Boks to go back to go forwards

SOME WILL call it a retreat into the laager, a drawing of the wagons into a defensive circle, others will call it a common sense strategy to win the World Cup. However way you look at it, the Springboks are going to abandon all attempts at extravagant rugby from Saturday in a bid to win the World Cup. Coach Heyneke Meyer,

who was less than amused with his players for “playing Japanese rugby against Japan”, says that nobody will be beat the Boks if they return to their strengths. “I don’t care if we win the next six games by a single point each time,” Meyer said firmly. “The players need to understand this is a World Cup and you have to play knock-out rugby every single game. Everybody recalls who won a World Cup, few recall the tries, and quite often there are hardly any scored from the quarter-finals onward.”

Meyer said he was proud of the great rugby his team had played at times over the last four years but the fact is that the Boks have got too extravagant and must move away from being entertainers (who often lose) to pragmatists who win.

Meyer said that coaching legend Ian McIntosh, now a Bok selector, had shown him an article written in 1933 by Danie Craven in which the old legend said the Boks should “stop trying to play like Australia and play like South Africa”.

“This has been going on forever (pressure on the Boks to play enterprising rugby and move away from their boring strengths),” Meyer said. “I will never understand why some people want South Africa to play like another nations. South Africa must play like South Africa. When we have a tactical 10 and forwards that drive and maul, we win nearly every time. We had an 80percent winning record with Morné Steyn at flyhalf and were unbeaten on two overseas tours over here.”

This sounds like Meyer is getting his defence in early for what is going to be no-frills, ultra-conservative tactics, but he says this approach does not mean you cannot score tries.

“When we have played this (tactical) way, it has given us the platform to score plenty of tries, some of them spectacular, but you have to grind it out first,” he said.

McIntosh used to call it “building and innings and not trying to hit sixes in the first over you face.”

And Meyer says this is how the team was supposed to play against Japan.

“I must take responsibility as the coach if the players don’t listen” he said. “I want this team to get back to winning ways, and to do that, they have to go back to their strengths, and I think we are all on the same page now.”

It surely means that captain Jean de Villiers and Victor Matfield (the vice-captain) are in the Last Chance Saloon.

“Jean knows that if he does not perform, I will bring on Jesse Kriel. Victor knows that Lood de Jager is in brilliant form and is unlucky to be on the bench, and will definitely come on, maybe soon, maybe later ...”

Meyer said that of his three locks, Matfield and the aggressive Eben Etzebeth were the best combination to start, with De Jager’s role designed to make a telling impact in the vital last quarter or so.

But of all the players on the field, Meyer forthrightly said that the greatest responsibility lay with young flyhalf Handré Pollard (in conjunction with team general Fourie du Preez).

“Saturday’s game is going to be won and lost by Handré. It’s World Cup rugby, and it’s not about how many tries you score. It’s about how you manage the game and he has to get his tactical game right,” Meyer said.

“This is a horses for courses selection because I know the Samoans are going to attack that No10 channel and Handré is a very good defender, not that Pat Lambie is not a brave tackler – Handré just has a bigger physical presence,” the coach said.

“I had one-on-ones with the players,and I was honest with Handré. He’s a great attacking player and I still believe he will go on to be one of the great flyhalves. But he needs to show more in terms of his tactical play.”

Meyer said that Pollard has proved he has a tactical boot in his arsenal.