Indiscipline endemic to anarchy
The Springbok discipline has been shocking throughout the three-Test series, a fact that confirms all is not well in the South African camp.
‘That was just two minutes of the game, and we play for 80 minutes,’ head coach Peter de Villiers replied when asked about the senseless scuffle that afforded the Lions a late penalty in Saturday’s defeat.
The Lions won by more than three points, but that wasn’t the issue. De Villiers dodged the question pertaining to brain explosions that are becoming the norm rather than the exception.
Why is he dodging the question? Because the answer is a poor reflection on himself. The Boks are an aggravated lot, just as they were under Rudolf Straeuli. Does that suggest they don’t back their own coach or are unhappy under his rule?
You look at the evidence and you decide.
The senior players have had to take on greater responsibility since De Villiers came to power. A tumultuous 2008 Tri-Nations was characterised by what De Villiers called total rugby, a brand that was devoid of sense or structure, and most importantly a brand that led to a last-place finish. On the end-of-the-year tour, the game against England witnessed the reversion to a more structured approach as the senior players put their collective foot down to force De Villiers into submission.
De Villiers was hailed in the aftermath, but insiders confirmed the senior players were determined to play to a pattern akin to the one that won the World Cup.
In 2008, De Villiers’s advisors peddled the line, ‘Give us time to work with him’, implying that given a chance, he could become a half decent coach.
Together with his consistently ridiculous press conference offerings, his rugby contribution has failed to improve. That first Test in Durban was so nearly lost thanks to some mindless substitutions in the final quarter, and in the second and third Tests, the patent lack of player discipline served to highlight his lack of control.
The Boks are getting worse, not better. Maybe it’s taken Saturday’s defeat for more people to realise that.
Most of these Bok players have been together for five years and a number boast over 50 caps. When you see a player like Victor Matfield, a veteran and vice-captain of the Boks, involved in off-the-ball fighting, you have to wonder. There’s aggression and then there’s senseless pushing and shoving that ultimately ends in a penalty against your own team. The experienced players just don’t do that.
Indiscipline is not limited to foul play. It was written off as rust in the first Test, but the Bok decision-making has been shocking across all three games. The Boks were robbed of a kickable penalty in the final stages of the second Test because Bismarck du Plessis took a quick tap. Where was the common sense?
Sure, players need to be held accountable for their own poor decisions, but when they occur so frequently you have to question the coaching philosophy that continues to tolerate perpetual failure in this regard.
Some would say John Smit should shoulder some of the blame for not taking more control on the park. Smit is already under enough pressure trying to play a position that’s not his best, and play it for 80 minutes since the Bok management haven’t bothered to include another specialist tighthead on the bench. No, Smit’s done an admirable job in this series despite the coaching staff, not because of them.
The balance of the 22 has been suspect across the series, the substitutions in the first Test highlighting the point. The decision to field a team boasting 10 changes in the third Test was also flawed given the Boks were so shaky in the first two games. The results failed to hide the fact that they were off the pace.
De Villiers is now talking about building for the Tri-Nations, as if defeat to the Lions’ second-stringers in Johannesburg has afforded him some great insight. Another win for the Bok first side would not have served as a precursor to Tri-Nations glory, but it would have afforded the Boks a further opportunity to attain the synergy that was so obviously lacking in Durban and Pretoria.
The Boks head into the Tri-Nations a group of individuals when they should head into this tournament a hardened and well-drilled team. They have the Lions series win to show for their efforts, but their sub-standard performances in all three games tell a truer story.
This side is stacked with individual talent, but without the necessary management, the team is on a downward spiral. Ian McGeechan came to South Africa with a limited team and managed to record a relatively commendable 2-1 result. De Villiers went into a home series with a world champion team, scraped two wins and then proceeded to field an unbalanced group of youngsters to lose at the fortress Ellis Park. Who should be celebrated and who should be condemned?
The Boks have beaten the Lions and South Africa should celebrate the result, and after that, South Africa should move on. In moving on, South Africa should acknowledge why their world champion team is not performing to world champion standards.
The bottom line is that as a top rugby nation, we deserve more than a second-rate coach.
By Jon Cardinelli, in Johannesburg
July 5th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
6-5 final set Federer.. going on serve at the moment..
July 5th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Speaking of Australians ….. SBS are at it again with their New Zealand issues. They managed to discuss the Tour sprint tonight for 20 minutes without mentioning the name of the rider who led Cancellara to the line.
Actually they were lame enough to say “look at his speed as he goes past that other rider” ….. they were referring to his team mate Julian Dean who led him and the race into the final 400m sprint and who pulled to the side (as you do in cycling) to let him through!
Australian sport commentators are soooo lame
July 5th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I thought the mens final was last night? Won by Serina
July 5th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
This is an epic tennis game
July 5th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
#400 SodaJoe: I agree but I must ask: What “honeymoon period”? He wasn’t allowed one.
#399 poppa69: LOL. Sorry I couldn’t come up with one as quick as you did.
July 5th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
#404 chch: it is indeed…
#405 Ezee-23:
July 5th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
#386 Atreides: Nokwe’s pace is excellent but I don’t know if he will ever be able to get rid of his poor defence and apparent nervousness at being tackled. Spies out classes Kanko at 8 no questions but it was a pity that Spies didn’t get some good ball on the wing because he if he had made soem of those bull runs it would have been a classic.
July 5th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
#400 SodaJoe:
It will not matter when you play an AB side with the number 12 at 10, the number 6 at 8 and the orange boy at 13
July 5th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Quite annoying.. I really didn’t enjoy the BIL tour. They either didn’t play against out best teams or when they did, our best players weren’t allowed to play. The boks were rubbish and I predict that they’ll be last in this year’s 3N.
PdV isn’t the only problem. ****-I-want-everybody-to-play-in-every-position-except-where-they-are-best-Muir and Gary-I-coach-the-poorest-SA-forwards-unit-in-the-S14-Gold aren’t really world beaters…
July 5th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Great stuff Federer
July 5th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
#409 King Shark: if the boks were rubbish they would have lost the series
July 5th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
9 all!
Boks were not rubbish but that equalled the biggest score that the ABs have lost by
July 5th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
#407 byoboy: Agreed!
July 5th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
#411 byoboy: The boks were rubbish. If they played to their potential, they would’ve crushed a team that consists of players that are normally barely able to compete.
July 5th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
#409 King Shark: I agree. As much as I berate Div, perhaps the real mistake is his selection of the 2 clowns as assistants.
July 5th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
#415 goyougoodthing2: but werent Muir and Gold “quotas”
July 5th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
#409 King Shark: How rubbish can a win be?
#411 byoboy: Agreed!
July 5th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
10-10 neither player giving up… almost 4 hours on the court…
July 5th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
#414 King Shark: “They weren’t at their best” seems about right.
July 5th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
#417 Ezee-23: So if the boks were to beat Ladysmith High School by only 50 points they’d be allright. They won afterall.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Federer 42 aces 35 unforced errors
Roddick 25 aces 23 unforced errors
July 5th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
#408 chch: whose the orange boy you refer to , surely not C. Smith… did you mean Toeava?
July 5th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
#422 poppa69:
Toeava
July 5th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
#420 King Shark: I’m just saying they weren’t “rubbish” like you said they were.
In the 1st Test the 1st half was the best half of the series. And in the 2nd Test our comeback from the jaws of defeat involved the best try of the series(in my opinion).
In the 3rd test…well we were mostly “rubbish” in that one.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
#416 poppa69: Of course not. They are possibly the 2 worst choices a coach could have made.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Oh no, the wisened one has woken up. Hold your lines men….hooooold
July 5th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
#414 King Shark: they didn’t play to their full potential but i don’t think they were rubbish and i think we’ve got a good chance of ending up champs in the 3N.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
#427 byoboy: Australia to win it this year. Ab’s 2nd. South Africa 4th
July 5th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
#425 goyougoodthing2: I know, was just having a laugh… no offence meant.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
#428 goyougoodthing2: No, SA to win, Aus might squeeze second. By the way, are you an Aus commentator?
July 5th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
#428 goyougoodthing2: not convinced on the Aussies just yet… Only played Italy and a tired France after they played us, and if history is anything to go by, France never win after beating the ABs… so still very much an unknown quantity really… they have looked impressive though…
July 5th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
#415 goyougoodthing2: Meyer should have been chosen end of story.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
#431 poppa69: any way you look at it this is going to be a tight 3N, but still stick to my guns that we (SA) will pip the other 2
July 5th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
#429 poppa69: no worries, knew that
#430 byoboy: No, just like the name…
FEDERER YOU BEAUTY GOYOGOODTHING!
July 5th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
#433 byoboy: yep agree totally… but will still be behind the ABs, even though we are looking the worst of the bunch at the moment..
Congrats Federer… a true champ, always well spoken, gracious in victory and defeat… deserves it…
July 5th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
#44 sharks_lover:
Sharkslover, if you were driving an F1 car and you only just beat guy driving a Tata bakkie would you not be a bit concerned? The Boks really should have put the Lions away good and proper in all three tests. If this series had been played in 2007 they would have.
The so called depth of talent in SA rugger is so shallow you wouldn’t even get your ankles wet. I fear for the future of the Boks with all the quota rubbish and excusing of 3rd rate coaches.
July 5th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
#217 cab:
but your lot havent stopped.
JUSTICE.
July 5th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
#232 cab:
‘constructive criticism of the whinging’
I mean, are you for real ?!
JUSTICE
#260 Thucydides:
oh my God.
One amidst the millions !
Both eyes – check
Both ears – check
A brain – check.
Sonny, youre either gonna go far or not very far around here at all. Switch lasers to stun.
#279 poppa69:
Strictly and solely in a rugby sense tho .I think Kiwis are still more emotionally involved in matches vs Australia. For me there are 3 trophies – RWC, Bledisloe, TriN – in that order. And Ranfurly Shield for the purists.
I dont feel a rivallry with SA in cricket for example. Whereas even tho Aus are stronger, it still hurts losing to them.
But clearly, our 2 greatest rivals in rugby are SA & Aus with les Triclors looming as the Nemesis.
Footy. Great innit.
July 5th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
jc,
you are giving far to much credit to pdv by calling him a second rate coach – he is at least a 4th rate if not 5th rate coach.
farking useless and saru will probably keep the village idiot in his job because he was the affirmative action choice.
July 5th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
#438 WakaNathan:
I am probably too far on the wrong side of 30 to still qualify as “sonny”, but petty details like my age aside, I am glad to hear you think I’ve got the potential to go far around here:-)Then again, not quite sure whether it is much of an achievement to go far on Keo.co.za…
PS – Arguably, one only needs one eye and half a brain to notice that South Africans can whinge with the worst of them… I hate to think what this site will be like if the Aussies win the 3N.(Which is where I’d put my money this year, if I was a betting man.)
July 6th, 2009 at 1:04 am
#438 WakaNathan: agreed, footys magic… but the greatest moment to me in the footy was in 96, when we returned to SA after losing in 95 and finally winning a series there…
to me, Aus are indeed a fierce rival in any sport, but in rugby they have only really been competitive with us since the late 80s, when we helped their rugby survive…whereas SA have been competitive throughout our rugby history with them… a marked difference IMO…
and I dont feel the same rivalry with the SA cricket team either, but us kiwis always delight in beating the Aussies, at any sport… them vice versa..which to me makes a mockery of the whole reffing alliance…both nations too proud to collude with the enemy across the ditch
for me, the ultimate is always the Boks, too much history to surpass for me….
July 6th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Having sat back and given PDV the benefit of the doubt for this series I am deeply concerned going into the Tri Nations. We have PDv up against Deans and Henry. Need we say more. I do support PDV for all his good intentions and the fact that he has been given one of the most difficult jobs in rugby with very little experience. The fact is he is just not up to it. It has been a long time since I saw a Bok team like that fold especially at Ellis Park. The reality here is that the Boks have been flirting with danger the whole series. In both test the Boks won by the skin of their teeth and you have to be bloody blind to think any other way. A win is a win but given what the Lions had to offer and their firepower we should have won very comfortably and most certiantly should
have whitewashed the Lions on thhe back of the quality of palyer and depth we have.PDv has been lucky this time – unfortunately his luck is about to run out in the Tri nations.
The average SA Rugby supporter know **** when they see it. This team lacks innovation and discipline – we all know that if we play like we did in the Lions series we won’t win the tri nations when we have the players to do it.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:56 am
#441 Thucydides:
You dont need to imagine what its like if Aus win, after any SA loss its like the World Fingerpointing Championships.
#442 poppa69:
Yes, of course the ultimate rugby rivallry is SA, the Bokke. But the Bledisloe is massive and its own unique atmosphere with Aussies and Kiwis being culturally similar whereas I sometimes feel as if SA & NZ only have rugby as a connection as otherwise I feel we are very different people. It has also helped that SA is now strong again because they have taken a while post-isolation to get back to their old high standards. With rugby, NZers only gain respect for the opposition thru a loss and perhaps this is the year the Boks finally get under NZs skin with a ’series’ win. Until then, its all talk. Lots of it.
Despite what these locals say however, I would rather the Safas win than the Aussies, every time. I flew to the RWC Final, did not sell my ticket for huge sums, and supported the Boks to their win. Funny, they take objective criticism SO personally but its just sport at the end of the day.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:26 am
#443 WakaNathan:
On current form, I’d back the Lions to win the World Fingerpointing Championships, but not by much … Saffas are bound to be very competitive, given the incredible experience and talent at their disposal
Mind you, on the rare occassions when the All Blacks lose a game of rugby, you lot are pretty adept at the whinging part as well.
July 6th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
#211 goyougoodthing2:
didnt say NZ wasnt or was racist at all.Did you notice the smiley face,just having a joke but if you want to get all serious on it i am keen.
So here we are a South African telling me about what my people are going through,i am Maori by the way.You have got it so wrong i think you should just keep right out of it.Maori land was taken away from them,i dont understand how you can say the forests were not there 150 years ago,sure as hell building werent there.The government sighned a treaty and went back on some of those claims.The Maori after 100 odd years have decided enough is enough and did something about it.
OK we do have a government party that supports Maori,but its just not Maori that hold those seats.We in NZ have realised that we are doing things differently but we have never been through what SA have been through with race,so maybe we are doing things right
Fishing rights is for the Iwi that belongs to that land/sea,easy.
Maori have stood up for what they believe in and in NZ they have been heard.As you know not all countries want to listen to anything that isnt there own colour.
July 6th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
#241 goyougoodthing2:
Again you are clueless.Read the whole thread and stop being a *****,it was a joke.Next time you are on i will carry this on as well.
July 6th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
not a very accurate summary in my opinion.
The Lions have been by far the more indisciplined side.
Their was very clearly an intent to get under the skin of the bok players… in particular Bismarck and bakkies…
BOD taking a swing at bismarck in the first test… Phillips taking swings at any player he could….
FACT
the Lions conceded probably 50% more penalties than the boks for “dangerous or foul play” i will get the exact figures shortly.
so this article is far from the truth. the truth is, the constant niggling and aggro tactics from the lions caused (rightly or wrongly) reactions from some of our players.
July 6th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Indiscipline wasnt only coach related. I honestly believe the Lions played some darn dirty rugby and were cheating wherever and whenever they could. I have never seen players like Habana and Pierre Spies have a good go in fights. But this series they were livid. All the fights started from underhanded skullduggery by the Lions. If you ask my they were very negative and unsporting. You always have niggles but these 3 tests have actually left a really bad taste in the mouth.
I also believe they got more of a chance at winning due to their underhanded tactics.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
#444 Thucydides:
Just one question please, why are you still talking to this oke?
We have all given up on him some time ago.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
#449 Pietman:
Perhaps he has a brain and 2 eyes ?
who is ‘we’ ?