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South Africa went north, and lost twice. A dismal tour, ending in Welsh joy, while captain Jean de Villiers probably played his last Test match.
What went wrong? Who was the culprit? What did we learn? Who should be the next captain, and who will be the next captain?
At least we did not lose to England.
But the opening loss to Ireland meant the tour was already ruined. What should have happened next was Heyneke Meyer should have committed to learning about fringe players.
Rather than continue running Duane Vermeulen into the ground – 49 carries, 24 tackles and four turnovers won – after a season in which he played almost every minute of every game for the Springboks and Stormers, Meyer should have had a good look at Warren Whiteley (deemed good enough to front the All Blacks, but not Scotland or Italy), Nizaam Carr and Jaco Kriel.
Instead of letting the mismatched midfield pair of Jan Serfontein (Mr Inside Centre) and Jean de Villiers (Mr Inside Inside Centre) run into each other and miss a combined 11 tackles, culminating in a possible career-ending knee injury for our World Cup captain, the coach might have given big hungry Damian de Allende a few starts on the heavy northern fields.
Johan Goosen played one match at fullback and actually looked better than Willie le Roux, who tried to do too much. He ran 187 metres, beat six defenders, made Twickenham gasp with a clever backhand offload and broke the line four times, but then sent 26 kicks from hand, had poor defence, was weak under the high ball and seemed out of sorts.
Carr looked dynamic in his limited minutes, but Meyer stuck with Oupa Mohoje, who actually seemed to play like his nickname. Schalk Burger had one start, and left with the man of the match award having shown what a really committed veteran can bring.
Yes, we saw that Marcell Coetzee has a motor. He still can’t fetch and slow like Francois Louw or Sam Warburton, but he is really fine ball carrier and tackler. But couldn’t we have let Coetzee rest, and let Carr play 80 minutes a couple of times?
In the front row, we are still platooning Adriaan Strauss and Bismarck du Plessis. On this tour, Strauss looked clearly superior, but that appears to be due to the Sharks long season and Du Plessis’ heavy minutes.
Jannie du Plessis’ injury allowed us to see Coenie Oosthuizen outperform most of our expectations at tighthead, which means we suddenly have depth at that problem position – Du Plessis, Oosthuizen, Marcel van der Merwe, my favourite Frans Malherbe and Julian Redelinghuys. The looseheads also performed adequately.
Eben Etzebeth had a barnstorming tour, tackling with menace, stealing four lineouts and making two offloads in 25 strong carries.
Fourie du Preez was not on tour, but he looked a lot better in our memories, as we watched Francois Hougaard stumble drunkenly behind untidy rucks. Hougaard is a great athlete, runs better lines and tackles better than our centres, might be the fittest player in the squad and is never afraid, but he is not a natural scrumhalf.
Cobus Reinach played better than Hougaard, but Meyer probably won’t budge from Ruan Pienaar as understudy to Du Preez, no matter how loudly Biltongbek and I shout.
South Africa lost to Ireland and Wales, so it’s been a horrible tour. Case closed. A few players kept or enhanced their reputations – Burger, Carr, Etzebeth, Coetzee, Vermeulen and all the props – but the rest suffered.
But it was unclear what Meyer wanted from the tour. Was he trying to stay ahead of New Zealand’s win-loss record in Europe? Was he finding combinations? Was he trying to injure Vermeulen? Was he just in two minds?
For some reason, Meyer gambled with three of his potential captains for the World Cup – 37-year-old Victor Matfield had to make 37 tackles (not just win 20 lineouts), Vermeulen was clearly tired (and still dominated parts of games, because he has no medium-speed setting), and of course, he lost De Villiers, who is out for at least eight months.
So, who will be captain? I can think of six forwards who could lead the ‘Boks – Schalk Burger, Francois Louw, Duane Vermeulen, Victor Matfield, Bismarck du Plessis or Adriaan Strauss
The last two hookers cancel each other out.
Burger is in Japan, and his health is tenuous. Plus, he really might be a perfect loose forward substitute at this point in his career. He is brutal enough for blindside, fills in as a fetcher very well and is a natural No 8. He and Carr head a long list of top loose forwards to play behind Louw, Willem Alberts, and Vermeulen (Arno Botha, Lappies Labuschagne and Siya Kolisi also come to mind).
So, for me, it comes down to Louw, Vermeulen and Matfield.
Meyer and Matfield are old Pretoria friends. But Matfield would be a stopgap. He is one of the finest tight forwards (although he never played that tight) in rugby history, destined to be in the Hall of Fame, and probably in the conversation for best lineout player ever.
But carrying 121 caps around is heavy. And he has a difficult personality. When he was a young phenomenon, he was widely known as arrogant. Everything came easy to Matfield, he’s a really good athlete, and not just in rugby. At a young age, it was obvious he would be a ‘Bok.
Now, he’s a nicer guy, but under pressure, he still lectures referees, lacks quick humour and might not be the most unifying captain in South African history. Also, he has shown brittleness under pressure when serving as captain. Was it not Matfield who lost to Scotland a few years ago, by refusing to change tactics?
Vermeulen needs no fanfare. Every real rugby fan already appreciates him. He is 1.93 metres and 118 kilograms of bone, menace, guts, muscle, devotion and heart. He is not from the big city, but he has experience at Western Province at captaincy.
I think he would be respected by all referees as a hard player who is not dirty. Also, he clearly is the best at his position, and can play all 80 minutes of every game. His verbal skills are not the best, but he is clear and direct. Meyer must respect him, surely. But maybe he is best just being Thor.
Then there is Louw. I rate him, as everyone knows. He was chosen to captain Bath as a foreigner, which says something. He will have to come home (to Cape Town) to be the ‘Bok captain, but these things can be worked out.
He has 34 caps, has at times outplayed Richie McCaw, Michael Hooper and Sam Warburton, and seldom been soundly beaten by them in return. He tackles perfectly, makes havoc at the breakdown, is usually in the debate for man of the match and is skilled on attack.
He is the best of all the candidates at communication in English. He loves South African rugby and his grandfather Jan Pickard is a legend. But he can lose his temper, and was not serious as a young player. All in all, I’d choose him.
But I would be completely fine with Vermeulen, and I will expect it to be Matfield.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.