PdV: Defeat exposed stragglers
4 Jul 2009
Peter de Villiers cited the coming Tri-Nations as motivation for making 10 changes ahead of the dead rubber in Johannesburg.
The Springboks suffered their worst ever defeat to the British & Irish Lions when they went down 28-9 on Saturday. It was also the first time they had lost at Ellis Park since 2001.
Injuries forced the Lions to field a vastly changed side, but before the game, De Villiers explained his own eight changes as an opportunity to field fringe players. It was more important to give the youngsters an opportunity than to push for an unprecedented whitewash over the northerners.
‘We’re grateful we’ve won the series. When we sat down before the series, we said this was one of our goals. I’ve always said the Lions are a brilliant team and they showed it [on Saturday],’ De Villiers told keo.co.za.
‘How will we know [if the youngsters are good enough] if we don’t give them a chance? This was very important with the Tri-Nations just around the corner. We’ve learned a lot.’
De Villiers refused to single out players that have effectively ruled themselves out of the Sanzar tournament with an awful showing at Ellis Park.
‘It’s not in my principles to discuss players here. But I now have a clearer idea in my head of who they are.’
Bok captain John Smit explained the Boks wore white armbands in a show of solidarity for the banned Bakkies Botha. The irony was the belligerent Boks were outbullied on the day, with the Lions forwards the more intense unit.
‘I suppose you could say it was a distraction now, but there’s no excuse, we were poor,’ he said. ‘I’m experiencing some mixed emotions right now, but to be frank they were all over us at the contact area. Their counter-rucking was great and we didn’t respect our own ball enough. We need to learn from that going forward.
‘But if you had to said to me the series would have been 2-1 beforehand, I would have taken it. The Lions series was always going to be our priority this year and it’s been an amazing experience. To win a series, for me, is right up there with [winning] the World Cup.’
The Boks have adopted a game-by-game strategy and will only start planning for the Tri-Nations when they reconvene in 10 days time. While Smit said their major objective has already been attained, they are desperate to improve on last year’s dismal showing in the Tri-Nations.
‘I think we let ourselves down last year. This is going to be a colossal tournament and even though it was a priority to win the Lions series, it would be naive to think we couldn’t win the Tri-Nations with the team that we have. We just need to fix the mistakes and produce a better balanced effort.
‘There’s so much to be achieved and this team is young enough to go all the way through to the next World Cup. I’m committed until the end of 2010, so that’s not too far away [from the 2011 World Cup], but I’m going to take it one year at a time.’
By Jon Cardinelli, at Ellis Park
229 Comments
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5 Jul 2009, 11:43 am
#185 out wide:
you mean like the 97 series?
#196 WakaNathan:
yeah well if the lions kicking was better in the 2nd one, they would have won, ifs and buts count for ****, as has been said, its the result that counts, 2-1.
you want to play pretty rugby great, i love to watch it, but thats why you aint won no proper world cups.
by your logic i would say the french are a better team that the ABs cos they had long periods of domination and should’ve won the second test too.
5 Jul 2009, 11:43 am
Good luck to the Lions. Although they managed to smack the Bok around in this test, they clearly were the inferior team and squad all round.
It was a case of SA taking its eye off the ball in a big way rather than a consummate performance by The Old Red…. but Shane Williams,
Jamie Heaslip,
One of Ngati Porou’s finest Ricky Flutey,
Mike Philips,
Ugo well spotted
the irish fullback Kearney went very well indeed.
PdV hasn’t had as much success as Henry at pulling off exposing inexperienced test players to a formidable opponent desperate to win.
With great sides, in the back of your mind, you expect them to win even if they are well behind on the scoreboard. The Boks have a way to go before they engender that feeling.
It will be between SA and NZ who is the best side in the world this year. Both sides could improve immensely. Not sure whether Australia can rise as much. They will be more dangerous early.
5 Jul 2009, 11:45 am
#197 Puma:
It will go down as a 2-1 series win to the Boks.
Do you remember the score of the 3rd test in 97?
The Bokke annihilated the poms and i bet you as a Bok supporter dont remember or care about that result.
5 Jul 2009, 11:54 am
In 97 the Bok outcored the BIL by 66-59 and 9 tries to 3, not sure what point ppl are trying to make?
5 Jul 2009, 11:54 am
#203 cab: How you my friend. Hope Paris is hot. Bloody freezing here in Joburg.
Think we beat them 26/16 something like that. Really cant remember. You may be right but their coach such a big song about beating us at Ellis Park. Saying All Blacks and France have ever beat the Boks at Ellis Park once and now the Lions have done it twice and he was so proud of that.
We would have had a far, far better chance to beat them if we had our best playing. It was a test for goodness sake. A huge test really. If we beat them it would have been the first whitewash ever.
It just showed no respect to the jersey, or the venue, or to the Lions team by just playing fringe players and some getting a Bok Cap for the first time. Should never happen in a test of that magnitude.
I for one will never ever go again if we don’t have our best playing. Not ever. Waste of time and a waste of a day really. I froze my bloody butt of too. Damn freezing there yesterday…hehehe.
5 Jul 2009, 11:59 am
#202 lapoftherugbygods: After watching Oz play against the French. I think they are the team to watch in the Tri-Nations this year. Then again never underestimate the All Blacks they always seem to just play brilliant when they are wearing the jersey.
5 Jul 2009, 12:24 pm
#205 Puma:
hello puma, nope it was 35-16, a big one with something like 5 tries. no-one remembers or really cares, all we remember is the lions won the series.
yip its boiling over here in paris, my sister tells me its so cold on joburg, the difference is hard to believe, but suppose you guys only have put up with it for a couple of months whereas a NH winter is truly a kak thing.
5 Jul 2009, 12:27 pm
#199 byoboy:
Yep, it seems that square peg will always fit in the round hole, huh.
#201 cab:
You seem to deal in alot of grey territory, whatever suits the conditions aye.
Results count for everything as you say. So just as long as you avoid SA vs NZ you should be fine.
JUSTICE !
But you already said that about the French, without substantiating at all. There were no disallowed tries. No lack of camera angles. No RCs that werent.
Oh, theres that grey area again…
JUSTICE, I say !
5 Jul 2009, 12:34 pm
This Boks team missed a great opportunity to go down in history as the ONLY team to have whitewashed the Lions in SA.
PDV underestimted the Lions and paid a massive price. He has missed a place in history. He may have learnt to respect his opposition in the process. History teaches that small percentages over the opposition often mean a lot in the final analyis of a test match against a team like the Lions. Always go with your best starting XV!!!!
That was far from the best XV that SA could muster to take the field for that fateful match yesterday which must have left millions of Bok fans feeling very let down.
5 Jul 2009, 12:34 pm
#207 cab: You are right we only will remember the win. Just after hearing their coach saying how great it was to win at Ellis and that hardly anyone wins there. Only the ABs and French once now them twice it was very special to them.
Ag, its over so have to forget about it. I expected a big hiding yesterday with all the changes. That team only were in training from Monday too. It was never going to work.
Only thing is Frans Steyn has proved he is our FB. I know he had a bit of off the ball stuff in the end but he was superb when he came on.
I am just up here from Umhlanga and its around 25 with full sun when I left this week. To hit Joburg with the 2 temps at night PHEW!!!!!!!! Thats freezing for me. Yesterday at the game it was a bit windy and felt freezing although it was temp was around 12 or something like that. Not used to it that cold.
Paris is a awesome city. Especially in the summer. You lucky oke…hehe to live there. Enjoy it.
5 Jul 2009, 12:38 pm
#208 WakaNathan:
what you talking about, there was a disallowed try in the 3rd test, by your man bryce lawrence, for stepping into touch which was clearly a try. You boys are so subserviant to the NH, its not even true, no wonder the IRB is dominated by the northern poofdas, no backbone down south anymore it seems.
5 Jul 2009, 12:41 pm
LETS BOYCOTT THE 3 HOME TRI-NATIONS TESTS
OWING TO THE EXTREME GREAD OF SARFU(IN SETTING LIONS TEST TICKETS AT R1 140) LETS ALL NOT ATTEND THE 3 TRI NATIONS GAMES….THEY DESERVE TO GET WHAT THEY GIVE!!
5 Jul 2009, 12:41 pm
#209 wardie: Good post. Agree. We really did miss a great opportunity in history there.
Really don’t think PdV even cared if we lost or won yesterday. Think he has his mind on the Tri-Nations and was trying out players there. Really not good enough to do that in a huge test like that. Not fair the supporters that spent huge amounts of money to go the test to see a Boks play Lions and it was our 2nd side. To pay that money we want to see the best and all the time.
I will never go to watch the Boks again unless we field the very best.
5 Jul 2009, 12:46 pm
#199 byoboy:
Yep, it seems that square peg will always fit in the round hole, huh.
#201 cab:
You seem to deal in alot of grey territory, whatever suits the conditions aye.
Results count for everything as you say. So just as long as you avoid SA vs NZ you should be fine.
JUSTICE !
But you already said that about the French, without substantiating at all. There were no disallowed tries. No lack of camera angles. No RCs that werent.
Oh, theres that grey area again…
Dont listen to me, heres todays Times:-
“Peter de Villiers, the South Africa coach, began the week by demeaning the game with his refusal to condemn eye-gouging. He demeaned the Springbok jersey by leaving out some leading players. In the second half, in a panic, he brought on the fifth cavalry, only to find that their bugle was silenced.
South Africa wore armbands in support, so they said, of Bakkies Botha, who was suspended after the second Test. Botha’s suspension was then confirmed by an independent tribunal, and Adam Jones, the Lions prop whom Botha illegally charged, could be out of the game for nine months. The sheer inappropriate pomposity of South Africa’s gesture took the breath away, and they should remember that their status as world champions conveys a responsibility to the game at large, not simply to one player.”
Spot on. I lost some respect for Smit and the Boks yest.
JUSTICE, I say !
5 Jul 2009, 12:49 pm
#214 WakaNathan:
i aint for one minute going to back the NH on this, i personally would not have warn armbands, but their whinging and bitching and double standards where SA in concerned, i’ve had enough of. if you going to ban Botha fine, fine, but do it based on dirty play, not on your own perceied view of his reputation.
5 Jul 2009, 13:01 pm
#215 cab:
double standards. Quite.
Botha was cited. Banned. Appeal overruled.
For dangerous play. That resulted in a serious injury.
What do you not understand ?
5 Jul 2009, 13:02 pm
#216 WakaNathan:
that every lockforward in existence cleans out rucks in precisely that manner.
what do you not understand?
5 Jul 2009, 13:12 pm
#217 cab:
Cited.
Banned.
Appeal overruled.
Condemned by the IRB.
Banned for exactkly the same offence last season (Mortlock taken out).
You dont need to be a rugby player to understand that.
5 Jul 2009, 13:12 pm
#216 WakaNathan: You quite obviously dont watch much rugby, or have much actual rugby nous.
Even the head of referees worlwide, a kiwi, said there was nothing to cite for.
If this ruling was upheld in every game there would be no-one left to play the games.
Now, which part of this dont you understand? Tjop!
5 Jul 2009, 13:14 pm
#217 cab: Let him go Cab, he’s clutching at straws, posting the same thing on every page. If Heaslip had broken 3 of Smith’s ribs in his IDENTICAL clean out yesterday, what would he say then, especially in light of the fact that there has been no citing or even mention of the incident. Fact of the matter is, if Jones wasn’t injured (and indeed badly positioned to defend the ruck as his own teammates even admitted), the Bakkies incident would not even have made page 3.
It’s done now, let it go and let this bloke trawl all he wants.
5 Jul 2009, 13:25 pm
Perhaps this totally unfair citing and victimisation of a perfectly good clean by Bakkies, had more far reaching consequences for the Boks mindset than just wearing white bands.
Perhaps confusion and trepidation as to what had occured, and the resulting farce, contributed to the Boks not turning up physically in force at the collission points?
Just a thought.
5 Jul 2009, 13:28 pm
#220 thefeather:
yeah you exactly right, but apparently ‘we’ cant understand that, cos ‘we’ are so one-eyed.
sounds like he needs to get his frickin eyes operated on.
5 Jul 2009, 14:05 pm
#222 cab:
No
WE cant understand why Bakkies was banned.
so WE need to be told by the Worldwide audience of tv with pompous armbands.
because WE are so 1-eyed that only bringing ito to our attention will Save Rugby.
Pathetic.#219 Mistral:
I have no doubt Ive been watching rugby than you are old.
Which is probably why you are willing to blindly support it. Why ? because its the Boks. Boks must be better and less ignorant than us other plebs so thats why theyve done it, to teach us ignorant heathens The Way.
5 Jul 2009, 16:20 pm
#223 WakaNathan:
You’re still whinging! Get a life
5 Jul 2009, 17:43 pm
#223 WakaNathan: Hey mate, how you doing? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with showing solidarity with a team-mate….what’s so pompous about it? This area (the breakdown) is a major concern, whoever is on the receiving end of unjust censure…
5 Jul 2009, 22:11 pm
P Divvy YOU are the straggler.
YOU are the weakest link.
But you can stay, because you won the series!
Thank You!
6 Jul 2009, 10:39 am
Before the test series and during the series allt the supporters wanted that team of saturday.this is what you wanted
Wyanand – inform centre
fourie – far better than jacobs.
morne- best fly-half in SA
Bakkies could not play.
Now t6hat we have our team we complain
6 Jul 2009, 15:37 pm
WO is only a good S14 player, KAK international player !!!!
6 Jul 2009, 18:02 pm
#224 rich1:
#225 Atreides:
No wonder Rich1 wants the neutrals to shut up, because the same tune is deafening elsewhere…….a few extracts from the papers:-
“Smit is a great Springbok captain, but the halo slipped at Ellis Park with his advocacy of the “Justice 4 Bakkies Botha” white armband protest, and a stronger coach with better judgement than De Villiers would have nipped it in the bud. He would have also told his bench to stop larking around on the pitch like kids minutes before the kick-off of a test in which they were given a lesson by a Lions side playing for pride.”
“Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett got it right after the Johannesburg defeat when he said that one of South Africa’s biggest problems is that they “get ahead of themselves”. There is a lack of humility, with too many players being touted as better than they are, and there is also a reckoning coming with many of the 2007 World Cup and 2009 Lions series veterans reaching their motivational sell-by date.”
“There was dirty play and the preposterous reaction to it from the South African camp. ”
“South Africa wore armbands in support, so they said, of Bakkies Botha, who was suspended after the second Test. Botha’s suspension was then confirmed by an independent tribunal, and Adam Jones, the Lions prop whom Botha illegally charged, could be out of the game for nine months. The sheer inappropriate pomposity of South Africa’s gesture took the breath away, and they should remember that their status as world champions conveys a responsibility to the game at large, not simply to one player.”
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