Du Preez: ‘I almost quit’
1 Dec 2009
Fourie du Preez has decided to stay with the Springboks after admitting he had thoughts of retirement earlier this year.
Like Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana and John Smit, Du Preez is one of many stalwarts in the team that remains from the Boks’ victorious campaign at the 2007 World Cup and has been a star player for the world champions in 2009.
The Bok No 9 does, however, admit that he almost considered retiring at the end of this season because of personal reasons, but after a successful year, he now wants to be part of the Boks’ title defence at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
‘At the moment I’m really enjoying my rugby, and the atmosphere that has been created has brought out the best in my game,’ Du Preez told SuperRugby. ‘It was a difficult few months for me earlier this year, and a lot hinged on how things went. But the way I feel now I have a few good years in my. It wasn’t as if things weren’t good at the Boks in the past, but rather a case of whether I can reach my own goals and do better in my game.
‘A lot of us who were in the team that won the 2007 World Cup said we would make decisions after the Lions tour and take it from there,’ Du Preez said. ‘But the success we have had this year makes 2011 the next goal. If the year didn’t go so well, then my international career would be over right now.’
Du Preez has enjoyed a triumphant season with the Boks and Bulls, which has seen him win Tri-Nations, British and Irish Lions, Super 14 and Currie Cup titles in 2009. Many believe he should have received the IRB Player of the Year award, but he lost out to All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw.
These achievements have influenced Du Preez’s decision to stay.
‘I’ve really been happy with this season – it was definitely my best yet,’ said Du Preez. ‘I really gave a lot of thought to retiring at the end of this season. I was planning for a season or two overseas and wanted to get out of Pretoria, out of my comfort zone.
‘But the way things have gone made it difficult to contemplate quitting. The atmosphere that was set by the Springbok management was really wonderful. This Bok management is really some of the best ever and in that aspect I enjoy being part of the Springboks. They made it easier to make the decision.’
Du Preez’s contract at the Bulls expires in October 2010, but it looks certain that the scrumhalf will sign an extension to fulfill his 2011 World Cup ambitions.
433 Comments
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1 Dec 2009, 13:55 pm
How easy did Schalk score from a simple one two three ball down the back line draw the opposition pass into space easy as pie try. Simple as old tack nothing to it. Yet we proceeded to stuff it up into the air like nobody’s business thereafter. The kicking and hoisting and chase game is WRONG and was explicitly Wrong for Saturday plus it was palpably obvious just how WRONG it was after just 10 minutes on the field. Yet we couldn’t switch. Not between all these highly experienced World cup winning brilliant strategists could even one of Smit or Matfield or Du Preez or Burger fathom we losing this game by playing this dumb *** rubbish. SWITCH IT!
You seriously don’t need to be a brain surgeon to see that much. Idiocy of the utmost. Was watching these fools persist time and again with the same ridiculous nonsense. Set piece after set piece or even when winning it in the loose, boom up in the air it goes again straight into Kearney’s or Bowe’s or Bod’s grateful hands. Stupidity personified dom doos pathetic strategy that simply DONT WORK. not even at the best of times let alone up there in their own freezing back yard. STUPIDITY thats all it is nothing else. Don’t deserve to win when you simply that pathetically THICK.
1 Dec 2009, 13:56 pm
@cab:
I agree with you, there. Against Ireland after the first try, we then tired out our forwards with the constant chasing. My fear is, that by playing for mistakes by our opponents as a game plan, our backs lose their attacking instincts and rhythmn. Something that Jake battled with. What starts out as an attacking defence becomes a fear of attack.
When a team is so aware of capitalising on their opponents mistakes as a tactic, it’s only natural that they’d also develop an acute fear of making them themselves.
1 Dec 2009, 13:58 pm
@cab: cab don’t be daft mate, how is it a “dangerzone” when rob kearney is gobbling up everything and running @ us @ full pace & offloading to BoD who also breaks a few tackles and gets over the advantage line?
australia did the same thing to wales over the weekend. Do yourself a favour, go and watch new zealand’s second try scored by mils muliaina. he collects the ball from an up an under, runs it, off-loads to snakey who sends it wide to sivi who motors past the defensive line, fakes a kick pulls the ball to himself, fakes another kick (all of this done @ breakneck speed) & draws the cover defense then offloads to mills who is clear cut to home!
1 Dec 2009, 14:03 pm
nobody call me any names today please.
i am in a fine mood.
1 Dec 2009, 14:05 pm
@Transformation:
when i say dangerzone i am roughly talking about the field which is territorially divided into zones where teams do not want to see possesion turned or penalised.
the quality of the fullback has nothing to do with that and yes kearney is one of the best, he’s not dissimilar to andre joubert actually with that booming left torpedo.
comparing nz to us, is crazy, we have nz taped and love nothing better when mils runs it back – what we can do tho is watch how nz seem to cut thru these NH teams, which does involved their offload game which pdv also encouraged, but additonally the kiwis are winning their collisions, easily. i dont know if its mental or physical but they dominate upfront on these tours.
1 Dec 2009, 14:07 pm
@JL1: 239
All coaches, in all sports, have a pecking order. I’m sure if you go to PdV right now, he will be able to show you on his laptop who he regards as the best player in every position, who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc.
Now if he regarded Schalk as his best no.6 with HB the 2nd best, it only make sense that HB will only get a chance when Schalk is injured or suspended. It is than up to HB to prove to PdV that he must actually be first choice no.6 and not Schalk (like he did). The same would apply to Morne Steyn vs Ruan Pienaar.
Btw, did you regard HB as better than Scalk at the beginning of the season?
Hindsight can be a ***** sometimes.
1 Dec 2009, 14:07 pm
@Transformation: running rugby.
we dont have the flyhalf for it imo.
and yes, yes bulls fans, he has been great. thanks for all the penalties morne, but when you start missing them boykie, it is time for someone else.
ruan seems to evoke too much emotion from everyone (imo still the top flyhalf in south africa) so lets try JL Potgieter or……..uhm……earl rose?
1 Dec 2009, 14:08 pm
@rangerman:
ar*ehole.
1 Dec 2009, 14:08 pm
in fact, the kiwis well and truly bliksem the other packs.
perhaps the kiwis are the only team we get up for?
1 Dec 2009, 14:10 pm
Interestingly, according to Rugby Statsguru, Fourie du Preez only kicked the ball 8 times, and passed it 56 times. Clearly, most of his passes went to the loose forwards rather than the backline.
1 Dec 2009, 14:10 pm
when was the last time the springboks have strung more than 10 phases in a match? Pdv and his players have been sprouting that we’re world leaders with this kick & chase game plan, did they think the rest of the world wasn’t going to sit up & analyse it so as to negate it?
It is stupidity to continuosly kick & chase for more than 40 minutes of a game when the opposition is not conceeding any penalties from your kicking.
1 Dec 2009, 14:11 pm
very astute analysis by many of you above.
David, i think the “tiring the forwards out on heavy NH fields” is spot on.
but like so many bloggers, i can only wonder why our coaching staff didnt spot this as a possibility when all we have heard about before the test was “fatigue”?
and why didnt our captain or senior players respond with a changed gameplan when they could see it wasnt working (kick and chase, interminably…)?
1 Dec 2009, 14:11 pm
**** man certain things are just simply patently obvious like Fdp and M. Steyn f.ng up our chances on Saturday by reading the strategy totally wrong and kicking everything away.
Talk you highfalutin theories around breakdown dominance and refereeing interpretations all you like you clever strategists simply can’t see what is fundamentally clear as daylight in front of your eyes.
We lost that game already in first half when we KICKED every g.dam ball up in the air. God all f.ng mighty how emphatically thick can anyone be not to see the simply obvious in front of their eyes. Had Du Preez and Steyn passed the ball down the back line just like they did the one and only time we scored a try we would have piss easy walked that test. It was begging to get taken by the scruff of the neck and run them ragged. They would never have gotten their tails up nor would they have known wtf hit them if we simply kept the ball in hand and run at them from the start. They would have folded like a bunch of pansies on D day.
Rugby is not about clever strategies its about simple ones and also about using a certain amount of intuitive reckoning and not depending on stuck in the mud old hat dom doos out of date ridiculously passe open book strategies that oppo just love to take when we dishing it for free on a silver platter for them to lap up in their stride.
1 Dec 2009, 14:11 pm
the kick n chase is a shite tactic and needs to be cut down.
1 Dec 2009, 14:13 pm
@David:
1 Dec 2009, 14:13 pm
**** man yourself, talk about what is in front of your all-seeing eyes. I dont even know what you are talking about. there is nothing hyfalutin about the evidence which points to the most successful ever season for the Bulls and Boks which included M Steyn and FDP at halfback.
If these guys are so bad why did all their teams do so well?
answers that one, and we can talk about ****.
1 Dec 2009, 14:14 pm
@rangerman: @rangerman: I had a great weekend. All the teams I cheered for won. I am so relieved that Liverpool are in 5th. Gotta get into CL footie next year.
1 Dec 2009, 14:14 pm
What we need to sort out is that when we decide to run the ball that we get the ball to the backline players who are equipped to run with the ball.
Virtually everytime we ran it on Sat there was a prop, or a lock or a loosie standing in the backline resulting in movements being broken down.
We need to get this right !!!
The AB’s and Aus look more lethal when they run the ball because they allow the bacline players to run with it !!! We need to address this shortcoming , why is our backline littered with forwards ??
1 Dec 2009, 14:15 pm
@rangerman: hey you white quota of a mzingeli! I know you want smit @ 3, so go ahead and play him @ tighthead there by the sharks!
And if you play him there for the boks, we will be on auto-reverse i tell you and you can kiss the world cup goodbye
1 Dec 2009, 14:15 pm
@rangerman:
Howzit Sexy.
1 Dec 2009, 14:16 pm
@Transformation: we strung almost 10 phases together…in the last two minutes of the ireland test
1 Dec 2009, 14:16 pm
@rangerman:
Sorry, just couldn’t resist it.
1 Dec 2009, 14:17 pm
@rangerman:
Scottie?
1 Dec 2009, 14:19 pm
Skop.
I am very much enjoying your use of the “dom doos” phrase.
Carry on.
1 Dec 2009, 14:19 pm
@rossoneri: my dad and i were chatting on the phone on sun and he nearly caused temporary deafness by screaming ‘POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!! into my ear as they scored their second
but my sporting weekend was so shite i have no words for it.
at least i still have my health.
@Transformation:
i am NOT going down that road today you blerry stirrer lmao! (whisper….JS is THE GREATEST!!)
@Dawn: hello gorgeous!
1 Dec 2009, 14:20 pm
@Dawn: obray!
1 Dec 2009, 14:20 pm
i mean FDP and Steyn go and steamroller the S14, then they take the Boks to wins over the BIL and a 3N landslide, then they get the bulls into the CC final.
you right we must all be FOOLS.
i dont think i have heard such horsemanure in ages.
1 Dec 2009, 14:21 pm
@David: hehe, well i have been called worse……….
1 Dec 2009, 14:21 pm
@rangerman: Nooit! That was 5 only. Nowhere near 10.LOL!
1 Dec 2009, 14:22 pm
@cab:
Just clock on the block next to Skop’s name to answer him
1 Dec 2009, 14:24 pm
@rangerman: I was so relieved. We need a serious form injection at Merseyside. Ngog is ****. I can’t even stand looking at him. I am praying for Torres to be fit soon.
1 Dec 2009, 14:24 pm
@cab: FdP is all class cab.
no doubt there.
morne is a very good player but he excels within a very structured gameplan and is possibly not the key to unlocking our backline potential.
i guess he could just have had a bad tour and by no means do i advocate discarding him. i just think that on balance, he must surely be a candidate for bench duty if consistency is applied considering how ruan was dealt with?
1 Dec 2009, 14:26 pm
@Transformation: Does Ranger have a bromance with Smit at 3?
1 Dec 2009, 14:26 pm
@rossoneri: “i cant even stand looking at him”
i am very dissapointed actually. another season that started with hype and ends with nokkol!
kinda like the sharks i suppose.
1 Dec 2009, 14:26 pm
@rossoneri:
Your problem has been and will continue to be Benitez !!!
1 Dec 2009, 14:27 pm
Open your eyes its their in clear vivid colour on your TV screen Fdp and M. Steyn kicking all our hard won front foot ball AWAY up in the air for Kearney Bowe O’Driscoll and Co. to lap up in their stride and come prancing back down the field at us. Time and time and time and time again and again and again. How many times you got to see it before it SINKS in! Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, one hundred times, how many times before anyone realizes this dumb doos idiotic strategy Don’t Work! Or you need to get a replay on the big screen to notice?
Fdp, Smit, Matfield and M. Steyn coughed that game by NOT reacting to circumstances. I don’t care how many times they were successful with the passe strategy in the Sh with such open book idiocy but it was and remains very palpably obvious how it DONT work against France or Ireland or I seriously doubt would work against New Zealand or Australia again in a hurry. So somebody better switch strategies pronto or go down telling me how well it worked for Bulls or Bok’s before.
1 Dec 2009, 14:27 pm
in fact, they should make all you kenners bok coaches, what a royal f-up that would be.
the only good part, would be the post-match interviews explaining the losses: can you imagine the stream of artistic horseshit that would fullfil the role of excuses: syndicates, biased refs, player bashing, Jake White.
Mad.
1 Dec 2009, 14:27 pm
@Dawn: How does one make smily faces? I wanna join your tutorial.
1 Dec 2009, 14:28 pm
@cab: It would be great television!
1 Dec 2009, 14:29 pm
@rossoneri: i think he still has a part to play there Lil’ lady.
i also think that people are just too quick to make knee jerk quick fixes that can have results way beyond what was expected.
ag, i have to leave now.
i hope you all have a good day.
tjorts!
1 Dec 2009, 14:30 pm
@justrugby: We can’t afford to fire him! What to do?
1 Dec 2009, 14:30 pm
I have a sneaky feeling that PdeV will be ringing a few changes next year under the cover of “managing” his senior Boks. I don’t believe that he’s dropped his original vision of a more creative and skillful Bok side, it’s just that he couldn’t very well drop them wholesale after he realised that they couldn’t, or wouldn’t adapt.
Morne needs to get out from under FdPs shadow for a bit, and take the role of backline general and decision maker. Something that’s rather difficult to expect in his first season as a Bok. So look out for a few players who were surprisingly excluded from the EOYT being selected in the opening internationals next year.
1 Dec 2009, 14:32 pm
@rossoneri:
LOL…….that is a problem !!!
1 Dec 2009, 14:34 pm
@rangerman: Bye!
1 Dec 2009, 14:37 pm
@cab: i’m clearly on exactly what you refer to as the dangerzone, but it is only dangerous when the kicks are precise & accurate, not just skop & hope…
I just feel pdv is letting us down by abandoning the pursuit of that complete gameplan. I don’t think it is possible for a team to be multi-dimensional without compromising their core strengths!
It just seems some players are comfortable with being spoon fed and are scared of taking responsiblity. I’m sure if wynand had spread the one ball wide when we had a 3-man overlap we would’ve scored a try but clearly he didn’t look on his outside otherwise he would’ve never cut in the way he did!
1 Dec 2009, 14:43 pm
@Transformation:
It’s the “safety first” mindset that has to be broken. Unfortunately that can only come with confidence, which means a period of mistakes and possible losses. The ABs lost the 3N, but have come out of it a stronger and more confident team, the same with the Wobblies. PdeV hasn’t really had theat luxury, with the B&IL tour forcing him to cut down on his experimental period.
1 Dec 2009, 14:44 pm
@Transformation:
The Greatest will have a plan, i suspect it is not unlike that which David alludes to above, but he’s gotta be careful now cos the knives are out, if he picks a young team that get snotted in the 3n, he be staring down the barrel and all his supporters will also ditch him faster than you can say SWITCH.
when the boks lose, everything is hauled out. some been calling for the snr players to be dropped for years and they just keep racking up more and more honours.
1 Dec 2009, 14:45 pm
yeah what would have actually been clear is that had they adopted just some of the suggestion this kenner can see, no 49-0 drubbings or losses to Ireland or France. Like I said, you don’t need to be a strategic genius in rugby all you got to do is open your eyes and react to the circumstances. Its as easy as pie, nothing to it.
Selections and strategies, on a rugby field, nothing could be easier than this, and they make it into rocket science and lose.
Gut instinct is everything, kop toe quandaries mean sweet f’all. When push comes to shove its he who reacts best to the predicament, he’s the one that comes out smiling at the end. Keep your mind open and free, you may just get surprised yet.
1 Dec 2009, 14:47 pm
@rossoneri:
My favourite?
Type : evil : (no spaces in between)
1 Dec 2009, 14:49 pm
Am off to harrass Wakawaka.
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