say, a nation that wants a saviour type flyhalf.
For this saturday, Jonhson can save Danny the shame and start with Toby and make Cipriani an impact player, that can help his confidence, just to devlop as a player.
The problem with Cipriani is that he has limited test experience; England want the Woodward era and one man cannot deliver what was developed over a 6 year period.
Cipriani is still coming of a long injury, has limited match fitness and is thrust into the full test arena playing the world’s top 3. That says a lot about Martin Johnson’s naivety.
24 Nov 2008, 09:36 am
Engalnd have their own Louis Koen!!!
Danny sucks and should stick to club rugby
24 Nov 2008, 10:44 am
#16 bananas: Got to agree with you there, The Sunday Times gave the man of the match to JPP, HELL HE HAD A GREAT TOUR WITH NO BALL TO SPEAK OF
24 Nov 2008, 10:52 am
flyfisher
apart from the IRB world player of the year, JP is the best wing, without the ball as you correctly noted
all this from the quarter final against Fiji; he continues to drive oppositions back.
This is one area of his game that saffas did not see when he did not reeat the 11 tries in the Super 14.
his defensive efforts are matchless.
24 Nov 2008, 11:02 am
My bad
JP the second best winger in 2008, i have not forgotten about BH.
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