Tigers torture no issue for Boks
The Springbok coaches have called for perspective on the defeat to Leicester but are wary of the test that awaits them against France in Toulouse.
An inexperienced and ill-equipped South Africa were beaten 22-17 by a second-string Tigers outfit last Friday, exposing poor selections and under-preparation, particularly with regards to scrummaging, a facet of play were they were decimated.
However, head coach Peter de Villiers remained optimistic in his view of the defeat and diabolical performance, saying, ‘There are more positives than negatives in the loss.
‘Now we know where we’re going. We knew it would be tough with only a week’s preparation. It was an eye-opener, but if we didn’t have the game we wouldn’t have known what we do now.’
De Villiers peddled the same rhetoric after a Springbok B side were schooled by the British & Irish Lions in the third Test, making his explanation for the latest embarrassment perplexing. He continued by offering a lack of leadership for the dirt-trackers (captain Chiliboy Ralepelle limped off with a foot injury 20 minutes into the contest) as a mitigating factor for the defeat.
‘One of the problems we have agreed upon is that of leadership. We now know to address that,’ he said.
The first-choice Springbok combination won’t be short of experienced leaders on Friday evening, and will be favourites for victory, having bagged the notable scalps of the Lions and their southern hemisphere rivals Australia and New Zealand.
They will, however, have to make exponential improvements to the standard of scrummaging they have exhibited thus far to negotiate the challenge of Les Tricolores, as well as hope that the replacements for outstanding loose forwards Juan Smith and Pierre Spies offer them similar value in their areas of specialisation.
Assistant coach Gary said France would be as tough as the All Blacks, who the Springboks have beat thrice in Tri-Nations, in terms of physicality.
‘They have a big strong pack and they will be very physical,’ Gold said. ‘They’re the one team in the world with New Zealand who can match our forwards with size.
‘They’re an emotional team, with a lot of passion. They’ll be playing in a small stadium, and if a French side comes out firing they can rip the heart out of anybody.’
November 9th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
#93 ali: ali again you cant compare deysel to johnstone
the one a 7 flank the other an 8thman,
to me for the bench tacitus got it right
i seldom agree with taccy but he has got it right
and id play rossouw off the bench covering lock before i choose bekker as rossouw offers that physicallity
and pottie is a good player agreed does not have that physical presence , but he has a lot of heart
November 9th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Duane Vermeulen was exceptionally unlucky not to be picked for this tour.
He has a better all round game than Deysel and holds onto the ball better than his Sharks counterpart.
He is also miles ahead of the very overrated Raubenheimer who was so badly out of his depth on Friday it was guite sickening!
Vermeulen and Deysel should both be over there. While Davon is exceptionally to get a one off tourist trip to Europe.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Johnson is another player that probably deserves his bok selection, though Vermeulen and Alberts have played extermely well for their respective teams for a couple of years now.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
johnson should make it on hairstyle alone.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
well who’s fault is it that they were “inexperienced and ill-equipped”
November 9th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
but it was not beast and smit that got done by rocky balboa and his teammates. more importantly it was not the experienced Bok pack thats decimated allcomers.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Now back to the article above. Did we not learn by selecting the best to play against the Lions in the last test? WE came horribly short there. Why did we have to do it again on Friday? Not selecting the best, well in this instance 2nd side?
Will the selectors now finally learn? Hope they will. Don’t throw our Bok name away like that. We are a proud rugby nation here.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
#99 skopskiet: Forget about blindly defending Div for a moment and consider, in your most honest opinion, whether Friday’s Bok front row was the second best combination that Div could have picked. This is a simple yes/no question.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
#107 Puma: meant not selecting the best
November 9th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
#104 charo:
November 9th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
#97 katman: #100 ali: agreed and as a sharks supporter i truelly hope he shuts many mouths , but you need more then 1 or 2 games to gell and shine with you team
one can only hope , but against the english the way their players fall all over rucks one needs a powerfull loose trio
i seriously would love to see a deysel schalk and alberts together up there
but yes lets hope kanko takes his chance
November 9th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
#104 charo: think he has replaced Francois
November 9th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
#102 WP_: i have noj doubt for the tigers game the loose trio that played against the lions in the midweek game should have been kept,, they were awesome as a combo on that day
deysel
vermeulen
pottie
reserve johnstone
loose forwards are a combo , and one could see last friday they were chosen as individuals
November 9th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Skop just shut up will you.
You have a chip on your shoulder the size of table mountain, you make everything to do with race and it’s very old and tired by now. Just like you.
Get over Jake White, you always mention him, clearly you are in awe of him as you are always going on about him. Enough
November 9th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Aaaaaaaag snot man!
Eish … ek sien nou net ADI speel 13 (en dus ook uit posisie) teen die Frogs……. O Bloed!
November 9th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
GM mr charoping ^5 how ru doing??
November 9th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
#115 Staal: Waar sien jy dit?
November 9th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
#113 sharks_lover: They should have selected those loosies Sharky, Why the heck not? They proved themselves in that E. Boks side. Should have stuck with what worked. They are our 2nd best loosies and probably could become our best ever. Then Brussow is still very young and probably stay at 6 for a long time.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
nothing wrong with blooding development players none whatsoever. The issue was the front row, klaar. If that had been addressed, and that had f.all to do with development apart from Chili Boy, then that bok team would have won. The cancer is not blooding development players and chucking them in the deep end, the problem starring these coaches in the face is no props and 2nd row locks that can stand and deliver when push comes to shove.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
#113 sharks_lover
Totally agreed SL. Why the selectors saw the need to exclude DV for DR is beyond me and was probably beyond rugby matters too, based on ‘other criteria’ which is a disgrace.
Serves them right, they got the result to match the team
November 9th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
if its a development transformation side, call it such, nothing wrong whatsoever, but totally wrong to call it a Springbok XV indicating they are the next best in SA, they are not.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
#101 sharks_lover: i realise deysel and johnson play in different positions, but there’s only one space on bench for loosie reserve, and in this respect they are essentially competing for the same position.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
#35 skopskiet:
Jake White did not lose us a home game in his first 2 seasons in charge.
He did give us 2 succesive home wins against NZ, something we had not managed in 5 odd years. In fact, the Kiwis got the biggest pumping ever at Ellis in 2004.
Our first away 3 nations win in 2005 in 7 years.
That Twakkie is lucky enough to piggy back all the ground work laid by White, says a lot.
And of course, Jake never needed his players to come out publicly to impress on the public what a good coach he was.
And he was 1 game away from getting the can on quite a few occassions.
Just a little perspective and humility hey, what White had when he started compared with what Twakkie got given….are just oceans apart.
Having been a “reader” for quite some time before becoming a “poster”, I can quite confidently say that no one is as consistantly wrong on everything so often. Wether it be players, tactics,results, coaches, tiddlywinks,whatever….Skopskiet may as well be talking Darts. It’s quite amazing really, even a complete loser would get it right by accident on occassion.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Nothing wrong in blooding development players. But please don’t call them SPRINBOKS. Call them a SA development team. Then I would have no problem with that.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
#117 katman: News24 – Mossie is glo die “beplande” 12….
ja-ja ek weet ek is dalk te vroeg maar hêl Mossie is n monster op 13.!
watch this space.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
#125 Staal: they can always swop around on the field so maybe not a bad thing boet
jaque will be stronger up against the big french inside center
November 9th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
#123 Brigadier Van Zyl: i see keo is posting under another name
November 9th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
#126 sharks_lover: ok – let’s hope for the best.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
#123 Brigadier Van Zyl: or are you gavin rich or corne krige?
November 9th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
#125 Staal: we watching that space but all we see is ur eyes getting bigger and bigger
November 9th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
#127 moedeloos:
no not at all.White did many things that pissed me off as a fan.
But he definately raised the Springbok “bar” as it would be and for that he deserves definate praise and not ridicule.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
#125 Staal: Ag, No please are we going to play JF out of position just to make space for Adi? Adi been out of form for a long time now. Leave JF at 13 and WO should play next to him for this game.
Not very worried about our scrums on Friday think we will be sorted there. I think they going to focuse on our centre channel. We need the best there that we have. JF/WO must start together. Or damn just bring back JdV.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
#123 Brigadier Van Zyl: now that you have listed jake’s positives which he is due by the way, please list all the things he did wrong.
or lets put this another way, please list all the good things (wins in NZ, trophies, awards and winning percentage) achieved by the current coach.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Are you Ashfak Mohhamed from the CT Times?
because I think he’s a real prick.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
#126 sharks_lover: Piet said that inside centre weighs 105kg? Damn heavy and will be very strong there.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
#132 Puma: and fransie
November 9th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
#131 Brigadier Van Zyl: agreed, white did more right than wrong with his approach when he took over. in fact i was one of his biggest fans. but there are 2 sides to every story. dont trump up the positives of one coach and only focus on the negatives of another.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
A teacher asks the class to name things that end with ‘tor’ that eat things.
The first little boy says, “Alligator.”
“Very good, that’s a big word.”
The second boy says, “Predator.”
“Yes, that’s another big word. Well done.”
The third boy says, “Vibrator, Miss.”
After nearly falling off her chair, she says, “That is a big word, but
it doesn’t eat anything.”
“Well my sister has one and she says it eats batteries like there’s no tomorrow!!
November 9th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
No, I read on news24 that Adi Joke-obs will be trying to play 12 and Mossie will be at 13
November 9th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Jake White…..2 times IRB coach of the year.
similar situation when comparing Skalk Burger and Brussouw?
Do you think Brussouw will have such a profound impact on a team that he will get and IRB player of the year award?
Burger has.
what does that mean?
I don’t know.
just trying a bit of Skoppie logic.
is it working?
November 9th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
#134 Brigadier Van Zyl: Amen to that! just another glorified watson/dollie/twakkie propoganda machine
November 9th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
the other thing of course is that the Bok team to play France is also changed around. Jacobs and Fourie will make a new centre partnership, the backrow will have never played together before and there will be a new fullback who will be a bit shaky in this cooker.
The boks are ripe, but its still a very experienced unit. If our tight 5 and burger are up for it – i cant even see the French living with the Bokke – but will lose if 2nd rate effort. Kanko also needs to get stuck in, i would’ve preferred deysel or potgieter in the loosetrio up north, but good luck to kankofski who has alot of talent, hope he gets stuck in and no jan pierewitting.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
#134
#141
Totally agree! He is a real doos! It’s clear from his writing that his rugby knowledge is limited and his arguments are laced with racist undertones most of the time. Tired and old.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
#140 Brigadier Van Zyl: you are still shying away from post 133.
Div is the coach and his record reads well into his second year. he will be the coach until the next world cup. Why is so much time spent on attacking everything the man does?
Or are people happy to have the bittersweet feeling everytime the Boks win cause they dont really want Div to be successful.
I will support the coach until he starts getting bad results. (no that does not mean one or 2 losses)
November 9th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
#143 WP_: what is your opinion of Gavin Rach and Mark keohane?
November 9th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
#143 WP_: are you in fact talking about keo?
November 9th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
#141 ali: here’s hoping that kanko unleashes 6 months of bench-sitting frustrations onto the frogs. i’m really hoping he will step up in the physical stakes, and think he knows that the preference towards sies last year was precisely this.
still, deysel/johnson back-up if he doesn’t produce the necessary physicality
November 9th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
#143 WP_:
No ou doos is not limited in knowledge or otherwise, he like many others believes transformation is essential and should go through at all costs, i’m just not one for the rhetroic and bullshit sandwich that its delivered in.
Rather simply say, SARU and the coaching staff believe in the transformation idealogy, which is consicered to be just and fair.
Transformation however remains racism since it is reserving selection places based purely on skin colour.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
can i ask what all you PdV haters are going to do if we win against France or Ireland, cause His Holiness Jake “Winning Ways” White failed to do either away from home. or will you just fall back on the “he inherited a great team” or the equally silly “the senior players are coaching the team.”
if you’re going to irrationally hate someone, you need to come up with some fresh excuses to do so cause the previous ones are old and tired.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
moedeloos
Rich is alright, I agree with the majority of the things he says but not all, he can come up with some interesting, bordering on ridiculous, ideas sometimes. He’s controversial, so he gets a lot of flak, but tells it for the most part like it is so I enjoy reading his articles.
Keo is ok, I dont really agree with the majority of stuff he writes. He’s guite arrogant in the way he writes and I think he spouts rubbish most of the time!
And you?
Zelim Nel is a good journo too.