Try everything and keep what is good.
JJ Harmse – Sp0rt24
That is probably the life’s lesson Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has learned from his midweek-experience on the tour of England, France, Italy and Ireland.
The performance by the midweek side was a temporary wake-up call about possible future weaknesses. However, there were also a few encouraging signs for the future of Springbok rugby.
There can be no doubt that injuries, especially among the props, hamstrung South Africa.
At the same time it exposed a glaring lack of depth at the next level, though it can probably also be said that the right players were not taken on tour.
It would be cold water in the face of any team to lose Jannie du Plessis and Gurthrö Steenkamp, and replacement CJ van der Linde shortly thereafter.
However, the experiment to take a half-fit Heinke van der Merwe on tour as a tighthead, failed. Brock Harris, Werner Kruger or WP Nel could have benefited more from the experience.
The lack of fitness of other candidates such as Chiliboy Ralepelle, Alistair Hargreaves and Davon Raubenheimer were definitely contributing factors in the midweek side allowing apparent comfortable leads to slip against Leicester and Saracens.
De Villiers is now realising how difficult it is to build a team, but to his credit he made a few good calls with other players.
Earl Rose has hopefully now silenced his critics with two excellent performances. He can certainly play and it will be interesting to see how Dick Muir plans to use him at the Lions next year.
Juan de Jongh also showed that he can still play for South Africa for a long time, while Dewald Potgieter and Jean Deysel are other newcomers that impressed.
Francois Hougaard is still a greenhorn, but will definitely add the gold in the future.
Heini Adams will also sleep well about his contribution, while Jongi Nokwe showed that he belongs at that level.
Some other senior Boks were not so effective in decision-making positions. Odwa Ndungane and Ruan Pienaar were probably the biggest disappointments.
“The tour has served its purpose. We saw what we needed to,” said De Villiers.
“It’s good to know who the players are that can take us forward. The current test team cannot carry on forever and I’m satisfied that a number of these players will soon be able to play test rugby.”
Muir (assistant coach) also expressed his support for the midweek games.
“It’s not always ideal because this time of the year is an important phase for the Super14 teams’ preparation, but I’d like to see that we regularly fit in a midweek game or two in the team’s November programme,” he said.
“It’s the only way how you can assess certain players and see how they respond to pressure.”
Another advantage for De Villiers was that he got a reminder of the potential of Schalk Brits, the match-winning capabilities of Derick Hougarrd and the never-say-die approach of Wikus van Heerden.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:28 am
“the match-winning capabilities of Derick Hougarrd”
COME ON JJ !!!! he tried 4 times for the drop only succeeded once. He kicking out of hand was dismal. His spreading of the ball was kak. He just shown why cows are happy not singing Liefling at Loftus anymore.
he is a broken horse, with no future. Even Bredan venter had his head in his hands at one stage.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:30 am
I was enjoying your article up to the kak you talked about Derick.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:32 am
…And the only reason why he took that drop was because the useless ref had already given them a penalty, so he know he had two changes
November 19th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Brok Harris?!?
:WTF:
Kindly remind me about the opposition against which Error Rose supposedly ‘proved’ himself.
En my ouma kon altwee Nokwe se drieë gedruk het sonder om haar rolstoel se wiele eers te olie.
Maar nou ja, so werk hy maar.
P.S. Please note the prominent omission of Ashley Johnson. His supposed strenght is his biggest weakness – one man band, not a team player.
November 19th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Reply to Namboer @ 10:05 am: Jy slaan die spyker op sy kop
November 19th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Reply to Namboer @ 10:05 am:
Against opposition in which more experienced players and capped Boks were either outperformed or just plain kak.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:17 am
The only lesson learnt is…”quota’s rock the psyche”
Where the heck is TB!?
November 19th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Reply to bryce_in_oz @ 11:17 am:
Spoke to him a couple of days ago, he is sorting out some issues but he is well.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Reply to Morné @ 11:30 am:
Great to hear…
November 19th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Yo,
I was in touch with Patrick and Murph. Hopefully they will check in here at some stage.
Fair enough for Snor to have learnt these lessons but why did almost the entire country know the shit will hit the fan?
The only place where Snor has been justified is with Rose. But forget the props. The single biggest mess here is our lack of NH type locks with bulk. I would have loved to see Alberts get a run with Bekker.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
“The only place where Snor has been justified is with Rose”
Ouch… boet look at the attacking stats of every team against the tool…
And re-read my ‘psyche’ posts… no-one likes to carry a passenger… the psyche is over… the seniors have given up… and the best young juniors are not there…
\
How about those lowly wobblies and kiwi’s acing the NH teams…
November 19th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Admirable attempt but not sure JJ and PdV succeed in putting a positive spin on the 0 from 3 record the EOYT has yielded. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but….
November 19th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Derick Hougaard landed match winning kicks in this game, in a super14 final and in several Currie Cup finals. He is a proven match winner. Only a blind person cannot acknowledge that.
Coach’s pets beaten by discards.
Liefling landing the winning kick, whilst “Tiger Woods” flop again.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Reply to bryce_in_oz @ 12:18 pm:
I would hardly rate the NZ win against the Italians as an acing, nor the draw of Aus against the Irish.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 1:41 pm: Come on does that mean because he drop the one over that he is a match winner, if they had a better kicker in the team than clueless liefling they should have won further.
Don’t to kak
November 19th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
My son who plays O/9 kicked better than Liefling on Tuesday
November 19th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Reply to Bunny @ 2:15 pm: If he drops the one over that wins the match, yes, then he is a match winner. He has done that on numerous occasions in big matches. So he is a proven BIG match winner. The missed kicks are irrelevant, they have no bearing on the fact that one went over to win the match. If they had a better kicker they would have won by more, yes, but they didn’t and they still won and he kicked goal that win the match, ie. “Match Winner”!
I know its a hard one for you WP oaks to swallow but points in rugby matches are awarded for tries, conversions, penalty goals and drop goals. Notice how 3 of the 4 ways to score points involves kicking at the posts. Running passing, stepping, jinxing and dummying counts for nothing. They don’t call it rugby FOOTBALL for nothing.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
November 19th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 2:41 pm: well you can have your MATCHWINNER we want full rugby players in WP not the socalled MATCHWINNERS who can only kick one drop but play shit the rest of the game. Against a better side he means nothing
November 19th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Let’s see how long he last with Sarsies? At Leicester he almost never played because he kicked kak
November 19th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 2:41 pm:
Ag Fynes, jy is so ‘n plesier
op die site.
WP will have a matchwinner and
then still lose.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Reply to Bunny @ 3:01 pm:
WP don’t want match winners?
That explains a lot.
I can imagine the scene:
Boland boy and star high school player meets WP scout -
Scout: ” Uh, sorry son, you look like a match-winner. We don’t want you at WP. Better go sign with the Bulls!”
November 19th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
The 2007 Super 14 semi-final saw Hougaard scoring all of his side’s 27 points, by means of 8 penalties and a drop goal, against the Canterbury Crusaders……
Hougaard = 27 points against the 6 times super champs Crusaders = match-winner.
Steyn = 31 points against the mighty All Blacks = match-winner
November 19th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Reply to Boertjie @ 3:11 pm: Doing my best to spread the gospel.
WP stumbled upon a matchwinner in CC this year: Willem de Waal.
But methinks, its not very popular in the Cape.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 3:19 pm:
November 19th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 3:25 pm:
Willem not very popular because
he “kicks too much”.
Anyway, he may be out with injury
until March, or even later.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 3:23 pm: You talking in the past before Roelof and Meyer broke him, I am talking now, Jopel Srasky was also a match winner but is he today?
November 19th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
This morning in the gym i would share the circuit with none other than Gaffie Du Toit who looks very much in shape and ready.
Wonder if the Tahs will keep him in mind?
He is a shoe-in at 10 surely?
November 19th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
C’mon Naka I know you are reading RW: Gaffie is lounging it up in Bethlehem. Get the kid toe Bling and into the squad right now!
November 19th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Reply to newbokshields @ 3:49 pm:
but how old is he now?
helluva talented gaffie.