Baa Baas need more time
4 Dec 2009
Nick Mallett says the Barbarians can’t be expected to topple the top nations with so little time to prepare.
The ultra-competitive South African has been tasked with coaching the Baa Baas side to face the All Blacks on Saturday. After two practices, he told stuff.co.nz he’s not that confident of an upset at Twickenham.
‘It’s quite difficult when you are getting players who have never played together. Even though individually they are really good it’s trying to get a little bit of a framework on attack and defence.
‘Australian defensive systems are not the same as South African defensive systems, lineout calls are comprehensively different. The prop has never seen the hooker and the loosehead props never seen the tighthead prop before in his life.’
Mallett said the set-pieces will be a problem, as individuals can’t compete against well-drilled units.
‘You get a guy like [Victor] Matfield who has 20 minutes of lineouts and hoping to win 80-90 percent of your ball, which is what you need to be competitive. That’s the sort of difficulties in this game in terms of organisations and that’s to the benefit to the All Blacks.
‘Even though their team hasn’t played together much they have been involved in the All Blacks set up on tour for six weeks and they are clear about their structure and organisation.
‘I think individually if this Barbarians team were given six weeks on tour and we were playing this All Blacks team I’d say we would probably be firmly favourites for the game.’
Mallett described the first training run as ‘a shambles’ but believes they have already improved after the second practice.
‘Today was a bit better and it finished nicely, so I think there is a feeling among the guys that they want to do well on Saturday.
‘I think the players are mature enough to realise that if they are not up for the game they will get a thrashing. Australia beat the Barbarians in Australia by 50 points and that can happen with a scratch team that’s a bit casual in their approach.
‘We really have to hope this team won’t be like that. The individuals who have been picked are competitive and they don’t want to make fools of themselves, so hopefully we perform well.’
36 Comments
4 Dec 2009, 09:33 am
kiwis by 20
4 Dec 2009, 09:42 am
@grant10: kiwis by 40
4 Dec 2009, 09:46 am
well the ba bas did beat the boks so it is possible
4 Dec 2009, 09:51 am
Lower expectations Nick. Its a Baabaas game. Of course its difficuilt.Just go out there and throw the ball around and everyone will be happy.
Back in the day the Baabaas were simply a defacto Lions side with the odd frenchman thrown in and they were a tough opponent
Nowadays they are much more of a mixed bag with a healthy dose of SH players in the mix.
Its all about the entertainment. Of course the AB fans will hate to lose but it should be played in the right spirit to celebrate Rugby Union.
4 Dec 2009, 09:55 am
@lapoftherugbygods:
Nick will never lower the expectation ………..he’s far to competitve……..which is a good thing !!
4 Dec 2009, 10:11 am
@justrugby: seems most saffas happy to lower standards, hence our turbo reverse scrumming!
4 Dec 2009, 10:15 am
@grant10:
Mostly the “blaasoppie” brigade !!
4 Dec 2009, 11:00 am
@justrugby:
howzit jr.
having lived in durbs you should know that the word is “toby”…because it looks like a toby jug. mean front teeth though.
blaasoppie is an afrikaans word from the cape. more descriptive i suppose.
4 Dec 2009, 12:19 pm
Is the game being televised by SuperSport? what channel what time.
4 Dec 2009, 12:35 pm
If both Teams play to a combination of the “Barbarian spirit”, and their “Team Strenghts”. We can ask no more.
Personally, I would like to have seen a lot more Northern Hemisphere players in the Baa Baas.
4 Dec 2009, 13:02 pm
@Observer:
Game not televised on SA TV.
4 Dec 2009, 13:15 pm
Oh no, can’t believe they aren’t showing match!!!!
4 Dec 2009, 14:15 pm
@PissAnt: Game is on BBC One, if you get that in SA you can watch it. Is BBC 1 not one of the DSTV channels?
4 Dec 2009, 14:17 pm
@PissAnt:
Seriaas?
4 Dec 2009, 14:56 pm
Baa Baas should go on a lions type tour once every 4 years… would be awesome. Not sure how they would find the time though.
4 Dec 2009, 15:00 pm
Just after they won the World Cup in 2007 nogal….seems the boks are shite when summer comes, period…..
4 Dec 2009, 19:53 pm
It’s a second string AB team..what’s he complaining about. If you’re not expecting to even topple this AB team then you should never have accepted the position to coach in the first place.
4 Dec 2009, 23:47 pm
Nick’s smoke and mirrors, Kiwis might fall flat on this one!
5 Dec 2009, 08:05 am
Mallet you donce, typical Saffa coach making excuses. Remember how Jake White picked an all stars baa-baa team to face a very young and inexperienced Aussie team and the Aussies won through unbelievable commitment and defense.
It is only plonker teams like the boks that make excuses about fatigue – hell the boks even lost to the baa-baas last time we played against them.
FYI – I am a Bok fan but this EOYT has caused me to be very angry at how things are run in bok land.
During the 3N – I called the Aussies and ABs a bunch of w@nkers because they said the boks played; “boring, kick and chase rugby” – BUT now I have to agree with them 100%.
When my team, WP – lost to the Bulls in the Semi of the CC, I could not believe how dour the Bulls brand of Rugby was and I hated losing to them as WP were looking like the better team on the day.
PDV – I’d rather the boks lose trying to be more expansive than lose anyway playing “kick and chase”
we need change – I agree with the rest of the world’s comments about Bok rugga. !!
5 Dec 2009, 09:27 am
I cant find this game in the TV guise… Anyone know if its going to be on Supersport?
5 Dec 2009, 11:48 am
Can someone please tell me what station on DSTV I can watch the Barbarians vs New Zealand at 14:30, I can’t seem to find it anywhere on the schedule?
5 Dec 2009, 11:53 am
@steeve: Hi dude, did you find out?
5 Dec 2009, 12:18 pm
@kabatzg: 22 – Kabatzg, I don’t see it scheduled on dstv. Really don’t understand why we are not getting this game? We get just about all the rugby and now the last big game of the year we are not getting. With so many saffas in the side and the Captain being a saffa, you would have thought Dstv whould be showing it.
5 Dec 2009, 12:30 pm
It isn’t being shown on supersport which is a downright disgrace…… I urge everyone who is similarly pee’d off about it to phone the Supersport Hotline number 0860002222 You will only get a teleoperator who obviously didn’t make the decision but at least Supersport will know they pee’d off a hell of a lot of people.
Please phone…..
5 Dec 2009, 15:28 pm
radiosport co nz will broadcast a commentary
5 Dec 2009, 16:55 pm
they are showing a guiness premiership match later this evening … wtf!
5 Dec 2009, 16:56 pm
i think we need more blacks @ supersport…then maybe they’ll show rugby. SABC would’ve showed it …. at least with them you dont pay R550 for repeats & k@k sport
5 Dec 2009, 17:02 pm
7 – 10 Try Corey Jane created a try.
Kiwis beat Fiji 19-0
5 Dec 2009, 17:03 pm
Fourie blows a big chance.
5 Dec 2009, 17:18 pm
Keo check this out! Dubai Sevens final. NZ v. Auckland (aka Samoa)
5 Dec 2009, 17:18 pm
Habana second try.
5 Dec 2009, 17:19 pm
Donald must be the worst flyhalf ever to play for NZ i cant think of a worse one.
5 Dec 2009, 17:27 pm
Dan Carter was pretty bad @ 32
5 Dec 2009, 19:13 pm
@Xhosaskid:
6 Dec 2009, 23:28 pm
@klippies101: That was a helluva Baa-baas team.
@brains_trust: i think Saffa coaches and fans got it wrong – it was not eth dour game that made them win. I twa their ability to switch between the 10 man and the running rugby that made them win.
7 Dec 2009, 09:40 am
@Xhosaskid: That’s funny Xhosakid, because SABC made it very clear a year ago that they don’t want anything to do with rugby.
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