Jean lauds leadership core
28 Aug 2010
Jean de Villiers credits the senior players and the character of this Springbok team for the come-from-behind win against Australia.
Saturday’s 44-31 victory over the Wallabies marked South Africa’s first success in the 2010 Tri-Nations. The Boks were down 21-7 early in the first half, but rebounded to finish the period trailing by 28-24. In the second stanza, they outscored Australia 16-3.
‘We’ve been through a lot this season, so to come through a game like that showed a lot of character,’ said De Villiers. ‘The leadership was fantastic, and with that win we showed why we’re still a good team.
‘At 21-7 down, John Smit told us that there were still 70 minutes to play. We believed we could still win, and ended up winning the next 70 minutes 37-10. We played for each other and showed a lot of pride. We’re the kind of team that will bleed for each other. We’ll lay our lives on the line.’
De Villiers admitted the performance was far from clinical, citing numerous errors for the Boks’ initial situation. The defence in the first half was diabolical with the Boks conceding four tries, but the hosts kept a clean sheet in the second half.
The result may have halted South Africa’s losing streak, although they still need to win in Bloemfontein if they’re going to retain the Mandela Plate. They made a breakthrough at Loftus Versfeld, but they’ll need to be more consistent next Saturday.
‘Once you’ve won one, you have to keep winning,’ said De Villiers. ‘It was becoming something of a negative spiral, but now that we’ve halted the losing streak, there is still some pressure. We’ve got to make sure we take another step forward next week.’
De Villiers enjoyed his best game of the season in Pretoria, and hopes the centre combination of himself and Jaque Fourie receive more opportunities to build on that form.
‘We’ve played 24 games together, which is not a lot considering we both have over 60 caps. But in those games, we’ve only lost three.
‘Personally, I’m happy to be back at 12. I think I went well against the All Blacks last week and having Jaque on my outside this week did have a calming influence.’
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14 Comments
28 Aug 2010, 20:59 pm
Bok dragon.
Much better second half. Getting back to his best slowly but surely.
28 Aug 2010, 21:57 pm
Fourie at 12, JdV at 13 anyone…?
Just throwing that out there…
29 Aug 2010, 00:44 am
C’mon Jean, you are not fooling anyone, it was meaningless Barbarian type rugby by two teams who are light-years behind the All Blacks.
29 Aug 2010, 01:15 am
Was a great game of rugby and a worthy fightback from 14-0 and 21-7 down.
29 Aug 2010, 08:47 am
candy floss rugby imo……the 1 st half was an absulute nighemare…..i remain rather unconvinced.
The highlights were the performance of chilli and Butch…..
29 Aug 2010, 08:52 am
@grant10(grant10)-5:
I agree. I said Chili and Roussouw brought some stability to the team. Although John was better he is well below international standard at present.
29 Aug 2010, 10:06 am
Lets not get too excited, Jean. This is the worst Aussie side in decades.
29 Aug 2010, 10:10 am
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-6: Smit must play Sat……retain the Mandela Trophy and then go sign with the Lions for the R4 m a year …..and assist them.
He doesent deserve to be near a biok jersey currently…..Chilliboy did more in 20 minutes than smit in 5 tests….
29 Aug 2010, 10:28 am
@seamus(seamus)-7:
Yet they beat us in Brisbane.
29 Aug 2010, 11:33 am
@I am a stormer(I am a stormer)-9: My thoughts exactly.
29 Aug 2010, 12:48 pm
the FatBoys’ Club always look out for each other! Even a young Bok team came back from a 20 point lead against Wales in june, big deal!
29 Aug 2010, 14:44 pm
@JD(JD)-2: Why? To ensure that you neutralise the strengths of both players with one move? Why don’t we just swap Victor Matfield and Morne Steyn around while you’re at it?
29 Aug 2010, 23:48 pm
@Mongril(Mongril)-12: Wells aid Mongril – JD you are a fool.
30 Aug 2010, 21:54 pm
Ou pap-kniee its time to hang up the boots. Youre slow and your defence is a joke!
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