Attitude adjustment
31 Aug 2010
JON CARDINELLI says Peter de Villiers needs to stop whinging about refereeing inconsistencies and address his side’s inability to compete for 80 minutes.
Contradictions are commonplace when De Villiers is sitting top table, but in Monday’s press conference, he delivered more than his usual quota.
Asked where it went wrong in this year’s Tri-Nations, the Bok coach rambled on about how unlucky the Boks were when it came to officiating on the Australasian tour. It was a statement that followed on from last Monday where he praised his players in a losing effort to the All Blacks, and lamented that ‘luck’ hadn’t gone their way.
No, Peter. You’ve lost four out of five games as well as the Tri-Nations title because in those defeats your team has been outplayed and you have been outcoached. Take it on the chin, learn from it, and move on.
Stop talking about luck and admit it: in the 2010 Tri-Nations, luck hasn’t been the deciding factor. The Boks simply haven’t been good enough.
He seemed to admit as much when he talked about attitude and intensity. He said he liked what he saw in the most recent clash against the Aussies. Question: Where was that intensity for the first three games, or indeed, the first half of the Test in Pretoria?
After the Australasian tour, De Villiers shrugged his shoulders and was at a loss to explain the results. He should have come clean and spoke about the drop of intensity, the lack of motivation, and why these things weren’t instilled before the tournament. He should have ‘fessed up to poor selections that undoubtedly played their part in a 0 from 3 return.
Instead, the public and media have been fed the trademark contradictions and gobbledygook. His supporters take the positive meaning from his statements and ignore the negative. Some of his critics take the negative and play down the positive. The rest of us look at these outrageous mixed messages and wonder how he can be allowed the job of coach and spokesman of the world champions.
And those messages aren’t all rugby related. In a moment of unprompted madness, De Villiers brought up the Bees Roux incident at Monday’s press conference. He had begun talking about how it was the duty of the Boks to give South Africans in unfortunate situations hope (it never occurred to him that winning is the Boks’ aim and hope is a byproduct) when he mentioned that the Boks are behind Roux 100%.
Why say something like that? It never occurred to any of the journalists to ask him about Roux, because you wouldn’t expect the coach to have a comment as it has nothing to do with the Boks. Saru are forever talking about sorting De Villiers out, but there’s no keeping his mouth in check.
He has obvious technical failings when it comes to rugby, failings that are overlooked when the player-driven system produces wins like it did in 2009. This year, those technical failings are certainly a concern. The Boks will get some important players like Fourie du Preez back from injury next year, but is it really worth going to the World Cup with a coach who isn’t up to the task?
Short- and long-term, do the Boks need this ongoing sideshow of mixed press-conference mumblings that make the organisation as a whole look incompetent? Do they need the extra pressure when they are already in a scrap to avoid the Tri-Nations wooden spoon? The answer is no, but I suspect Saru will continue to do nothing about this affliction.
De Villiers doesn’t bother about the criticism, mind you. ‘If you’re not for us, you’re against us,’ he says.
It’s a flawed kind of attitude, especially when you have a 1 from 5 record in the only tournament that matters outside the World Cup. Are you above criticsm with that kind of record? I suppose it’s just a bout of bad luck that’s led to the current situation then…
If Saru is intent on keeping De Villiers, they need to eliminate this attitude, and the sooner the better. A coach with a 1 from 5 record shouldn’t have much to say other than his team will do better in the next Test.
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129 Comments
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31 Aug 2010, 12:03 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-47: and the mighty WePee have been “awesomely” successful in the 90′s and 00′s…
31 Aug 2010, 12:04 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl(Brigadier Van Zyl)-24: the truth is spoken here in this post…
31 Aug 2010, 12:11 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-51: True, but you can hardly hold your team up as a paragon of a successful Super Rugby franchise….
31 Aug 2010, 12:13 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-53: Why not – until the Bulls deserve recent success, they were the only truly competitive Sa Super rugby franchise…
31 Aug 2010, 12:14 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami)-49: Spies is not a no8. He doesn’t like the rough stuff either. Think of Juan at no7 and try imagine Spies at no7. Nope….wont work. And BTW…no Juan?????
31 Aug 2010, 12:14 pm
Match 22 for November tour:
1. Mtawarira
2. Du Plessis
3. Du Plessis
4. Botha
5. Bekker
6. Louw
7. Smith (captain)
8. Vermeulen
9. Hougaard
10. James
11. Basson
12. De Villiers (vice captain)
13. De Jongh
14. Pieterson
15. Steyn
16. Ralepelle
17. Van Der Linde
18. Van Der Merwe
19. Potgieter
20. Pienaar
21. Grant/Lambie
22. Aplon/Jantjes
31 Aug 2010, 12:15 pm
@puff(puff)-50: We have similar selections. Here is my bunch for end of year tour.
1. Beast
2. Chiliboy, Bismarck
3. BJ, CJ, Jannie
4. Bakkies, Flip
5. Hargreaves, Kruger
6. Flo
7. Smith ( C), Potgieter
8. Kanko, Vermeulen
9. Hougaard, Ricky
10. Butch, Lambie
11. Nokwe, Mvovo
12. JDV ( vc)
13. de Jongh, Adi
14. JPP, Basson
15. Aplon, Kirchner
Players to rest/condition/injured: Guthro, Smit, Matfield, Danie, Bekker, Burger, Brussouw, Spies, du Preez, M.Steyn, Habana, Olivier, Fourie.
31 Aug 2010, 12:16 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami)-49: Improve his ball handling and try him at wing. Otherwise nowhere.
31 Aug 2010, 12:16 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-54: Forgetting about the only other team to win a super Rugby title perhaps? The Lions? Yes, it was the inaugural one, but a win none the less, and against great players and teams of the day…..
31 Aug 2010, 12:16 pm
@Two Eyed(Two Eyed)-55: I suspect Juan will be heading overseas or retiring after 2011. I might be wrong though. I see what you are saying but then where do we put him?? On wing??
31 Aug 2010, 12:17 pm
Isn’t Bekker out for the year? Pick Juandre Kruger before he is tempted to come back to UK. Hell, they wanted him to stay – they fancied him for England.
31 Aug 2010, 12:19 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-59: True, but that was before the Kiwi’s perverted what was meant to be an interprovincial tournament into a franchise system…
31 Aug 2010, 12:19 pm
To be successful you need to weigh yourself internationally and here the Bulls standout, winning the Super 14 not only once.
If you want to gloat about winning the Currie Cup, then go on and convince yourself. It is watered down and more like the Vodacom Cup.
I just love to read certain bloggers going on and on about their team and trying to lobby support from the Bulls supporters to bring his point across. You know your team has a long way to go to even compete with the Bulls mate…
31 Aug 2010, 12:19 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami)-60: Wing.
31 Aug 2010, 12:19 pm
Australian squad for RWC 2011:
1. Robinson, Slipper
2. Polota Nau, Moore, Faainga
3. Alexander, Baxter
4. Vickerman, Horwill
5. Sharpe, Chisholm
6. Pocock, Waugh
7. Elsom, Mumm
8. Palu, Higgenbotham
9. Genia, Burgess
10. Cooper, Barnes
11. Shepherd, Mitchell
12. Giteau, Faainga
13. Mortlock, Ioane
14. O Connor, Hynes
15. Ashley-Cooper
31 Aug 2010, 12:19 pm
@puff(puff)-56: Bekker still injured by November and Peter Grant is still in Japan by November so I dont see PDV picking those two.
31 Aug 2010, 12:20 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-59: True. Beat Auckland in the final who, lets face it, was the strongest non-international team going. Then again, we, WP, were bloody awesome in the ’80′s. Now look at us.
31 Aug 2010, 12:22 pm
@gecko(gecko)-67:
The tide changes mate! Teams don’t always stay at the top.
31 Aug 2010, 12:22 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-62: @gecko(gecko)-67: I think that when it comes to the Super Rugby Stats only the following teams are relevant:
New Zealand Crusaders 7 2
New Zealand Blues 3 2
South Africa Bulls 3 0
Australia Brumbies 2 3
Australia Reds 2 0
South Africa Lions 1 1
31 Aug 2010, 12:24 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-69:
Absolutely!!!
31 Aug 2010, 12:24 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-69: That’s win, runners up. The rest is simply a case of arguing about who is more mediocre than the other.
31 Aug 2010, 12:25 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-68: True. The bulls still holds the record for the least log points in a superrugby season.
31 Aug 2010, 12:25 pm
@gecko(gecko)-67: yeah but we’ll be back. And in fact we already are.
31 Aug 2010, 12:27 pm
@Two Eyed(Two Eyed)-72:
…and also hold 3 Super Titles! I could live with that stat if it were my team…
31 Aug 2010, 12:28 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-73:
For sure. Just gone through a two game slump, nothing to be too concerned about
31 Aug 2010, 12:28 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-74: Agree…just shows how the wheel turns.
31 Aug 2010, 12:29 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-75: May be a 3 game slump after saturday
31 Aug 2010, 12:30 pm
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami)-66:
Kruger and Bosman then.
31 Aug 2010, 12:31 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-75: (Nodding and looking around nervously)…..
31 Aug 2010, 12:33 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-74: Agreed. Highs and lows. But great highs…..
31 Aug 2010, 12:33 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-79:
For sure! Let’s take one week at a time. I would rather be in their boots than in the Bulls boots though.
31 Aug 2010, 12:35 pm
@puff(puff)-78: Ok cool i could live with that.
31 Aug 2010, 12:37 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-69: I don’t see the “amazing” Stormers on that list…
The Sharks have been the only Sa representatives in S14 knockouts for many a year before the deserved recent success of the Bulls… the Stormers have been in knockouts, what? Once, twice in S14 history – whoopee and now they are the saviours of bok rugger? The boks recent record debunks that…
Those Lions were a truly great side with a truly great coach, unlike the Lions and Stormers of recent times….
It is good to see the Sharks back where they belong on top of the CC log – I look forward to a Sharks vs Bulls or Sharks vs Cheetahs final when WePee hype subsides…
it will be a long CC on Keo if WePee are unsuccessful – Some Sharks supporters do not forget the Sharks denigration during S14 by WePee and Lions supporters…
31 Aug 2010, 12:37 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-81: Yes. We need to make sure we secure a home semi. Then take it from there. With our Bokke back for the final it’ll be anyone’s game. Sharks haven;t gt too many people returning, so we’ll definately benefit if we meet them in the finals.
31 Aug 2010, 12:40 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-84:
They have Smit though! Let’s just hope they play him.
31 Aug 2010, 12:43 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-83: I didn’t have them on the list. Neither did i have the Sharks on the list. That was my point. Its like we are arguing over bragging rights to the best of the bottom half? I’m sorry but really, that’s certainly not worth fighting over.
As for the Currie Cup, as Naas says, it’s not won in August. All bets are off when the Springboks return for the semis. The usual supects I imagine, and we all remember how that ended for the 2 home semi finalists last year
31 Aug 2010, 12:44 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-83:
Does your anti Province/ Stormers bias have no end !!!!
The Sharks have achieved fark all in recent times or the past !!!!
You Sharks supporters must be the most delusional bunch I have ever seen !!!
31 Aug 2010, 12:44 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-85: hahaha i was thinking that exactly as i was typing but i thought it would be a bit mean…..
31 Aug 2010, 12:47 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-86: Speak for your Stormers being in the “bottom half” – Sharks were the team of the 90′s, second to the Bulls only in the 00′s and are now back where they belong – on top…
31 Aug 2010, 12:48 pm
@justrugby(justrugby)-87: 1 Currie Cup a few years back proves 1 more than WePee…
31 Aug 2010, 12:49 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-89:
In a watered down CC………….. big whoopppeeee !!!!
31 Aug 2010, 12:50 pm
@justrugby(justrugby)-91: Still a CC…
Outtahere…
31 Aug 2010, 12:51 pm
You don’t often hear the Bulls going on about their team though! They don’t have to. Their record speaks for itself. It’s the wannabe guys who gloat day in and out and have nothing to show for the rants. Bwahahaaaaaaaaaaaa – One Currie Cup what a joke…
31 Aug 2010, 12:53 pm
I think the Cheetahs have more bragging rights…
31 Aug 2010, 12:54 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-93: But you do hear the incessant hype of Stormer / WePee supporters about their “successful” team continuously…
31 Aug 2010, 12:56 pm
@justrugby(justrugby)-87: Did they not win a currie cup two years ago?
31 Aug 2010, 12:57 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-95:
I’m hearing more hype from you mate! It is like the pot calling the kettle black.
A successful team doesn’t need to tell the world they are successful – the world sees it…
31 Aug 2010, 12:58 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-97: Well then look at the log
31 Aug 2010, 12:58 pm
Outtahere
31 Aug 2010, 12:58 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-95: Remember Cape Town has small town mentality so forgive them their hype it is the same year in and year out
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