The Boks showed enough to give hope for the future
THE Cheetahs will be aiming to bounce back to winning ways against the Force in Bloemfontein today after their loss to the Stormers in the previous round. Kick-off is at 3pm.
The Cheetahs will be without Springbok lock Lood de Jager, who is injured. Carl Wegner will fill his place in the second row. Meanwhile, Junior Bok loosehead prop Ox Nche has been preferred over Charles Marais in the front row.
On the bench, Joseph Dweba dons the No 16 jersey and is in line for his debut should he take to the field.
Despite not scoring more than nine points in an opening half against the Force since 2010, the Cheetahs have won four of their past five games against them.
The Bloemfontein side have won their past two home games by a combined margin of 89 points, and a third straight home win would equal the team record in Super Rugby.
The Force have won on only one of their past nine expeditions to South Africa, although that victory was against the Cheetahs in round 13 of 2014. – ANA
have to laugh or you would cry. Sir Bobby Charlton, the star of the England 1966 World Cup-winning soccer side, was asked after the game this week how they would have done against the Iceland side. “1-0 to us,” he said without hesitation.
When asked about the small margin of victory, he replied: “Well we’re now well into our seventies.”
And a light-hearted remark I heard after the Brexit result was: England are the only country to have left Europe twice in a week.
It’s lovely to kick people when they’re down, isn’t it? As Oscar Wilde said: “What better time to do it?”
How do we rate the Springboks after the narrow, and slightly fortunate, win over a well-organised Ireland side that was missing a number of stars? It’s a lot tougher than rating the English soccer team.
First, we came back from 0-1 down to win the series. Second, the effort to hold out the Irish at the end last week was stubborn, aggressive and disciplined. Jaco Kriel was instructed to make no mistakes when he came on and that was his achievement.
There was no mention of stirring attacking play, just prudent defence. A win is a win and the Boks beat the Irish to take the series.
However, given the latent talent in the squad and the optimistic build-up, the reaction has been one of huge disappointment. Anger is in the air and it’s tempting to stick in the boot and call for change. This should be resisted in favour of cautious optimism and encouragement. I will tell you why.
A few years ago Joe Schmidt, the marvellous Ireland coach who is wanted by New Zealand, got in touch with Leinster to buy Ica Nicewa, a talented Fijian, and take him to Claremont Auvergne, where Schmidt was backline coach. Nicewa turned him down but told him of the talent available at Leinster, including O’Driscoll, the Kearneys, O’Brien, Sexton and Heaslip. He persuaded Leinster to talk to Schmidt and the rest is history.
Three players, Brian O’Driscoll, Johnny Sexton and skipper Leo Cullen, not management, spoke to Schmidt and told him they were desperate to transform their team and to be the best in Europe. Schmidt told them how they could do it and, with an undertaking that they would support him, instead of staying with Claremont, he decamped to Dublin. It was hailed as a new beginning and all were optimistic.
Leinster under Schmidt lost five of their first six games and were soon objects of derision. “Joe Who?” became his moniker. He was down and depressed and felt like a failure. The players called a meeting and, to a man, told the coach that they had got the plot and just needed time to put it into action. They did, and Schmidt, with trophies galore, including two Heineken Cups, was later promoted to coach Ireland. They have since won two Six Nations championships and suddenly are challenging the southern hemisphere giants rather than being gallant losers. There is a lesson in this for us.
Allister Coetzee has come in with a clear plan to transform the Boks. So attractive and logical was the message that the players were overconfident against Ireland and didn’t turn up. They had not appreciated just how difficult it is to change a team philosophy from bump and grind to fast and wide and quick.
It is like a golfer who decides to change his grip from neutral to strong. In theory it’s easy, but in practice it’s almost impossible. Everything is, initially, shambolic. You need someone to bully you into staying with it. Balls are lost, turf is destroyed and language deteriorates as anger rises. The temptation to go back is massive but, if you stick with it, at some stage, out of the blue, there follows a drive that clicks off the club and soars with gentle draw and a run on the turf that results in an unimaginable shot. Suddenly it is all felt rather than thought, and thus understood. Eureka!
Within the mediocre Test performances we have had that eureka moment. In the last quarter at Ellis Park we simply blew away the Irish. The pace increased and we suddenly looked like the All Blacks in full flow. Think back. It was marvellous, front and back, and just look at how the players and spectators loved it. That was our perfect drive in the middle of rubbish as we changed our grip. We must, therefore, persevere and keep the new dispensation.
It will not come immediately, but those golden passages of play will increase as the dross decreases.
Joe Schmidt and Leinster did because the players had bought into it and knew he was right. Have ours? I hope so, but remember that the world and his wife will be sticking boots into the plan.
Calm heads are needed and an understanding of the incremental steps that must be taken along the way. That is what Allister and his coaches and the union must do. Remember, even Sir Alf Ramsey started off with a hammering against France. In hindsight, we are actually on track.
Look at that last quarter at Ellis Park again and believe.