Meyer is a stickler for detail and planning
Bok coach not taking any chances ahead of Cup
GOING into the 2003 Rugby World Cup, England were the favourites, not only because of a dominant 24-month period leading up to the tournament, but because coach Clive Woodward was such a meticulous planner.
Woodward borrowed a simple philosophy, first applied by businessman Humphrey Walters in the BT Global Yacht Challenge. He challenged his team to do 100 things 1% better, rather than one thing 100% better.
Walters had used this approach at sea in a contest that pitted one professional skipper with 11 amateur sailors in a gruelling ocean race against other yachts.
Part of Woodward’s planning was obvious, but other methods he employed verged on radical. His back-up staff tested the wind conditions at Perth’s Subiaco Oval a year before the tournament to understand what they might encounter when they met the Springboks in a crunch Pool C encounter.
“Our first World Cup games in 2003 were in Perth. We had never played in Perth before, so on the way back from one trip we diverted to Perth.
“The players were not very happy because they wanted to go home,” Woodward told England’s Football Association show, Boot Room, prior to last year’s FifaWorld Cup in Brazil.
“We said we’re going to spend two or three days in Perth so they could get used to the hotel, the pitch, the training pitch and the coffee shops. Those things are priceless and you have to prepare as much as you can.”
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer is also renowned as a stickler for detail and planning and he has been following a similar approach to the 2003 World Cup winner.
Rugby World Cup 2015 in England is only four months away and while the business of building the team, developing strategy and nurturing players has been a three-year process, the detail of other aspects has been ramped up.
The Boks open their title challenge against Japan in Brighton before moving on to meet Samoa in Birmingham. They then take on Scotland in Newcastle, followed by the US at the Olympic Stadium in London. The quarterfinal, depending on the Boks’ seeding and assuming they make it, should be at Twickenham.
“We have been at the hotels, we’ve been at the fields, I have had guys investigating the field and currently [Scotland-based breakdown coach] Richie Gray is there looking at the exact times we will play, we’ve looked at weather patterns for the last 20 years — we’ve looked at every single aspect,” Meyer said.
“We have studied everything, weather patterns, the pitches and dimensions and the type of grass. We originally thought we would have slow, heavy surfaces. However, most of our games are played in soccer stadiums that have short grass and are very hard — it will be a much quicker game than we thought.
“We have looked at training venues, I’ve been to the hotels and slept in most of the beds. We are really well prepared off the field. We have looked at every single trend that has won every World Cup — we know exactly what it will take.”
Some of this attention to detail might seem, to the outsider, as overkill. But elite sports teams and players hate the unknown. Limiting nasty surprises and smoothing the processes is vital to good psychology.
That even comes down to the Rugby World Cup 2015 jersey, which was unveiled this week.
It is mostly marketing hype with claims such as: “It will be the lightest jersey the team has ever worn. Grip on the ball is improved with special silicone pads on the ribcage and the jersey is designed with special fabrics to make it harder to hold onto in the tackle.”
But if the players believe that the jersey will give them a small edge, then mentally it’s a good thing.
Meyer is eccentric and emotional — we have all seen his demeanour in the coach’s box — but those traits ensure that he is always striving for the small percentages that make a difference.
It’s no guarantee to success, but like 2007 World Cup-winning coach Jake White, who lived by the mantra “fail to prepare and prepare to fail”, Meyer won’t take any chances. ALL HANDS ON DECK: Ahead of World Cup, Boks coach Heyneke Meyer is convinced all ducks are in a row
We’ve studied everything, weather, pitches and the type of grass