It may well be that the shocking defeat to Japan will do what the opposite result against Australia did for the 1995 Springboks, but that will only be the case if Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer owns up to the mistakes he has made and corrects them.
To refresh memories, in South Africa’s first World Cup, coach Kitch Christie spoke about a high road and a low road to success. Beating the then-world champions, Australia, in the opening game at Newlands meant they played Samoa and France in their play-off matches as opposed to a much tougher route through England and then New Zealand.
Two decades later the Boks of another era might unwittingly have stumbled onto their equivalent of the high road. There seemed to be a lot of attention paid to the Bok chances of winning their Pool in the post-match comment following the Brighton disaster, but there shouldn’t be.
If the Boks finish second they will still make the play-offs, only they will get a route to the final that does not include the world’s top team, New Zealand. (Of course one ahs to doubt whether the wee abs are the top team given their rigged wins!)
However, as the loss to Japan came just two matches after a first ever defeat to Argentina, we’d be ostriches burying our heads in the sand if we did not acknowledge that there is something seriously wrong that needs to be rectified if the Boks are even to make the play-offs.(Are Dr Mozz, ceruDUNCEwindpopm, Desset Fox, Denny and others even willing to acknowledge something is wrong - they probably think even more expereince is needed!!!!!!!!!! Bwahahahahahahaha)
The excuse I forwarded on the Bok behalf after Durban that the players were over-trained as they were putting money in the bank for the World Cup cannot be used this time. This is the World Cup. And neither can we rely on the complacency theory.
To be sure, like in Durban, there was arrogance. Skipper Jean de Villiers showed in persisting with kicking penalties to touch that he definitely isn’t a man who learns from history.(Actually we left 15 points out on the filed by not kicking for posts)
Stupidity certainly seems rife in this Bok team, for there has also been much talk of them treating every game as a final. Surely eschewing three pointers is not how they’d approach a final?
Although I was sympathetic to Meyer for the pressure he was under, after the squad announcement in Umhlanga Rocks three weeks ago it started to dawn on me that I could write a book about his contradictions. That has to stop and he has to regain his old decisiveness or this is going to go down as the worst challenge yet put in by a Bok squad at a World Cup.
There is a remedy though. After the squad announcement this column pronounced that Meyer had most of his bases covered. I still believe that, for although he has left out the players who made the two-fetcher experiment so successful against Australia and New Zealand in the Rugby Championship, he does still have the players who in that tournament exposed the folly of banking too much on the two elder statesmen, Victor Matfield and Jean de Villiers.
Meyer took too much heed of the way the Boks lost to New Zealand and Australia, and the critics who blamed it on lack of experience, and didn’t pay enough attention to the fact that for an hour of both those games they were better than their opponents.(Exactly so, Willie, Kriel Allende carved them up. Lood and Eben were magnificent etc etcVery importantly we played balanced rugby and out backs outshone NZ etc. ONLY BENT REFFING SPOILED THE PARTY)
With Damian de Allende partnering Jesse Kriel in the midfield the Boks looked much better equipped there than when De Villiers played against the Pumas the following week.(AGREED)
And my abiding memory of the early part of the season, the one that made me confident that the Boks could win the World Cup, was of the two giant young locks, Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager, smashing the All Blacks back at Emirates Airline Park. The pack that played that day didn’t look like a unit that a team like Japan would be able to stand up to. (AGREED AND AS I HAVE POINTED OUT. THE BLINDING STUPIDTY INVOLVED BEGGARS BELIEF)
Matfield brings tactical efficiency in some key areas to the Bok cause, but he doesn’t bring the physicality that can enable the Boks to properly boss Japan, let alone New Zealand or England. And his presence will become more problematic if the injury problem that struck down Willem Alberts before his World Cup had even started proves serious enough to affect his future participation.
Meyer is being slated for not choosing Siya Kolisi when Alberts was ruled out but that wouldn’t have been a like for like selection either. The Boks do need the Alberts prototype at No 7 if they are going to play Matfield. It is only when Alberts is bringing his massive driving presence that I can see Matfield fitting in.(mATFIELD SHOULD NEVER EVER BE THERE- HE IS AT THE CENTER OF THSI DEBALCE. SHOW THE SHOW PONY THE DOOR NOW. SEND HIM HOME)
Talking of Alberts, taking players who hadn’t played much in the build-up to the World Cup and hoping that they would play themselves fit in the Pool phase was a gamble that is already showing signs of backfiring (I won’t say it has backfired completely yet for if those players do come through in the remaining Pool games, Meyer would have been proved correct despite Saturday’s defeat).
Meyer can correct what has gone wrong if he just goes back to what some suggested after the Durban defeat to the Pumas – he needs to recognise what worked in the narrow losses to Australia and New Zealand, and go back to that and build around it. Too much attention was paid to the Argentina defeat (aNOTHER VERY BAD DISPALY OF BENT REFFING). Before that the Boks looked like they were on the right track.(AGREED)
Unfortunately the bottom line after Brighton looks to be that continued reliance on players who have reputations built around what they did last year or even long before that, as opposed to anything they’ve done recently, looks like an early exit ticket from this World Cup.
Good sense from Gavin Rich who must be reading my posts here!
