Chiliboy’s been cheated
25 Aug 2010
RYAN VREDE is utterly disgusted at the raw deal Chiliboy Ralepelle has been given.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers deplores the suggestion that Ralepelle is nothing more than a token selection to appease those appeased by that sort of thing. How does he justify that he isn’t when his actions reinforce that view?
There is, and will continue to be, debate about whether Ralepelle merits selection on ability alone. That isn’t the point of this argument. De Villiers has selected him and in doing so implies he rates him and is committed to using him.
Ralepelle played 56 of a possible 400 minutes in 2009. In 2010 that figure has risen to 160 of a possible 320 minutes. On the surface the latter figure seems acceptable for a second-choice hooker, but eliminate 79 minutes against Italy in East London and 17 minutes in Witbank and you begin to see a different picture. Consider also that he would probably have not have had more than 10 minutes against France had John Smit not been injured (he played a full half and impressed).
De Villiers said after that Test it was the first time since the start of his tenure that he trusted his bench. Ralepelle was obviously an exception because he subsequently got two minutes in a losing cause against New Zealand in Auckland, eight in a similar situation in Wellington, eight in Brisbane against Australia and zero in Soweto, where he watched a physically exhausted Smit crawl through his 100th Test and miss the decisive tackle of the match.
De Villiers’ commitment to Smit knows no bounds, which is partly understandable given that he travelled to Clermont to get him back in the Springbok fold in 2008. At this point it seems that De Villiers would instruct his medical staff to strap a wooden peg onto Smit should he somehow lose a leg, slap him on the arse and send him to war. He’d then spend the match formulating an excuse for Smit’s struggles and get his conditioning team to tell the media that wooden pegs actually make you go faster.
I don’t share the view that Smit is finished. I do, however, believe that he needed to be rested for the two Tests against the Wallabies, then be put on a specifically tailored conditioning programme during the four-week camp the contracted Springboks will embark on following the Tri-Nations.
That would have given Ralepellle two matches against world-class opposition to establish his credentials as a Test hooker. Bismarck du Plessis could have been eased into action off the wood and all three players (Smit included) would have benefited.
After 14 Tests and four years we still only have a vague idea of what Ralepelle can offer. This is utterly unacceptable. Jake White is partly culpable for this, and his coaches at the Bulls must accept some responsibility. But De Villiers, who in 2008 told the media that Ralepelle would have been his first-choice hooker had he not been injured, must shoulder the bulk of the blame.
And the future doesn’t look bright for Ralepelle either. If one considers how deeply De Villiers lamented Du Plessis’ injury-enforced absence, and how little faith he has shown in Ralepelle in the biggest matches, the Sharks man is likely to be Smit’s deputy for the foreseeable future. This will leave Ralepelle third in line at the Boks and under immense pressure from the likes of the dynamic Tiaan Liebenberg.
I recall an informal conversation with Ralepelle earlier this year, just before the June internationals. He said that for the first time since 2006 he was enjoying his rugby. He said he felt confident. He said he no longer felt like he was being used to make up the numbers. He was optimistic about his Springbok future.
I’d venture to suggest that his point of view has changed dramatically. This at the hands of a coach who prides himself on his honesty and man-management. Pathetic.
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535 Comments
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25 Aug 2010, 10:06 am
Side-Lined Dragon
25 Aug 2010, 10:07 am
wood ridind dragons!
25 Aug 2010, 10:10 am
fully agree with Ryan.
25 Aug 2010, 10:13 am
ryan! This is classic sh*t my man!!! You’re on fire this morning boyeee!
De Villiers’ commitment to Smit knows no
bounds, which is partly understandable
given that he travelled to Clermont to get
him back in the Springbok fold in 2008. At
this point it seems that De Villiers would
instruct his medical staff to strap a wooden
peg onto Smit should he somehow lose a
leg, slap him on the arse and send him to
war. He ’d then spend the match formulating
an excuse for Smit’s struggles and get his
conditioning team to tell the media that
wooden pegs actually make you go faster.”
25 Aug 2010, 10:14 am
You can’t blame the player for been selected and you can’t expect the player to turn down the oppertunity to wear the green & Gold. I aggree it’s the coach and selectors fault. I do feel Craig Burden and Bandise Maku are way better then him though.
25 Aug 2010, 10:19 am
@grant10(grant10)-3: Plod stole chili’s gps now the conditioning people think chili is the slapgat who is unfit, it’s an open secret.
25 Aug 2010, 10:20 am
10th best hooker in SA … he can consider himself lucky that he even has 1 Bok test cap …
25 Aug 2010, 10:24 am
Is Ryan Vrede only disgusted because Chilli is black….I think so. What about being disgusted at a vodacom cup player coming straight into the Bok squad Ryan.
25 Aug 2010, 10:24 am
He shouldnt have even been there in the first place.
Liebenberg, Botha, Maku, Burden, Strauss… the list goes on.
Also, where are all those clowns that were shouting about Hougaard the quota? Tranny and Skoppie and Xhosakid I think.
i dont think we’ll be hearing much from them on that subject for a while.
25 Aug 2010, 10:27 am
Speaking of Quota’s – would someone be good enough to resolve a Kiwi post match argument from the weekend…. Is there a formal race quota requirement for the Springbok team?
25 Aug 2010, 10:33 am
@Oval Ball Tart(Oval Ball Tart)-10: Yes. An all-white team is totally unacceptable.
25 Aug 2010, 10:33 am
seems that almost 78 % of bloggers want smit to retire after Tri Nations.
Thats remarkable.
25 Aug 2010, 10:34 am
22 bok players have to be saffas….thats the quota.
25 Aug 2010, 10:35 am
Raw chilli?
It’s enough to make your eyes water…
25 Aug 2010, 10:39 am
@Oval Ball Tart(Oval Ball Tart)-10: Based on this weekends team, we know it is 2 at the max in the starting XV.
25 Aug 2010, 10:39 am
So the ‘quota’ for the Boks is an ‘understanding’ as opposed to a legal requirement?
25 Aug 2010, 10:39 am
@Oval Ball Tart(Oval Ball Tart)-10: Dah? Would you play Chilli, Januarie, Kirschner in your national squad?
25 Aug 2010, 10:40 am
@JKBridge(JKBridge)-5: Totally agree. The only one blameless is Chili.
25 Aug 2010, 10:44 am
It’s jst sad that a talented rugby player hardly plays any damn rugby anymore… Completely mismanaged
25 Aug 2010, 10:45 am
@John Galt(John Galt)-9: doos, i acknowledged hougaard shutting me up proper on saturday already, he took his chance and did well. Good for him and the Bokke…now pdv must give the woodrider Chili the same chance to prove himself against his detractors!
25 Aug 2010, 10:49 am
@Oval Ball Tart(Oval Ball Tart)-16: there’s no legal requirement…
25 Aug 2010, 10:52 am
Wonderful article Ryan, take a bow son!
Chilliboy has become a latter day Hanyani Shimange and he really needs to ask himself some serious questions about missing an entire Currie Cup season to go sit on the Bok bench. Smit’s legs were finished at about 60 minutes during Saturday’s game and his missed tackle on Nonu showed this. If P Divvy doesn’t believe in Chilli enough to put him on for 20 minutes in a game then as Chilli I’d take it as my cue to exit. This business of Smit not being substitutable because of his leadership is an insult to the other senior players in the team.
25 Aug 2010, 10:57 am
@John Galt(John Galt)-9: I wouldn’t get too upity about Hougaard – you are only as good as your last game.
25 Aug 2010, 11:02 am
@Oval Ball Tart(Oval Ball Tart)-16: Jake White, in his “Black and White” book, makes it clear that quotas continue to exist at all levels of South African rugby. They’re no longer written down into law at national level, because there’s simply an acceptance that this so-called transformation is a pre-requisite to anyone applying for and accepting the job as head coach and an expectation that so-called players of colour, especially Black African players, like Ralepelle are encouraged into and included in the match-day 22. Serious pressure is constantly exerted from politicians through the national sports council which filters down to SA Rugby’s administration and national team coaches who do not buy into this understanding or don’t evolve squad’s quickly enough would be out of a job. Short and simply, but sad really!
25 Aug 2010, 11:03 am
I think Pdv got a plan to show the world that Springbok rugby is better off with quotas. He wants to embarass Frans Steyn and JF as well as us the White people of South Africa by exposing our beloved sons in hard to win games.
I will insist that an All White team play Italy after the 3N’s so that we can win handsomely and restore our pride as a Volk
25 Aug 2010, 11:03 am
Slow news day Ryan? Just retreaded an article already flogged to death on this site?
25 Aug 2010, 11:04 am
@garth(garth)-17:
I’d select Chilli Boy for his name alone!
We had a Safa for dinner, he provoked quite an, er, ‘discussion’ (what does ‘kak’ mean exactly?), by claiming there was no such thing as a quota for the Bok, that whatever anyone said, there was no requirement at all for any particular ‘quota’ at Bok level.
If that is so, it must be gutting for players of colour selected on merit to always be subject to the implication they are there purely on political grounds.
But then there are obviously other pressures – and it’s probably beyond us Kiwi’s to fully understand all those.
Re. Test at weekend. For what it’s worth, the consensus (Safa aside) was that the Bok played with enormous spirit. No one enjoyed watching John Smits wife crying. We know how it feels.
25 Aug 2010, 11:04 am
@Diegees(Diegees)-25: LOL
You a maljan boet!
25 Aug 2010, 11:06 am
@Oval Ball Tart(Oval Ball Tart)-27: i hope Mrs Matfield doesent do a similar cry this sat!
25 Aug 2010, 11:07 am
like habana ..he has k@k games for the boks against NZ etc .. then he has a blinder against Fiji, Argentina etc ..
25 Aug 2010, 11:10 am
@KeyserSoze(KeyserSoze)-24:
Thanks for the reply. However you sort these mind boggling issues…we just long to always see the best possible Bok team on the field. Good luck with that.
Better go and sort out a minor scuffle among future AB’s….
25 Aug 2010, 11:10 am
17& 11.. We should let a quotaless Springbok team play the NZ maori and show the world which volk is baas
25 Aug 2010, 11:14 am
diegees … didn’t the Blue Bulls do that in the Super 14 in the last 3 – 5 years?
25 Aug 2010, 11:15 am
@Oval Ball Tart(Oval Ball Tart)-27: it should be equally gutting for white players who get included in the Bok team when they clearly don’t deserve it, don’t you think?!
Jake white had a lot of them in time – 32yr old Andre Snyman, Jaco van der Weshuyzen at flyhalf’, Meyer Bosman!
25 Aug 2010, 11:16 am
@Diegees(Diegees)-32:
NZ Maori v The Volk? – that would be a match!
25 Aug 2010, 11:17 am
All this nonsense could have been avoided had all the pro-transformation (racists) had not propelled him to his doom. Heyneke Meyer (Rightful Bok coach 2008) had a plan for him, but South Africa doesn’t like development, only window dressing, thus pushing and pushing and destroying him. Well done, because a player that really did have potential (Unlike the other nonentities like Jacobs et al) has been destroyed. What a bunch of chops.
25 Aug 2010, 11:19 am
@Oval Ball Tart(Oval Ball Tart)-27: I think race is just one consideration in the selection process. The days are past of having to have 3 or 4 or 5 non-whites at international or provincial level, although there were apparently quotas at age group levels until recently.
I think most unions in South Africa, and most coaches understand that it is in their best interest to develop non-white talent, but the fact is, there is plenty of talent coming through in South Africa for quotas not to be officially needed.
Quotas are a pretty miserable situation as any non-white player who has a bad game is immediately called a quota. A player like Kirchner had an excellent Super 14 – top 2 fullbacks in South Africa, although he has struggled at international level. He is immediately called a quota.
“Kak” means how delightful – use it in a sentence! (Don’t really – it means ****)
25 Aug 2010, 11:20 am
@WOLFMAN21(WOLFMAN21)-37: Sh it
25 Aug 2010, 11:21 am
From what I see there is a clear indication of who are first choice players, and who are bench players.
Chili is the latter.
The opinion to rest Smit is just that, an opinion. The fact that we might share that opinion still only makes it an opinion.
And Vrede, that is just your opinion…
The one whose opinion counts and will live or die (figuratively) is Peter de Villiers, not you – which makes this article – pathetic…
25 Aug 2010, 11:22 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-34:
You missed what Jake did, because you are trying to twist the facts to make a racist point. Jake called up previously capped players to fill in for injured/rested front line players, rather than handing out cheap caps… you know, like de Villiers? Thus he added value in the Bok jersey, value which has started closing in on toilet paper the last three years. And the likes of Jaco were the best available at the time, we never had the depth like we do now. We never had a 2nd test wing for most of Jakes reign, only on the eve of WC did JPP get the nod (a big risk at that time), Back in 2004-2006, it was either Jaco or Pretorius as Butch was barely injury free those years. No, your argument is heavily flawed, the more I delve into the pesky finer details, the more it falls flat on its face.
25 Aug 2010, 11:26 am
@WOLFMAN21(WOLFMAN21)-37:
Again blame your politicians, that create a racist system that is going to obviously tar everyone with the same brush. It’s totally stupid and thoughtless. The sad case for Kirchner is that he is one of many players that is struggling to function under a simpleton/madman that just can’t coach. He’s taken so much flak, but much of it is not warranted. Poor git.
25 Aug 2010, 11:26 am
33,35,36… You ouens are my heroes .. The quotas want to take our woman. We must stop them. Btw,33.. The bulls are not pure volk. 80% only. Somebody needs to sort that out
25 Aug 2010, 11:26 am
@Alucard(Alucard)-36: this whole ‘development’ angle i really don’t get because now we will here that pat lambie has ‘bok written all over him’ but elton jantjies still needs to ‘develop’. Develop what exactly?
25 Aug 2010, 11:27 am
@Alucard(Alucard)-40: Really? White gave Tim Dlulane a 2min cap. 2 years beofre Dlulane was in fact probably one of the stand-out flankers before his neck suffered.
25 Aug 2010, 11:27 am
Chilli should/must feel very insecure, because he havent proven anything at the highest level (S14) before the international step up.That must be at the back of his mind.
So I have no sympathy for him. He did not deserve to be there. PDV screwed him, the first time he picked him, discarding other top S14 hookers, who deserved to be in the match 22. If the kid allows PDV to help ruin his career, then so be it.
25 Aug 2010, 11:28 am
@WOLFMAN21(WOLFMAN21)-37:
Ooops, and I had started using ‘kak’ whenever possible in everyday conversation. My kids thought it was rather cool that i had introduced a novel bit of street slang….
Thanks for the info…really must go and sort out escalating feud between future AB’s. Where’s that red card?
25 Aug 2010, 11:30 am
@Alucard(Alucard)-40: however you try to dress it up son! Bobby SKinstad, Ashwin Willemse both didn’t deserve to be at the world cup but because they were Jake’s favourites they both went but only Ashiwn will be singled out as not being there on merit! I’ve heard and seen it all before!
25 Aug 2010, 11:30 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-43: The problem is taht the system means that talented non-white players need to be treated with more care to avoid another chiliboy situation, for example. There have been a number of talented black players ruined because coaches wanted to window dress. If Lambie doesn’t perform people will say he is too young, and should play Currie CUp and Super 14 first, if Jantjes doesn’t perform, people will say he is a quota, and should never have been selected.
25 Aug 2010, 11:32 am
@Oval Ball Tart(Oval Ball Tart)-46: If they are future ABs, give them another final warning!
25 Aug 2010, 11:35 am
Ryan you are a disgrace to rugby journalism. Smit is very much finished and Ralepelle isn’t even in the top 10 hookers in the country. F.u.c.k I hate your articles. Out of principal I will not buy the next SA Rugby Magazine
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