"Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer faces a tough decision in the midfield whether or not to keep his captain Jean de Villiers.
It has emerged that during Saturday’s defeat at the hands of Japan in Brighton, senior players ignored instructions from the coaching box on how to play and followed their own lead, leading to the biggest upset in Rugby World Cup history.
De Villiers, as captain, has to take the blame for this, and aligned with his form, has left his coach boxed into a corner, with no easy way out.
While players following their own lead isn’t new in the game, the Bok coach already said after the game on Saturday night that he had told the players to use the rolling maul – a feature that led to two of the tries - more and to counter attack more rather than kick the ball back to the Japanese.
But instead of controlling the pace, and forcing Japan to play to their tune, the players on the field decided to ignore their coach’s instructions and try and play a running game that never really came off, with their discipline letting them down and keeping Japan in the game.
The team had a long video session on Monday where harsh words were spoken, and which ran more than an hour over time, as Meyer laid down the law to the players in the simplest of terms – either they make it right or they head home.
It is precisely those senior players whose form is under fire at the moment, and who need to take the lead in rectifying matters as the Boks head into their second match of the Rugby World Cup against Samoa.
A loss in this game would mean South Africa are more than likely heading home while a win puts them back on track to win their pool, despite Saturday’s shock result.
Still Meyer needs to decide on De Villiers fate, with the coach reluctant on the impact that dropping the captain may have on the rest of the team.
De Villiers has been excellent off the field as an ambassador, but on the field his form has been below par and it won’t escape his critics that both the Bok losses this year that have thrown them into turmoil have been when Meyer has put his captain into the midfield and broken up the successful combination of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel.
Kriel will also have defensive questions to answer, especially after the ease he was bumped off in the tackle in Japan’s winning try but it is unfathomable that De Allende can’t be picked at 12 this weekend.
This leaves the choice to either play De Villiers at 13, and drop Kriel, or drop the captain to the bench, or a more drastic option of dropping him altogether.
There have been some suggestions that De Villiers may get one final chance this weekend to show his worth, but Meyer is playing a dangerous game if this is the case.
While the decision to play the captain has a lot of sentimental value, what happened on the weekend has changed things drastically in the camp and a massive question-mark hangs over De Villiers’ on-field captaincy at the moment, with the midfielder turning down shots at goal and continually trying to match the Japanese with a running game that didn’t work.
De Villiers has also come in for a lot of flack after he sat shell-shocked at the post-match press conference and said he couldn’t find the reasons why the Springboks lost.
There will be other posers in selection, with Willie le Roux likely to return as will Fourie du Preez and Duane Vermeulen, while the lock combination is another that Meyer will have to sort out.
Willem Alberts was due to do a fitness test on Tuesday after missing Monday’s training session with a calf injury as well."
This is summing up the Meyer dilemma. He has the choice of playing a capotain and/or vice-captain who both were and are piss-poor in performance - or leave them out altogether and use Burger or Vermeulen as captain.
I am of the opinion that De Villiers would be the one to go - Meyer will never get rid of his braaivleis pal and will retain the useless old bugger as captain.
