for quality writing

Ken Borland

Next Entries →

Davids says Boks must take the emotion out while critics say their No.1 reign has gone to the dogs 0

Posted on October 08, 2021 by Ken

The harsher critics of the Springboks are having a field day saying their reign at the top of the rugby world is going to the dogs, but assistant coach Deon Davids said on Monday that the team need to take the emotion out of their review of the back-to-back defeats against Australia as they prepare to face the mighty All Blacks this weekend.

The Springbok game-plan has been the object of much derision from their rivals who could not prevent them winning the World Cup, as well as seeing off the British and Irish Lions. But a strangely flat performance against the Wallabies last weekend, leading to a 30-17 defeat, has raised questions about how keen the Springboks are to keep chasing and tackling themselves into oblivion.

“We will be the first to say our performance has not been up to standard in the last two games and we need to look at the reasons for that. But it’s important to look objectively at our performance, we want to take the emotion out of it as quickly as possible. We need to look at how the plan was executed, did we stay in the task and then move on to the next challenge?

“We can’t dwell on things that are in the past, we have to focus on what we need to improve and what we need to do. And then prepare effectively to make sure we perform the way we need to. Obviously when you lose two consecutive games, it’s natural to get emotional and you can look for reasons that are not actually the case. We need to go back to our strengths,” Davids said on Monday.

The Springboks’ very specific game-plan needs multiple facets of their play to be working like clockwork and Davids is confident they can regain the required cohesion and fervour against the All Blacks for the 100th Test between the two great rivals, in Townsville on Saturday.

“We understand what we want to achieve, what we want to do with the ball where and when. Against New Zealand, we’ve got to be good in all areas, especially technically. But this group of players has been in this position before, they lost the first Test against the Lions and their first game at the World Cup, but they were able to pick themselves up because there’s a lot of experience in the team.

“I’m confident we will be back at the standard we are used to, even though there are physical and mental challenges due to the circumstances caused by Covid, which will have some sort of effect. But we had an idea of the challenges before we started this campaign and we prepared to adapt to circumstances. There is nothing standing in the way of us giving our best in these next two weeks,” Davids said.

Tags:
Category Rugby, Sport

All Blacks next & Springboks need to get down to business & fix many aspects of their game 0

Posted on October 08, 2021 by Ken

The daunting All Blacks are South Africa’s next opponents in the Rugby Championship and they need to get down to business this week and fix the many aspects of their game that have not been functioning over the last two weekends and the back-to-back losses to Australia.

The only problem is coach Jacques Nienaber said at the weekend that he doesn’t really know where to start, which is as much of an admission of the numerous problems the Springboks have as anything else.

Captain Siya Kolisi did put his hand up and say the players are to blame because they have been given a plan – which we know has worked in the past – by the coaching staff. But any plan is only as good as its implementation … and the Springboks’ execution has been terrible.

Over the last two weeks they have produced sloppy rugby that is not worthy of either the world champions tag or the number one ranking.

What is certain is that the senior players, the World Cup winners, need to step up now and be willing to get their hands dirty on the gainline and at the breakdown, and make their tackles. The Wallabies have thoroughly dominated those crucial departments of the game, where the usually famously physical Springboks have been strangely timid. Their ball-carries have been faltering and tactically they seem to have ignored the enormous pressure the Wallabies put on the breakdown.

In terms of personnel changes, including Cheslin Kolbe on the wing will provide some x-factor, but South Africa’s many efforts to get the ball wide at the weekend were fruitless because a lack of direct running in the build-up meant Sbu Nkosi and Makazole Mapimpi received the ball with not enough space to work with. Centres Lukhanyo Am and Damian de Allende quickly need to regain the form they showed in the British and Irish Lions series.

Likewise Duane Vermeulen has been a pale shadow of his usual self at eighthman, but more game time will hopefully work, while Eben Etzebeth’s lack of dominance is perhaps due to too much rugby.

Franco Mostert was one of the more industrious forwards on the field at the weekend, but would he not be better employed at lock, especially if Lood de Jager is still not over his concussion? That would allow a powerful ball-carrier like Dan or Jean-Luc du Preez to be included on the blindside flank.

The much-vaunted Stormers front row of Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi and Steven Kitshoff have also not had their usual impact, although South Africa’s set-pieces have been solid.

Tags:
Category Rugby, Sport

Chiefs favourites but a sad day awaits for SA rugby 0

Posted on August 05, 2016 by Ken

 

About 80% of respondents on the country’s biggest sports website believe the Chiefs will beat the Brumbies to win back-to-back Vodacom SuperRugby titles on Saturday, and one imagines a similar proportion of fans would declare it a sad day for South African rugby when the Southern Kings or Lions are banished into the wilderness later in the day after the second leg of their promotion/relegation series.

The future of both the Lions and the Kings as professional, commercially viable franchises rests on Saturday afternoon’s match at Ellis Park. The Eastern Cape side have a deficit of seven points to make up, never mind the fact that they have to win and prevent the hosts from getting a bonus point.

It is obviously a no-win situation for South African rugby: either the tremendous growth of the game in the Eastern Cape, the Kings having performed much better than expected, or one of the traditional powerhouses will be sacrificed.

The lack of SuperRugby action in 2013 has left the Lions with their heads barely above water and the coffers of the proud union, already struggling before their relegation from the competition, could well run dry if they do not have top rugby to host next year.

The incompetence of the officials the South African Rugby Union (Saru) sent to negotiate the expanded SuperRugby format means the sport in this country will lose a leg this weekend … it’s a bit like asking someone whether they’d like to have their left leg or their right leg chopped off.

It also makes it absolutely imperative that Saru are already planning for 2016 when the next Sanzar expansion is scheduled to occur and that they have contingency plans in place to keep either the Kings or the Lions afloat until then.

The Lions edged out the Kings in Port Elizabeth last weekend because they kept their composure better under pressure. The ill-discipline of the Kings allowed Elton Jantjies to keep chipping away at the scoreboard. Now that the chips are down and the Kings have to beat the Lions at a sold-out Ellis Park, how will they respond?

There seems little doubt that the Kings will need to add something extra to their ultra-conservative game plan in order to beat the Lions, but is there the attacking skill to do that within their side?

Director of rugby Alan Solomons, who is leaving the Kings to coach Edinburgh whatever the outcome of Saturday’s match is, is backing a new centre pairing of the experienced duo of Waylon Murray and Ronnie Cooke.

Star flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis is out with a hand injury, with George Whitehead taking the number 10 jersey, while debutant Scott van Breda, who is normally a centre, is on the left wing and is going to handle the goal kicking for the Kings.

The Kings, as the rank underdogs in SuperRugby, have honed their defensive skills to such an extent that they made the most tackles and had the best completion-rate in the competition; but Saturday’s game is calling for them to showcase attacking capabilities that have been lying dormant.

The Lions, on the other hand, have been racking up the tries in non-competitive matches and the backline is used to crossing the whitewash this year; Jantjies is a skilful distributor, they have a quality centre pairing in Stokkies Hanekom and Dylan des Fountain and dangerous finishers in the back three in Antony Volmink and Ruan Combrinck.

Up front, hard, experienced men such as Franco van der Merwe, captain JC Janse van Rensburg and flank Derick Minnie ensure that the Lions aren’t lambs to the slaughter when it comes to matching the intensity and physicality of a SuperRugby side.

But whatever the outcome, one hopes that Saru will take steps to ensure that, when we look back through the mists of time, we don’t remember the Kings, representing such a strategically important chunk of the country as the Eastern Cape, as having one season of SuperRugby as some sort of quirky experiment; or the Lions as being a once-great union, the first winners of the Super 10 competition that preceded the Sanzar tournament, that has faded into obscurity.

The Brumbies are a side that is returning from relative obscurity in SuperRugby as they contest the final for the first time since their 2004 triumph. They will be travelling to Hamilton and will need to overcome a Chiefs side that has the confidence of winning the title last year, scoring the most points and tries this season, and the prestige of beating the heavily-favoured Crusaders last weekend.

Jake White’s men will also have to overcome travelling from Pretoria to New Zealand and the distracting effects of thousands of cow bells as a 25 000 capacity crowd roars on the Chiefs in Hamilton.

The Brumbies have certainly bought into the former World Cup winning coach’s philosophy and they showed at Loftus Versfeld last weekend that they are willing to risk their limbs in defence and have a steely focus on sticking to the game plan.

And the Brumbies have the kicking game and a powerful lineout that could trouble a Chiefs side that, amazingly, had the ball for the least time out of all sides in SuperRugby.

But the fact the Chiefs scored the most points and tries in regular season play shows their greatest strengths – their ability to make metres when carrying the ball and the skills of their players in beating defenders.

Locks Brodie Retallick and Craig Clarke and loose forwards Liam Messam and Tanerau Latimer bring a hard edge to the pack, while Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Aaron Cruden have the tactical vision and skills that have been central to the Chiefs’ success.

Those website pollsters clearly believe the Brumbies will need a miracle to beat the Chiefs at their home ground in Hamilton. But miracles do happen in rugby, as the spirited, well-coached Brumbies discovered last weekend in Pretoria.

Teams

Lions: 15-Ruan Combrink, 14-Deon Helberg, 13-Stokkies Hanekom, 12-Dylan des Fountain, 11-Antony Volmink, 10-Elton Jantjies, 9-Ross Cronjé, 8-Warren Whiteley, 7-Derick Minnie, 6-Jaco Kriel, 5-Franco van der Merwe, 4-Hendrik Roodt, 3-Julian Redelinghuys, 2-Martin Bezuidenhout, 1-JC Janse van Rensburg. Replacements – 16-Robbie Coetzee, 17-Martin Dreyer, 18-Willie Britz, 19-Warwick Tecklenburg, 20-Guy Cronjé, 21-Marnitz Boshoff, 22-Chrysander Botha.

Southern Kings: 15-SP Marais, 14-Hadleigh Parkes, 13-Ronnie Cooke, 12-Waylon Murray, 11-Scott van Breda, 10-George Whitehead, 9-Shaun Venter, 8-Jacques Engelbrecht, 7-Wimpie van der Walt, 6-Cornell du Preez, 5-Darron Nell, 4-David Bulbring, 3-Kevin Buys, 2-Bandise Maku, 1-Schalk Ferreira. Replacements – 16-Charl du Plessis, 17-Hannes Franklin, 18-Steven Sykes, 19-Devin Oosthuizen, 20-Nicolas Vergallo, 21-Wesley Dunlop, 22-Shane Gates.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-08-02-superrugby-relegation-or-promotion-speaks-volumes-of-saru/#.V6R-8Pl97IU

Tags:
Category Rugby, Sport

Next Entries »

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Thought of the Day

    Galatians 5:25 – “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep walking in step with the Spirit.”

    There is only one Christ and all things that are preached in his name must conform to his character. We can only know Christ’s character through an intimate and personal relationship with him.

    How would Christ respond in situations in which you find yourself? Would he be underhanded? Would he be unforgiving and cause broken relationships?

    “The value of your faith and the depth of your spiritual experience can only be measured by their practical application in your daily life. You can spend hours at mass crusades; have the ability to pray in public; quote endlessly from the Word; but if you have not had a personal encounter with the living Christ your outward acts count for nothing.” – Solly Ozrovech, A Shelter From The Storm

     

     



↑ Top