So Heyneke Meyer got his management team finally. It’s as close to his a-list as he could hope to achieve. Now comes the arduous task of trials and squad selection for the June tests.
Here is where I’m blinking several times. The more things change, the more they stay the same. There is a strong rumor that he is seeking Victor Matfield as his captain for these tests. 34 year old Victor, who while fit (he cycled the Argus) has not played top-level rugby since the RWC in November. It’s now April.
There is also rumor that he is bringing back many of the old-guard from France and Japan including Jacques Fourie, Fourie du Preez and Bakkies.
What the fuck?
Let’s deal with this one point at a time.
1) Bringing back players to play.
If we are honest Fourie du Preez was a spent force before the World Cup. We kept waiting for him to peak and it never happened. When Hougaard took the field, the pace of the game increased and there as an electricity that anything could happen in a moment. Bakkies never even made it past the group stages and has been sitting out for Toulon till very recently. Victor has not taken contact since November.
"testing, testing, 123. Bakkies kan jy my hoor?"
In each of their positions there is a player in his young twenties playing outstanding rugby at Super 15 level at the moment.
Hougaard, Kruger and Etzebeth are week in and week out making the form 15 for the competition.
Jacques Fourie has already made himself unavailable spouting something about being committed in Japan and there being many brilliant young centers in South Africa. Comendable as it sounds we know that the real reason is that their is a clause in his contract that says if he plays for any other team and gets injured he jeapordises his R20m payday to play in Japan for 3 seasons.
Not that he is wrong: there are many young centers, just not at outside, where the stocks are looking a bit bare.
2) Matfield as my captain
Heyneke I’ll let you in on a little secret: Victor is not a great national captain. For whatever reason he is not nearly as effective as he was as a Super 15 captain. He has rubbed refs up the wrong way and when things don’t go his way he whines. “You’re only looking at what we doing…” Does he bring experience? Sure. Is he the best captain that we have? No.
3) The young guys coming through
This is what I don’t understand. Last year the selectors rested the top Boks from the try-nations, but instead of playing the young-guns and telling them “have a go”. They played dour test-rugby with the fringe members of the squad who played well within themselves not to get injured. Who gives a fuck who won the try-nations last year in the year of World Cup. Because of that we missed the opportunity to find some gems who could have made the squad on outstanding form, with international experience.
Here we are, new year, new coach and we are making the same mistake again. Yes Heyneke you want to win, that is commendable, but for flips sake man, it’s England in a rebuilding phase. Blood the young ones now for the upcoming tri-nations. Surely this makes sense?
Eben smash!
My Bok 22:
1) The Beast
2) Bismark du Plessis
3) Jannie du Plessis
4) Eben Etzebeth
5) Juandre Kruger
6) Heinrich Brussow
7) Duane Vermeulen
8) Schalk Burger (c)
9) Francois Hougaard
10) Morne Steyn
11) Bryan Habana
12) Francois Steyn
13) Juan de Jongh
14) JP Pieterson
15) Pat Lambie
16) Coenie Oosthuizen
17) Chiliboy Ralepelle
18) Rynhardt Elstadt
19) Willem Alberts
20) Piet van Zyl
21) Johan Goosen
22) Gio Aplon
from grey to green goose
It’s a good mix of experience and youth. They can play tight, driving rugby, they can play open running rugby. Most importantly there is experience there to guide the young ones through. This is a team that would have the vaunted All Blacks thinking “crises”, never mind a 2nd rate England side.
Quite possibly the tallest human being ever, JW views rugby from a unique perspective, which he is not afraid to share with anyone who will listen (his mum, tramps, inanimate objects and you). 
Good side big fella – no Becker? Think you have to find a place for Joe Pieterson – he’s the real deal and is as water tight as a frog’s arse. A fella like that can change a game – believe me. He’s like your old fav Brent Russell except .. better?
Agree with you re Heyneke – DeeBee was right, Bias potentially comes across as bagage with former Provincial coaches… Matfield..really? The entire Bulls coaching team..wtf..
Working off current injuries. Bekker needs to be rested and fit for the Rugby Champ (formerly try-nations). JdV is out for a month with his hand injury.
Joe P – test rugby is different to S15. Also Lambie is something special and can be brought up to 10 for the last 30 minutes of a game.
I dunno if Meyer is true BB bias. I just think he is petrified of losing the first match against England.
Joe P – test rugby is different to S15. Also Lambie is something special and can be brought up to 10 for the last 30 minutes of a game.> Same can be said for Pieterson… until you put him in Green and Gold you can’t say otherwise. S15 is not Currie Cup. If he performs he deserves a shot. And currently he’s the one of the best performering backs in competition. (And also has scored the best try (started by him in his 22 and had him touch the ball no less than 3 times in the movement)
your XV scares me Wynne… when things start going off plan those young pups won’t know where to turn.
Meyer might not be right in ALL the guys he’s rumoured to be bringing back, but he’s right that experience, composure & correct option-taking will win the day in Test Rugby (note use of caps).
FdP is by no means a spent force. He came back from injury and didn’t manage to build up to his best before the RWC was over. Believe me you want him pulling the strings at 9. After all, that is a 9s primary role. To choose hougaard for “x-factor” is like choosing a weak prop, but you like the fact that he is mobile. All your momentum comes from the scrumhalf, and he makes decisions before the flyhalf does. He dictates to a larger degree than the flyhalf – break? kick? pass left? pass right? bring the fwds into play? most influential guy on the field – so you need your smartest guy in that position. Hougaard may be exciting but he is no Gary Kasparov.
Joe P is the real deal! And besides everything else he does, his positional play at the back is outstanding… our best 15 in this respect.
Heyneke’s staff picks are telling…
I remember reading an article about conditioning in rugby, and how it has become so specialised that you are conditioned for a specific game plan. You’d move from the Sharks to the Bulls but you’d struggle initially because you literally weren’t conditioned to play their game. Teams will literally be primed for “tighter” rugby, or “expansive” rugby or focus on leg drives, or upper body strength or whatever blah blah blah…
So if Heyneke wants Bazil Carzils, then it’s because he wants the Boks to be able to play Bulls rugby.
And if he makes a radical decision like bringing Victor back, then lineout supremacy is obvs key for him. Which means we’ll be kicking teams back.
yawn.
to your point about young players: at test level, let them play alongside the experienced guys. let Ebersohn or De Jongh line up next to JdV… or put Eben next to Victor or Andries… or let Joe Pietersen play at the back with Brian and JP.. Goosen next to Fourie Du Preez.
Ah Fish
Such a great reply. some good points and some not so good.
My XXII is based on form, blending experience and youth and who is available based on injuries and the need for them in the rugby championship.
Bekker, JdV and now it looks like Vermeulen are injured. Burger will have played 3 weeks of top level rugby before the tour, but i need him as a captain and for his experience.
I would not have played Jannie other than for his experience and his ability (sometimes) to curb Bismark’s excesses. Neither JP, as his form at present is terrible at outside centre.
As for Hougaard you are flat plain wrong. Hougaard is as much a rugby genius as FdP is. Note “is” not “was”. If Hougaard was poor at his option taking then Steyn would be poor this year. Steyn has not been great but is not the ball he is getting, rather it his form. The only part of FdP’s game that is better than Hougaard is his kicking and Hougaard’s is not bad, it’s just that FdP is, to quote Blades, “UNBELIEVABLE!”. Hougaard’s genius is more physical and instinctual than FdP, but it is still genius and according to interviews he is one of the hardest working players on the training paddock. The only time you would play FdP at present ahead of Hougaard is if you are going to stick to the kicking up-and-under game plan that is now 4 years past its sell-buy date.
As to the conditioning to game plan, I think it can be quite selective, as in the vector of the change. Going from a structured game i.e. Bulls plodding from set-piece to set-piece to all out pace attack would be where this problem would come. You cannot tell me it works the other way round.
I have faith in men like Hougaard, Lambie and de Jongh. At the top level you can either perform or you can’t. You get more used to it with exposure, but some men just never make the step up (like Wynand Olivier), while others are playing scintillating rugby on debut. I also believe that Etzebeth is in the same mould. Might be his background or, as I believe, it is innate. At over 2m and always being the biggest and strongest on the field, he steps back for no man. My only worry would be controlling and focusing his aggression and that is where Schalk comes in.
If you’re good enough, you’re old enough.