Ken Borland

Jean Deysel’s wife Cindy must feel like a bit of a rugby widow because no sooner has the powerhouse loose forward wrapped up a season with Japanese club Toyota Verblitz than he signed a fresh contract to join the Cell C Sharks for SuperRugby.

Deysel of course made his name for the Sharks with his strong ball-carrying abilities and sheer physicality, earning four Springbok caps between 2009 and 2011, but the Natalians’ new coach, Gary Gold, secured his signature afresh once his availability became known.

“I’m very happy to be back; when Gary spoke to me about three weeks ago it was an easy decision to make. It’s always good coming back to Durban, to see the players again and it’s a great union to play for. So it was an easy decision once Gary offered me the opportunity,” Deysel said this week at King’s Park.

“When I initially signed the contract with Toyota Verblitz, I didn’t think I’d be coming back, it was a late decision for me. It wasn’t on the cards not that long ago, so it feels great to be here now.”

While Deysel’s participation in last weekend’s SuperRugby opener against the Cheetahs was limited to a second-half appearance off the bench, his body certainly felt the difference between the less-physical Japanese leagues and the toughest competition in world rugby.

“I played just 30 minutes on Saturday, and I battled to get out of the car on Sunday, whereas when I played in Japan, Sundays were good. SuperRugby is a lot more physical, you do miss that and the heavy competitiveness of it. And it actually feels good to get up on a Sunday and really feel like it was a tough game the day before,” one of the Sharks’ ultimate hard men said.

Deysel said Gold’s new ball-in-hand approach for the Sharks suits his style of play as he just loves carrying the “pill” as often as he can.

“Gary has been great; the way he speaks and thinks about the game is phenomenal. He puts so much preparation into the game you almost feel like you have to do your part just to catch up. He has been very influential not just for me, but for the whole team.”

“The way Gary structures the game, it’s about sharing the ball-carrying load, but for me, being involved on Saturday, it was just good to be back and I just wanted to have the ball in my hands. But you still have to stay in the structures that have been set out, but it’s about sharing the work-load,” Deysel said.

Even though Deysel is no rookie, having earned 67 SuperRugby caps previously for the Sharks as well as playing 92 Currie Cup matches for the Lions and the Natalians, his return to action in the southern hemisphere was quite a moment for the 29-year-old.

“I can’t remember when I’ve been that nervous before a game. Maybe eight years ago when I played my first match, but I think I was even more nervous this time around. I must take my hat off to the guys and the coaching staff, they made it so much easier to fit in and get into the game-plan. Everyone had a massive impact during the week, so it was much easier for me to fit back in because everyone helped so much,” Deysel said.

And after their upset loss to the Cheetahs, there is no way the Sharks are going to underestimate the Lions this weekend.

“The Lions have a very good loose-trio and they’ve been playing together for a while now. They link together well and do the job that the coaches want them to do. So we will need to match them, not just physically but skills-wise as well. We’ll prepare well and hopefully get one over them this Saturday,” Deysel said.

And what did the man who grew up in the Free State gold mining town of Virginia miss the most while he was in Japan?

“There were no braais! I missed that the most to be honest. Being in Japan was a great experience and a real learning curve. Toyota is a great club and they are so eager to learn and develop their rugby, not just in general but as a culture. For me to go there and see that was awesome, but this is home and it’s where all my friends and family are. There were a lot of things I missed and it’s really good to be back,” Deysel said.

http://citizen.co.za/329218/im-happy-back-gary-gold/

It’s always been a very South African thing, especially in rugby and cricket, for us to look over the Indian Ocean at our archrivals New Zealand and Australia, and try and copy what they are doing.

Notwithstanding the fact that Australian cricket teams and New Zealand rugby sides have generally been the best in the world during the last two decades, it is a habit that is not always beneficial for our national teams. Mostly because we have different strengths and therefore what works best for them won’t necessarily be the best approach for us.

But there is one current debate in Springbok rugby which I believe can be neatly resolved by taking a leaf out of the All Blacks’ book.

Amongst the many unfair criticisms that are being hurled at Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer, one of the least intelligent ones is that he is going to take a geriatric team to the World Cup. In this regard, I have to say, like our venerable Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu did recently in supporting HelpAge International, that “I am for people of all ages”.

Looking back at the previous seven World Cups, it is clear that nobody is going to win the Webb Ellis Cup without experience. Meyer is certainly not alone in wanting to include some cool older heads in his side – we need only look at the team New Zealand coach Steve Hansen put on the field yesterday to open their Rugby Championship campaign.

With only a handful of matches left before they begin the defence of their 2011 title, Hansen is not going to be messing around with players that aren’t going to be in contention for the World Cup.

The All Blacks team that belted Argentina in Christchurch yesterday contained half-a-dozen players who are over 30 – Ma’a Nonu, Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Jerome Kaino, Keven Mealamu and Tony Woodcock. Add in 29-year-olds Kieran Read and Luke Romano, and the average age of yesterday’s starting XV was 29.13 years.

The likes of Ben Smith (29) and Conrad Smith (33) are almost certainly going to be World Cup starters and other players who should return and will push up the average age are Julian Savea (24 compared to Charles Piutau 23), Aaron Smith (26, while TJ Perenara is 23) and Liam Messam (31).

The likely All Blacks team for a World Cup final would have an average age of 29.60 years.

Meyer’s probable first-choice team – Le Roux, Pietersen, De Villiers, De Allende, Habana, Pollard, Du Preez, Vermeulen, Alberts, Louw, Matfield, Etzebeth, Du Plessis x2 and Mtawarira – is actually younger than that – 29.33 years.

There are nine players over 30, but there are also three key players who are 23 or younger – 23-year-old centre Damian de Allende (Jan Serfontein is 22), 21-year-old flyhalf Handre Pollard and 23-year-old lock Eben Etzebeth. That seems to me to be a good balance between experience and youthful energy.

And there’s even a chance that the Springboks will have some outrageous young talent like Marcell Coetzee (24), Pieter-Steph du Toit (22), Frans Malherbe (24) and Steven Kitshoff (23) dancing around the UK fields, which would make South Africa’s team even younger.

So the next time an ill-informed someone moans about the geriatric Springbok team at the World Cup, those are the facts to dispel that argument; New Zealand, the outright favourites and world number ones, have an even older side!

In the pressure-cooker environment of a do-or-die knockout game at the World Cup, you need players who have been there and done it, who have proven their mettle when the stakes are highest.

Handre Pollard was confirmed as the hottest young thing in South African rugby on Sunday night, but the winner of both the Young Player and U20 Player of the Year awards is not yet a definite starter in the number 10 jersey for the Springboks at the World Cup later this year.

Pollard himself accepts this and the most famous of all Springbok flyhalves, Naas Botha, believes the tactical demands of each individual match will decide whether the Bulls star or Pat Lambie start in the pivot position during the World Cup.

“Both Handre and Pat are absolutely fantastic flyhalves but I think it depends on what the Springboks want to achieve tactically when it comes to choosing between them,” Botha told The Citizen.

“Handre is different to most flyhalves because he’s more of a strike runner, when he’s under pressure he backs his physicality. I just think he’s a different attacker than your normal, smaller number 10s, he’s a lot more direct with ball in hand.

“Pat has quicker hands than Handre and can make something out of nothing outside him. Sometimes Handre will just decide to run into the defence, whereas Pat can create space out wide in those situations.

“But they’re both exceptional kickers and fantastic defenders, so I think it depends on where the Springboks want to attack the opposition: more directly or out wide,” Botha explained.

The 20-year-old Pollard says the most important thing for him in the forthcoming SuperRugby season is to develop the consistency that marks out first-choice Springboks.

“It’s a World Cup year so it’s massive for me and the team as well, but my first focus is on SuperRugby, because nobody has been selected for the World Cup yet. It’s a big year especially for the Bulls because we really need to step up this year.

“SuperRugby is going to be the biggest challenge yet for me and what I’ll be focusing on is consistency. Players like Victor Matfield and Jean de Villiers play well week in and week out,” Pollard said.

The suggestion that Lambie (1.78m, 87kg) and Pollard (1.88m, 97kg) could play alongside each other in the Springbok team, especially with inside centre De Villiers’ participation in doubt due to a serious knee injury, does not seem likely to happen given that the World Rugby Junior Player of the Year said that the Bulls will only use him in the number 12 jersey “if push comes to shove”.

*Naas Botha has criticised World Cup organisers for putting the Springboks and defending champion All Blacks in the same side of the draw for the knockout stages of the World Cup.

South Africa are in Pool B and New Zealand in Pool C and, if they both win their pools and their probable quarterfinals against England/Australia and France/Ireland respectively, then they will meet in the semi-finals, despite currently being the two best sides in the world.

“I don’t understand how New Zealand, who are ranked first, and us, who are second, can meet in the semi-finals. It is absolutely wrong. One versus two, if both teams do their job, should be the final.

“We know why it’s happening, but is it right? Nobody wants to see the two best teams playing each other in the semi-final!” Botha said.

The draw for the pools was done a year after the previous World Cup, but the All Blacks and Springboks were also the top two teams in the world at the end of 2012.

http://citizen.co.za/323290/pollards-star-shining-bright/

South African rugby players are normally like crayfish scrambling to get out of a bucket when it comes to fighting for a place in the Springbok squad in a World Cup year, which makes lock Flip van der Merwe’s decision to not make himself available for international rugby this year all the more inexplicable.

It’s unusual for South African rugby to be short of locks but Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer admitted on Monday that the second row is one of the areas he is most concerned about, Van der Merwe’s unavailability only making the situation worse.

Although Meyer revealed the Bulls lock’s shock decision, he was not at liberty to reveal the reasons for it, save that they are personal.

“Locks are a worry because you need specialists. If I had to pick the World Cup squad today we’d be in trouble – Eben Etzebeth has just recovered from injury and Pieter-Steph du Toit, Victor Matfield and Lood de Jager have all been injured recently as well,” Meyer said.

Having announced his decision to join French club Clermont at the end of this season, Van der Merwe has lost his Springbok contract, which could place him in the same awkward position as Francois Steyn when it comes to image rights.

Four of the six locks who attended the Springbok camp session at St Peter’s College on Monday have injury problems – Ruan Botha, De Jager, Du Toit and Matfield – and they largely sat out training.

While Meyer said centre (due to injuries) was also a worrying position, he said the toughest decisions he would have to make revolved around which loose forwards to take to the World Cup.

“The main difficulty is the loose forwards. We can only choose a 31-man squad and nine of those players have to be front-row forwards. So that means you either choose four locks and five loose-forwards, which most teams do, or three locks and six loose forwards.

“So I have to pick five players from 12-15 world-class loose forwards, which is going to be very difficult. Pierre Spies is a great player who’s been injured for two years so it’s been tough for him and he could still play better. There’s Jaco Kriel, who was brilliant against the Bulls, and Heinrich Brussow, so there’s a lot of competition. Willem Alberts has played two great games for the Sharks … “ Meyer explained.

The Springbok coach confirmed that he is likely to stick with the cadres he has been using for the last three years for the World Cup, although there is always room for the odd bolter to force his way into his plans this year.

“We’ve done a lot of research and spoken to the different coaches who have won the World Cup and the one thing they all say is to stick to what has worked for you. You don’t want to be too predictable though because the game changes every six months so you have to try new things, but you don’t want to change too much.

“Current form is important, but there are guys who have performed over several years, I’ve had three years to see how they perform under pressure. Test rugby is totally different to Super Rugby, especially in the Northern Hemisphere at the breakdowns and with the referees.

“I have some sort of idea of my first XV, but there are always guys who come in late, someone like Jesse Kriel is very close to selection. But it’s very difficult for players to peak from February to October, there are just too many games, and quality players don’t become bad overnight. There’s still time to get guys right, world-class players who have proven themselves …” Meyer said.

One of those players who will be given every opportunity to prove his fitness for the World Cup is captain Jean de Villiers, who has been laid low since November with a serious knee injury.

Team doctor Craig Roberts said De Villiers is “running very hard” at the moment and they are very happy with his progress.

Roberts added, however, that they are looking to provide some games for the centre to play before the World Cup in order to find his form and confidence.