Ken Borland

Two defeats to the All Blacks and a loss to Australia have shaken South Africans’ confidence in the Springboks, but the truth is coach Heyneke Meyer has presided over one of their better seasons in the Rugby Championship/Tri-Nations tournament.

There have only been six years out of the 17 in the tournament’s history in which South Africa has lost less than three games in a season, and one should not yet condemn Meyer because he has just started on his journey as Springbok coach. Furthermore, he has begun his tenure with the most inexperienced Springbok team since 2004.

That was the year Jake White began his reign in a similar state of rebuilding,and even though he claimed one of South Africa’s three Tri-Nations titles that year, his troubles emerged in 2006, just a year before his World Cup triumph, when public sentiment also turned against him. That was the year the Springboks were humbled 49-0 by Australia in Brisbane, and White only kept his job thanks to a one-point victory over the All Blacks in Rustenburg and a 24-16 triumph over Australia at Ellis Park.

But throughout the turmoil – and many similar criticisms as Meyer has had to face – White always seemed to have a plan, was steadfast in what he was trying to achieve, and we all know how it all came together in 2007.

So before the mob calls for Meyer to be run out of town, the current coach should be given time to build on the positive signs that have been there this season. He has not faltered in his views, for which he gives reasoned explanations, and has been consistent in selection, so he seems to know what he is doing.

An overseas tour with Tests against Ireland, Scotland and England beckons,and Meyer will have time now whilst the Currie Cup finalists are decided to ponder what changes he needs to make to his squad.

The 30-man squad that was involved in the home Rugby Championship Tests should all be having visas organised for Great Britain and Ireland, save for those that are injured like Johan Goosen, Jacques Potgieter and Frans Steyn, and perhaps CJ van der Linde, who at 32 years old probably isn’t an option for the long-term future.

Whatever other selections he makes, the debate will be all about what Meyer does at flyhalf. With Goosen ruled out for six months after knee ligament surgery, it would be a major surprise if Morne Steyn did not return.

The fact is that he will have had a break; he is the only flyhalf in contention who has experience of British conditions and the fields are likely to be heavy, prompting a kicking game; all these are factors in Steyn’s favour.

Elton Jantjies took the first steps of what should be a long international career at Loftus and Soccer City, but his experience is largely limited to mild winter days on the Highveld or summer in New Zealand, a far cry from the rain and snow that can be expected in Dublin, Edinburgh and London in November.

It is also clear after his man-of-the-match performance for the Sharks against Griquas on Friday night that Pat Lambie has a part to play at flyhalf in the future, and it would be fantastic if Meyer could throw him into the mix in that position at some stage next month.

But what makes building for the future tough for the coach is that winning against the Northern Hemisphere sides is a non-negotiable. Losing to the All Blacks is understandable, defeat by the Wallabies is infuriating, but losing to the likes of Scotland could be career-limiting.

The main area of concern is in the backline with JP Pietersen, in such inspirational form before his unfortunate hand injury, an obvious and vital returnee now that he is back in action.

Impressive Lions centre Lionel Mapoe is in line to travel as a replacement for Frans Steyn, while Bulls flank Arno Botha stepped in for Potgieter when he strained his groin during the week’s training ahead of the All Blacks’ game.

Meyer has already spoken of the faith he has in his current pack, and they can make another big step forward in Britain, where the conditions mean there is huge importance is placed in the set-pieces.

The unit will be kept together to grow as a whole, with hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle probably making a return and abrasive Sharks loose forward Jean Deysel perhaps gaining a recall.

For the Meyer game plan to work, the key factor is forward dominance, and the coach certainly has the makings of a dominant pack in place, judging by the showings up front against the Wallabies and All Blacks.

The potential is there, and hopefully the strategy put in place will be the right one to see off Ireland, Scotland and England.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2012-10-13-heyneke-meyer-have-a-little-faith-folks

Experienced 20/20 coach Dave Nosworthy said on Monday that South Africa’s failure to settle on a batting order had been a major factor in their disappointing early exit from the ICC World T20 competition in Sri Lanka.

South Africa lost all three of their Super 8s games to leave Sri Lanka as also-rans, despite being the number one ranked team in the world heading into the tournament.

The batting failed to fire, with the top-order having a dismal time and the likes of AB de Villiers floating around in the order and not getting enough time to stamp his mark on the innings.

“The big worry for me, looking from the outside, was that we didn’t seem to know what our best combination was. I think that we had the right players there, so I’m not blaming selection, but there wasn’t enough consistency or continuity in the batting order, but also in the bowling roles,” Nosworthy told Business Day on Monday.

“The guys didn’t seem to know what role they should play because they were in different positions all the time, they hadn’t spent long enough in specific roles.”

Nosworthy, who led the Highveld Lions to Champions League T20 qualification but is coaching Sri Lankan champions Uva in the tournament starting this week in Gauteng and has also had stints  with Canterbury, the Titans and the Punjab Kings XI, said that the confusion badly impacted on the performances of De Villiers and Kallis, probably South Africa’s two best batsmen.

“AB has to bat in the top three, he opened the batting as a youngster under me and kept wicket. He played freely then and, although he does an important job in the middle-order, someone else can do that and he can dominate from the outset.

“Kallis should not be batting three, he should have opened as he does in the IPL with very great success in similar conditions. We know he’s good enough and he’s better batting up front, the IPL proved that,” Nosworthy said.

The well-travelled coach was also highly critical of the death bowling issue, which he said receives a lot of airtime in South Africa, but nothing seems to be done about it.

“For 10 years we’ve been saying we don’t have any death bowlers, but you can talk until you’re blue in the face, nothing gets done about it. They’re not going to fall out of heaven. Death bowlers need to be identified and told ‘that’s your job, now stick with it’.

“I know he’s injured at the moment, but a year ago, Rusty Theron should of been told that he’s a death bowler and make him a specialist at it. Charl Langeveldt used to just bowl at boots all day and became a very good death bowler for South Africa.

“Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn can do it, but their job is more as strike bowlers, to take wickets. I point fingers at the players, because someone should identify that death bowling is a weak area in South African cricket and say ‘I can do it’.

“You’ve got to train yourself for the job, that’s what being a professional is about. That’s how Lasith Malinga became great, he trained himself for that role,” Nosworthy said.

On the positive side, Nosworthy said the spirit in the team appeared to be good.

“There looked to be a good sense in the side and for that Gary Kirsten deserves credit for gelling them together. They weren’t necessarily a unit in terms of role-definition, but they looked happy and they were always competitive.

“The performances of Robbie Peterson, who played really well, and Dale Steyn, who was brilliant, were the real positives.”

The experienced Nosworthy added, however, that the outlook was mostly positive for South African cricket.

“It’s easy to be critical when they’ve lost, but there’s a good crop of youngsters there with Morne Morkel, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis and I think Robin Peterson will play a few more years too. They should all be around for the next few world cups, we just need to keep the group together and let them get to know their roles,” Nosworthy said.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer on Wednesday gave the team that beat the Wallabies a vote of confidence by keeping them intact for Saturday’s Rugby Championship match against New Zealand at Soccer City in Soweto, but he is under no illusions regarding the kind of performance needed to beat the world champions.

“The All Blacks are a quality side, they’re on a winning streak, they’ve been together for a long time and they know how to win, even when they’re not playing well. They know how to play away from home and they’ve got the mind-set that they can win away because they’ve done it so many times before. And they’ve got that World Cup monkey off their backs now as well,” Meyer said.

“I know we’re not going to outscore them with tries, and if we’re going to beat them, we have to kick at an 80%-plus success rate, we have to convert our pressure into points, defend unbelievably and take every chance. The players have to pitch up, be mentally strong and physically tough.

“Especially with Dan Carter back for them. I think he’s a superb player, he brings more composure to the team and he’s a huge threat if they get quick ball,” Meyer said.

While Meyer firmly believes that his young team is going places, the All Blacks have probably already arrived.

New flyhalf Johan Goosen is still being touted as the Springboks’ salvation but, as Meyer pointed out, Saturday’s Test is going to be a major challenge and step up for the 20-year-old, who started in the South Africa number 10 jersey for the first time against Australia.

“The New Zealand back three are superb, especially the way they read the game, and they’re very good under the high ball. So it’s not going to be easy for Johan to kick tactically against them; it’s going to be a tough learning curve for him.

“He will improve, though, as he gains experience, as he plays more, and he’ll get better at seeing space,” Meyer said.

But New Zealand, with the arch-poacher always lurking in Richie McCaw, with Israel Dagg, Cory Jane and Julian Savea at the back and one of the world’s great centre pairings in Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu, will ruthlessly exploit any wrong move by the Springboks.

They will be out to produce a far more convincing display than they did in Dunedin in the previous meeting between the two old rivals. The All Blacks might have won that game 21-11, but their own media reckoned the Springboks were the better team on the day, losing only because they missed 20 points worth of kicks at goal.

“I am sure the All Blacks will come out blazing because maybe they underestimated us a bit in Dunedin after we had struggled in the first half of the year. They won’t do that again,” Meyer warned.

The injury curse that has been hammering the Springboks finally seems to have relented enough for Meyer to name the same starting XV for two matches in a row for the first time this year.

It’s on the bench where the only change in personnel has been made, with versatile prop Coenie Oosthuizen returning for Pat Cilliers.

The Free State Cheetahs powerhouse received the all-clear the previous day from a neurosurgeon in Durban, the Springbok medical team wanting a second opinion on the neck injury that seemed to still be troubling him so as not to put the 23-year-old’s future career at risk.

Meyer knows how important the forward battle will be on Saturday, saying the pack “have to pitch up, be mentally strong and physically tough”.

Having edged the All Blacks forwards in Dunedin, the Springbok pack certainly won’t be chicken when it comes to taking on the opposition front-on in Soweto.

“This is going to be one of the best packs around – it’s a good combination of youth and experience. But we need to pitch up with physicality against the All Blacks; we need to bring something extra. We’re telling the youngsters to just go out and hurt people,” lock Andries Bekker said of his fellow forwards.

Bekker also had no sympathy for himself when he described his disastrous game in the shock draw in Argentina.

“There’s no problem with my back anymore but mentally, after Mendoza, I needed a lift. There were some harsh words directed at me, but I knew I had not been up to scratch. I knew I had to step up because for me, personally, my performance was shocking,” Bekker confessed.

There will be no room for anything less than 100% from the Springboks on Saturday, with the All Blacks desperate to ensure there are no interruptions to their 15-match winning streak that sees them just three off the world record held by Lithuania since April 2010.

The team 

15-Zane Kirchner, 14-Bryan Habana, 13-Jaco Taute, 12-Jean de Villiers, 11-Francois Hougaard, 10-Johan Goosen, 9-Ruan Pienaar, 8-Duane Vermeulen, 7-Willem Alberts, 6-Francois Louw, 5-Andries Bekker, 4-Eben Etzebeth, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Adriaan Strauss, 1-Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements: 16-Tiaan Liebenberg, 17-Coenie Oosthuizen, 18-Flip van der Merwe, 19-Marcell Coetzee, 20-Elton Jantjies, 21-Juan de Jongh, 22-Pat Lambie.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-10-04-clash-of-the-titans-springboks-vs-all-blacks-at-soccer-city

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer praised a top-class defensive effort for his team’s five-try, 31-8 victory over Australia in their Rugby Championship Test at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Springboks became the first team in this year’s competition to register a try-scoring bonus point as wing Bryan Habana collected a hat-trick, but Meyer said the new-found attacking spark had its roots in their defence.

“You’re only as good as your defence, that’s how you put pressure on and then you score from turnovers. Our defence was awesome tonight. Australia want a high-tempo game, but these players always put their bodies on the line,” Meyer told a news conference after the Test.

Captain Jean de Villiers also credited other factors for the try-scoring spree that took their tally from six to 11 in five matches.

“The space is not always there but when your territorial game is as fantastic as it was tonight and we were really good at the breakdown, then you can afford to run the ball more. It worked nicely for us tonight,” De Villiers said.

While the Springboks enjoyed a steady diet of front-foot ball, Wallaby coach Robbie Deans was bemoaning a total lack of momentum for his side.

“South Africa played well tonight, they should be given credit. They were very good around the collisions and didn’t allow us much front-foot ball. Their defence was very effective and we used up players trying to run at them or to stop their ball-carriers,” Deans said.

Australia also had tremendous misfortune with injuries, with fullback Berrick Barnes and outside centre Adam Ashley-Cooper having to leave the field in the first half. With eighthman Radike Samo and lock Kane Douglas also limping off, the Wallabies then had to finish the match with 14 men because referee Alain Rolland would not allow injured hooker Tatafu Poloto-Nau to be replaced, ruling the visitors had already used seven substitutions, with prop Benn Robinson returning to the field in the second half after going off before the break.

“It was bizarre and the carnage of all those injuries was unprecedented in my experience. We were still in the game at half-time, but had to finish with a halfback on the wing and, with all those injuries, it was just asking too much for us to get home,” Deans said.

The Wallabies coach believed the decision to not allow replacement hooker Saia Fainga’a on the field was unfair.

“The fourth referee said at the time we could replace Tatafu, then that decision was changed. Benn Robinson was a strategic substitution in the first half and his situation was irrelevant.”

Despite the impressive, convincing win, Meyer said the Springboks’ finishing still needed to improve, with flyhalf Johan Goosen, fullback Zane Kirchner and replacement centre Juan de Jongh all having close looks at the tryline but failing to score.

“I’m very proud of this young team tonight, but three tries were just a centimetre away and you have to convert those. So I’m not happy with that, if you create those opportunities, you must put them away,” Meyer said.

The Springbok coach also liked his team’s efforts in the lineouts and scrums, and their discipline at the breakdowns, while he said Goosen made a top-class first start at flyhalf, despite missing two early penalties.

“Johan struggled during the week with a heel injury and he wasn’t 100% in the warm-up. He said that after 10 minutes it was hurting, but he showed his character and said he would keep playing, he just couldn’t kick. He’s a thrilling prospect, he showed a lot of pace, he was superb, but it will take time before he is a finished package,” Meyer explained.

Australia already have a full XV of players out injured, but their previous fitness woes are starting to look like a mini-crisis with Deans admitting SOSs would need to be sent for players to join the squad in Argentina.

“We will need to bring players across, which is going to be very challenging because we’ve already delved deep into our resources. Getting visas is also not straightforward for Argentina and there’s a possibility some players won’t arrive in time for training,” Deans said.