Jake gets it spot on

I am fast becoming a Jake fan. He was average in his days as a Bok coach, mainly because he failed to get his selections right.......however he has learnt from his mistakes, evidenced with his time at the Brumbies and is now making the same good selections at the Sharks.

Jake shows investment in the youngsters, we don't see washed up has beens dominating his side........he has built his side around the experience of Ndungane, Frans, Beast, Bismark, Jannie, Alberts and Kankowski..........with only Jannie and Ndungane in their 30's........for the rest, its about the quality youngsters in his side........which this week gets even better given the introduction of class acts Tim Swiel and centre Esterhuizen to the bench.

Its these kind of choices that make me a happy rugby supporter and how selections should be made.......sadly we do not see the same with the Boks, Stormers, Bulls and Cheetahs and their results reflect this.

Selecting the right side is such an easy process......why oh why do so many get this basic element so wrong

Moz what part of me saying Jake was average as a Bok coach do you not get......I stand by that and his results confirm it. Luke Watson had stuff all to do with it.........he got many of his selections wrong........but Jake has evolved and I will give him credit for that.

Shark, age has everything to do with it.......Jake shows faith in these youngsters, our Bok coach does not.......he ignores the merits of the better youngsters and selects old farts like Steenkamp, Bakkies and Fourie to name but some.

Steenkamp ahead of Kitshoff, Bakkies ahead of Lood and Fourie ahead of JJ was insulting...........Jake might have made stupid calls like that years ago, but he would not do it now........that's my point  

He was an average coach that won the TN at his first go, was named world coach of the year and then won the RWC? 

The fact is Dave you quarreled heavily with our RWC winning team. You would rather have had Watson in the team....and you didn't want Os, Danie and Monty who won the RWC for us and played a brilliant final on a buggered knee.

You have been dead wrong about Jake all along and to pretend he has suddenly improved wont fly.

Yeah he started with a bang and then slipped to a dismal 26% in the year leading up to the WC and should have been sacked. He won the WC thanks to the addition of Jones, a easier route to the final and a great squad of players.......having to bring in an international coach to assist you is hardly and endorsement of your abilities to do the job yourself.

Jake was an ordinary coach back then and that is a fact......a 67% win record is ordinary

Jake has learnt and is a better coach for it. His biggest step is recognising the value in youthful players and investing in them......he has his model spot on.......we cant say the same for Meyer sadly........he remains as conservative as ever

What a laugh. Jake had a poor year in 2006 because our key player Schalk got hurt and he was undermined at every turn. He was even forced to select certain players and return to SA during the TN in Australia . It was a distracting year and we were not focused, largely because of outside forces.

He came back in 2007 and won the RWC with a team that you didn't approve of....and that includes Eddie Jones. You and Rooinek were saying all along he would lose. But after winning, nothing but his head would satisfy you.

Jake is the same coach he was in 2007, but for the moment his selections are pleasing you. Dave you are only about selection....and only happy if young players are selected. Given every RWC since 95 has been won by experience that's not a happy recipe.

Wrong Moz, Jake was crap leading up to the WC and I suggest you give Gavin Rich's 'The Poison Chalice' a read for in that book you will find that Jake along with all the Bok coaches concede to making mistakes and being better for it now.

Jake has done just that.....he has learnt from his mistakes and is a better coach for it. He is not the coach he used to be  

The Troof you really are one stupid prick.........the point is about Jake getting his selections right, we can't say the same for Ludeke...........the Bulls sign on more youngsters than any other franchise and Ludeke fails to invest in them......instead he brings back an old man like Matfield which is a complete joke.........he sticks with the useless Basson on the wing instead of investing in a youngster like Jessie Kriel............and worst of all he keeps faith in tried and tested failures in props Kruger and Greyling instead of investing in impressive youngsters Marcel v/d Merwe and Morne Mellett. Other stupid calls include playing du Plessis, a lock at flank, elevating the average Mastriet to wing and throwing Dewald Potgieter straight into the starting side.

So what you will find dumbass is that Ludeke's Bulls side should actually be even younger 

 Sorry Dave, your U turn on Jake is rather hilarious seeing as you were one of his most vocal and bitter critics. Matter of fact you wrote off the Boks chances of winning the WC because he didn't pick your team.

What you still don't get is the fact that Jake was smart enough to cut his cloth to the material at hand.....he really was the man for the moment.

The suspicion that former Springbok coach Jake White and superstar lock Victor Matfield didn't get on has been confirmed in an extract from the latter's autobiography to be released soon.

Victor: My Journey will hit book shelves this week and in it the 110-test veteran confirms that he and White had a difficult relationship.

Matfield reveals that, after winning the World Cup in 2007, White lashed out at the player while they were at a golf day at Fancourt.

"Jake exploded. He jumped over the table and grabbed me by the collar," Matfield says in the book, which was written in collaboration with former Rapport rugby writer De Jongh Borchardt.

The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning, when Matfield and White were in the club's bar discussing who should succeed White as the next Bok coach.

White said he wanted Allister Coetzee to take over but Matfield told him that, though he agreed that Coetzee was a good candidate, then Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer was a better bet.

Matfield said he felt Meyer was a better coach and told White: "Jacke, you've had success with the Boks but I've been coached by both you and Heyneke, and he is the best coach I've worked with."

That led to White's outburst, but the next day he apologised and Matfield admitted he could have been a bit more "sensitive".

Matfield also reveals that when White took over he told him to cut his hair and change his attitude.

I was joking Moz, that was for your benefit.......I am not sure that even Albert was under Jake........I just recall Jake making a large number of suspect selections.

Names escape me, it was a long time ago  

Well if you look at Victor's poor performance in the RWC03 final there was a lot of room for improvement. By the next RWC he was the best lock in the world. Maybe Jake had nothing to do with that, but somehow I think he did.

Spot on Saffex...if only the powerbase can overlook the the politics....an give it to Jake then we can have another well earned celebration and accolade in SA.

Idiots! and Fools! I really not hope so???