Boks under achieve in 2008
27 Nov 2008
The Springboks are a better team than the current All Blacks – and Saturday’s Test against the Poms at Twickenham will prove it.
One thing New Zealanders love to do is talk up their All Blacks. It is something those in the northern hemisphere also take great delight in – that is talking up the men in black.
It could be that it makes defeat against them seem honourable and bearable. It could also be that New Zealand, as a nation, has never done anything to offend anyone, whereas white South Africans will always live with the baggage of apartheid.
The rugby world, post 1994, has come to accept and tolerate us, but – with the possible exception of the French – they don’t like us.
It is why the Springboks will simply have to settle for winning World Cups while the All Blacks continue to win over fans and the northern hemisphere rugby media every November.
New Zealand once again have the mantle of best team in the world in a non-World Cup year. This New Zealand team will be even better in 2009 and in 2010 they will be unbeatable. In 2011 they will implode and the cycle will continue and we’ll be told by New Zealanders that the World Cup has killed international rugby and that the yellow cup really means nothing because a team has to be judged over a four-year period and not a three week play-off period.
Which brings me back to the weekend’s Test matches. I must confess to cheating this weekend, as I never watched the Springboks or All Blacks matches live. I viewed both games knowing the result and without the additional pressure of having to file on the final whistle – hence the lateness of the column.
What it confirmed to me, and it is something I have been saying for a couple of years, is that the Springboks possess the better individual talent, with the exception of Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, who are two of the finest to play the game. This current generation of South African player is among the most special ever produced in this country, and that is why the expectation must be high and performances like the one against Scotland two Saturdays ago can’t be justified or tolerated.
It is the dismantling of England at Twickenham that sets a standard, much like the Boks did in Paris when they humiliated England 36-0 in a World Cup play-off match.
You can tell me England are poor and in a shambles, but only two weeks ago we were being told this is a new generation of English player, good enough to beat Australia, South Africa and New Zealand on successive weekends. The wise scribes in the United Kingdom also told us that the Boks were the weakest of the Tri nations teams. It was based on the statistical evidence of the Boks finishing third in the Tri Nations – a result that was as unacceptable as the performance against Scotland.
In assessing the year, nine Bok wins in 13 starts statistically is a very good return, but it is the two Tri Nations wins in six matches that will define the season because this was the year in which the World Cup holders should have been superior to New Zealand and Australia in belief and results.
New Zealand, this year, lost 13 of their World Cup All Blacks to Europe. Many of them will return to New Zealand in 2011 and be good enough to challenge for a World Cup squad, while Australia also entered a rebuilding phase. With the Springboks, there was no rebuilding because there was no need for a makeover of a World Cup winning squad with an average age of 25. It is why 2008 will always be the season of missed opportunity. The brilliant win against England only emphasized how much was missed in the Tri Nations.
A settled Bok team, with so much natural talent, should have whipped the All Blacks and Wallabies, home and away, and then there would have been a supporting argument to my theory that South Africa’s players are better than New Zealand’s. Instead I’ll continue to get the 19-0 defeat at Newlands thrown at me and the names of Carter and McCaw. On the latter I concede, but overall the only thing the All Blacks should be beating the Boks at is the ridiculously overhyped pre-match haka.
Take it from me, New Zealand, if they play to their potential, won’t beat England by 36 points this weekend because they are not as good a side as a Bok side in full throttle, and that is why 2008 was the year in which the Boks stumbled when they should have soared.
731 Comments
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27 Nov 2008, 17:48 pm
#598 cab:
You can’t compare Zidane to Beckham.
No way.
27 Nov 2008, 17:50 pm
4 Nations and they battle to get 15 decent rugby players out on the park
Clubs are killing the game, the Boks will get better and will be rested, plus a lot of added motivation for the players who will retire by 2011, so B Lions watch out
27 Nov 2008, 17:51 pm
#596 stodders: 4 Nations and they battle to get 15 decent players out on the park. Really poor
27 Nov 2008, 17:52 pm
Somebody please post the results during the Lions Aus tour.
27 Nov 2008, 18:16 pm
#538 Dawn: Thank you for your advice
27 Nov 2008, 18:21 pm
#604 Dawn: Oh and Dawn from last week….one Welsh Border Collie and three assorted terriers!
Enjoy your meal out. Go and find some gorgeous rugby playing firemen!!
27 Nov 2008, 18:24 pm
#605 carol:
No prob! Creepy here with no-one about!
27 Nov 2008, 18:25 pm
#606 carol:
My ultimate dream. But alas it is a family do!!!!
27 Nov 2008, 18:27 pm
#606 carol:
Hey! CM, you are really, really looking for loads of trouble by dissing the great Leeds United the way you did earlier today. They were the heart and soul of England once upon a time even to the extent of giving the national team the Great Don Revie (plus the likes of Jackie Charlton,Terry Cooper, Norm Hunter, Paul Madeley etc. etc. all in one team) which was the beginning of the end of The Whites.
27 Nov 2008, 18:28 pm
#19 ziyaad:
Phew….such a long and carefully considered string of posts, backed up with stats, warrants comment!
You spoilt a persuasive argument with your last line – leaving an impression that you have an axe to grind and racial baggage. I for one, have no problem with the colour of PDV’s skin and wish him and the boks all the success in the world. The reason people are pouncing on him when the boks fail, is because he was selected because of the coulour of his skin. His appointment was not a merit selection. HM had way better credentials – infact PDV did not even have like credentials to compare! Anyway, lets leave that tired (though prertinant) debate for another day.
On to the body of argument……
I agree largely. The ELV’s do necesitate a change in strategy, as does our game in general, as you correctly (i.m.o.) reflected upon, backed up by stats against top opponents under White. SA’s record in the last 4 years, prior to the WC was “poor.” But “poor” is subjective judgement fuelled by expectation. Why should we expect to be at the top? Do we have enough raw talent and enough resources and intellectual capital in SA to expect this?
Our success at the world cup was hollow, but for two important factors – BMT and self belief. Part of me agrees with the Kiwi argument that Keo scorns. I would rather have four years with a 90% record and #1 ranking than a somewhat hollow WC high. As you rightly say, false expectation has ensued from the trophy. Keo has vested interest in punting it so his vision is clouded.
I think we do need a fresh approach. We have the talent and brawn to dominate but do we have the brain? Does PDV and co have the brain to engineer a fresh winning strategy? It has been a mixed bag thus far, but in retrospect we have looked sublime at times whilst at others looked rudderless (and coachless!) How much time do you give them?
“Defense wins games.” This is a ludicrous statement.Having more points on the board wins games. You still have to score the points in the first place, only then limiting through defence, the oposition to less points than what you have! This negative mindset is one we need to shed (without reducing our defernsive efforts) To score more points we need to be more creative, whilst at the same stage dominating up front and keeping possesion through more phases, with patience, then having a crack when oportunities present thenselves when defenses are more stretched. This is the structure we need, not sending it wide off first or second phase, risking getting the ball turned over for holding etc. This is the “structure” PDV needs more of. Combine this with attacking, creative flair at the right time and we’re in for high times…..
27 Nov 2008, 18:38 pm
#610 julz:
Anyone who makes the comment “His appointment was not a merit selection. ” is ipso facto saying that any S.A national selection prior to democracy was not a merit selection because they were not the only people in SA playing the game and thus their collective abilities were not measured against all playing the game, for anyone to make the claim of merit selection or whichever way anyone wants to say it.
27 Nov 2008, 18:43 pm
#610 julz: well said, and also true
27 Nov 2008, 18:51 pm
#612 JL1:
Absolute rubbish judging from my previous comment. Give the counter argument.
27 Nov 2008, 18:54 pm
#613 ET: Rugby remains rugby,which means do the basics right, get the ball (possession), defend and then earn the right to run at the opposition (territory, turnover ball, advantage etc etc )
Really simple, one cannot run all the time, but one needs to be able to identify and act on the moments where you can run the ball
27 Nov 2008, 18:55 pm
#609 ET: Well thats the trouble, they were once mighty but are somewhat struggling nowadays!! Surely there must be a Saffa rugby side that is somewhat the same? I was trying to get a paralllel, so who is the rugby Chelsea anyway?
27 Nov 2008, 18:58 pm
#615 carol:
You are now getting confused by all the teams you mentioned earlier.
27 Nov 2008, 19:00 pm
#610 julz:
I do not regret that last comment.
Maybe that’s the impression I leave, but I simply cannot explain the things people have said in the media and elsewhere as being purely rugby-related.
I wish I had copied them. Because if I could show you, you would be disgusted.
Oh and the rest of your reply is good. I agree mostly. On paragraph 5, though, when did you think we looked ‘coachless’? And why?
I tend to believe, regardless of how well a coach communicates a game plan to his players, if the player’s excecution is poor, it will always appear as if there was limited planning involved. For me, the 0-19 loss is a case in point.
27 Nov 2008, 19:04 pm
#615 carol:
On another topic are you aware that UK race horses did extremely well here on Breeders Cup day when in excess of $23 mill. was for the taking? As a result of those horses doing so well on the turf and the new ‘rubberised’ tracks I was smiling all the way to the bank that day because of the arrogance of the US bettors leading to foreign horses winning at very good odds.
27 Nov 2008, 19:07 pm
#603 JL1: I agree with you. Have I ever said differently?
The club game is thriving, but at the expense of our national teams who are growing weaker and our talent pools growing ever smaller as more foreign players flock up here in numbers.
However, England are recruiting mercenaries to play for them. They don’t care if they aren’t born in England. France have been doing it for years too, as have Scotland and Wales. I don’t see this trend changing. In fact, I see it only getting worse. In time, unless the growth of the club game is curtailed, I can see the home nations being full of Kiwis, Ozzies and South Africans who either qualify through residency or ancestry. Sad, isn’t it?
Re Lions – I don’t think we will win, but i hope the coaching team will make us more than competitive, and with a bit of luck, for we will need some, we might sneak the series.
27 Nov 2008, 19:08 pm
#617 ziyaad:
Ziyaad, do names like Cassiem Jabaar, Salie Fredericks, Hardy Dollie, Piet Jooste, Temba Ludwaba etc., etc. have any significance for you? I ask because I want to get some sense of your historical perspective wrt your sensible comments of the last few days.
27 Nov 2008, 19:08 pm
Keo, not alot happening re news at the moment, stats speak for themselves, don’t they, didn’t see any saffa’s at the awards the other nite, ah yes sorry Jake White giving Lord Ted coach of the year award, show me a Boke team that has lost 15 top players and still wins consistantly and we will certainly say, yes the bokes are a better team, you sad sad man!!
27 Nov 2008, 19:10 pm
#619 stodders:
Where are you based?
27 Nov 2008, 19:12 pm
#616 ET: I may be blonde, but I’m not confused. If Chelsea was a rugby side (loads of money and glamour) who is closest to that? The Sharks are Man Utd, because overseas persons support them in huge numbers. Who is the once mighty side that now languish (like Leeds)?#618 ET: I hope you spent your winnings on something completley friolous!
27 Nov 2008, 19:16 pm
#620 ET:
Yes. Can’t I saw them play though!
27 Nov 2008, 19:17 pm
#624 ziyaad:
Sorry, meant “Can’t *say* I saw them play though!”
27 Nov 2008, 19:18 pm
Great article KEO fantastic logic and obviously the Bokke aren’t playing this weekend.
27 Nov 2008, 19:23 pm
#624 ziyaad:
Okay that is fine just means i am older than you but it does explain why you have such clarity of thought
Good. If you played the game at higher than school level which club did you play for? I am assuming you will name a Cape Town club but it does not matter as I will probably know your club as i know SA rugby well.
27 Nov 2008, 19:23 pm
#577 stodders:
and Euan Murray is apparently beoming a Lions prop based solely on his performance against a debutant 2nd-team 21yr old AB prop.
Truly madness. Always go for the grizzled old heads 1st, especially in the Republic where they spit out front-rowers for fun.
But, I agree, Vicker looked washed up 2-3 seasons ago. Hasnt been right since that neck injury.
27 Nov 2008, 19:23 pm
#622 ziyaad: Based in UK at the mo. But plans are afoot to relocate to Cape Town, hopefully not in distant future. What about you?
27 Nov 2008, 19:25 pm
#628 BlackPanther: Care to name me a better tight head in the NH than Murray? I think you’ll struggle, and that’s not becaue Murray is great. It’s because the standard is poor. How I wish it was the British, Irish and French Lions. Then we could have a French tight head or two.
27 Nov 2008, 19:27 pm
#627 ET:
I’ve only played school level rugby so far. I’ll be at UCT next year so I’ll play there.
27 Nov 2008, 19:29 pm
#629 stodders:
Cape Town. Are you South African?
27 Nov 2008, 19:41 pm
#623 carol:
You are incorrect on a number of points though. Firstly rugby union, especially in the SH cannot have realistic comparisons to assoc. football as the money in rugby is not personal( as in football-Abromovitz etc., etc.) but usually company money in the form of sponsorship.
Also the Sharks irrespective of what their supporters, like rangerman, say, are not world renowned or liked and in fact mostly promise only to deceive and win once in every 10 years or so(Currie cup is worthless these days).
WP has the most money which is mostly wasted by rank bad admin. for years now but are nowhere near Leeds Un. in the respect of the criminal finacial disaster there. LEEDS IS A SPECIAL CASE AND NO TEAM CAN, IN RUGBY, BE COMPARED TO THEM.
27 Nov 2008, 19:47 pm
Okay, so the 3-nations didn’t go so well
But let me tell you, I was at Twickers on Saturday and these poms are crying!!! We ended the tour on a high and I think SA teams will perform in the Super 14
27 Nov 2008, 19:48 pm
#631 ziyaad:
So you are very young then and a long road lies ahead still.
Really good, on a number of levels, what lies ahead for you. UCT is my alma mater, so hopefully you will still get a good education and a good rugby experience. Has the original, non-racial SARU and SACOS been a discussion point in the older generation of your family and what area did they reside in prior to 1992?
27 Nov 2008, 19:54 pm
#633 ET: Well I am SO glad you cleared that one up!
What did you spend your winnings on, don’t tell me you invested it!
27 Nov 2008, 19:55 pm
Keo – one of our worst national traits is blowing our own trumpets before the final whistle blows.
You wrote off New Zealand before the 3N too.
When we actually beat NZ and Australia more than they beat us – they facts will be the facts.
I could give a flying fk about the RWC – I still felt the pain of losing against the All Blacks & Wallabies in real time, the present – the RWC did nothing to salve the losses.
If we get a scary Tight Head prop (sorry that is not Smitty) we will beat the Lions (who will be much better than expected) and have the potential to win the 3N. But that’s in the future. All that will count will be the actual results.
27 Nov 2008, 19:55 pm
Keo, I think the words bitter and twisted come to mind, thats why they make songs about you!!!
27 Nov 2008, 19:55 pm
#636 carol: If you dissed The Mighty Whites you are in big trouble.
27 Nov 2008, 19:56 pm
#633 ET: What about the Lions?
27 Nov 2008, 19:56 pm
#637 SodaJoe: Soda is this damp weather getting you down or is it the beer?
27 Nov 2008, 19:58 pm
#641 carol: I am enjoying myself. Just hate it when we beat our chests about imaginary wins.
27 Nov 2008, 19:58 pm
#639 SodaJoe: No I did not diss them, ET just wants a scrap I think!! I did say which team in the South African rugby world is like Leeds, once mighty now struggling?
27 Nov 2008, 19:58 pm
#631 ziyaad: Eish broer, as jy van rugby ‘n toekoms wil maak moes jy eerder Maties toe gekom het.
27 Nov 2008, 20:00 pm
#631 ziyaad: Good luck bud. You will do well across all levels.
Is Skopskiet your uncle?
27 Nov 2008, 20:00 pm
#643 carol: The Lions (who I also support).
27 Nov 2008, 20:01 pm
My feelings exactly mr Keo
27 Nov 2008, 20:01 pm
#636 carol:
I have a habit of going to the supermarket after a good win and also of filling the tank with gasoline and I still have quite a bit left for the next big races which will be next year. I only bet on graded races and not the penny-hapenny type.
You come across as being a bit peeved in your comment but I hope I am wrong.
27 Nov 2008, 20:01 pm
#644 KingPaul: Nah boet. UCT take all the clever okes that can play rugby.
27 Nov 2008, 20:02 pm
#648 ET: Philly Steak – having a good Thanksgiving?
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