The recnt article on Supersport is significant:-
When Heyneke Meyer’s second season as Springbok coach came to an end a few weeks ago, it represented the halfway point between World Cup cycles, with less than two years remaining until the kick-off of the next global showpiece event in September 2015.
After a year which saw the Boks end with a success rate for the season of more than 80 per cent, only the third time it had happened in the post-isolation era, Meyer should have been well pleased with the progress his team has made since the nervous beginnings against England at home in June 2012.
As he said when he spoke with South African rugby writers at the team hotel in Paris the morning after the test against France, if you take away the two draws that the Boks were held to last year, the Boks would have managed close to an 80 per cent record in both seasons he was at the helm, and that would mean an 80 per cent record overall from his time in charge.
But while that would be significant given that it would place him only second to Kitch Christie, who retired undefeated after effectively little more than one year in charge at the end of 1995, there may be some who will sense potential danger in too much pre-occupation with win percentages.
It may be an indication that Meyer is suffering from a malaise that all Bok coaches fall victim at some or other stage, one that can perhaps best be described as “coaching for survival”.
If you look at South African rugby’s post-isolation history with coaches you can understand why, even though he is right up there in terms of win percentages, Meyer might still be carrying with him the fear for his job that he started his tenure with 23 months ago.
Jake White won the World Cup in 2007, but it was pretty evident that the administrators were pleased to see the back of him.
If that was not the case, they could have made a plan when he announced after the World Cup final that he might be willing to carry on.
Nic Mallett, who ended with a 71 per cent win record, was sacked for making an understandable mistake when he made comments about ticket prices to someone who did not identify herself as a journalist.
Mallett did even better than Meyer in his first two years in charge. When his team took the field against Wales in the so-called summer test in Cardiff in June 1999, his side had only lost once 22 starts.
And yet if you ask Mallett, he will tell you that he had started to feel the pressure being exerted right after his first test defeat to England in November of the previous year, one that came after a winning streak of 17 matches.
Although Meyer spoke at the start of the recent tour of Wales, Scotland and France of it being the start of the build-up to the 2015 World Cup, he does still at times give the impression that his most important goal is always just to make sure he has the win percentages that will make it possible for him to survive until then.
That may explain why he still hasn’t quite been as bold as some would wish him to be, although, to be fair, it is probably just not in Meyer’s DNA to throw someone like Pieter-Steph du Toit in at the deep end as the leader of the lineout when he is clearly still so green and inexperienced.
Meyer is just one of those who would prefer to blood the young around a core of experience, and he is not alone in being an advocate of that policy.
What is undeniable is that Meyer has delivered on the promise made at the close of the 2012 tour of the northern hemisphere.
Over coffee in the team hotel in Kensington after the win over England that ensured his first season in charge ended on a positive balance, Meyer vowed that his team would become more attacking once his style of rugby had become second nature to the players.
His team did that, and then some, with Meyer being helped this year by his team having a much easier build-up to the serious part of the season.
Italy, Scotland and Samoa represented a far less daunting prospect than his 2012 baptism against England after just a five day build-up to the series.
The extra work Meyer was able to put into the planning for the new season now that he is working with a management that is committed fully to him rather than also working for the Bulls has paid off, and his willingness to think outside of the box was showcased by the selection of players such as Willie le Roux.
Whereas the Boks struggled to score tries in his first year of the cycle, the confidence they took into the Castle Lager Rugby Championship saw them accumulate no less than four bonus points for scoring four tries or more.
With four wins from six starts in the Championship followed by the unbeaten end of year tour, the Boks were able to reach the halfway point between World Cups having shown measurable progress.
However, as the All Blacks, more than any other team, is the one that South Africans measure their team and coaches by, the defeat in the final match at Ellis Park was a setback. It means the Boks have lost all four of the games they have played against their main rivals since the World Cup.
There were mitigating circumstances, with French referee Romain Poite effectively decreeing with his abysmal officiating in the Eden Park test between the two teams that the Johannesburg game would not just be about the winner taking the trophy.
By picking up a full house of five log points against a Bok team that was down to 14 men for much of the match, the All Blacks set the Boks the task of having to win by a big score at Ellis Park.
It is to Meyer and the team’s credit that they resolved to chase the impossible dream in the final game. They could easily just have played for the win. But Meyer says he values silverware higher than win percentages, so his team committed itself to all-out attack.
It contributed to a magnificent spectacle that was lauded by critics as one of the finest matches ever seen, but the approach did play into All Black hands.
The Boks need to apply a more tactical approach to beat the All Blacks. They were unable to do it this year. So in a sense the jury is still out, although it is also hard to deny that the Kiwis have made measurable steps forward too since they won the last World Cup in Auckland in November 2011.
Aspects of their kicking game have improved out of sight, and it is why they give the appearance of moving forward as quickly as the Boks are doing.
Regardless of how you look at it, the Boks do need to beat the All Blacks, and soon, if they are to start moving into a place where they may reasonably be considered favourites for the World Cup title.
Certainly the end of year tour offered some encouragement in that it did suggest the Boks might be better equipped for the conditions that will be experienced at the World Cup than the All Blacks are.
You can’t argue though with a 100 per cent record from the year, which is what the All Blacks managed, and the Kiwi momentum has to be halted.
There are weak points, some of them identified by Meyer and others not, that need to be addressed to make it possible.
THE WEAK POINTS
Morne Steyn enjoyed a strong southern hemisphere season and certainly thumbed his nose at those critics who wrote him off after his annus horribilus in 2012.
His goal-kicking was for the most part exemplary, he made improvements to his attacking game, and in the bulk of the games his field kicking was good.
However, his defence was shown up badly at Ellis Park, and question marks over his potential vulnerability defensively are unlikely to go away. That will prove problematic going forward if it means that good teams like the All Blacks are able to target him.
Another area that was shown up at Ellis Park was the second row, or more specifically, Juandre Kruger. The Bulls No 5 lock was brilliant when he came on as a replacement for Flip van der Merwe in the big win over Australia in Brisbane, but he too often he was found wanting the when the going gets really physical.
The All Blacks have also finished much stronger than the Boks in both the most recent matches played between the teams on the Highveld. Meyer has recognised their superiority when it comes to conditioning.
The mental strength of the All Blacks is also beyond peer. Their last-gasp try against Ireland to preserve their 100 per cent record was a measure of their self-belief. They also managed to score off the last move of the game against Argentina in La Plata to secure a crucial bonus point.
Summary
The article reflect must which is true about the problems that surfaced in the games against the AB's - but there are also some things left out. The main identified problems relate to -
* the known flaws in the defence of Morne Steyn; anf
* the flop of Kuandr Kruger at lock - nothing new, this was clearly stated by some thinking members on this site.
The weaknesses in the game of Morne Steyn has also been exposed by the Stade Francais Club - who dies not use him as there no 1 flyhalf - he plays off the bench for them. Although reference is made in the article to his weak defence - there are other aspects of his game that was also exposed as poor, namely -
* his poor decision making as to when to pass and when the kick balls - illustrated by the plays resulting in Messam's second try; and
* his tendency to fail to kick balls out of play in the case of penalties (happened 5 times in 3 tests).
I think that it is time that we forget about the soon to be the 30 year old Morne Steyn insofar as further selection is concerned. Morne is way past he age where measurable improvements in performances will occur so it is time for him to be replaced.
The issue of Juandre Kriger should never have arisen in the case of selections. He never had any grunt and he should not have been anywhere near the team. This was e of the poorest selections of Meyer - but I believe that Meyer has at last found out that he is not Springbok material and he ws left out of the EOYT.
The one issue not raised in the article is our back row and the imbalances in the back row. The Wallabies beat us comprehensively in that department of the game. They made double the number of tackles that the Springboks made, there loosies scored three tries against the zero scored by the Springbok loosies and they were all over the field of play while our own loosies sauntered around arriving late at breakdown points. Louw and Vermeulen did their part - Sloth Alberts made two critical mistakes both leading to tries. Something needs to be done with our loosie combination at least to ensure that we are in future competitive in that component of the game against the AB's.
