participation in WC from 1995 onwards.
1995 WC
When SA came back into international rugby in 1992 te indicators were not all that good and too many players from the past was in the team. Our showing in games showed how far we lagged behind world rugby in the isolation years. We regularly lost tests against especially New Zealand, Australia and England and even though the WC was to be held in SA - the Springboks were definitely not the favourites to be thw WC winners.
I think the Springboks were extremely lucky that year. The test in Durban was a real nightmare played in horrible weather conditions. Even though I lived in Duban at the time I could not go to the test - since Nelson Mandela was scheduled to open the Albert Luthuli Center in Groutville and since I was promarily reposnsible for the devleopment of the center - I obviously could not go to the game.
However, the French scored a try that was disallowed and that was the end of their effort. I can still remember looking at the game afterwards and thought it indeed was in my opinion a try - but it was not and we went through to the final. Even before that there was another controversy that affected our chances. Dalton got a red card in a game in PE that could have eliminated the Springboks from the final stages if we were level with another team on points - but that eventually did not materialize.
However, in the end there was an All black - Springbok final and the All Blacks was the odds-on favourite to win that one. We won a test decided by kicks at goal and I think it could indeed have been attributed to the guts of the players and the gaol kicking of Stransky that took us through.
1999 WC
In 1996 the Springboks showed a massive slump in form and was poor. Coaches came and go until Carel du Plessis took over in 1997. He dientified the problem is the team being unable to score tries and started a rejuvenation programme. because it was so unnatural for SA - the changed set up showed some early hick ups and only came to fruiton towards the end of this coaching period when the Springboks -
* beat the British Lions by the biggest margin ever achieved; and
* beat the Wallabies by a similarly biggest margin ever achieved.
Du Plessis was undermined by the media and the famous keo was the Mallett agent that did the dirty work for Mallett - who was apponted after Du Plessis was the coach for a few months only. Mallett inherited a wonderful team and went on to win 17 tests in a row with the squad he inherited.
That came to a sudden end and it becme clear that he had to undertake team renewal. Whatever he decided went awry. His huge mistake involved the Teoichman fiasco. SA went through to the quaterfinals and came up against England - who was so sure of winnig that one - they bookd their accommodation in advance.
The test was dominated by the De Beer drop kicks and was miraculously won by the Springboks. That was where there efforts came to a dead stop - the reason being that Mallett had no other strategy than using De beer to kick drop goals. It was really funny - Larkham kicked the drops in the semi-final and the Wallabies went through to the final.
2003 WC
We were indeed doomed form the start insofar as thei WC was concerned. Performances under Mallett after the 1999 WC slumped badly and it was indeed inevitable that he was to be replaced as coaoh. He resigned before he could be fired - the so-called ticket price fiasco was the reason for his resignation - but that was to save face by him - nothing else. That slump continued until Straueli was appointed as coach - another coaching disaster appointeent.
To this day it was the Straueli disaster selections that cost us dearly. It probably was the worst squad ever selected to represent SA at any WC - even though the 2011 WC squad came a lose second to that one from a selection perspective. The Springboks was soundly beaten in the quarte-final against New Zealand and deservedly so.
2007 WC
The appointment of Jake White as coach in 2004 led to a revival in the performances of the Springboks - who did well in 2004 and 2005 - followed by another sllump in 2006 - when political issues affected White badly.
White stuck to his guns and selected what I always regarded the best squad ever to represemt SA at the WC. There was hiccups in the performances of the Springboks as well. They started off magnificiently by beating Samoa and England - the latter was indeed a one-sded match. Howevr, they did struggle against Tonga and that was followed by the Group match against the USA. South Africa won with ease - but the one outatsnding moment was when the USA wing outran Habana to score a try in the Montpellier game.
Although SA to an extent did not have everything their own way in the quarter-final agaimst Fiji - they be
at the Argentinians with ease in the semi-final. Going through to the final against England they were - in view of the earlier defeat of England in the round-robin match the favourite to win that game.
For me the noightmare incident in the final was the missed tackle by Francois Steyn on Tate - and the very near try miss by the English that could have turned that game around. However - we won the final and that was the really important issue.
2011 WC
The decision to get rid of Jake White and appoint Pieter de Villiers as coach was an outright disaster. The team was coached by De Villiers - but run by the senior team members. This was effective in 2008 and 2009 - but by 2010 the team became a retirement center for the senior players - whose performances started to slump badly.
By 2011 the squad selected was a joke - the players were virtually all sub-par in performances by then and there was really no team renewal that was urgently needed. The team struggled through the round-robin games - the one against the Welsh was a narrow win - that could have gone either way.
People often enough blame bruyce Lawrence for the loss in the quarter-finals against Australia - but the team performance was sub-par in any event and even if they won that game - which they deservedly lost - that would have been their final win in the competition - the team was really not up to standard required - the main reason beiing the fact that players were selected on reputation and not performance.
Conclusion
What is going to happen next year? there are some positive signs - but also some seriously negative ones.
Since his appointment - Meyer was forced to make changes to the squad as there was a vacuum resulting in the lack of team renewal between 2008 and 2011. Meyer from the start was flipping around in selections and is in some ways panicking. He first of all tried a lot of players he was familiar with - basically from the Blue Bulls squad - and when that did not work out he went back to some 2007 stalwarts who were way past their best in 2011 already. Most of those like Steenkamp and Bakkies Botha was questionable selections and ultimately failed - their performances were avearge at best but not good enough to be Springboks anymore.
Even Meyer realized that one of his favourite players - More Steyn - was not up to standard and eventually got rid of him. The two rmeaining elderly players _ De Villiers and Matfield has questionable form as well. Matfield is good enough in line outs - but phyasically not up to standard and a real problem case in Tight 5 play.
We struggle in scrumming - something that never was as poor as at present - and we have a problem at scrummie. Much hope is put on Fourie du Preez - but due to injuury he will have virtually no game time before June 2015 and what will happen then? Big question mark over that one as well,
The fouvourite players of Meyer is virtually all over 30 years of age. That includes Bryan Habana, Jean De Villiers, Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez, Ruan Pienaar, Willem Alberts, Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis and Guirthro Steenkamp.
Of the above only Habana is still showing good form in general.
* Jean de Villiers and Bismarck du Plessis has slumped performances;
* All of Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Willem Albers, Bakkies Botha, Jannie du Plessis and Gruthro Steenkamp was poor in recent matches;
* Victor Matfield is a one course show pony - good in line outs and that is where his usefulness ends.
Doe s it look good for the 2015 WC? I am not optimistic. If players are selected on reputation - we are going to go down sooner rather than later and indications are not all that encouraging.
