Meyer as a coach

I must admit that I think Meyer is a team builder par excellence.   He was coach for the SWD and led them to be very competitive against much stronger teams.  From there he went to the Bulls - who were the perennial bottom of the log team in Super 12 - later to become Super 14 and now Super 15.    The Bulls had perhaps the worst record in those competitions prior to him taking over as coach,

He then started to build over a two year period a very strong team and they won the competition - having been a title winner or top competittor over the past five years.   Heyneke developed one quality - his loyalty to his players.   That could be a positive or a negative.   The main negative is that he could fail to recognise when a player is past his sell-by date.

I hope and believe that taken his past history as a coach - he will identify his key players and build up a team around them.   I wrote elsewhere that this large squad serve as a warning to the under-achievers in the team that their days are numbered.   I sincerely hope that is the case and I think that the warining signs are there to the effect that the present Springboks must up their game or leave.

He is a quality coach with a proven record. He has selected well with his first squad bar the inclusion of Franco v/d Merwe and the exclusion of Brussouw, Kolisi, Elstadt, CJ Stander and Josh Strauss.................we are blessed with so much talent in the looseforward department that there was always going to be those that would miss out. While Alberts and Kankan are good.......Kolisi and Brussouw would have been better options. Elstadt would have been a far better bet to v/d Merwe, covering lock and 7.

I am really pleased to see he acknowledges that little guys have no place in test rugby - the man is with the times and good on him.

He will start off conservatively and play Morne at 10 and Jean at 13, but in time when he has settled in he will have the wisdom to move on from these two and we will see Goosen and Jantjies play at 10, with a real 13 replacing Jean - this could come from Taute, Jordaan, JJ or Pat Howard, the current Baby Bok (watch this kid tomorrow vs Ireland)

What has this to do with the situation today?   

In any event my initial comments on Meyer was positive - but he went sour in later years and by 2015 he was responsible for the mess that followed upon his appointment,   A huge disappointment ultimately.  

What has this to do with the situation today?   

In any event my initial comments on Meyer was positive - but he went sour in later years and by 2015 he was responsible for the mess that followed upon his appointment,   A huge disappointment ultimately.  

Meyer is responsible for Coetzee's failings? You are the most one-eyed person I have ever seen in my life. Rather, Meyer achieved what no coach after him could. Because he could extract more out of an inferior group than Coetzee and even Rassie. You were one of those fans who will attack Meyer, but never concede that the players he gave you, players you wanted, were failures. That means Lood, Damian, Kriel, Reinach, Lambie, even Pienaar. There is more. However, these stand out strongly in Meyer's final year. 

Another flawed comment and not on what I wrote - I said his appointment.

Anyway his useless loyalty to rugby has-beens had a major impact on the lack of a player corps available to Coetzee.   

Name the players who "missed out". Who should have been the players Meyer leaned on? 

Why should I do that over a three year period - I would juts say his non-selection of Lions players for the WC squad was a typical example of what he ended up with.   

Another example is that when the has-beens he had in the WC squad failed he ended up having to paly a center combination in the series with only three tests as a combination in most of the WC matches.   

Lastly was the absolute failure with development of a game plan - which you said existed and was implemented - while fact is that if there was indeed a game plan. it was never implemented.  You would be wise to study Meyer's own comments on team selection and the usage of backlines.  There were three cri tical comments he made and all three had disastrous implications.

I know Meyer's usage of backline. I have been logging set plays and movement off every phase and set piece ball for many years. I know how he used them. I know what Meyer was doing. I also know where the game plan created opportunities and when there were limitations.

My question to you is, which players do you think Meyer should have dropped and who should have been their replacements? 

The centre pairing went awry as Jean suffered an untimely injury against Samoa and Frans ruled himself out after the death of his brother. I do hold it against Meyer for not selecting Serfontein. 

Interestingly, Frans and Fourie had zero test together as a combination when they took World Cup 2007by storm. Jean and Fourie had very little experience with each other before replacing Barry and Joubert. Even better, neither were centres. So, experience make bad players good centres, or better combination.