Ex Gavin Rich of Supersport
Heyneke Meyer must have wondered a few times recently if he was in a time warp and reliving his nervous first weeks as a Springbok coach when he opened his tenure against England with just a few days of preparation.
Theoretically the Boks should be starting the 2014 test match season against Wales in Durban on Saturday in a much more confident and assured space than they were in 24 months ago. Apart from having a hit out last week against the World XV to warm them up for the two match series against the Welsh, last year was a strong one for the Boks and they grew their game immeasurably.
They may not have beaten New Zealand, but there were mitigating circumstances, the most notable being the man who is taking the whistle at Growthpoint Kings Park (Not to mention the Dunedin tests where the Boks were by some way the better side!!!). The perception at the end of the November series of matches in the northern hemisphere was that the Boks had closed the gap further and looked better equipped for the conditions that will be encountered at the 2015 World Cup.
But you wouldn’t imagine the 2014 season was such a positive one if you used the current mood of the South African rugby public as a gauge. There seems a general pall of negativity hanging over the Boks at the moment, with the selection of aged players into the team being the initial sticking point before it mushroomed with this week’s mysterious sudden departure from the squad of Frans Steyn.(There are valid reasons for unease if one is objective!)
To put it frankly, there appears to be a lot of whispering going on, with rumours rife that all is not well in the land of the Springbok. Apart from Steyn’s withdrawal, there isn’t anything to substantiate that on, and certainly the Boks haven’t looked an unhappy bunch as they’ve gone about their business this week.
But sometimes it just takes one small thing to fuel perception, and the Steyn situation is being viewed by a lot of people as quite a big thing. Meyer himself has said that the past two weeks have been his toughest in the job, which says something if you consider the pressure he was under when the Boks failed to win a match on his first Rugby Championship tour. (Th ereal issuesa re FAR TO MANY INJURIES!!!!!!!!! Why do we just accept that we must have so many injuries. Why is there no investigation done on the matter etc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The other is questionable selectiosn a a few quota picks. )
There is only one way to set everything right, and that is for the Boks to go out on Saturday and turn in the compelling performance that will make the unambiguous statement that will deflect attention away from the Steyn controversy and get people talking again about the right rugby related aspects.(TO MAKE THIS ABOUT STEYN RATHER THAN ABOUT THE THINGS I MENTIONED - ADD IN CENTRAL CONTRACTING - WE DON'T WANT BURNT OUT PALYERS OR KEY PLAYRS INJURED THROUGH OVER PLAYING ETC WAKE UP FOR PETES SAKE YOU HALFWITS!!!!!!! TALK ABOUT NOT SEEING THE WOOD FROM THE TREES)
Last week’s friendly international against a World XV served a purpose for the Boks in that they now have 80 minutes of playing as a team behind them, and that is a better place for them to be than in the previous two seasons, where they went straight into test rugby. But it wasn’t the rousing showing that might have dispelled the many doubts and answered all the questions that are hovering.(PLEASE NOTE DR MOZ)
Some questions were answered, but not all of them, and Saturday will tell us a lot more. Meyer should feel less like he is in a lose/lose situation than was the case last week for Wales are an identifiable enemy and this is a test match.
But there could still be an element of lose/lose in the sense that Wales’ poor record against South Africa inspires an expectation that there should only be one result in the Durban match. What talk of Wales’ history of failure against the Boks doesn’t take into account though is how close so many of the games have been.
The World Cup pool game in 2011, which the Boks were lucky to win narrowly, is a case in point, and there have been many other times during the post-isolation era when the South Africans have had to dig deep. The last game between the teams in Cardiff last November springs to mind, and further back, there was the match at Wembley in 1998 when Gary Teichmann’s all-conquering team had to be saved by the intervention of a streaker.
So it’s not as if there is a yawning chasm between the teams, and it might just come down to Wales’ mental state. Have they really believed they can win against the Boks? They have a history of near misses against all southern hemisphere opposition, and two years ago they played three nailbitingly close tests against Australia and they didn’t win one of them.
Warren Gatland though as a coach and several of his players should have broken through a mental barrier south of the equator when they comprehensively whipped Australia in the colours of the British and Irish Lions this time last year, and there are several players in the opposition line-up that have played well individually against the Boks in the past.
Jamie Roberts was outstanding here in 2009 as a Lion before he got injured, Mike Philips too, and big George North could be a handful for Cornal Hendricks on Saturday as those who have seen Wales train this week reckon that they will be kicking a lot of ball onto that wing. Talented player that he is, Willie le Roux also isn’t always the most reliable fielder of the high ball at the back.
The Welsh team that beat the Kings on Tuesday wasn’t the test team but their game-plan showed an interesting intent. Their forwards mauled for long periods and ate up lots of metres, which is an indication that they may be planning to take on the Boks at their strength. If they get it right, the Boks may have to sweat, and the World XV made an impression against them with their driving early in last week's game.
You don’t install a team as favourites when they play away against a team they have only beaten once in more than 100 years of trying, but John McFarland, the Bok assistant coach, is right – this Welsh team seems to be doing something different, and they seem to be feeding on what worked for the Lions last year. So while the Boks should win, the result might not be the foregone conclusion many think it is and the hosts will certainly have to lift considerably on last week’s effort in Cape Town.
I FULLY AGREE WITH THIS BOK SIDE IT IS ANYTHING BUT A FOREGONE CONCLUSION. TOMORROW WILL TELL. GO TO THE BENCH EARLIER THAN USUAL IF NEEDS BE MEYER -THINKING MAILY FORWARDS
Teams for Saturday
South Africa: 15.Willie le Roux, 14.Cornal Hendricks, 13.JP Pietersen, 12.Jan Serfontein, 11.Bryan Habana, 10.Morne Steyn, 9.Fourie du Preez, 8.Duane Vermeulen, 7.Willem Alberts, 6.Francois Louw, 5.Victor Matfield (captain), 4.Bakkies Botha, 3.Jannie du Plessis, 2.Bismarck du Plessis, 1.Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16. Schalk Brits, 17.Tendai Mtawarira, 18.Coenie Oosthuizen, 19.Lood de Jager, 20.Schalk Burger, 21.Ruan Pienaar, 22.Johan Goosen, 23.Lwazi Mvovo,
Wales: 15.Liam Williams, 14.Alex Cuthbert, 13.Jonathan Davies, 12.Jamie Roberts, 11.George North, 10.Dan Biggar, 9.Mike Philips, 8.Taulupe Fauletau, 7.Aaron Shingler, 6.Dan Lydiate, 5.Alun Wynn-Jones, 4.Luke Charteris, 3.Adam Jones, 2.Ken Owens, 1.Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16.Matthew Rees, 17.Paul James, 18.Samson Lee, 19.Ian Evans, 20.Josh Turnbull, 21.Gareth Davies, 22.James Hook, 23.Matthew Morgan.
Referee: Romain Poite (France).
Kick-off:5pm CAT (SA, GMT+2)
