Boks badly exposed
South Africa played like world chumps in Europe, writes Keo in his weekly Business Day column.
Let’s skip all the emotional claptrap, the political correctness and new found South African way of justifying that our teams don’t lose, the other teams just score more points. Let’s get real and call Saturday’s Springbok Test defeat and the five-match tour of Europe exactly what it was: an absolute disaster and a disgrace.
I love John Robbie on talkback radio. He is the best because he calls it like it is, but when he is explaining losses to France and Ireland as nothing more than fatigue I get worried about those ultra positive contracts one has to sign to be allowed onto SuperSport.
The Boks lost to a half decent French team, a Leicester team missing 12 of their regulars, a Saracens SA XV that would not end in the top six of the Currie Cup, made Italy look like Six Nations contenders and should have been put away by 20 points by Ireland, who in the last year have been the most consistent international team of the year. That the Boks were named IRB Team of the Year after taking a beating from the Irish was as close as it comes to an Irish joke, and it wasn’t a particularly funny one.
Australia losing to Scotland put some perspective to the Tri-Nations campaign. New Zealand’s changing of coaching roles and reversal to a more conservative approach orchestrated by the world’s best flyhalf Dan Carter, who incidentally did not play in the two defeats against the Boks in South Africa, adds more reality to the quality of the Tri-Nations win and the All Blacks fitness in Marseilles ended any arguments that the Boks lost because they were simply too tired. The All Blacks, in club and provincial games, played just as much rugby as the Boks and the Test side have played even more matches this year than the Springboks.
The Boks lost because a French team physically roughed them up and exposed the fragile Bok front row with John Smit as a tighthead. The Bok scrum only resembled a quality unit when BJ Botha was at tighthead against Ireland and Smit was at hooker. The moment Smit moved to tighthead the only area of dominance that belonged to the Boks disappeared.
The lineout, the strength of the Boks since the 2007 World Cup, was a shambles and the fact that the man who coached the lineout between 2004 and 2007 was not even mentioned in the post-match TV analysis was as diabolical as the justification for the defeats.
Gert Smal’s true value to the Boks was illustrated in Dublin on Saturday. The Bok lineout did not struggle because Smit’s lineout throwing was poor. Smit is the best lineout thrower in world rugby. The Bok lineout was reduced to rubble because the new coaching staff have not changed anything since 2007. The calls are still the same and this was a case of the master (Smal, now with Ireland) upstaging the student (Victor Matfield). I have never seen a Test where Matfield has been so innocuous and lacked such presence. Smal, more than anything else, beat the Boks and it showed how little this team has actually advanced.
The senior players have run the team since Peter de Villiers took over, but there comes a point when a team needs a coach who coaches and not a coach who takes them to the ground in the comfort also known as a team bus.
Should De Villiers get fired? No. But he needs help and the most qualified person to help him, in the role of national director of coaching, is the man who masterminded South Africa’s 2007 World Cup win. Jake White is the soundboard that could turn De Villiers into a coach and not the players’ mate who allows them to do as they please.
The fatigued South African players are hanging around for a match against the All Blacks. Could someone at the South African Rugby Union explain that one to me? No because there isn’t anyone there with the rugby acumen to give me that answer.
Think of this tour and the chaos and lies. Let’s start with the lie about transformation. Black players selected in the squad were sent home and white players not in the original squad ended up playing in the Tests when De Villiers hit the first of many panic buttons.
De Villiers said Smit’s future was at tighthead, so why did he draft in BJ Botha? Why was Bandise Maku not put on the bench against Italy instead of Adriaan Strausss, who was not even in the original tour squad? Window dressing at its most crass. The same applies to the selection of Davon Raubenheimer and Ashley Johnson when Jean Deysel also went straight from the beach to the Test squad. I believe the selections of Deysel and Strauss should have been made originally, but the squad chosen was a transformation con that insulted any decent black rugby player in this country.
If Smit is going to the World Cup at tighthead then they had to persist with him through all the struggles. If Morne Steyn is going to kick South Africa that World Cup-winning penalty then you play him through the shocker he had in Dublin and write it off to an experience that will make him stronger. When Juan de Jongh is the find of the midweek side and Adi Jacobs gets injured you don’t draft a 50-Test cap Springbok based in Munster into the Test squad and get him to sit on the bench for 63 minutes. You either start with Jean de Villiers, who is the best inside centre in the game, or you say to the newcomer De Jongh this is your chance to take that step up. If South Africa had lost with the next generation of player there would be no issue, but to have got beaten so convincingly with the best team available, outside of Bakkies Botha and Frans Steyn, then the selectors need to ask themselves why they haven’t resigned.
The tour objective was to develop players and win. Neither objective was achieved. More careers were broken than made and the denial within the team simply intensified.
The rugby the Boks played was poor. The substitutions were not tactical they were terrible, and they have been all year. The All Blacks played stupid rugby against South Africa in South Africa and paid the price. The Boks fed off their mistakes and never had to play risk rugby.
In Hamilton, the Boks were a cross kick from defeat, in Pretoria they were saved by a last minute 53m penalty and in Johannesburg they were pulverized by the British & Irish Lions. In Toulouse, Leicester, Wembley and Croke Park they looked like world chumps and not world champs.
Whoever let Smal go should be fired, yet that won’t happen because no one will remember him ever asking to make a further contribution to the Springboks. There is no explanation why a guy who won South Africa the World Cup won’t be used to improve the chances of them retaining the Cup.
Excellence is punished; mediocrity gets the equivalent of a knighthood.
This tour did not ask questions, it provided every answer and someone at South African rugby has to have he balls to bring together the best rugby brains, facilitate the uber egos and clean the wound instead of adding an elastoplasts by claiming the Boks are the IRB Team of the Year.
Now is the time for honesty because the best team in the world does not get smashed in Brisbane, Leicester, Wembley, Toulouse, Dublin, Johannesburg and sneak two three-point wins in Pretoria and Hamilton.
The Boks are not as tired as we think and they are not as good as we think. But they could be the best if every agenda was put to one side and decisions were made that benefit the Springboks and confront issues instead of blaming referees, fatigue and glorifying five-point losses.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Good article. we certainly have the player volume – but not so sure about the management and its structures. Can we even start to compare to Ireland who are very well managed and very well represented to the media and public?!!
November 30th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
“Let’s skip all the emotional claptrap,…”
Keo,……….. you are the KING of emotional claptrap.
A Dragon by any other name……..
November 30th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Moan moan moan… The Boks will stop giving this site interviews if he carries on like this!
November 30th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Ah,Keo and Jake White….best of friends.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
@Lions_Soutie:
He’s just calling it as it is.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Sad but true.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Agree with some, disagree with most.
Keo Jake will tell you the role fatigue plays in rugby, he is a big believer in Noakes and his advice.
Jake will also confirm to you that the EOYT is a useless exercise unless it is for a possible grand slam victory.
I agree that this coaching team was naive and I mentioned before the tour that the decisions made pre-tour smacks of trying to win battles when we will ultimately lose the war.
Some selection were diabolical but then some proved inspired, just look at Earl Rose and his tour as one example of a player every single person on this blog including myself labelled as the most useless player since Jorrie Muller.
PDV will need to invest in youngster in 2010 not just for the World Cup in 2011, but to ensure this group grows and our success is not one that will disappear in a 10 year cycle which is usually the case.
I think the coaching team know who is not ready for this level, and those obvious choices left at home, should now become part of the extended squad, most of whom, played for the Emerging Boks earlier this year.
The results may reflect disaster, but the warnings were sounded long before they went on this tour.
I am a big believer in a Director of rugby or coaching in a national capacity, but you as well as I know there is no way in hell SA Rugby will look to Jake given the history.
As for Gert Smal – I said it was a disgrace when SA rugby ignored him a year or so ago and I stand by that.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I said it before and I will say it again..
The true test of PDV’s ability will come when he has to develop a side and is not giving a World Cup wining unit with massive experience. The true test will be when he has to build a world cup winning unit with a lot of experience from very little.
Those second string teams I hope are not early indication.
Jake was unappreciated..and still is. Lets see if the detractors rue thier ignorance.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
@PissAnt: 7 – PissAnt, Once again good article. Mate. Agree 100% there.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
@Puma: Sorry this time meant post not article. Used to your writing articles on rt PissAnt.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
@Puma:
Ha, no worries!
November 30th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I stopped taking this article seriously at the part where Keo said John Smit is the best line out thrower in world rugby.
Let’s face it, this was a cr*p tour. And let’s face it: Snor is not the best coach around.
But despite that, our senior Boks have done very well in winning a Tri Nations without just relying on home wins like Jake White did.
Is Snor a better coach than Heyneke Meyer? Hell no.
Is Keo spinning it for all he is worth to get his business partner/new sidekick Jake Whitelies back into some kind of Winning Ways consultancy role? Hell yes.
By the way, Winning Ways is only a win-win situation for the consultant, who apparently shares none of the blame if the team loses, but gets all the glory if they win.
SA Rugby is ALWAYS a joke, thanks to politics. If we shoved politics out the door, got Meyer in, and allowed him to pick a team just on merit, we would rule the world.
In the absence of that, we might as well stick with Snor, who at least is learning that window dressing is the ONLY way to keep the politicians happy, while still retaining a reasonable winning ratio.
And let’s face it, with Snor there we might actually get away with a few less quota players than if the coach was a White as well.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
9. Puma : Ye Pissant is one of the few muppets those posts are worth reading on this site.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
The question of coaching has raised its ugly head again , this end of year tour was an absolute disaster for the Boks ( lets not sugar coat it ) There is no doubt that SA has some of the most talented players in the world but are they playing as a team ? No …. The midweek loses show the lack of coaching , lack of game plan , and that the players were not playing as a team … Alarm bells should have been ringing when the Springbok scrum was being annalihated by leciester , 3 men cannot compete against 8 …… It is a time for the Boks to rest and go back to the basics , bring in the best experts to assist , swollow some pride and play like World champs again.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Taticus: “And let’s face it, with Snor there we might actually get away with a few less quota players than if the coach was a White as well.”
At least one thing you said was worth a point worth taking
November 30th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Said it before and will again… The Boks have been bad because they are complacent… players… management… board… everyone. They all believe they are the best and ‘deserve’ to be the best and that the results will somehow fall in line…
They keep saying they take each game as it comes etc… and they only look forward… Thing is… that philosophy should apply to the bad and the good… When they put their bad games behind them they should also forget they are the world champions and play as if their opponents are the world champs… But they sing “we are the champions” in the bus on the way to the ground… and expect to be feted and fawned over and handed the victory because they are World Champs and deserve it…
They need to get shocked out of their complacency…
Having said that I think Keo’s been overly simplistic in his analysis… and once again using his relationship to promote Jake White… hardly credible…
Thing is Keo… It takes two to tango and when it comes to dancing Jake White twinkles his toes with the best of them…
As much as SARU fought with Jake White… Jake White fought with SARU… both were just as bad as each other… Both continually trying to score points against each other on the board of public opinion… Luke Watson may be a divisive force in SA rugby… but so too is Jake White… and bringing him back would be counter-productive… Already he has proven that his Winnings Ways and the Lion’s couldn’t work together for more than a few months… now we must hand over Bok rugby to him?
Why not call for Nick Mallet or Gert Smal to assist…?
Finally… Jake White said on Boots&All that he would not select Heinrich Brussow… Duh…??? The find of the year and Jake wouldn’t have him…?? Either Jake is too limited in his thinking and stuck in an out-dated mode of rugby… or he is too stuck in his thinking and won’t give Watson any credit by acknowledging Brussow… either way… someone as inflexible in his thinking as Jake White is not the person to take SA rugby forward…
November 30th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
@Mike H: For sure Mike, I always look for PissAnts posts. Used to look for Tightheads too but lucky I also blog on the othersite where they now write articles. Both have superbe knowledge of the game.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
typo meant superb.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Keo how do you know that the calls haven’t changed since 2007?
Your writing is based on bar talks. Really **** article. Your JW obsession is a joke.
You are probably one of the guys who said the number 1 players shouldn’t go on tour, but if you look at the teams that played this was in effect what happened so why now complain about the whole year’s results?
The people who shout “listen to Tim Noakes!” are the same people who shout “pick the overworked overseas players above youngsters that can be exposed!” are the same people shouting “everyone is a quota!”. Stop shouting and write some real analysis about the game.
Aus and SA have gained more from this tour than NZ and any of the Euro teams.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Okay. I stopped reading when I saw this was just another session of Keo kissing Jake White ***.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
@Lions_Soutie: Keo is probably one of the only journo’s calling a spade a spade.
Everyone else is too afraid of being cut off from the team by saying PdV is a kak coach, John Smit is kak at tighthead, the Boks at the moment are way over rated.
How many times have the boks won and really won convincingly. The have not dominated other teams completely.
If SARU want to continue window dressing with PdV then they need definitely need to put a coaching director in the mix.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
SA were deservedly the best team of the year, easily.
However, this tour was always going to be a joke, because of its developmental status.
Everyone knows what.
Htf are Bok teams going to win against dirttracker sides, when half of the players selected do not even play S14 rugby let alone are first choice for their franchise.
Look, it was a developmental tour, and thats why you get developmental results.
No point in moaning now.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
This is the most biased and unfair article i have ever read – complete bullshit! Keo stated at the beginning of this year that PdV TRUE test was the BI and Tri Nations – we won both! Now he’s campaigning for Jake White again. PdV is a new type of coach, he’s flexible. No other coach i can remember of would change their policies when common sense says they should. I reckong Snor will spend a lot of time analysing this tour and the bokke will be a much better team for it next year.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
My biggest criticism of the Coaching staff is that they are still not using their bench properly. I think we used our bench very poorly on Saturday especially since we had such a powerful bench and all this talk of fatigue and development of new players for 2011.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
@cab:
Mate don’t kid yourself, the Bokke dont play development sides against France and Ireland, you got thumped accept it.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
the kiwis always do better cos they have more depth…a kiwi B side is far stronger than an SA B side, especially where we are actually nowhere close to selecting our B sides in a merit contest, but even then the kiwis have more depth.
Oz dont have the depth either, whuch is why like SA they tend to struggle. hell they lost to scotland. ireland and france are teh two best NG sides, those games were always going to be close, esp after this season.
the whole approach was doomed from the get-go, even The Greatest apparently can be wrong.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@NZINCHINA:
you not listening to what i;m saying.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Well at last we see a good article. South Africans always blame somehting – the ref – fatigue – the linesman – it is so petty. The only true champion team of the Southern Hemisphere is the All Blacks – they perform year in and year out. They have never been so embarassed as our “Boks” have been. Yes, we won the Tri-Nations and we won the Lions series – yes – WE LOST THE EOYT. If you think it was a great year then so be it.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Who cares about one off games! Trophies in the cabinet are what is important.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Oh and who do we blame in our next book then – Luke wasn’t in the team…
November 30th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Boks were badly exposed, they were useless in line-outs , Steyn missed 4 kicks at goal , our scrums went to zero when Bj left the field , Schalk and Victor was no-where. The Irish did everything right they played the tactical gamer much better than us. Gert even taught them Afrikaans.
…… and we only lost by 5 , me thinks all is not so bad.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
@cab:
All I’ve heard on this site is excuses about why the Bokke didnt win, I accept you lost to two clubs sides with a development side but you got beaten fair and square by France and Ireland, to say anything thing different is insulting to those two countries. When the NH tour SA in June with depleted and tired teams and lose do you take the win?
November 30th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Does anyone know what the penalty count was this weekend v the Irish please?
November 30th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
This is funny.
Jake white was kak a few months before RWC and now he is a hero…remember noone wants him as coach post RWC.
PDV is kak…when will this change?
November 30th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
ireland and france were deserved winners, and i have said so, they absolutely drilled us at the breakdown, they always going to be tough to beat for an SA team whose top team is worldclass, but will struggle with fatigue more than NZ cos they dont have NZ’s depth.
3 wins from 5 with narrow losses to france and ireland, reads alot better than 1 from 5, but of course the bigger problem was the pressure these dirttracker losses put on the tour and the need to play several top players against these teams and italy so as to try and sace face, thereby exarcenating the situation.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
@Sonito:
I said this before, the only coach to appreciate 22-man rugby in my mind was Nick Mallet.
He was the first, if not only SA coach to say that certain guys are specialist impact players and he is/was right.
For ages through all levels and all teams SA coaches do clock-watch substitutions, meaning they do not watch the game and make subs to build or change momentum, but rather they watch the clock and substitute on the minutes (usually 60 minutes) religiously.
As for the tactical approach of the Boks, I believe we got it dead wrong trying to play rugby in the way NH teams play it from schoolboy level throughout their club structure and tests, the kick-chase territorial game.
It works well for the Boks against SH sides because we disrupt their momentum and frustrate them out of the game by employing a very physical defense to go with the kick-chase game.
NH teams however live for that type of rugby.
Is it then surprising how Aus ran Wales off their feet, and AB’s France? I don’t think so.
But one has to keep in mind that the Boks largely play the type of rugby that our most successful unions play. Namely the Bulls.
The Sharks we all know has no expansive game to speak of.
In the CC final the team that did all the running or playing was the Cheetahs, they lost.
How can we expect the Boks to play any different in tests to what is played locally and in S14 by all SA sides?
I have too often highlighted that the Boks lack the ability to create pace on the ball and how we rely on static play for our base for success.
It is how our players are coached from high school…
November 30th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
PDV – if Boks win it is not due to him, if they lose its ALL his fault.
I reckon the problem is more to do with his skin colour…how else?
November 30th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Also, lets be quite honest, the best SA side did not play against France or Irealnd – we know who the best SA side is, its the team that won the RWC and beat the BIL and cantered to a 5-1 destruction of the 3N.
Its a team that includes worldclass players like:
Frans Steyn
Juan Smith
Pierre Spies
Jean de Villiers.
As i say, SA dont have the depth, but our best side all fit, will beat anyone anywhere.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
@cab:
Poor Cab very poor my friend.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Tactics also sort of tells us why even Jake was never hugely successful on EOYT’s.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
@cab:
You know what I agree…wallabies best side has not played for 10 years now (since 1999)…until you have beaten them then you cant say you are good.
In other words move on!!
November 30th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Rugby Experts,
Does anyone know what the penalty count was this weekend v the Irish please?
November 30th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
@PissAnt:
He wasn’t that sucessful in the Tri Nations either.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
@PissAnt:
Yeah I agree but I also think a team like NZ are always perform far better on EOYT because they are used to playing in similar conditions to the NH.
Anyhow I dont think we have become a **** team overnight, I would still back us to beat anyteam in a World Cup game.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
I knew the day would come when the flyhalf would be off target and the opposition would be more disciplined. Add to that a fullback who is good under the high ball, and you better have a plan B.
That said I think the end of year tours are quite frankly a waste of time. With the players always having the “fatigue” factor excuses in the back of their minds, and knowing full well they get the pay check whether they win or lose, it always seems like they’re just simply through the phases rather than the grit and determination we see during the S14 or Trinations.
And finally, if fatigue is such an issue, why have several senior players made themselves available for the Barbarians game? Pride, honour? Surely you have those two playing in the green and gold. SO if you’re really tired, go home and rest. But don’t use it as an excuse when playing for your country and then subject yourself to one more game that has little to no value.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I;m reasonably convinced that if a world cup had to be played in France around September this year – SA would have walked it again with the likes of:
1. Beast 2. Bismarck 3. Smit 4. Bakkies 5. Matfield 6. Burger. 7. Smith 8. Spies 9. Fdp 10. Pienaar 11. Habana 12. JdV 13. Fourie 14. JP 15. Frans Steyn
16. CJ 17. BJ 18. Bekker 19. Brussow 20. Deysel 21. Morne 22. Olivier
The actual B team dirttracker side should have been
1. Blaauw 2. Liebenberg 3. WP Nel 4. Sykes 5. Bekker 6. Potgieter 7. Deysel 8. Alberts 9. Hougaard 10. Morne 11. Mapoe 12. WO 13. De Jong 14. Kirchener 15. Rose
thats 37 players who can go anywhere with a claim to being the best in the country.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
@Sonito:
I would back our kiddy team to beat the boks in a world cup game.
Might even send tonga or Fiji as well.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
@cab: CAB, I appreciatte your loyalty to the Bok team with the “anytime, anywhere” comment, but to be fair then any international side could use that excuse when losing. There will always be injuries and exclusions – great teams win in times like that.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
@wallabie.:
yeah, look the only condolesence is you guys cant say much after your diabolical loss to scotland, which left everyone chortling long and hard – along with those ridiculous moustaches.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
First off, let me just say it is nice to have all the Kiwi and Aussie bloggers back here – where have you guys been all this time?
@PissAnt:
I recall we had a conversation about this a while ago (something like a year or more) – about how it seems that from a young level South African youngsters are taught to try and run “over” a defensive player, how you must always look for the contact.
A different approach of course from that that seems to be instilled in young Kiwi rugby players, where it is more of a case of trying to run “around” the player.
I think we also discussed touch rugby – specifically five-down league-style touch rugby – as a brilliant coaching tool for union, since it forces your players to think about exposing any gaps in the defensive lines.
We have a problematic mentality when it comes to rugby where it seems we revel in the idea of contact – we hoot with joy as soon as there is a big crashball taken in midfield.
Contact is still important – you need to dominate the collisions to win in rugby – but I think one thing we need to realise once again is that you require possession in order to win, too, and that contact is not the ultimate goal.
Therefore it has frustrated me no end that we are constantly kicking away possession and depending on a negative style of play where you hope the opposition makes mistakes – it’s a style that can work brilliant if it is brilliantly executed, as we have seen – but ultimately you will be found it.
Another example is where we see the ball being taken to the ground in the tackle – we should try to concentrate on the offload in the tackle. I thought we were seeing promising signs of this last year when PdV was attempting to instill his vision of “total rugby” (I recall we even discussed Pierre Villepreux on the topic!), but sadly it seems we have regressed.