What the Springboks have and what they lack ahead of the Rugby Championship

thanks Fanie for the insight you have provided into the inner workings of the mind of a springbok supporter.

Thanks StrYdeRZA for your article.There are a few things mentioned in your article which i do not agree with but the point is is it difficult to be a winning Springbok coach.South Africa has a lot of rugby players much more than NZ or Oz.One of the most successful teams in Super Rugby is the Lions scrum.Statisticians won t tell us and does HM know it We complain week in and week out we have not got the players yet NZ bloods new players and the transition is smooth..How is it possible for unknown rugby players to dismantle overpower make assholes of a cheetah front row.There is a reason and i will like to know why there is persistence with Hougaard and Pienaar.They must rank as probably the slowest passers of a rugby ball.Then we have Morne Steyn who i heard confidentially battles to get game time overseas.Who do we blame the centers.Morne is so bad he has no decision making is slow off the mark and he actually has to kick.The back line showing promise has all been Le Roux and why he can multi task.Good runner very good distributor of the ball and very good under the high ball.The question is we as normal supporters can see it but HM cant.Why can Oz and AB have more skills than us.Is it not the coaches duty to teach skills to his players.I am very disappointed in HM i am but a rugby fanatic who loves the Springboks and are of the opinion we do not have to lose to OZ and AB. We do have the players we do not have a coach and i hope i am wrong but i am predicting an Oz and AB win against us.Again thanks for the Roar and every bodies opinion.

Thanks BB as Harry had a few dops and wrote an article last night i had a few dops and this is what happened.Victor strolls into the Springboks Old Boys Club to meet Jean Guthro Bakkies Fourie Schalk B and Morne.What does HM say they all ask.Morne you had better pull up your socks Jean replies HM says you do not attack the line your tackling is poor and you stand to far back as a ball receiver.Ja well i have a baby to look after.And you Guthro HM says you were Jakeball s blue eyed boy but that was many moons ago.Three thing you have to scrum tackle and drive.There are new kids on the block so pull up yuor socks.Schalkie you have to do more boet linking is not enough you have to tackle not miss and compete for the ball.And what about my injury.Fourie do not play now the bigger stuff ups Ruan makes the more we need you.Bakkies with you HM goes to war do not give more than two penalties away.HM says Victor I am captain jump in the line out and help me with the team.HM says do not play in the Curry Cup the young guys are waiting for you.HM says that he has problems certain people are talking about multi skill players and he does not know what to do.Please guys do not lose against the AB by more than 10 points.They all have a beer and leave.This is not necessary a true story .

Jake White has his strengths and he has a solid track record. His Springboks won a WC and no one can take that away from him. However I believe he has an ego which can get in the way, the way he terminated his involvement with both the Springboks and the Brumbies is revealing of his character, I simply don't trust the man to honour his commitments... when they no longer suite him. Best of luck to him and the Sharks while it lasts. We all know the Springbok coaching job is a poisoned chalice, South African rugby is rife with provincialism and that constitutes the least of the coaches worries because as long as he is thick skinned all the vitriol will just wash over and it's only one win away from being irrelevant again. More seriously he has to operate within a national union that is struggling to come to grips with how to manage the game and players in the modern era, despite having a decent template provided by the NZRU! That's not even considering the additional political meddling that is bound to crop up just before a key game/tournament. Given those challenges, it would be a very brave non-South African to take on the job, personally I hope it happens at some point we saw what a fresh approach can do with Mitchell and Plumtree at a provincial level. Up till now though SARU have not shown any interest in appointing a non-South African so it's probably a moot point anyway. So then let's line the South African candidates up: Jake White if SARU ever touch him again will be just as contentious as HM and has just as many flaws as well as a commitment to an effective but limited game plan, let's not forget just how much flack he copped; if the SA public had their way he would've been gone in 2005 and never seen the 2007 world cup. Alistair Coetzee and Frans Ludeke have now both proven beyond doubt that they aren't even decent Super 15 coaches never mind international ones! Brendan Venter and Nick Mallet are probably the strongest contenders and neither would I think be a bad choice, as long as Brendan controls that temper! But neither would they bring much more than HM, Nick made some great selections for that World XV but it was without any pressure! I know a lot of you will disagree but in HM we have a methodical strategist, his game plan is tweaking the way the Boks play, you probably have to go back to the pre-isolation era to find a Bok side to match this sides attacking flair, much of it may be down to awesome Willie but HM is giving him the platform to perform, he is selecting a backline that largely plays to Willie's strengths and can function if Willie's not there, Willie is irreplaceable that's why we all find him so impressive. The Boks' only obvious shortcoming has been in not beating the All Blacks, they had their chances though! HM has some selection issues but I don't think any of them have an obvious straight forward answer or he would have taken it, HM is not by choice going to gamble on a player. As far as I can remember every player he has selected has at the very least attended a Springbok training camp, while his hand may have been forced he has not selected anyone he is not confident in choosing. HMs man management has also been light years ahead of what has gone before, apparently every Springbok and training camp attendee knows what is expected of them if they want to make the team. The one aspect of HMs coaching that I'm not overly convinced by is how good of a tactician he is; I get the impression that he believes in a simple game plan and if that plan is executed well then the Boks win, but as with every recent Bok coach there appears to be no back up plan you very rarely see any deviation from the overall plan... great if you're on top and can stay there, but clearly that's not always going to be the case as proved by the ABs and just wait till we play England... who are becoming better bullies than the Boks! Despite that, the one thing I've not seen in HMs Bok team (yet?!?) is a defeated side, one that is blown out the water and not in the contest down to the last 5 or 10 minutes of the game and that says a lot. Both PdV and Jake White coached the Boks to some almighty thumpings!! Deans v PdV was like Warne v Cullinan... best not watched if your blood is green and gold! We also know that HM and Rassie are looking to change the way the game is coached at all national levels and that will probably be extended to the provinces too. What exactly they are prescribing would be interesting to know, but at the very least they want all potential Springboks to be familiar with a style of play, if we knew the details we could criticize the plan but that there even is a plan is so much more than we have ever had. Given all of the above, no one coach is going to be the perfect Bok coach, but HM is bringing a lot to the Springboks, we absolutely should continue to question his selections and demand victories over every team, it's our prerogative as supporters, but just remember selecting a team is about more than who the performing player is at the moment, it's about a creating an effective unit and to that end I am prepared to give HM until the WC and who knows it may be that Ruan Peinaar set's the world alight in October next year on dank English fields and Morne Steyn kicks the winning conversion of the winning try setup by yet another Victor Matfield line out master class in the RWC final against England. Now that would be some humble pie I wouldn't mind eating.

I agree with you that Heyneke Meyer is slack to offer opportunities in certain positions, however that is not only his trait, Jake White was the same, PDV was the same. The have this unfailing belief in certain players and are blind to anyone outside that. I often get the imporession our coaches are actually not very pro active, but rather act in a reactionary manner and will only select a youngster if they have no choice. Look at what Meyer has done with the forward pack, he had no choice at lock, so he exposed a plethora of young men there, the front row still has the same players selected prior to his appointment bar Frans Malherbe and Lourens Adriaanse. The back row, he had no choice so exposed a few youngsters. Every experiment was not really an experiment, but rather forced on him either through retirement or unavailability.

HM time is not on his side simply means that he has lost a golden opportunity exploring rugby talent in SA.A Sat ago i watched two props of the Lions demolish the Cheetah front row.Experts include G Steenkamp in the team.Then i want to know what is HM plan B.Clearly it was not evident in the Wales second test.The ultimate for a coach is to win the Rugby World Cup.The question is can HM do it with the team he has selected and with no apparent strategy.As far as alternative coaches the name Jake White hated and loved but respected have no equal in SA.It is unfortunate he will never coach a Springbok side because as Frank Sinatra sang I Did I My Way and stuff the president.In the forthcoming games between AB and Oz we will see how far HM has progressed in moulding his team together.We will see how good the 37 year olds are the linkers off the bench.We will also see our highly rated loose forwards against the AB and OZ.Overseas players and 37 year old sends out the wrong signals to SA players and also underlines HM shortcomings as a coach.I have asked in a previous discussion what is a good coach.A good coach can take unknows and mold them in a good team J Ackerman.Do i feel HM can win the world cup.No.We have a rich talent of rugby players what we need is to use the organ between our ears.

Boks don't really need a 10 to do much other than kick do they? It's got them this far. What happened to Steyen?

I can't agree there Nek. The Wallaby loose forwards were badly outplayed in the 2013 RC showing there's a significant gap in quality. Even if you include Palu in the mix I don't think you can reliably translate Super form into the International arena. Even at the peak of their powers the Hooper, Palu and Farva combo don't have the power or physicality of the Bok three and there's been a definite international trend towards having bigger and more physical loose forwards to contest the breakdown. McCaw is a good illustration of this, he's playing style is being pulled more and more into the physical contest because that’s where he's required.

Palu has always troubled the Boks, when he has played them. But unfortunately for him and Australian rugby, he only plays 50% of the games, because he is usually injured. If he is fit for Perth, then yes the Wallabies will achieve parity in the loose forwards. ( and dominate elsewhere) Hooper reminds me of Marcel Coetzee, does well against the lower ranked teams, but when playing teams like the All Blacks or the Boks goes missing. Both are physically dominated by the bigger back rows but play with heart that sometimes makes up for it. Fardy is good, but personally I think not as good as Alberts or Schalk who is only on the Bok bench. No doubt the Wallabies have improved and the bookies will have them as favourites in Perth. Boks definitely have a better loose trio in my books, but then Wallabies have a much better half back pairing, so pretty evenly matched this year. Also everyone agrees the Super form has no impact on test form, but in saying that should the Waratahs win ( and it's looking likely) a lot of Wallabies players will stand to gain some confidence.

Melon... yeah you got to hand it to the Roar damn good sporting website that i stumbled across by luck. Nice to get another country's perspective. haha i must be the only Piet van Zyl fan - ref was having a shocker that day. Piet just couldnt keep it in any longer ! We call Brandy Karate Water for a reason over here in RSA and looks like Piet had been doing his katas all match long.

Change Pienaar for my Grandma and it will be better.

you'd think SARU would learn from the ARU's mistakes…

australia were "put through the grinder and spat out" in Ewen's first handful of games as coach where he inherited a deflated and directionless mob of disillusioned players from the Deans era (saga). its taken him a while but the wallabies are now starting to look like a class outfit with a bit of depth that will go much better this year. cant compare last years RC backrow to the current one as we now have an in-form Palu which makes a world of difference in terms of impact and balance.

hm. not sure about JdJ, especially with Fiketoa, Kuridrani, Read and Palu running in his general direction

Thought Doogie was good, still a young bloke. But never had a stint at 13 this year. And now he's injured?

Interesting! We get the 2 finals this weekend but I'm really looking forward to the RC. My thoughts are that SA has plenty of 2nd rowers (showing my age there! ) who can do what Botha does but not too many that can replicate Matfield. I've been wrong before though! :) Keep up the articles - I am enjoying reading yours plus a couples of other of your compatriots to get an idea about the way things are going in SA rugby.

I'll second all of that, Melon.

For now I would go with De Villiers at 12 and Juan De Jongh at 13 - great working combination, brilliant on defense and attack - De Allende on bench to cover centre and wing. Jan Serfontein in squad to cover injuries and as a back-up - in due course Serfontein at 12 and De Allende at 13 - this gives us specialist centres with depth and options. PS: De Allende has played most of his life (even though not at top level) at 13.