Invest in the best
9 Nov 2009
The midweek Boks paid the price for Peter de Villiers’s selection policy, writes Keo in his weekly Business Day column.
Why the shock that a Leicester mix and match XV should so embarrass a South African Vodacom Cup XV parading as the Springboks?
The selections were terrible, as they were when the Springbok selectors looked to the future in the third and final Test against the British & Irish Lions and were similarly embarrassed.
At times too much is made of the future, and this is one of those times. Let’s focus on what happens in 2009 before wondering how our rugby will be in 2012, let alone the 2011 World Cup year.
The best players in the Currie Cup were not selected for the midweek side’s two matches in England. Coach Peter de Villiers wanted to make a statement about transformation and also about the fact that the provincial coaches are getting it wrong and he is getting it right. On both counts he failed, although to blame him for the defeat is wrong, as he had nothing to do with the coaching of the team, if you can call three sessions coaching the team.
Touring teams always struggle in the first fortnight of a tour and that is why so many of the success stories on end of year tours relate to national coaches investing in those who have succeeded as a unit in the domestic season. That way a national coach does not have to reinvent the wheel and does not have to try and teach players a specific approach in two or three training runs. The national coach trusts that he can tweak a provincial formula that has been successful and invests in the familiarity players get when they have functioned in a unit for the last six months.
De Villiers and his selectors did neither and paid the price for holding a trial game to assess how good the reserve depth is, which in itself was ridiculous because Leicester, by way of England commitments, another league match on Sunday and injuries, played without 12 first team regulars. For these imposter Boks to have lost to the best Leicester has on contract would not be a surprise, but to have been bullied and outthought by a couple of former All Blacks, a few other imports and mostly an Academy team is humiliating.
The Bok scrum disintegrated and hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle’s reputation took as big a beating. Ralepelle was supposed to be one of the new generation of South African player who would only be judged on ability because he was that good as a 19 year-old, but political agendas have again turned a quality talent into a professional quota. It is sickening.
Ralepelle should not have been on tour and belatedly Adriaan Strauss and Wian du Preez of the Cheetahs have been summoned to England to replace Ralepelle and Gurthro Steenkamp.
What does the Leicester defeat say about the depth of player outside the marvelous Bok Test XV that has dominated world rugby for the past few years? It says nothing because what we saw was not the next best on show. You could have picked any one of the Currie Cup semi-finalists as a unit and they would have thumped what Leicester put out as a team. Why is it that so often the Springbok midweek team does not reflect the best fringe players? It is not just something unique to the current coach and his selectors. We’ve seen this horror movie so many times.
If a national coach wants to take an Emerging team abroad then do so, but don’t call them the Springboks because Leicester, as an example, now have the famous Springbok head as a scalp in the clubhouse. It should never have been so.
The defeat does not influence anything in relation to Friday evening’s Test against France because the real Springboks will be playing in Toulouse, although the depth test here is more accurate because what will be answered is if the Boks have the same fluidity, stability and direction without Frans Steyn’s boot at the back, Jean de Villiers’s organization in the midfield and the power of Juan Smith and Pierre Spies in the back row.
This will be the Springboks’ toughest test of the year and to win they will have to play as well or better than at any stage this season. France are the best of the northern hemisphere teams and playing in Toulouse on a Friday night certainly gives the a greater advantage than the neutrality so often experienced at the Stade de France in St Denis, just outside Paris.
The Boks love that ground, but they’ve never played in Toulouse, which makes the decision to arrive in Toulouse 36 hours before kick-off even more of a risk.
170 Comments
Pages: [1] 2 3 4 » Show All
9 Nov 2009, 13:09 pm
I agree. The selection of this side was an absolute disgrace.
9 Nov 2009, 13:11 pm
Probably one of your more objective readings in a long while, Keo. Have to agree with most of what you say here.
9 Nov 2009, 13:13 pm
tell us something new, Keo.
9 Nov 2009, 13:13 pm
thou shall not question Twakkie DeVilliers thinking.
At any time,ever.
Because if you do,
you are racist.
Everyone on the entire planet know how good Earl Rose and Ralapelle are.
9 Nov 2009, 13:15 pm
should have just picked all the Bulls.
they won the S14 and CC you know?
9 Nov 2009, 13:16 pm
To be fair….playing a game just 6 days after a CC final and utilizing players(Guthro definately) from that selfsame game, wasn’t a bright idea either.
9 Nov 2009, 13:16 pm
even griquas would have done better.
9 Nov 2009, 13:17 pm
Congrats Keo,good article.
Agree on most points,particularly on this building 4 the future thing.The side that played on Friday was not the best of the rest.I sometimes think that when the selectors pick the so called 2nd best,they throw a few names into the head and picks the 1st few names that come out.
I am of the opinion that this defeat could just b the wake-up call that we need 4 the up-coming test.The side will in all likelywood put alot of emphasis on the things like the scrums and breakdown that did not go well.And we will b alot more focussed as I suspect that the squad as a whole would not take this defeat well.
So I predict that the Boks will bounce back on Friday and grind out a 5 point win against the French.
9 Nov 2009, 13:18 pm
Reminds me of those dark days in Springbok rugby round about 2002 and 2003 where these issues were there for all to see….
Results from 2002 include losing to France (10-30), to Scotland 6-21 (too painful to remember)and (off course) to England 53-3.
9 Nov 2009, 13:21 pm
At any time,ever.
Because if you do,
you are racist.
iam so sick of people pulling out the race card hopefully it wont work for ever
france is going to be tough they are the only other team to beat the abs this year
9 Nov 2009, 13:21 pm
#9 scar: We did defeat Argentina that year (one point in it), and were slaughetered in the quarter finals of the (2003) World Cup. Compared to those standards we are living in paradise now!
9 Nov 2009, 13:27 pm
Keo….. France are the best of the northern hemisphere teams? Please explain that one to me. I am sure you have an opinion but I also think the Irish will disagree with you. Especially since they won the 6-Nations this year.
9 Nov 2009, 13:31 pm
#12 XV: France finished 3rd in the 6N beaten by England and Ireland.
9 Nov 2009, 13:31 pm
so how are you guys going to spend your Keo dollars?
9 Nov 2009, 13:31 pm
Apologies for continueing with this blast from the past:
Springbok team that lots to Scotland in 2002:
Greeff (Western Province); Paulse (W Province), Jacobs (Falcons, Pretorious ; Lions, 56), Fleck (W Province), Lombard (Cheetahs); James (Natal), Conradie (W Province); Roux (Blue Bulls), Biljon (Natal), Carstens (Natal; Van der Linde , Cheethas, 77), Wentzel (Pumas); AJ Venter , Natal, 65), Labuschagne (Lions), Krige (W Province, capt), Uys (Pumas), Niekerk (Lions)
Afterwards coach Rudolph Strauli said: “Any game you lose in a Springbok jersey is emotional. Twickenham may feel the backlash, although on the evidence of this performance, and that in France, it would be a considerable upset if England did not win”
If only he knew that one of the darkest days in Springbok rugby was waiting around the corner.
So the more history repeats itself, the more it stays the same…
9 Nov 2009, 13:33 pm
#4 Brigadier Van Zyl: What a moronic comment.
Anyone could see that Earl was the best player on the park on Friday evening – not that that is saying very much.
And yet you choose to criticise him instead of (for example) Ruan Pienaar.
Not everyone who criticises De Villiers is racist, Brigadier. But you, clearly, are.
9 Nov 2009, 13:34 pm
keo says it is the springboks and his sidekick simon says it’s not.looks like a case of keo and his boys not singing from the same hymn sheet.
9 Nov 2009, 13:35 pm
what a load of bullshit. thats why you are not allowed near the bok team Keo.
9 Nov 2009, 13:37 pm
#16 pierre: Disagree, Ashley Johnson was the best player – am I guilty of something saying that? Or is it just the retired military that passes judgement
9 Nov 2009, 13:37 pm
Earl is settling into the full back role, surprise call up to the test team??
9 Nov 2009, 13:38 pm
no but everytime pierre some one doesnt agree with pdv he calls them a rascist i thik thats wat bridadier was trying to say
pdv must not hide behind the race card we all come under fire from time to time thats life
9 Nov 2009, 13:43 pm
#19 scar: Ashley was good in parts, but he missed a couple of tackles.
Potgieter is a good player but he was out of position. That’s part of the reason why we kept losing ball at the breakdown – no real openside flank.
Francois Hougaard was very impressive. If he had started, the result might even have been different.
Juan de Jongh was pretty good.
And those are really the only positives we can take from that match.
9 Nov 2009, 13:44 pm
klippies, go read the comments on this site and you will find a good reason why racism is still such a hot topic. perhaps you should read your comments that you left in the klippies
induced swagger after games.
9 Nov 2009, 13:46 pm
just because Rose didn’t **** up as much as he usually did last Friday….doesn’t mean he is supposed to be there in the first place.
On the other hand….Pienaar oh-so-obviously is one of the top 30 players in SA.
Just not at flyhalf….as Twakkie keeps insisting or not without a Mauger(Morne Steyn possibly) type 12 outside him.
9 Nov 2009, 13:47 pm
#21 klippies101: So what do you say to John Smit in his book expressing the same sentiments? That 90% of those whom critisizes PDV does so because they can not except the fact that a black coach knows more than a white coach?
9 Nov 2009, 13:47 pm
i agree that the selections were a bit of a shocker, but the fact is that we really lost this game in the front row. i agree ralapelle is not in the squad on merit – we’re stating the obvious here because he’s second choice at the bulls. however i was a bit shocked at how steenkamp and du plessis were destroyed in the scrums, and their capitulation is where our demise began on Friday night. du plessis has been average all season, and has never been a particularly great player, but let’s be honest here – very few of us were picking these guys as the shock selections prior to Friday night. they have been with the test side all year, and steenkamp as been first choice in a bulls side that has won the s14 and the cc this year, and never looked particularly week in the scrums.
i think that these two and several others have been under pressure from good young players coming through, and so in that sense we learned something valuable on Friday night. I also think that scrumming is more about 8 guys working together with synergy, and so in some ways, a bad performance from a group of players thrown together for 4 days, against a team that train together all the time, is not a huge shock.
9 Nov 2009, 13:47 pm
I am torn here. The defeat was just so disappointing, but I wonder whether the new generation of coaches really respects that Bok tradition enough anymore to care about mid-week sides losing.
The EOYT has not really been taken seriously until Jake used it to put a marker down for the 2007 WC.
They seem to be far more interested in how youngsters will handle the additional pressure and pace.
Who knows… are they wrong?
9 Nov 2009, 13:51 pm
#24 Brigadier Van Zyl: Ruan one of the top 30 in SA?
Maybe before Friday. But not any more. I certainly don’t think so. Neither so any of my (white, male, rugby-obsessed, ex Rondebosch) friends.
If any black player had had as many squandered chances as Ruan, or had such repeated brain-fails and lack of BMT, you would be screaming blue murder if anyone suggested that they are still one of the top 30 in SA.
Total double standard. Earl has a very good game, and you react by saying that he shouldn’t have been given the opportunity to have a good game.
Ruan goes down in flames and abject humiliation, and you react by saying he’s still one of the top 30.
Absurd.
9 Nov 2009, 13:51 pm
#22 pierre: good players can dont become bad. As a loosie you have to fetch when required.Potgieter was nowhere. Hougaard got isolated and left the base of the loose without a scrumhalf. He took the wrong option everytime he got hold of the ball(instead of passing). He does not have the vision that players like rickie and fourie have.
9 Nov 2009, 13:55 pm
#29 ruffle: Well yeah, you’re right, but I am making allowances for Dewald and Francois because they are both very young and inexperienced.
I don’t think it’s so easy for a blindsider to adjust to the fetching role. Even Joe van Niekerk (a truly great no 8 and no 7 in my opinion) coudln’t do it when called upon by Jake White.
Hougaard certainly upped the tempo of the service that the backline had been getting from Heini.
9 Nov 2009, 13:57 pm
#17 Valkyrie: Saru calls them the South Africa XV but the reality is that they are a Springbok side and the players are now Springboks. Just like Kevin Putt is a Springbok because he played for the midweek team (but didn’t play a Test) and Gus Theron is a Springbok (even though he never played after breaking his leg)
9 Nov 2009, 13:57 pm
for me, the guys who can be proud of their individual performances are bekker, johnson, deysel (albeit that his was a cameo role), adams, olivier, de jongh (bearing in mind that our centres got hardly any ball, and defended well) and earl rose. i think our wings can’t really be judged on a performance where they received no ball. potgieter and roussouw were solid without shining.
earl rose showed how well he’s capable of playing – it’s just infuriating that he is so inconsistent. I still think that if a guy like **** muir at the lions can get this guy to approach his game with some discipline he’s got some potential. he needs to pick up about 5kg in the gym and, settle into one position, which i believe is flyhalf. if he could bring some structure to his play – for example play to strict instructions to first get his team into the opposition half and then attack the opposition, then he could be good to watch. i’m just not sure if his failure to do this so far is based on the fact that noone is giving him consistent, specific guidance, or that he refuses to be guided.
9 Nov 2009, 14:02 pm
#28 pierre: And here you show your own double standards let me quote: “Potgieter is a good player but he was out of position. That’s part of the reason why we kept losing ball at the breakdow”
But then “If any black player had had as many squandered chances as Ruan, or had such repeated brain-fails and lack of BMT”
Ruan is a good Scrum half, not a flyhalf. He is being played as much out of position as your dear Potti who without Stegman was quite frankly nowhere on the pitch! Besides lets wait for a few seasons so they can move Potgieter all over the parck as they have done to Ruan and see if he will maintain his game or whether he will also go “down in flames and abject humiliation”.
9 Nov 2009, 14:02 pm
rose needs to bulk up alot i think he is to small for international rugby
9 Nov 2009, 14:03 pm
#31 Simon: Do all tour players get Springbok colours?Surely Maku/Hargreaves could go and become eligible for England for example, as they haven’t played for the senior side, or 7′s side?
Springboks should only be people that have played in a Test. I doubt Putt/Theron call themselves Springboks, but I wouldn’t know.
9 Nov 2009, 14:04 pm
Obviously there is political pressure from the ANC to demonstrate their commitment to transformation.
That is why you will never have the 2nd best team play in these midweek matches.
I think that is abundantly clear when you have chiliboy as captain, it tells you what the objective is. The only thing you can hope is that a few players will play themselves into contention for the Test 22.
Some may surprise you, for example Ashley Johnson showed that he is the man for the big occasion after his superb and consistent Currie Cup.
The ANC just have a way to screw something up. When given a choice between 2 ie right and wrong, more often than not, they will choose the wrong one with conviction. In that regard, they ensure continuity with what the Nats started.
9 Nov 2009, 14:08 pm
#36 Sheriff: so which players who played on friday and dissapointed were the anc transformation picks?
9 Nov 2009, 14:09 pm
#28 pierre:
Rose has had plenty of opportunities, maybe not with the Boks but definately with the CC and S14.Sooner rather than later he is generally dropped by his union coach to go and work on some or other “technical” shortcoming.
He is kak.
everyone knows this.
pienaar on the other hand keeps getting plenty of opportunities as a 10 at international level.nothing at CC and S14 level. He is not a 10, he is the next best 9 for sure.
everyone knows this as well.
I am well within my rights to label Rose ****.All consistent evidence points to this.
9 Nov 2009, 14:10 pm
Apparently Joost vd Westhuizen reveals in his latest book that he did not like the Communications Manager at the time, Mark Keohane.
From what it sounds like, its a boring book and that is one of the few new facts that the reader will learn. The rest has all been covered in the prev book and recent news articles.
9 Nov 2009, 14:12 pm
i love rugby books cant wait to get my hands on his book.
cornes book and gary tiechmans were good reads
9 Nov 2009, 14:15 pm
#39 Sheriff: Why, was Keohane too truthful? Too ready to point out the actual happenings in the team? Unlike liar-boy Joost
9 Nov 2009, 14:15 pm
#37 ruffle:
We should ask them for a list.
Its not enough that soccer is such an embarrassment to SA, not to mention the Caster saga in athletics.
They will learn in time that they too are subject to natural laws like gravity. Who would have thought that a Black Govt will be as arrogant as these blokes 20 yrs ago?
Photo finish between them and Nats.
It does not take a rocket scientist to see that they will inevitably fall.
9 Nov 2009, 14:16 pm
#13 Big Hit:
That is my point. Keo called France the best of the north. Not based on results Keo. Ireland are the best.
9 Nov 2009, 14:19 pm
#40 klippies101: Is it a rugby book? Seems more like a Days of Our Lives, Heat magazine, Celebrity type of book. Is there new rugby news in there?
9 Nov 2009, 14:20 pm
#41 Mutant:
A few years ago, I would given Keohane the benefit of the doubt, without hesitation.
But 2009 was a turning point. I started reading a content with 80% agenda here this year. Coincided with the establishment of the Winning Ways.
He no longer writes what he sees, instead he first establishes the agenda and then writes accordingly. SAB still regards that “provocative” enough…
9 Nov 2009, 14:20 pm
#37 ruffle: Ashley, Maku, Chillie, Gutro, Raubenheimer, Jongi, Odwa, de Jong, Adams and Earl. In the test match 22 the following players will be ANC transformation picks: JPP, Habana, Beast and Adi.
9 Nov 2009, 14:23 pm
#46 John1976:
Thanks for enlightning me about who should not be springboks according to the enlightened few on this website.
9 Nov 2009, 14:24 pm
#42 Sheriff: #42 Sheriff: Sheriff you should not be afraid to name and shame them. It is your right to express your beliefs and you should not feel intimidated.
9 Nov 2009, 14:25 pm
“Let’s focus on what happens in 2009 before wondering how our rugby will be in 2012, let alone the 2011 World Cup year.”
and that is the quintessential feature of test rugby that the rotators and newcap armchair critics totally misunderstand – there is a reason the test XV is better than the rest.
9 Nov 2009, 14:27 pm
#22 pierre: Ashley missed one tackle. One where he raced to the back (and was sidestepped with his momentum in the opposite direction), when Earl was out of position. Earl was out of position just about the entire game! He had 2 or 3 good runs, but in defense he couldn’t read the game efficiently.
So, yeah. Johnson was the best player on the field. He read the game (from the opposite side of the field) better than Rose.
Pages: [1] 2 3 4 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.