Things are looking shaky
Our loss to the French has exposed deficiencies in the Springbok game that we have known about for some time. With this in mind, we should not be surprised by yesterday's loss. We should be looking for the lessons, or that those who count have heeded the warning.
Instead, Jake blamed injuries in his immediate post-match interview. He shrugged and pointed out that the match result bore out what he had been saying for the last 18 months. Players are playing too much rugby and lack conditioning. Uh-huh.
Then in the post match press conference, Jake blamed Monty's missed conversion of Brent Russell's try. Oh yes.
Is it worth mentioning that Jake blamed a lack of experience for not closing out the match after the Boks led? Probably not - we've heard the experience one before.
When Jake watches himself on TV, does he believe this crap?
Can Jake White do any better?
Jake White resurrected South African rugby after the disaster of World Cup 2003. He deserves all the credit due for that. But the question must be asked - is World number 2 the best he can do? He must ask himself honestly whether he could benefit from listening to some others outside his preferred advisors / mentors.
Jake has done what needed to be done to regain competitive strength - he refocused on traditional South African strengths of defence and first phase possession together with passion. There has been little evidence of progression beyond that. While the creaking was audible in the World XV and second Scottish test, yesterday's game exposed that brutally.
To add to the growing dissatisfaction with Jake's lack of ability to accept fault, accountability and consider alternative points of view, his publicising of the state of his contract negotiations prior to a test match smacks of political grandstanding. He has a record of such stunts.
Did White's politics affect yesterday's result? It's impossible to tell. But it's safe to say that it could not have helped.
Boks outplayed
Analysing the match reveals that the Boks were outplayed. Their frailties were exposed and more disturbingly, the strengths that have served them were weaknesses yesterday - the Boks missed tackles, looked shaky in the lineouts and were annihilated in the scrums.
We've talked about the Boks weaknesses. Their ruck-time clearing has been abysmal. Their running lines have been poor on attack - they fail to straighten the line and draw their men, they run away from support and support runners are generally lacking. When people drew attention to many of these failings after the World XV match, Jake responded that nobody had died. He has again failed to acknowledge these weaknesses and instead looked for excuses.
But the Boks were very poor in these basics again yesterday. The burden that Schalk Burger has carried was palpably evident in his absence. Pedrie Wannenberg, Juan Smith and Joe van Niekerk are great ball carriers but fetchers they are not. Jake argues the role doesn't exist, everybody must fetch. In Burger's absence nobody did.
The Boks might have coped with their continued weakness in the tight loose if they had dominated the scrums and lineouts. They did not. The entire front row - including Os - took a hammering. The Boks have alleged that Marconnet scrummed inwards - and this did look to be the case. But after proving vulnerable to the tactic at the hands of Cobus Visagie and Marconnet, The Boks need to find a counter. While the Boks might claim illegal tactics in the scrums, they can make no such claim of the lineouts - they did not look their dominant selves there either.
Roussouw tried hard but did not have things his way as in the last two weeks against the Scots. Matfield tried a beard disguise, but I still picked him out as Mr Anonymous on the field.
Off poor ball, the Bok backs were never going to have it their way. Nevertheless, they looked worse than they should have. Fourie du Preez had another off day after showing some hope in the first Scottish test. Jaco van der Westhuizen continued to lack authority and run skew.
But De Wet Barry! De Wet has always been called a limited player. When his tackling lets him down, well, there's not much left. Yesterday's match is likely to be the end of De Wet's career.
But if yesterday pointed to the end of De Wet's career, it showed that Gaffie du Toit's should never have been reborn. His missed attempt at a tackle resulted in Vincent Clerc and France's match winning try.
And what of Wynand Olivier? Again I'll reserve judgment. He didn't do a lot, but given the ball he was getting, it's difficult to be too critical.
Congratulations to Brent Russell for taking his chance with both hands. His try was fantastic - he made the most of the smallest chance to beat three players and score. He is a dynamo on attack and he looked for work around the park today. His defensive alignment did not look up to scratch though, and even though the rush defence requires the wing to "come up," he did so very early and gave the French opportunities.
I hope someone is giving Monty the praise he deserves. Because if he listened to Jake, he might be tempted to pack it in. He maintains high kicking percentages and his positional play has been spot on. He also put the Boks on the front foot when he took the flyhalf position with a pin-point tactical kick.
Well done France
The French were fantastic today. There tactics were well thought out and marked the predictability of the Boks defensive pattern. Their chips and grubbers exploited the weaknesses of the rush and the Boks will have to think of mixing things up with the drift on occasion in order to raise their defensive game. Damien Traille was magnificent and given his inexperience at pivot made nonsense of Jake White's excuses regarding the lack of experience in his backline. The French tight five were special and destroyed the Boks strength. Together with their loose trio they also feasted on the absence of the Boks in the tight-loose.
Prospects
I hope the Bok management are true to their word and use the Tri-Nations to introduce some youth into the Bok team. I can't help feel they've got the sequence the wrong way round however. Surely the place to try some new combinations was during the World XV and Scottish matches.
I must say that I've been left feeling very bleak regarding the Boks chances for the World Cup. Consider the impact of the return from injury (when compared to last year's Tri-Nations) and change of coach on the Australian side. They looked very special against the Irish. Consider also the months of experimentation applied by Graeme Henry to increase the depth of his All Black squad. The Boks have not yet even admitted their weaknesses.
One moment of hope. John Smit was the antithesis of his coach after the match. He made no excuses and admitted the Boks were outplayed and that the forwards needed to front up for the poor quality of ball to their backs. Hopefully his honesty and humility will rub off on his coach.
Instead, Jake blamed injuries in his immediate post-match interview. He shrugged and pointed out that the match result bore out what he had been saying for the last 18 months. Players are playing too much rugby and lack conditioning. Uh-huh.
Then in the post match press conference, Jake blamed Monty's missed conversion of Brent Russell's try. Oh yes.
Is it worth mentioning that Jake blamed a lack of experience for not closing out the match after the Boks led? Probably not - we've heard the experience one before.
When Jake watches himself on TV, does he believe this crap?
Can Jake White do any better?
Jake White resurrected South African rugby after the disaster of World Cup 2003. He deserves all the credit due for that. But the question must be asked - is World number 2 the best he can do? He must ask himself honestly whether he could benefit from listening to some others outside his preferred advisors / mentors.
Jake has done what needed to be done to regain competitive strength - he refocused on traditional South African strengths of defence and first phase possession together with passion. There has been little evidence of progression beyond that. While the creaking was audible in the World XV and second Scottish test, yesterday's game exposed that brutally.
To add to the growing dissatisfaction with Jake's lack of ability to accept fault, accountability and consider alternative points of view, his publicising of the state of his contract negotiations prior to a test match smacks of political grandstanding. He has a record of such stunts.
Did White's politics affect yesterday's result? It's impossible to tell. But it's safe to say that it could not have helped.
Boks outplayed
Analysing the match reveals that the Boks were outplayed. Their frailties were exposed and more disturbingly, the strengths that have served them were weaknesses yesterday - the Boks missed tackles, looked shaky in the lineouts and were annihilated in the scrums.
We've talked about the Boks weaknesses. Their ruck-time clearing has been abysmal. Their running lines have been poor on attack - they fail to straighten the line and draw their men, they run away from support and support runners are generally lacking. When people drew attention to many of these failings after the World XV match, Jake responded that nobody had died. He has again failed to acknowledge these weaknesses and instead looked for excuses.
But the Boks were very poor in these basics again yesterday. The burden that Schalk Burger has carried was palpably evident in his absence. Pedrie Wannenberg, Juan Smith and Joe van Niekerk are great ball carriers but fetchers they are not. Jake argues the role doesn't exist, everybody must fetch. In Burger's absence nobody did.
The Boks might have coped with their continued weakness in the tight loose if they had dominated the scrums and lineouts. They did not. The entire front row - including Os - took a hammering. The Boks have alleged that Marconnet scrummed inwards - and this did look to be the case. But after proving vulnerable to the tactic at the hands of Cobus Visagie and Marconnet, The Boks need to find a counter. While the Boks might claim illegal tactics in the scrums, they can make no such claim of the lineouts - they did not look their dominant selves there either.
Roussouw tried hard but did not have things his way as in the last two weeks against the Scots. Matfield tried a beard disguise, but I still picked him out as Mr Anonymous on the field.
Off poor ball, the Bok backs were never going to have it their way. Nevertheless, they looked worse than they should have. Fourie du Preez had another off day after showing some hope in the first Scottish test. Jaco van der Westhuizen continued to lack authority and run skew.
But De Wet Barry! De Wet has always been called a limited player. When his tackling lets him down, well, there's not much left. Yesterday's match is likely to be the end of De Wet's career.
But if yesterday pointed to the end of De Wet's career, it showed that Gaffie du Toit's should never have been reborn. His missed attempt at a tackle resulted in Vincent Clerc and France's match winning try.
And what of Wynand Olivier? Again I'll reserve judgment. He didn't do a lot, but given the ball he was getting, it's difficult to be too critical.
Congratulations to Brent Russell for taking his chance with both hands. His try was fantastic - he made the most of the smallest chance to beat three players and score. He is a dynamo on attack and he looked for work around the park today. His defensive alignment did not look up to scratch though, and even though the rush defence requires the wing to "come up," he did so very early and gave the French opportunities.
I hope someone is giving Monty the praise he deserves. Because if he listened to Jake, he might be tempted to pack it in. He maintains high kicking percentages and his positional play has been spot on. He also put the Boks on the front foot when he took the flyhalf position with a pin-point tactical kick.
Well done France
The French were fantastic today. There tactics were well thought out and marked the predictability of the Boks defensive pattern. Their chips and grubbers exploited the weaknesses of the rush and the Boks will have to think of mixing things up with the drift on occasion in order to raise their defensive game. Damien Traille was magnificent and given his inexperience at pivot made nonsense of Jake White's excuses regarding the lack of experience in his backline. The French tight five were special and destroyed the Boks strength. Together with their loose trio they also feasted on the absence of the Boks in the tight-loose.
Prospects
I hope the Bok management are true to their word and use the Tri-Nations to introduce some youth into the Bok team. I can't help feel they've got the sequence the wrong way round however. Surely the place to try some new combinations was during the World XV and Scottish matches.
I must say that I've been left feeling very bleak regarding the Boks chances for the World Cup. Consider the impact of the return from injury (when compared to last year's Tri-Nations) and change of coach on the Australian side. They looked very special against the Irish. Consider also the months of experimentation applied by Graeme Henry to increase the depth of his All Black squad. The Boks have not yet even admitted their weaknesses.
One moment of hope. John Smit was the antithesis of his coach after the match. He made no excuses and admitted the Boks were outplayed and that the forwards needed to front up for the poor quality of ball to their backs. Hopefully his honesty and humility will rub off on his coach.
posted at 11:51 PM
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