Peter DeVilliers, the Springbok coach, is focusing on resting players as part of his player management for the Springbok internationals, a tactic which resembles All Blacks Graham Henry’s conditioning program of 2007.
Henry’s conditioning program seemed good in theory, but was found lacking in execution with rested players finding it tough to remove the rust.
Henry rested the cream of his talent and while they demonstrated good physicality, they were prone to errors, dropped ball and had bad timing.
In retrospect, the conditioning experiment was universally deemed a failure, with Henry purportedly agreeing not to run such a program again as a stipulation of retaining his coaching position after 2007.
While this should give Springbok fans a moment of paused concern, it is the selection of six offshore players that is cause for alarm.
The Boks will be playing Wales, France and Italy in South Africa for their June tour and opening stanza for their 2010 campaign. DeVilliers’ selection of international players is a mistake, although, the players he has chosen as his run-on team are gifted, the European game is not the southern hemisphere game.
There is no way you can expect players to adapt that quickly and work in harmony.
DeVilliers is obviously looking for depth, which Henry attempted in his 2007 campaign to the point of fielding two entirely different All Black teams. The lesson from that was you can only field one team at a time in the big games.
Henry has begun working closer with coaches and players during the domestic seasons so that they can incubate and deepen the coaches understanding of the player. This can’t be done when your players are in France.
The Springboks had an excellent Tri Nations last year.
However, they squandered their reputation and world ranking by dropping games. DeVilliers is following this pattern again and it may well spell defeat in June.
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