Disciples of the delusional
6 Jul 2009
The Lions are heroes again after beating a Bok B-side that was a disgrace to the jersey, writes Keo in his Business Day newspaper column.
If the celebration of the supposed heroes who lost a meaningful series-deciding Test in Pretoria two Saturdays ago defied belief, it does not compare with the response to the British and Irish Lions defeat of a Springbok side in which 10 regulars were rested.
Some, among the British and Irish, called Saturday’s dead rubber a great occasion. Others called it one of the greatest victories in Lions history and pondered what may have been if the Lions had not arrived in Johannesburg with the series already lost.
It is why the British, and to a lesser degree Irish, win nothing of relevance. They are the kings of the afterthought, the masters of the dead rubber and they will forever remain disciples of the delusional.
In all of the emotional outpouring of an after the fact Test win, there was no criticism of Lions coach Ian McGeechan’s poor selections for the first two lost Tests. McGeechan picked the wrong lock combination in the first Test, selected the wrong front row combination and never got it right all tour with his back three combinations.
Not that it mattered because the Lions get on the plane heroes for winning one out of three Tests. It is the British and Irish way to applaud finishing second in a two-team race.
South Africa, in Johannesburg on Saturday, were a disgrace to the jersey a disgrace that started with a white armband protest against Bakkies Botha’s two-week suspension and ended after 80 minutes of clueless and ill-disciplined rugby.
The build-up to the Test was a shambles with Bok coach Peter de Villiers spending all week mixing his metaphors, defending eye-gouging and telling the media that he changed his mind four or five times before settling on a Springbok B team because he wanted to give every player in his squad the feeling they had made a contribution to the Lions series.
Test rugby, to De Villiers, is obviously a charity in which you hand out jerseys instead of asking players to earn the right to wear them. After all De Villiers was gifted the job in the name of transformation.
De Villiers has been riding on the coattail of the 2007 World Cup winning squad and Saturday’s team selection and approach to the game was the first example of a Peter de Villiers selected and coached team. The result was a 19-point defeat in Johannesburg; and the Boks were lucky it wasn’t close to 30.
The De Villiers philosophy of not coaching off a clipboard and just playing the situation as the players see it does not even work on the club fields of his hometown in Paarl, let alone in a Test match environment. De Villiers, on Saturday, showed us that it is not only at press conferences where he plays the part of the court jester.
De Villiers’s insecurity has meant that he has always wanted to dismantle White’s World Cup winners and on Saturday he used his chance to introduce his breed of player and ineffective style of play.
It was a disaster because of the naivety of the approach and the arrogance of believing, that at this level, a team can play laterally without getting go forward and expect to be successful. It serves no purpose to take the ball to the wingers when they get it 20m behind the gain line while back-pedaling.
The scrum and lineout are the primary phases and in the scrums De Villiers got it wrong by pairing loosehead prop Beast Mtwarira with hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle, with the latter not having the grunt or grind of Bismarck du Plessis. It was no coincidence that when Du Plessis entered the arena English tighthead prop Phil Vickery left two scrums later and Mtwarira again looked more the Beast of Durban than the Bunny of the first half in Johannesburg.
Rugby selection is about getting the combinations right, settling on a structure that works for those players and then allowing them freedom of expression within that framework. Once that has been agreed the player’s mindset must kick in.
On Saturday there was no structure, few match-winning combinations and a player mindset that confused the wearing of a white armband with the waving of a white flag to signal the end of Jake White’s World Cup winning team.
Black armbands for South African rugby lovers would have been more appropriate of an occasion that should be mourned and not celebrated.
759 Comments
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8 Jul 2009, 11:40 am
Excuse me #750 but are you THE WakaNathan? As in Tremain and Lachore? If so we are graced by anything you have to say and please continue to write.
Thank you. You would be in my consideration for an all-time All Black XV.
8 Jul 2009, 16:52 pm
#743 pierre: “The All Blacks’ problem, of course, is periodic erectile dysfunction.”
3 1/2 years – not such a bad disfunction, comparing that others can only couple of weeks during October once in 4 years.
8 Jul 2009, 17:19 pm
#750 mars_net: mars_net I think one of those scores there is wrong. You have Boks 26 ABs 45. It was the other way round. Boks 45 and ABs 26. We beat the ABs that day at Ellis Park. So that should show a Bok win there
8 Jul 2009, 17:44 pm
#753 Puma:
wires crossed there Puma, Mars has it right:-
45-26 to ABs @ Loftus, 2006
maybe you were thinking:-
40-46 to Boks @ Ellis Park, 2000
or
40-26 to Boks @ Ellis Park, 2004 (whereby Boks took TriN on pts-diff)
8 Jul 2009, 18:04 pm
#754 BlackPanther: You right BP it was the 40 / 26 at Ellis Park in 2004. Got it wrong. I apologize to you and mars_net.
I was at the game when we beat the ABs 46 / 40 it was under Mallett that time, think it was his last game. Must have been one of the best games I have seen between the Boks and Abs.
8 Jul 2009, 19:09 pm
#755 Puma:
Puma
of all the plonkers on this blog (incl me), you are the very last person to apologise to ANY one. Ive certainly got a bit heated recently about that Bakkies-Justice cr@p but Ive calmed down a little now. Its the old-school principles in me that causes discomfort but I thought that entirely inappropriate and ill-befitting of Smit as a Capt. You know I think of him highly, prior to that. Will be interesting to see how it finishes up.
46-40 sure is some crrrrrrrrrrazy scoreline. I can hardly remember any Tests in our youth that hit 30pts let alone 40, let alone both team breaching 40 ! The professional game sure has lifted performance. Now noone blinks an eye at 40pts.
I rated Mallett alot, was some coach and an honourable man as well. That must have been end of his reign.
I still flinch at 1 of those games in the record run in ’98 when the ABs were up in SA only to be hauled back in last minute by a James Dalton try. Id put my house on that ball coming nowhere near the turf. You win some, you lose some. ABs took it on the chin tho…
8 Jul 2009, 20:34 pm
#756 BlackPanther: Howzit BP, Ja mate we will never know if James Dalton had a try that day. So many around him so could not see very well. None of us could really. No tmo either then. So one will never know. I hope it was as we won that day. Like you say we win some and lose some.
Now that we do have tmo and sometimes I am so convinced in some games its a try, but once you see it over and over on tv and its not. I wonder now how many tries were given many years ago that were not? Must have been many. Also how many tries did some teams get that was not given? So many games years back could have had a different result if there was a tmo then.
Just look at tennis now too with the hawk eye. Its amazing how some calls must have been so wrong too. Great match between Federer and Rodick on Sunday.
8 Jul 2009, 22:50 pm
#733 THETACKLER
I find it difficult to believe that one could be that thick = perhaps you represent the laminated plank – that might be thick enough. Assume the “Japies” beat most of the dung out of you. Obiviously they failed to rid you entirely of your affliction. What makes you such a bitter little vegemite> You persist in naming a small minority of players as justification for your labelling the rest as suits your unhealthy bias.
Still writing on the toilet wall?
9 Jul 2009, 13:06 pm
#757 Puma:
Actually you raise a point Ive been thinking a bit about recently.
TMOs.
and the tennis is an interesting analogy.
Yep, what big games over history may or may not have been altered if different decisions had been given. Ive certainly seen many non-try tries and many try non-tries given over time and Im sure you have too given lack of technology/cameras back then. My eyes dont lie. The more we use the TMOs now you can see that they still come with no Guarantee but I reckon theyre really adding something to the game and more for the fans too. I generally like the TMO concept albiet imperfect.
So I was thinking about the tennis and their ‘Challenge’ calls and also about the NFL ruling whereby the Coach can also challenge ANY decision (ie not just Touchdowns but also penalty calls). The principle being that if you get your Challenge right, you keep it otherwise you lose it.
Id be happy to trial this in rugby, whereby coaching staff have, say, 1 Challenge per half. Obviously you can still have problems with rulings being inconclusive, but I think it would also be great for fans and perhaps even help assuage their anger over certain (dare I say it) in-justices ? It seems to have helped the tennis players control their anger towards umpires too.
That way, there is also a checks’n'balance not only on the ref but also the TMO staff. They could expand the TMO from 1 ref to 3, and then those 3 TMO-refs vote on the decision (results to be published, to keep them honest) with the majority of 2 adjudicating the call for the Challenge.
Also this would add another tactical component to the game and bring in Captains and Coaches in to on-field decisionmaking.
I dont think any more than 1 per Half is necessary given that you dont want it to be too stop-start, but if youre right on your Challenge, then you can still retain it going forward.
It was interesting to compare the 2 close-calls this Lions Series. Fouries in the 2nd Test and Ndunganes in the 3rd. Im sure either or both could have seen a Challenge there with interesting consequences. And might be able to pay for a few more camera angles too.
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