Clyde's cpmeback reflects on jake's genius

Ex Keo

Jake White is a better coach now than when he won the World Cup in 2007. He is also the inspiration in Clyde Rathbone’s comeback.

White has always been a bloody good rugby coach, but as a young coach schooled in the South African system it meant White’s rugby education was as much about player pedigree as it was about coach’s paranoia.

South Africa is a wicked rugby system in that it is never as simple as a good coach coaches a good team. There are so many political agendas and I am not referring to race. School affiliation plays its part, north versus south has always been bigger than white versus black and English versus Afrikaans has always been more of a soul destroyer where it should be a a unifier of something stronger when two cultures combine for the purpose of one result.

White, born and raised Afrikaans, started his schooling as Jakobus Westerduim and finished it adopted to an English step father as the teenager Jake White. If anyone would be vulnerable to paranoia or bouts of insecurity then he, through no doing of his own, was a prime candidate.

His coaching career has been one of success but equally one of alienation as he has sought to convince the world of his identity and quality as being the best. It obviously goes deeper than rugby but White, in South Africa, was the victim of politics as much as he was taught to use the politics within rugby to further his own case.

White always wanted to be just a rugby coach and he wanted to be judged just as a rugby coach, but he also wanted comfort of how good he was as this coach. He felt victimised. He never felt he got his dues. He was never considered a candidate for the national coaching job but never doubted he was the best for the job.

When he won the game’s greatest prize he could not focus on the prize but was repulsed that those who had spurned him were self acclaimed saviours for appointing him. Those who wanted him to fail were preaching of how they made him succeed.

He had to leave South Africa to find the reason he loved the game. He had to coach rugby again and find joy from creating and not being accused of being the beneficiary of an already made creation.

When White got the Bok job in 2004 he initially flourished, then fell as all the paranoia and politics set in, and then he soared as he applied his mind to coaching a team, embracing expertise in the form of Eddie Jones and allowing the collective to be stronger than the insecurity of one individual.

White was brilliant in the Boks’ 2007 World Cup campaign, in his planning, in his squad selection and in his match 22 selections. If you like or dislike him it is difficult to counter his contribution. He is the first to put Eddie Jones on a pedestal but Eddie’s role, by his own admission, was secondary to what White had already put in place.

White, though, was never content in South Africa, even as a World Cup winner because there was too much pain associated with prejudice as far as he was concerned. He was always in confrontation and because of his nature he sought the confrontation as a means of fronting his opinion on South African rugby.

Some would describe him a rugby political animal, but the real man just wants to be the best rugby coach. Canberra, and the Brumbies, has allowed White to be the coach and rugby to be the game. In South Africa White was as much political pawn as he may have thought he was a political pioneer.

I am thrilled for him at what he has achieved with the Brumbies. He has special qualities as a coach and one of them is his loyalty to players. Those who he invests in respond and he has a whisperer’s touch when it comes to taking the wounded in something special and finding the wonder in that same individual.

We saw it with Percy Montgomery and Os du Randt with the Springboks and we are now seeing it with Clyde Rathbone. White has always believed Rathbone to be special, as a player and a person. He made him the SA under 21 captain in the year he coached the baby Boks to a world championship.

Rathbone chose an international career in Australia and made telling scoring contributions against White’s senior Boks, but Rathbone succumbed to a combination of injury and depression and his career ended with a crash. He retired three seasons ago but a year in White’s company also proved motivation enough that a return was possible.

White has made Rathbone believe again and Canberra and the Brumbies have made White belief that it is about the player, the game and that the result is not always the one on the scoreboard. Giving Rathbone hope and resurrecting life into the Brumbies will define White’s perceived status as much as winning a World Cup with the Springboks. What he has done in Canberra, as a man who can inspire, define him even more than what he did as a coach in Paris in 2007

I think there is little doubt that White is a fine coach and the Brumbies are fortunate to have him. Besides his junior world cup win, he definitely left the Boks stronger than he found them and again we saw a pretty mediocre Brumbies squad improve markedly last year.
We of course got rid of Jake and brought in ou PDV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go well Jake.

That is Keo at his best - what a load of shit.

Jake was an average coach with a 67% win record and the man has an ego larger than the game.

No doubt Jake will claim credit for Rathbones recovery?

Jake saw through Watson from the start, earning him the permanent emnity of Watsonistas like you. But then he stuffed your words down your throat by winning the RWC.

Yeah if Jake had been a quality coach chances are he could have won Watson over. Watson was a talent that Jake turned his back on. A man of substance would have taken on the challenge of showing Watson the errors of his ways!!

Yeah we won that WC thanks to Eddie, a great squad and an easy route to the final. It had little to do with Jake - the true Jake was reflected in his shit results leading up to the WC. A 67% record is crap

Oh the RWC win had little to do with Jake. Keep telling yourself that, I suppose it's the only way you can avoid feeling like an ignorant, loud mouthed fool.

His record in 2005 was 70% if you give  a draw , half points.....66.7% if you give it zero points.

I guess you guess pretty badly.

Ok so it was 67% in 2005, lets have 2006 then

It was 69% in 2004. ....70% in 2005....it dropped to a clearly aberrant 42% in 2006, while Jake had to spend huge energy fighting off the political assassins. He had to deal with a committee second guessing him, had selections changed and had to fly back during a tour to meet with the suits.

Once the decision was made to keep him and he could focus on the rugby his win ratio leaped to 79% in 2007. And he ended on a ten match unbeaten streak.

Saffex

Spmetimes you really are talking crap.   White was a very good coach - he was a team builder not a team destroyer like Mallett.    I do believe he was IRB coach of the Year for two years out of the five he was Springbok coach and that definitely counted for a lot.

As to trying to correct Watson's behaviour was  impossivble.  Watson was a good rugb layer - but a terrible team member.   He was spoilt roten and came through in the believe that because of his father he was entited to be Springbok captain.   He was kicked out of the Sjarks set-up because of discord caused in private relationships with Johm Smit's family and thn went to the Stormer - where he was captain for two years with very mixed results.   When Burger replaced him as captain he went on the rampage against the so-clled Dutch.   When he was ultimnately forced into the squad by politicians - followed th puke comments on the Springbok Ruby Jersey.

How can such a person be changed into a team enviornment and how you develop him when in the actual game time as a Sprngbok he provd to be totally incapable of playing on intrnational level.?

Your dislike of White is based on player selection - any coach not selecting players in line with your bird brain selections are to be condemned.   t is Meyer turn now - if a player fucks up it is becaus Meyer instructs him to play a different game to one that the player;'d nstursl gam is - irrespective of how imnadequate that player is to do the basic elements of the position correctly   

 Luke is a good provincial player but not Bok material. He made a lot of mistakes and has apologised. Lets see how he goes. I will be amazed if he ever plays well enough to get a Bok call up. How old is Luke in any case?

42% ouch and we retained this fool???

Fortunately yes.....smarter rugby people than you or I saw the aberration....and kept Jake. He rewarded their decision with a RWC. `

Throwing out 2006 which was a travesty for Bok rugby with the attacks on the national coach.....Jake's record was one TN, one near TN, one RWC and a win % of 73%.

Splendid stuff.

saffex is spot on, this article is shit.

depression isnt something to be taken lightly and for keo to give white the credit for saving rathbone would be a huge laugh if the topic was a laughing matter.

rathbone seeking help both medically and through his family is why rathbone is in a good place, not cos of whites so called smarts in picking him picked him.
 

this comment from the PDV like clown who wrots this on keo is the biggest laugh,,,
"I am thrilled for him at what he has achieved with the Brumbies."

what exactly had white achieved at the brumbies???
i mean last year they couldnt even make the finals, despite not facing the stormers or the crusaders in the regular season and having the opportunity to face the force, rebels and waraths twice, o_O
if u cant make the finals despite that legal match fixing backing ur season, then IMO ur rubbish.

@mikey,
white may have won two IRB coach of the year awards (2004 & 2007), but graham henry should have won 2004.
Boks won 69.2% of their tests in 2004 losing 4 of their tests, while the All Blacks won 81.8% of theirs losing two of theirs.

white did have a very good year in 2004 though, i will never forget that hiding ur Boks dished us at ellis park, :o(

But sasu you have so much more talent according to AB supporters....Jake must have been a genius to take that TN off you. Or am I missing something? As for the Brumbies they way exceeded the going in expectations in 2012.

Springboks winning percentage under jake white is 66.7% (BTW moz, weve had this discussion before, but u do not ignore draws or be stupid like "there beeno brains" and say they are neutral, they are not wins period)

2004 - 69.2%
2005 - 66.7%
2006 - 41.7%
2007 - 82.4%

IMO jake whites RWC was way overrated, much in the same way that the All Blacks loss to the england now have so many here saying that the All Blacks are done for.
in the 2007 RWC, the Boks were dealt the dream draw, they only in the entire comp faced one tier 1 team. the unthinkable happened when both the wallabies and the All Blacks were both eliminated in the quater finals (thank u very much mr barnes) and the Boks only managed to beat the wallabies once that year in SA while losing both tests to the All Blacks, including that 33-6 drubbing.

jake white was not an inept coach, but the RWC is his crowning jewel and it will be a long time before anyone gets such a favourable draw like that again, i mean one tier one team??? o_O thats the rugby lottery.

ps. the teams the Boks beat to win the 2007 RWC were,,,,enlgand x 2, samoa, tonga, USA, fiji, argentina and england finished 3rd in the 6nations.
like i said rugby lottery, food for thought aye???

@moz,

lolz, ill let u in a secret,,,All Black players are human too, i know u might not believe that but they are, which is why we are bound to lose a match every now and then, luckily its a very rare occurance -_o

but lets address that the 2004 TriNats which the Boks won,,,,
the Boks were deserved winners of that TriNats, while they won the TriNats, it was hardly what i call convincing as all three SANZAR teams won two games a piece, but now im splitting hairs, lolz
i have to admit i never factored the TriNats victory into my equation as to how i thought henry should have won, and im sure that would have played a strong part in deciding the coach of the year.

so i officially change my mind, while the All Blacks 81.8% over shadows the Boks 69.2%, white did deserve that IRB coach of the year award, :o)

Well 2005 for the ABs was hardly convincing either....each team won once. We led the aggregate scores by a point.....but only beat  OZ two out of three. We were ahead until about minute 79 of the deciding test.

But you make some good points and I'll admit 2004 was not clear cut.

Ah ok is that how it works, you just wipe out and year and blame it on politics - what a crock of shit

Jake was an average coach with a huge ego, a record of 67% is average and the facts of the WC are that he had Eddie save his arse, along with a great squad and an easier route to the final - all facts.

Hell the man was coming off a 42% year, no wonder we wanted the average man out - he was saved by others and has achieved nothing since

Yes we wipe out 2006.....Jake was hounded all year....and the players were totally demotivated by it. Smart rugby guys knew it was an impossible situation.

No smart rugby guys will know that your pathetic excuse does not wash. So in the two years leading up to the WC, Jake had a 54% win record - that reflects the man's ability as a coach - he was average and smart rugby men should have booted him into touch - the call most of he country was making at the time

And as usual most of the country was wrong.....the herd instinct.

Nope they were not wrong, had they say given Eddie the reigns and booted Jake, we would have still won the WC

So with Jake as head coach and Jones coaching his specialty the backline, we had no chance according to you....but with Jones as general coach, we were certain winners. Sounds like balls!

Nope Eddie Jones as main coach as he has done in the past and Jake out of the equation totally would have been my call. Eddie could have appointed any assistants he wanted to.

Jake was useless leading up to the WC and should have been sacked early in 2006

There's a healthy relationship between WCU21 coach and WCU21 captain Clyde Rathbone....I don't expect everyone to know but it is a fact.. Jake would have played a pivotal role in getting Clyde to play again.

Dave your opinion of Jake stinks, your desire to see the Boks fail in the WC is a well known fact....your desire to see him fail was hate diven. Forget it pal, Jake might not be your idea of a coach but he was a succesful coach with a WC championship as his biggest achievement. His vision to employ Eddie should be respected and admired....it clearly demonstrates that he had his finger on the pulse.

Denny please dont confuse my dislike of Jake with me wanting the Boks to lose the WC, for that is insulting. I will refrain from attacking you on this, but please dont lie again when it comes to my support and love of the Boks.

One average, opinionated coach was not Bok rugby.

Jake was not a succesful coach, 67% is not good enough.

This argument about White as a coach is really the pits - its all past history and is really about personal pereptions - all really hogwash.   Jake White was the Springbok coach in 2007 and nothing written now can change that.

I do not buy the rubbish writen by keo at all - least of all the story about Clyde Rathbone.   Rathbone was a good player at one stage and for psychological and injury resons went completely off the boil.   It is easier for players to recover physiclly - not so easy to get over mental problems.   Rathbone is already way over 30 years of age - and the chances of a successful return to professional rugby is remote.

I would say that the only norm would be to see whether he even makes the Brumbies team - and if he does how he performs.  If he ever gets going and perform on a sustainable basis - then the discussion on his future and an objective assessment of his performances would give an indication of what should be the real issues and the role of White in that.

Let me give you my view of the Rathbone saga - his decision to move to Australia was a real mistake on his part.   He would have had a better chance in SA - since people moving to Australia are never really accepted by Australians - they are used, but in the end not really accepted.   His mentl situation and injuries made him disposable and as such - the would receive minnimal help and be discarded.    Sasue can differ from me on that one though.   

@mikey,

rathbones wasnt discarded by the brumbies, rathbone left after an insane number of injuries, including a torn patella tendon in 2006 which saw him miss almost two yeats of rugby.
he returned to the game in 2008 playing club level and worked his way back into the brumbies, but injuries struck again and in 2009 he decided to quit rugby.
once that last injury took its toll and he was forced to retire, the depression which he had battled with all throughout his career.
while rathbone was battling depression during his time with the brumbies, he said that he had kept it hidden from everybody and everyone was under the impression that he was all good. his retirement was a catalyst for a flood of negative thoughts which forced him to seek help in 2010.

by rathbones account depression was never something he talked about with anybody, not even his wife so the brumbies can be excused for not helping him with the mental side of things, like they did with the phycial side.
but im sure teams these days are much better educated then they were 10 years ago.

jake white and rathbone have a strong history together that travels back to when white was the coach of the u20s, so maybe that was why white had so much faith in him.

white has also announced that rathbone is definately in the starting team, his form in the preseason has seen him leap frog both j tomane and h speight whcih IMO is just crazy.

Sas that last selection of Clyde by Jake sums Jake up really