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

SOUTH Africa’s Test squad were not too far from perfection in beating England and securing the number one ranking a couple of months ago, so it is little surprise there have been only minor changes to the party for their trip to Australia at the end of the month.

While selection convener Andrew Hudson is totally content with the starting 11, he said in Johannesburg on Wednesday that “we have just tweaked our reserve strength slightly to suit expected conditions and the tactical situation”.

Uncapped Rory Kleinveldt and Faf du Plessis have been chosen as the prime bowling and batting cover, while Thami Tsolekile will again tour as a reserve wicketkeeper.

Barring a major loss of form or injury, Tsolekile is probably the most likely to play because of concern about the ability of AB de Villiers’ admittedly wonderfully athletic body to handle the strain of both keeping wicket and being a key batsman. Hudson told Business Day that a final decision on the wicketkeeping berth would need to be made but this was unlikely to happen before the Australian tour.

“We need a long-term solution to the wicketkeeping berth and it’s certainly on the selectors’ minds. We will need to apply ourselves to questions like, is AB keen and able to do the job or do we need to start grooming a new incumbent?

“But we’ll maybe only do that after the tour, it will be a hot topic to talk about.

“AB keeping wicket in England gave us the edge in that series with a recognised batsman at No7 but we will go to Australia with an open mind and be cognisant of his fitness and the demands of keeping affecting his batting,” Hudson said.

The selectors have clearly lost patience with Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s erratic form this year and he will have some much-needed game time with the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins, having sat on the Proteas’ bench for several months.

Hudson said the selectors believed Kleinveldt could have the same dramatic effect Vernon Philander had when he was called up from the same Cape Cobras side a year ago.

“In Australian conditions, we believe Rory will get nice movement and he hits the deck.

“He’s been just behind Vernon in the overall averages in recent years, he’s been bowling with good pace for the South Africa A side.

“He’s done his time, he’s bowled well in four-day cricket and performed for a number of years and we believe he could be similar to Vernon in the way he came through. Plus he’s useful as a batsman down the order, just adding to the package,” Hudson said.

Du Plessis lost confidence on the England tour and during the ICC World Twenty20, but appeared to be on the comeback trail in his last innings when he blazed 65 off 38 balls against India.

He will be on standby to cover any middle-order holes, with Jacques Rudolph on hand to fill in at the top of the order if necessary.

Du Plessis averaged 85.57 in last season’s SuperSport Series, second only to Hashim Amla (90.50), and there was a big gap between him and the likes of Alviro Petersen (62.76), Justin Ontong (59.81), Tsolekile (59.50) and Colin Ingram (57.88).

Petersen, who broke his hand fielding for the Highveld Lions in their opening match of the season, is expected to be fit to play in time for the first Test starting in Brisbane on November 9.

“By all accounts he’ll be fine, I’ve had no red flags from the medical committee,” Hudson said.

PROTEAS SQUAD

Graeme Smith, Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Jacques Rudolph, JP Duminy, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, Thami Tsolekile, Rory Kleinveldt, Faf du Plessis, Robin Peterson.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/sport/cricket/2012/10/11/minor-changes-to-south-africa-squad-for-australia-tour

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.

Richie McCaw, celebrating his extraordinary 100th Test win, said after New Zealand’s 32-16 victory over South Africa at Soccer City that the hardest thing at the top level of sport was the mental side of the game.

And that is where the All Blacks had the edge over the Springboks, as well as in the marvellous skills of their backline.

South Africa had dominated for long stages of the first half, without always converting that into points, but coach Heyneke Meyer would have settled for the 10-0 lead after the first quarter, being 16-12 at the break.

But as soon as the second half started, the All Blacks showed why they are the number one-ranked side in the world.

They won possession from the kick-off and, before the first minute had elapsed, fullback Israel Dagg, who broke South African hearts at the same stadium in 2010, had sniffed out the gap, broken through and thrown an overhead pass for the tireless eighthman Kieran Read to latch onto, leading to an easy try for bullocking centre Ma’a Nonu.

Twelve minutes later, the Springboks’ backline defence went horribly awry and the All Blacks’ other centre, Conrad Smith, was able to stroll over for what proved to be the match-winning try.

They were two more of the “soft moments” that have dogged this inexperienced Springbok team through the competition and they come down to lapses in concentration.

“We have to learn from our mistakes and get mentally tougher,” Meyer said after the game. “In the first half, we had them under pressure, they had to keep playing from deep, and at half-time we were in the game, leading 16-12.

“But just after half-time, we had a turnover against the best counter-attacking team and that put them ahead. Dan Carter was then superb as he controlled the game and it was very difficult for us to catch up. They forced us to take risks and the mistakes came, but they were soft moments,” Meyer complained.

“The defensive mistakes were down to a lack of experience, but they should not have happened, because it’s backs against backs. Those were soft moments again.”

The costly mistakes weren’t just on defence, either. If Bryan Habana could have held onto the ball while cutting inside five metres from the line, or the Springboks had maintained possession after a rolling maul had carried them deep into the All Blacks’ 22, they might have been able to put some pressure on the visitors in the final quarter.

Not that this All Blacks team seems overly susceptible to pressure. Despite hardly seeing the ball or being able to get out of their own territory for most of the first half, there was no panic or doubt.

They have a marvellous predatory instinct to strike with precision when the time is right, with Dagg and wing Hosea Gear playing with cat-like stealth and proving too much of a handful for the Springbok defence.

Meyer was being realistic when he said after the game that there was still a big gap between the two teams.

“There’s obviously a big difference between second and first on the rankings, and even though the All Blacks might play badly, they always have one or two brilliant players who get them off the hook.

“It will take a special side to beat them and they will need some luck and a referee who gives them all the 50/50 calls,” Meyer said.

The Springboks will take some heart from New Zealand coach Steve Hansen praising them for being “a great opponent”, but, more importantly, will the youngsters in the South African side take on board the lessons learnt and use it to become better rugby players?

“That’s a very good Springbok team and it will only get better. They will build some character out of today and it was a great victory for us against a great opponent,” Hansen said.

There is certainly no lack of hunger or desire in the Springbok team, and they once again dominated the All Blacks up front in the first half, as well as producing some good attacking play and showing a willingness to get the ball wide.

It will be a long process for this Springbok team to challenge the world champions; that sort of brilliance does not come quickly.

The New Zealand squad currently has six of the most capped All Blacks in history by position: Tony Woodcock (prop, 91 caps), Keven Mealamu (hooker, 99 caps), Richie McCaw (flank, 112 caps), Dan Carter (flyhalf, 91 caps), Ma’a Nonu (inside centre, 72 caps) and Conrad Smith (outside centre, 62 caps); while Owen Franks (40), Andrew Hore (71), Cory Jane (37), Kieran Read (44), Piri Weepu (65) and Sam Whitelock (34) are all well-established on the international stage.

Jean de Villiers, Jannie du Plessis, Habana, Tendai Mtawarira and Ruan Pienaar are the only Springboks with more than 30 caps.

But it seems likely that this Springbok team will be better for their tough experiences this year, and they will be considerably stronger with Schalk Burger, Bismarck du Plessis, JP Pietersen and Frans Steyn back from injury.

But the All Blacks are without doubt the benchmark in world rugby at the moment and the Springboks will be aiming to replicate their composure and brilliance under pressure.

As the hookers (ahem, not the rugby variety!) told me at New Zealand’s Sandton hotel on Saturday night, “Everybody is loving All the Blacks”.

And with good reason. The Springboks will be a better team for Saturday’s lesson.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-10-08-springboks-good-but-not-good-enough