Brüssow Boks’ ‘true poison’
Marc Lievremont says Heinrich Brüssow will have to be nullified as he has added an extra dimension to the Bok side.
Brüssow has had a dream run in his first full year of Test rugby, but in Toulouse on Friday night he will continue his learning curve. It will be the first time he comes up against a physical French pack and opensider Thierry Dusautoir in a hostile atmosphere in the 37 000-capacity Stade Municipal.
The Free State opensider was set to be dropped for this Test before Pierre Spies’s tour-ending injury, but France coach Lievremont singled out the Bok No 6 ahead of any of his other team-mates as one to keep quiet if they are to claim their third successive win over the Boks.
‘They have in their armour a fatal weapon in Brüssow,’ he said. ‘He is true poison. It is the first time that the Boks have relied on such a player, a great performer on the ground.
‘Because of that, they are even more complete than ever before. And having seen their provincial games, it is a sector in which they excel. I have learned that at training they do a lot of fighting and judo. It is perhaps the key to their success in this factor.’
Brüssow was one player singled out, but the Tricolores seem obsessed with the Boks’ physicality, and Lievremont said ‘they play to hurt’.
‘With them, it’s a cultural thing. They play to do bad things. It is not provocation. Of course they have players like [Bakkies] Botha who are sometimes at the limit of the rules, but I find them more and more disciplined.
‘They don’t make any of those stupid mistakes they made in the past and which have perhaps cost them some victories.’
It is clear from their comments that the French will be looking to niggle in order to disrupt the Boks’ focus, and here Botha, Brüssow and co will have to maintain discipline.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
#294 David:
Start writing a list of all the ones here who arent.
It will be a short list.
Very.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
#299 WakaNathan:
please the oke was soft in the head.’
couldn’t even play on a Sunday.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
#300 cab:
Icemans 1st media nickname was ‘Black Panther’ in a befitting reference to the great Waka. Same position, same teams.
But Iceman stuck soon after. Like most of his victims did to the ground.
Ice’d.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
thought the black panther was waka and the iceman was jones.
appparently waka was very special but injured himself.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
#302 Brigadier Van Zyl:
So soft, that opposition teams starting scheduling games on a Sunday.
The Wallabies built whole defensive patterns around buring Ice under rucks at 2nd phase.
I know it sounds a bit mythical. Like Camelot. But its all true.
Iceman on 2 goods leg circa 87 – 89 (before the horrific knee injury vs Argies) is THE best rugby player Ive been blessed to witness, ever.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
#299 WakaNathan: michael jones was and is still the best,the greatest loose-forward i have ever seen in my life.jones is the king of loose-forwards and a very principled human i have to add.just have the greatest of respect for this rugby legend.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
i think Cane was also a big waka fan, apparently he toured SA, will need to ask my old man.
the one that tore the bokke a new one was brian williams on the wing with those massive thighs, but think that was a little after waka.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
#304 cab:
Ice Toeava is a podiatristic fraud !
November 11th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
#307 cab:
Never toured SA, Visa denied.
He was Auckland Capt and ABs star player.
What you lot got in RSA was merely a SA Govt Select’ed NZ XV masquerading as the ABs. Right up til 1992.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
#308 WakaNathan:
yessus, sounds like a complex pun, i dunno about any of that, but what is beyond me is why Ice is not playing centre, he and kahui are the future – damn good.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
#305 WakaNathan:
well, you obviously saw more of him than I did but the game was way slower back then.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
#309 WakaNathan:
yeah thats true to a certain extent, but later on brian williams toured. the cavaliers in 86 were a pretty potent squad too – 87 RWC would have been very interesting if not for the stupid SA govt at the time.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
#291 Big Hit:
jeepers while we are at it why not deano…
November 11th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
#309 WakaNathan: those maoris were better off at the end of the day…might have ended up at the bottom of a staircase!
November 11th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
#301 WakaNathan:
JP Reeves and Fergus Slattery are two that come to mind. Then there was the SA duo of Greyling and Ellis.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
#315 David:
but who was better: jan boland or greyling, or is that like comparing brussouw to juan?
November 11th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
bladdy stupid south africans, i mean wtf were they banning these great maori players for, i know the answer of course, but the sheer arrogance.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
imagine what nutjobs like Burger Geldenhys and Skalk senior would have done to Moari’s if they would have toured?
Imagine if Flippie van der Merve had decided to sit on one of these boys.
Heinrich Rogers,etc..
November 11th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
#318 Brigadier Van Zyl:
you seen the size of those maori fellas?
they make even our lot look like midgets.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
if you think we have some nutters these days, back then they where positively phsyco’s
November 11th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
#319 cab:
Flippie was one fat *******.Even by todays standards.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
#316 cab:
Yes, Ellis was the ultimate openside at the time, whilst Greyling was the ball carrier and extremely fast.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
#321 Brigadier Van Zyl:
lol, yeah but those polynesian guys are massive too. see some of the guys that get drafted into the NFL or work on the doors over there, mamoth.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
#322 David:
so who is the best ‘fecther’ SA opensider you seen:
ellis, jan boland or brussow?
November 11th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
#321 Brigadier Van Zyl:
1 of my alltime favourite rugby moments is Flippie being welcomed on to Athletic Park, Boks vs Wellington, 1981, by the announcer as such:-
“Flippie van der Merwe replaces ‘X’ in the no3 jersey today but will be wearing the blank jersey as he could not fit the replacements jersey”
or words to that effect.
I laughed about that for months.
He had a belly that swung in the scrums. Like Brigadier ‘Piet’ van Zyls.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
#285 fsjakes: lol…fyi, in my initial post i made two observations.
1. lievremont & some other coaches think heinrich has added an extra dimension to the springboks, and continued to wonder what jake would make out of this, since he has been vocal about not selecting heinrich.
2. that the current coach, who by the way also didn’t select brussow, seems for our own good fortune and adaptable character who can be convinced to change his thinking.
now why you felt the need to respond to my post & bunch me in with the rest of the people you were addressing i have no idea. you have continued this whole afternoon to try and box me as a pdv defender and others as pdv critics, i hold no subscriptions to neither.
thank you for finally answering my question. it wasn’t that hard, was it?
November 11th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
#325 WakaNathan:
lol every ship needs ballast…
#324 cab:
ruben kruger pretty handy…
November 11th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
#312 cab:
‘to a certain extent’ meant that the ABs were limted to a max of 3 non-white players in 1970 and ‘76. This during a period where NZs total population of 2.2million was 30-40% Maori and 5-8% Polynesian.
So, no, not before the 1992 match did an AB team land in RSA with a ‘full team’.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
#328 WakaNathan:
i would never make excuses for the SA govt policy, those f’ckwads should have been hanged but thats probably neither here nor there, what i am interested in tho is how many of the NZ touring teams that were beaten, would have won if they could select their ‘full’ teams?
also, they lost a few at home too, presumably with ‘full’ teams.
#327 gunther:
yeah one of my favourites, the silent assasin, great player.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
#328 WakaNathan:
Which sort of means all your complaints about travel, quotas and citings rather pale to insignificance. Imagine the opposition, your main rivals, with hometown Afrikaaner refs, selecting your team before it left on the plane ?!
1992 onwards are the only reliable records between NZ vs SA. Fact.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
#329 cab:
Only lost to SA once in NZ.
NZ has only 1 Series win in SA.
Both those were ‘full teams’. We were alot more hospitable in Aotearoa.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
#326 Transformation:
I agree I see div’s willingless to admit his mistakes and make needed changes timeously as one of his greatest qualities…. most internatioal coaches of any sports code are notoriously stubborn…including the “special one”….
November 11th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
after 1992 these maori dominated all black teams quickly established a superior win-lose bok ratio.you just can’t but but admire the maori contribution to new zeeland rugby.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
I’d have to add JP Rives, O.Finegan, J.Ellis and J.Kronfeld in the following bunch.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
#316 cab: Different blokes different strokes.
Hard to compare them.
One was rock hard no nonsense, the other a better ball player.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
the hometown refs probably made a difference, but i shouldn’t imagine nz would be much different, and even when they got a ‘neutral’ like norling, there was surely an offer of a farm in auckland to blow 10mins into the 3rd half…
what is fact, is that prior to 92, SA had the best test ledger of any team in the world of rugby union, and that includes a positive win record over the ABs.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
#335 Kronung:
that you Piet?
so who was the best fetcher?
November 11th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
#324 cab:
I reckon Ellis, although the rules were different then. Most opensiders were of the “tearaway” type. Rob Louw was closer in style to Ellis than Brussouw and Boland was closer to Brussow.
I suppose if I had to rate the best opensiders it’d be
1 Ellis, 2 Louw, 3 Boland, 4 Tiaan Strauss. But that’s obviously just a personal opinion.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
#337 cab: Nope not Piet.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
#338 David:
Ellis, holy ****. Saw a bit of rob louw, liked his style, a bit like burger without the size. tiaan was great too. the wildebeest-tackling story was even better.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
#330 WakaNathan: Waka we’ll open a TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) headed by Desmond Tutu himself so we can help you get over this trauma of yours.
I feel some therapy is needed so you can finally move on.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
#330 WakaNathan:
I agree.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I see two players from my alma mater have been selected for england on saturday nice work boys keep the flag flying…
November 11th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
#326 Transformation: Seeing that I can’t read or understand anything you say, please explain how I have been trying to “box you as PdV defender and all the rest as PdV critics.” I do however wonder, did you not try and defend PdV against WP’s comment (#4) by saing:
“i wonder what jake makes out of all of this “boks have an extra dimension & are a totally complete side” cause it is in a way revealing of a certain limitation in his thinking, a “blind spot” if you like…hhmmm. Well thank goodness now we have a coach who is adaptable & dynamic in his rugby thinking.”
Just a question, I might be reading it wrongly… being so illiterate and all.
That was your initial post (NO mention of Lievremont, etc. That only comes in your response to my first post) and the one that I made my comment about that both these coaches need to be respected based on their achievements. You the went on your whole Burger vs Brossouw crusade (which I did not enter into), as well as insulting me the whole way.
Never once did I disagree with anything you said regarding Burger or Brossouw, yet you keep on insulting me. That is what I have been taking issue with after my first post – NOT your view of PdV or Burger or Brussouw – but the way in which did it. Never once did you comment on anything I actually said. Then again, according to you I can’t read or understand.
Also, what I find interresting is that you keep on going at me on this Burger vs rant – even though I never made a comment on any of them initially. Yet, I have read many apost arguing against your point of what White’s view is on Brossouw and you never actually engaged in any of those arguments.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
#332 gunther: that was my point G, but fskakes here had other intentions. pdv’s style of management reminds me of phil jackson with the chicago bulls in the late nineties, where he came into a team with jordan, pippen, kerr, kukoc, longley etc and made them invincible. sometimes he deferred plays to jordan to call, sometimes he would call a ply ending with michael taking the clutch shot & michael’d be like “nah let steve take it” and that’s how thy would win a game…anyway, people just like to put others in a box (don’t wanna sound ironic or what not incase i do it too)
eish, jose looks to be one stubborn mofo but i dig him anyway…
November 11th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
are you two still slugging?
stop it you friggin racists.
and grant, john smit is the greatest. you heard it here eh? bleddy provincialist.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
#344 fsjakes: read the first line of this thread….
November 11th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
#346 rangerman:
amen….
November 11th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
#345 Transformation: When did I ever disagree with you on PdV’s management style? When did I ever disagree with you on ANYTHING? When did I ever put you into a box? You were the one you attacked my inttelect. You were the one who insulted me.
What was my “intentions”? like you put it to gunter. I was the first person on this thread today, that actually stood up for both coaches! Who had a complete impartial view! Who said that both should be respected in their own right! YOU were the one who then decided to insult me over that.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
He who sometimes changes his mind is wise. He who constantly changes his mind is an indecisive fool…
#346,
In which position is he the greatest, and by greatest do you mean as a South African or internationally?