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 1:20 pm
@Richie_7:
o’m not using it as an excuse, we were beaten fair and square, i am simply saying that imo if the best Bok 22 is selected we will beat any side on the planet, at any location.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
@Richie_7:
simply put fatigue is an excuse…its a “I am not the one!”
How can NZ do so well and RSA so poorly.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
@Richie_7:
Rob Kearney has been superb – both during the Lions Tour and during the Irish end-of-year matches.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
@cab:
anybody’s best team can knock over anyother team.
Eg. NZ have their best side now and they are beating everyone. unfortunately they did not have this team in the tri nations.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
@WP Till I Die:
Regressed we did dude.
Like I said, trying to win battles but ultimately losing the war.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
@wallabie.:
yes, but only if Bokke are tired, at their best, they are the best.
The IRB did get that right.
You can say what you want but any side that win a 3N 5-1 and takes a cleansweep of the kiwis and beats the BIL – is a very special team.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
The significance of Saturdays lost was massive in my opinion. I was seriously livered with the result.
Also, Morne has shown some serious jinks in his armour on this tour. Maybe he needed a rest and we could have had Grant finally get his chance. The trick with these tours is to take a few senior players that dont need the rest and the other must be guys like Grant replacing Steyn. That way you build up your depth and have plenty of excuses for the loss unlike the position we in now…
November 30th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
NZ has to travel further.
Has any bokke considered how far NZ has to travel for NH tour and for that matter Aus as well.
Never in the calculations!
We are not complaining but the boks do.
It would seem the bokke fans label us as whingers but we could list all the excuses the bokke use.
include in that the singer of the national anthem.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
@cab: the best bok 15 wasnt very different to Saturdays teamsheet unfortunately
November 30th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
@WP Till I Die: Yes he has, so why not bring him into the game as much as possible? Absolute stupidity
November 30th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
that NZ travel is alot of rubbish, the 3N has 10 of the 15 squads based in australasia – our lot are constatly on an aeroplane and away from home – everyong with anything upstair knows that. they spend 3 weeks in SA, our guys are back and forth and if any of them do make the playoffs, its back they go again.
But that is still not the point, i have said NZ have the most derpth, the S14 results show this. so when they pick a B or C side as their dirttracker side, they pretty assured of not losing to Saracens B.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
@Bok fan:
The question is, was it the coaching staff’s idea, or the cabal of senior players who are apparently running the show?
November 30th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Dear Grim Reaper,
This year you have taken my favourite male actor, Patrick Swayze. You also took my favourite female actor, Farrah Fawcett Major and my favourite entertainer and dancer, Michael Jackson.
I want to be sure you know that Bakkies Botha is my favourite rugby player.
Thanks,
cane.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
@cab:
One needs to consider how well the Irish have done winning the six nations.
I think they were hard done by though..at least it should have been shared.
Richie must have played blinders to have got some consideration and then selected. yet I dont think there were any stand outs in the Bok team.
True FDP played well but he was good most of the time not necessarily outstanding.
But I am not the expert and neither are themany on this blog…lets leave it to the experts.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Aye guys, relax. Sure the Boks took a bit of a thumping this tour, but at least some of the younger guys got a chance to get out there and be exposed to the various elements of test match rugby (including the pressure and criticism when you lose). Take into account how many SA players there are playing in Europe right now, as well as ex SA coaching staff plying their trades up north, and you begin to realise that perhaps the NH are starting to nullify any advantage SA had up there.
You let a few SA coaches and players go do their business in Australia for 3 years and soon enough they’ll be competing in the lineouts and winning balls too.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
@Bok fan:
yip, the team chosen for sat was a very strong one, i would say its as close to our best as possible, but the losses of Frans Steyn and Juan Smith in particular are huge.
Take Dan Carter and Richie MccAW out of ABs team and its a very different story. Frans Steyn would have slotted everything into and out of the wind. no distance problems there.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Excellent article Keo, i could not have said it better. The powers that be (Andy Marinos) are ether going to try and discredit you or they are going to offer you a job with a salary you can not refuse like they did to Andy Coheayne (sorry about spelling) when he started writing the truth they bought him to shut him up now he is a puppet, i saw him on TV the other morning he was totally ridiculous.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
the Irish and French are great teams and incredibly hard to beat on their own patch, which is why i have no idea why such weak dirttrackers sides were selected underming the confidence and forcing already-buggered players to face off aaginst italy.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
i don’t take anything KEO says seriously, the man speaks with a forked tongue is a journalistic s!ut…in august the same world cup winning team had “naturally” improved and peaked hence they were winning, now all of a sudden they are DOM because they are not coached instead they a have a pal for a coach. Keo Pdv was right, the “robots” that make up our halfback combination couldn’t switch up the play, even when the “situation” that was facing them was the mercurial Kearney who was gobbling up every kick they booted, in their programmed minds they couldn’t deviate from the script because they’re can only do that kick & chase nonsense and nothing else. what do they say about STUPIDITY? “doing the same thing every time & expecting different results”
Boks are playing winning rugby
The Springboks have experience and rugby intelligence to go with their physicality, writes Keo in his weekly Business Day column.
Not enough credit is being given to the South Africans. The All Blacks said it after taking a beating in Bloemfontein and Durban. And the Wallabies said it after taking a pasting in Cape Town.
Both visiting camps agreed that it was a darn good Bok side, certainly the best South African side they had played in the last decade.
South African supporters also need to start recognising the quality of this side while they are still together because there will come a time in the future when we yearn for the quality of player wearing green at the moment, the leadership of John Smit, Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez and Jean de Villiers and the no frills kind of wins we have seen in the last three weekends.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers a year ago wanted to tamper with the Boks’ winning formula. He berated Jake White’s World Cup winners as robots that couldn’t think for themselves and said it was unacceptable that the ball never went to left wing Bryan Habana in the World Cup final.
De Villiers’s ego undid him as much as the Wallabies and All Blacks did a year ago. This year De Villiers reverted to the formula that works for this particular bunch of players and he has enjoyed three convincing home wins against the All Blacks and Wallabies. For that he needs to be applauded and not mocked.
Had De Villiers continued with the naive notion that the guys play what is in front of them without any structure or framework the results this year would have been very different. The Boks may have scored more tries, but so too would the opposition.
The dynamic of this Bok side feeds off structure and knowing who does what and when. They rely on brutal defence, the most imposing lineout in the game and a halfback kicking game that can’t be matched at the moment. The Boks are at their most potent when they keep it simple on attack and play risk-free rugby. They are a side blessed with the players who can turn defence into attack.
The team’s greatest attribute is its physicality, but what this side has more than any South African team since readmission is experience and rugby intelligence to go with the physicality. Each guy knows what to do and that is the result of most of them being together for six years.
Neither New Zealand nor Australia wanted to look foolish on attack but incredible defence and the most accurate field-kicking game turned these professionals into bumbling schoolboys. Defence is a skill, as much as attack is, and one of the most difficult skills to master is the line kicking game.
It may not look pretty, but it is effective, and I for one want a Bok team that wins consistently playing to its strengths rather than one that appears to entertain, but merely plays into the grateful and winning hands of Australia and New Zealand.
Fourie du Preez’s ability to read the game and Habana and JP Pietersen’s chase of the kick spells intelligent rugby and not boring rugby. If New Zealand and Australia had players with those skills they’d be playing it exactly the same way.
The lineout duo of Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha reduced New Zealand and Australia’s lineout to rubble and that took all the potency out of the visitors’ attack.
New Zealand and Australia rely on the lineout as their primary platform of attack. Against the Boks this was never possible.
Springbok captain John Smit is right when he says that by winning the home games all his team has done is hold serve, and that the tournament will be determined by how many games they win on tour.
There has been no premature celebration from the Boks, but the criticism that they are still short of being the complete side is nonsense. They have shown they can play the most extravagant rugby. Take the effort against Samoa at the 2007 World Cup and against the Wallabies in Johannesburg last year.
When it is on they have the qualities to put on a show. For now they have shown us just what a quality side they are in playing a brand that was necessary to hold serve, and that needs to be commended and not dismissed as players and coaches lacking ambition.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
November 30th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Is this the same Journo who suggested the Wallabies were the real deal whilst the All Blacks were useless? Now look!
Ahh there it is in black and white, Keo’s true agenda:
“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.”
Can’t believe Keo’s tirade. I seem to remember the boks losing to Ireland and England on the EOYT in 2004, scraping a 3N and winning the IRB awards – all of them. Player of the year, Coach of the year, Team of the year. I wonder what Keo printed in that year. He must have been livid.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
let them write us off with pleasure, next year, we be even better and wallop them again, but this time do it the right way with a bit more planning, we can win with our B side on the NH tour against their best, but they must be a rested drilled outfit,
November 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
@Transformation: Brilliant post Transie!!! Eat that you sick journo. Go work for The Sun.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
“I have never seen a Test where Matfield has been so innocuous and lacked such presence.”
Just prove that if you take his prowess in the line out away, there is nothing left.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
@cab:
Is it rubbish…it certainly is not in RSA.
NZ has to do as much travel as RSA in the tri nations. The boks are away for much longer but jet lag is not considered as they are not travelling. They live it up on the beach, drink in pubs etc etc.
What can be considered is homesickness for the boks.
Consider the AB when touring NH. They leave auckland fly to sydney 2 hrs, wait for connecting flight 2-4 hours, fly to singapore 10 hours +-, wait for connecting flight 2-4 hours, then fly 11 hours to heathrow.
31 hours of broken sleep and cooped up in a plane.
Boks complain of 14 hours.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
pathetic White *** kissing exercise in promo here full swing JWWW propaganda machine unashamedly sad. Furthermore those like Mike h and keo sucking on JW’s elongated self centered ambitions you no more than a bunch of proselitizing groupie’s, pretty pathetic to say the least.
Pdv’s biggest mistake was hitching his bok coaching hopes to John Smit, Victor Matfield, and Fourie du Preez’s hopeless star dust wagons.
By capitulating to this senior player coaching shenanigan he basically sold out his own vision and went along with this dismal senior player coach delusional expertise all the way to the inevitable chopping block. Now its come, as it was bound to do. He should never have listened to these ignorant doose and persued his vision of total rugby. This kick and chase kak by sounds of it was Smit, Matfield, and Du Preez with perhaps Muir and Gold in unison calling the JW sing along tune for a ‘return to Sa strengths’ ****.
Well such are the rewards for selling out on a principle. Smit, Matfield, Du Preez, Smith. Who’s carrying the can now? Yeah its Pdv the one who sold out to you fools.
Wield the goddamn whip and start culling these overrated idiots or you going down clutching their overrated coat tails. They going to sink you as they go down cause you weren’t brave enough to put them in their place when they called for the revolutionary palace revolt last year.
Give Keo and Rich and those like Mike h and the crowd their way and you are simply mince meat in their Whiter than White propaganda machine. Kick out and defend yourself and start calling the shots. Drop some these prima donna’s before they get their way and drop you.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
to change the subject…
Of the internationals this weekend how many tries were scored by NH teams and which team scored them.
In fact how many tries have the NH teams scored in the last few weeks.
Do spectators in the NH want to pay for tryless matches.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Sometimes you gain more from losing than winning. 3 things we know and have now that we didn’t when we raised the 3N:
1 – BJ Botha is an important weapon. Must use him come WC time, whether from the bench or starting – play the horses for courses.
2 – Ruan Pienaar needs to be groomed at flyhalf, we need 2 different players in this position. Also Kirchner grew a lot this tour and Bekker benefited immensely.
3 – This is not a tour for Veterans, we must rest our stars next year and get Prof Noakes involved.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
@cab:
It all depends on the draw, actually. If you look at this year’s Tri-Nations, New Zealand spent 40 hours in the air in total prior to their final match; Australia spent 33 hours in the air in total prior to their final match; and South Africa spent 23.5 hours in the air in total prior to their final match.
A lot depends on the draw.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
@wallabie.:
come come, playing in aus for nz is like NZ plauing in a 3n conisting of SA and Zimboland – its not really travel or being away – you just pop next door.
but this year was particular bad for players like matfield and FdP and bakkies, they played in everything including a S14 final and semis. The canes gor drilled but did not contribute much to their squad, cos they got so much depth.
Look at oz, they dont even have a currie cup or nos, and they still lost to scorland and drew to ireland. do you think scotland or ireland will get close to oz in their normal season?
November 30th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
@skopskiet: Piet is outta his depth??
November 30th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
@wallabie.: Yes we struggle more from fatigue then you guys, this is largely because of our approach to the game. We tend to play more defensively and try to physically dominate. Tackling etc. takes its toll. Also having longer tours in the S14 and 3N also plays its part. So too did 3 very physical exchanges with the BI Lions.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
@Ratel Brussow (MSIUR): What about a new coach?
November 30th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
@cab:
I did not include aus other than to say we travel as well.
But NZ has to go to sydney and then to Joburg to travel…same distance as RSA has to travel.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I think PdV is an outstanding coach precisely because he has not made wholesale chsanges, he has also made many changes which have overthrown conventional thinking including selections like earl rose and the move of smit to 3 and beast to 1, which in their own way i dont think should be discounted at all.
unfortunately selections like raubdenheimer and maku, who both may yet make great players, as springboks were very ppor ones, especially when they have not even played any S14. That should be a prerequisite.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Pieta Div is an EPIC FAIL.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Love it…PDV said he needs to look to 2011.
I reckon he means that some older players need the chop.
I think this should have been done a year ago.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Why are we making excuses for players? Whether flying or fatigued; its your job! And if you are feeling tired or homesick then just like any other employee take some time off.
Problem is greed sets in or they’re afraid they’ll lose their spots to another player. So us the fans are subjected to sitting watching tired homesick millionaires run around the field doing nothing.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
@WP Till I Die: Actually more to the point SA played 3 games in consecutive Saturdays twice, whilst Aus and NZ only did this once each.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
@Ratel Brussow (MSIUR):
I would agree with that. RSA plays a more physical game especially in domestic games.
I dont the travel is a major factor as compared to the physicallity of the RSA game. Maybe that needs tweaking to get more players lasting longer.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
@Richie_7: Why are we making excuses for the coaches?
November 30th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
@cab: Yip, I think Frans would made a huge difference on Sat. Your kicking is everything at the end of the day
November 30th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
The team chosen on Saturday should have annihilated Ireland, easy, and they would have but for 2 dom doos idiot players who stuffed the entire momentum. Fourie Du Preez the darling of SA and Loftus Versveld and his 2Ic in tow Morne Steyn. That is where bok’s lost the test against Ireland, nowhere else.
What beats me is how palpably obvious it was to see them capitulate like a bunch of pathetic twats on the take. I’m starting to wonder if M. Steyn and Fdp aren’t perhaps subject to some betting syndicate coughing that game up on a plate like that. Surely when you eventually swing it out to your backs after kicking in the air failed the first 10 minutes and an easy try is scored through exposing Irish frailty at mid field, you continue on such course of action? So what the hell is wrong with these dumb doos idiots that even after scoring an easy try we revert to kick n chase **** the next 70 minutes incessantly without remorse and hand the g.damn momentum to the Irish on a gilt edged plate?
November 30th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
No the problem is developmental sides are being piucked rather than merit sides for these EOY tours, cos they are taken less seriously, and that is why when the results dont go to plan all **** hits the fan.
Tour wuth your best and you get different results.
Tour with development in mind, dont ***** when win 1 from 5.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
@Ratel Brussow (MSIUR):
It6 depends on the draw.
some years you will get 3 in a row and the next it is easier.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
@WP Till I Die: Haha. Nobody know but they should have changed their tactics when they werent working. Theres too much talent in the side to not have backup options
November 30th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
@skopskiet:
LMAO … a betting syndicate… you cant actually be serious,
November 30th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
The problem is not PDV but some of the so called rugby geniuses that we have not to mention God’s apparent gift to Boks FDP. How predictable now it is the Black coach who is out of his depth and the quota system to blame for the woes. It is a myth that Black players dilute the Bok strength. On the contrary we had our worst WC in 2003 with only 1 Black player and he was a star performer then. We would have won the Irish game if Adams was at scrumhalf.
Keo what happened to saying it as it is or is it that your head is also so deep up FDPs arse.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Why didn`t Pieta act when the ( HIS ) gameplan didn`t work?
He is ultimately responsible not?
November 30th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
All I want to know is, was Jake White sms’ing Matfield, du Preez and Smit from the (Irish equivalents of) bushes at the training sessions?
November 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
@wallabie.: The answer lies in not playing 3N boks in the CC. Its obvious but SA rugby are greedy little ********, just like everyone else.