Entertainment is winning
15 Mar 2010
The Bulls and Stormers are playing intelligent rugby, writes Keo in his weekly Business Day newspaper column.
There are good rugby times in SA — traditional times with the added allure that everyone is included in the festivities; not just a white minority.
The good news is that the Bulls (read Northern Transvaal) loom as giants of the game, while in Cape Town the Stormers (read Western Province) are rediscovering an ability to maul, scrum and play with pragmatism and flair. The northern-southern derby can’t come soon enough because it should be the game of the tournament and hopefully there’s a second one to come in the playoffs.
Both teams are playing the best rugby in the competition and, as the cliché goes, when the Bulls and Province are strong, so too is South African rugby.
The Sharks continue to frustrate themselves and disappoint their followers, but this is a province and now a Super 14 franchise that has rarely grown talent, but rather bought success, even though the millions spent on out-of-town superstars has yielded only one Currie Cup title in 15 years and not one Super Rugby title.
The Sharks, in the days when they were known as the Banana Boys for slipping on a peel every time they challenged for Currie Cup A-section status, never earned promotion to the Currie Cup through performance. It required a competition format expansion to accommodate the Durbanites, and when they finally made it into the big league of South African domestic rugby they proved the leaders in the era of shamateurism; that’s when the game was still amateur but the odd team treated it as professional and paid big money to build a team.
The Sharks were this team. They created a culture of expensive player imports, with the occasional dud buys. It could explain why the mercenaries of Durban have always teased more than pleased when it comes to winning competitions.
It is annoying to watch a team with so much resource fail so often. Watching the Sharks is like watching Real Madrid in the European Cup. They have the stars but too many of them have to be taught the local culture instead of being born into it, and in moments of stress there is a trend for these imports to stumble more easily than fight.
After all, the Sharks are a team for too many and a home for too few.
With the Bulls and Stormers there is enough emphasis on homegrown talent and the integration of big names is balanced with investment of locals.
Heyneke Meyer, after a turbulent start, returned Bulls rugby to its core values of power, precision and a kicking No 10. As the side grew and evolved, so did their all-round game. Where the Bulls have taught themselves to be expressive, the Stormers have allowed themselves to be taught to be conservative when the situation demands this kind of rugby intelligence.
Defence has always been a strength of SA ’s best teams, as has a forward-based game. Overseas commentators criticise it because their teams have little means to counter it. So they rely on the perceived fragile South African psyche and inferiority complex to condemn it as dinosaur rugby.
When South African teams try to play like Australian and New Zealand teams and base everything on attack, they invariably take a pasting (read the Lions) and it is no coincidence that they also become popular tourists because they pose no threat.
The Bulls, in the past five years, have lost this inferiority complex and the need to be liked. They do what works for them and not what will make them popular. The Stormers, with Allister Coetzee the hands-on influence in this year’s coaching set-up, have finally adopted a similar approach. Entertainment, says Coetzee, is winning. Supporters want a winning team and in Pretoria and Cape Town they currently have them. Long may both continue to win — and entertain.
Defence is 50 % of the game because half the game is played without the ball. South African supporters should take pride in matches won on defence and not irresponsible attack.
The Bulls and Stormers in the competition have played with intelligence and belief in their style of play, which has substance and is bringing success. The Lions, as gets written every week, have bought into the illusion that attack, regardless of its merits, is more important than the result.
– In the new issue of Business Day Sport Monthly magazine, FREE with this Friday’s newspaper, Keo explains why overseas-based players should be selected for the Springboks.
416 Comments
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15 Mar 2010, 23:17 pm
@Transformation: I hate it when the racists use it, and I think it demeans you. So don’t use it. Asseblief ou pellie.
15 Mar 2010, 23:18 pm
@Transformation: provincialism amongst others, a post-’08 Phillips isn’t a patch on FDP in terms of his all round game, he’s a big physical lump however. I don’t know about Carter, great playmaker, great decision-maker? not so sure.
@skopskiet: Smit is perhaps not the most mobile hooker right now, but he was certainly the most mobile test No.3 in the world last season. Liebenberg is playing well I agree.
15 Mar 2010, 23:20 pm
@charo: murdered us, and ended Shaun Perry’s test career. It’s rare you’ll find a player who is able to choose the right option and execute well over and over again.
15 Mar 2010, 23:21 pm
@Big Hit: Carter is unbelievable. As close to Barry Johnas we’ve seen since Barry-John. An he does more – he kicks for goal like a master.
What I would have given for Daniel Carter to have been South African over the last few years. Outstanding rugby player.
And by all accounts a good guy too.
With a hottie on his arm.
*******.
15 Mar 2010, 23:21 pm
@charo: i beg to differ…i have seen du preez flounder…
15 Mar 2010, 23:22 pm
@Big Hit: 350. And make it look so simple. That’s the difference.
It does not matter who leads the team FdP plays on, he always runs it.
15 Mar 2010, 23:24 pm
soda, da beaches in ghana damn fine marn.
plenty “cool spots” and da rasta boys always have good supply wee for da white boys
15 Mar 2010, 23:24 pm
@Transformation: Disregard the first year of the ELV’s, and in fact only the first games, thereafter he mastered it. Like no other.
The man is a rugby genius. Simple. Obvious.
15 Mar 2010, 23:24 pm
Scrumming is an 8 man sport…
15 Mar 2010, 23:25 pm
@charo: Don worrie about a ‘ting, every little ‘ting gonna be ol raait.
Gotta hand it to you. Big ask Ghana imo. But hey no show unless you go.
I have often loved reading guys posting from Syria, Mongolia, deepest darkest China, India.
15 Mar 2010, 23:26 pm
@gunther: That starts with 1,2,3. the unit. And actually usually with #3.
15 Mar 2010, 23:27 pm
Helloooo…..The only time I scrummed I hurt my ears!
15 Mar 2010, 23:28 pm
@carol: That couch rugby can be really dangerous. Defending your honor is tough business.
15 Mar 2010, 23:28 pm
@carol: ‘ello wee duck.
15 Mar 2010, 23:29 pm
@SodaJoe: It has been too long Soda!
Your Lions…..I go away for a week and the Lions go from bad to really quite drastically terrible!!
15 Mar 2010, 23:30 pm
@SodaJoe: #355 yeah right soda, what was carter doing with the same elvs? Putting 55 points on the blue bulls at loftus, where the usually frenzied crowd started leaving the stadium with 12 minutes left on the clock. Making excuses for a rugby mind hehehe
15 Mar 2010, 23:30 pm
@SodaJoe: No mixed rugby…..made me realise I was more of a fullback!! But a bit like Percy…..bad under a high ball!!
15 Mar 2010, 23:33 pm
Fdp got little to do with rugby brain. He’s got some natural instinct but not all that much brains. A good rugby brain would not have helped us lose 49-0 where Gregan had a field day with him just like a puppy with a rag doll. Or in our 19-0 hammering in Cape Town 2008. Same goes for our very ordinary showings in eoyt games vs France and Ireland where Fdp probably the chief orchestrator of the loss with his dumb fak up n unders all f.ng game long.
No sorry that ain’t no rugby brain thats just a 1 dimensional doos robot on overdrive.
You wanna see a rugby brain watch Genia rip him a new one when Bulls go to Brisbane later few games from now, and take a gander at Duvenhage showing the maestro genius how it actually gets done at Newlands later on. Then come talk again about immaculate rugby brains.
15 Mar 2010, 23:33 pm
@Transformation:
hi transie,
i had the priviledge of watching gareth edwards for the lions at newlands.
at the time, the best scrummie in the world by a long shot.
but, in the modern game, reckon fdp is as good.
i know the kiwi bloggers on keo rate him.
15 Mar 2010, 23:34 pm
@carol: Stop already. I have been pissed off for the whole weekend. And I didn’t bloody hold high hopes any way.
So, I can’t support a non-SA team. I support all SA teams when they play. But allegiance is different, being a true fan is a lifelong commitment. And that excludes:
The ******* Bulls – across teh river from us Handsome Devils and the home of Naas Botha & Doos v d Westhuizen. So no.
Having being pounded by Grey Bloem high school rugby players I am not supporting the Cheaters.
Sharks are too windgat in their speedos and peroxide hair. So I am above that.
Stormers are Sharks with peroxide and speedos under their cycling shorts. No handsome devil would cross that line.
I am left with Border – The Mighty Elephants.
And The Mighty Whites – another team giving me heartburn, but heartburn is better than heartache
15 Mar 2010, 23:35 pm
Soda
Barney just needs to get his mojo back
at the moment he looks like a zim farmer who has just heard his doorbell ring..
15 Mar 2010, 23:36 pm
@skopskiet: Duvenhage lol, you clearly favour the runner above all skoppie, but I think FDP deserves credit where it’s due, he can do it all.
15 Mar 2010, 23:36 pm
@SodaJoe:
joe, ghana is a soft landing by west african standards.
nigeria, on da udder hand…..is full on in your face non-stop aggravation.
had a posting there……ended up with a bleeding ulcer.
ghana is a coooool place bru. just a fading infrastructure
15 Mar 2010, 23:36 pm
@carol: 364. I am too kind to walk through all those open doors. Carol you have lost none of your naivete after all these years.
15 Mar 2010, 23:37 pm
@skopskiet: Ok. Let’s talk later then.
15 Mar 2010, 23:39 pm
@gunther:
hahahaha….sad but true
15 Mar 2010, 23:39 pm
@SodaJoe: Soda, have you been quoted in the ‘Bloggers Section in S.A Rugby recently?
That is a great summing up of your teams!
You are caught between a rock and a hard place!
15 Mar 2010, 23:43 pm
@SodaJoe: You are a bad, bad man….I would never have noticed that!!
15 Mar 2010, 23:43 pm
@gunther: 368. Having you bell rung every time you play will do that to you.
I don’t think John’s dof, I think he knows he’s done and i suspect he will retire gracefully at the end of S14. And he will still be a legend in my book.
15 Mar 2010, 23:47 pm
must remember to not type the name of the country where n*ger*ans come from.
always gets “moderated”
typed such a nice long post to soda…..for nothing in the end
15 Mar 2010, 23:47 pm
@carol: 373. I am too scared of Skops to show my face on any other blog.
To be called a fukadilly do wally no good for nothing yabba dabba diddly squat snake in the grass is hard for any man to handle.
15 Mar 2010, 23:48 pm
@charo: Yeah baby. Take that. Roy is my mate.
15 Mar 2010, 23:50 pm
@charo: look i rate fdp, that’s why is still don’t like giteau for what he did to him @ newlands last year, i just don’t fall for the whole hyperbole of the best rugby mind on the planet stuff. I reckon it’s a lot of bullsh*t baffling brains.
15 Mar 2010, 23:51 pm
@SodaJoe: 361. And here we go again – Smit is not a bad 3. He holds his own against most at 3 and is better than most at 2, but he brings more to the Boks than just the attributes of those positions. He is the most successful Springbok Captain of all time – probably the most successful Captain of all time full-stop. He is trusted by successive Bok coaches which says a lot for the man. So this anti-Smit hysteria/propaganda/tall-poppy syndrome needs to be deconstructed for what it is. At the moment his form isn’t great and he does lack conditioning, but as we al know form is temporary and class is permanent
15 Mar 2010, 23:51 pm
@SodaJoe:
actually it was a very informative post – could have made national geographic if there was a wide awake journalist around
15 Mar 2010, 23:52 pm
@skopskiet: 368. What has Genia won?
15 Mar 2010, 23:53 pm
@Transformation: I think Matt Giteau is also a brilliant rugby player. Unfortunately, unlike Dan Carter, he lives up to his name – he is a git. An absolute doos.
15 Mar 2010, 23:54 pm
@SodaJoe: haven’t seen Roy over here is ages!!
15 Mar 2010, 23:57 pm
@Transformation:
hey, i’ve seen fdp have shockers.
just like i’ve seen messi not at his best.
top sportsmen are like that.
but watched ernie smoke the field at wgc last night – what a golfer (until tiger comes back maybe)
15 Mar 2010, 23:58 pm
@Heavens Game: Bud. Most know me as not being that hyperbolic. Ok, I am quite hyperbolic. But quite rational when it comes to rugby players. I just want to win. And all I asked lasy year was to win B&IL series and beat NZ twice on the wya to winning the 3N. So thanks be to the rugby gods.
Again, rugby is a tough game, it is physically sapping and becoming increasingly so, not least of all within the front row.
So despite John’s history as a legendary player and captain, it means bugger all on the field, and every sportsman knows that one thing surpasses class is time. Time. Simple.
He’s done his time and his body is not up to it anymore – as a hooker.
He was always kak at 3.
16 Mar 2010, 00:00 am
@charo: I typed 3 posts today that have been moderated – something about the Sharks and mentioning Straeuli, Van Zyl – nothing derogatory and still can’t figure out why. Was replying to Rangerman.
16 Mar 2010, 00:01 am
@Heavens Game: 382. aye
16 Mar 2010, 00:02 am
@Heavens Game: #380 i know @Big Hit has a big Geordie grin on his face right now thinking, “yes, let these crazy south africans take john smit to the wc next year, england will demolish them superbly”…
Who remembers an article on keo last year, where stephen jones [i think it was] was mocking the Springbok scrum? I mean, since when has the Bok scrum been a subject for ridicule…come on okes..
T
16 Mar 2010, 00:03 am
@Heavens Game:
frustrating.
why would the country name n*g*r*a be moderated for crying in a bloody bucket?
is it too close to n*gger?
16 Mar 2010, 00:04 am
@Transformation: aye
16 Mar 2010, 00:04 am
@charo: 390. And I’ve called you a cnut and nothing happens. Why is that?
16 Mar 2010, 00:06 am
@SodaJoe: 389. Yeah, done his time like all Bok captains – knives are drawn and put firmly between the shoulder blades way before it is the time they should go… And then the next generation under their new Capatin go through the whole learning curve.
A captain is important to a Rugby team – great teams have great Captains. The Boks are a great side and Smit is a great captain. Long may it last, beacause with him at the helm the Boks have a better chance of winning the WC than without him.
16 Mar 2010, 00:06 am
@Transformation:
i think big hits point was that there are only 8-10 scrums in a game but at least 5-6 x that many rucks.
so the difficult part is finding the balance between dominating a few scrums versus winning the breakdowns
16 Mar 2010, 00:07 am
@charo: 393. Niagra works
16 Mar 2010, 00:08 am
@SodaJoe:
**** me soda, you really are on a roll today.
must have had a great weekend
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