Teams versus individuals

"The secret to winning football games is working more as a team, less as individuals. I play not my 11 best, but my best 11." ->Knute Rockne

Jake White, maybe it's time you went

Jake White - under pressure Photo: Rugby365

South African rugby is in trouble. As South africans our psychology is one that causes blind spots. Perhaps due to our isolation, we developed an arrogance that claimed we were the best and since readmission we have shown a hunger to be the best.

Some have said that maybe we aim too high and acknowledgement of our true capabilities is due. Some have said we should aim lower.

Perhaps because of our hunger, we have grudgingly claimed the world's number 2 position in rugby as a temporary step before we naturally claim the number one spot that is rightfully ours. Such an attitude has blinded us to the reality that is the state of our game in South Africa. We have some serious issues to overcome that are systemic in nature and not solved with sticky-tape and plaster.

Jake White did a magnificent job to haul the Boks back from where they were. Under Viljoen and Streauli it seemed that we believed that belief was enough - if we believed that we were the best, then the rest would follow. Jake White brought the sticky tape and plaster to help us improve the reality. He recognised that South African passion, defence and strong set-pieces were strengths to re-establish confidence and a base from which to build.

Arrogance is belief that ignores the facts. And just as Streauli and Viljoen showed arrogance with no apparent plan, Jake's arrogance appears to have been total belief in his plan.

The facts have shown that we have been less than a threat to the All Blacks. Yes, we more than others have competed against the Kiwis away from their home, but while coming close a few times, we have a terrible win-loss record away from our home turf. But beyond the mere facts of our away win-loss ratio that stands won 1 lost 9 against the major rugby powers under Jake White, it is the way we have played that tells another story.

The Jake White Plan was enough to get us to number two because of the reliance on passion and physicality - two attributes that allow us to beat most sides. But they would never be enough to establish us as number one. The Australians have worked for years on building high-skill attacking rugby. While their forward game has not allowed them the strength of possession to truly unleash this, the names of their backs over the last ten years shows some of the most skillful guys yet to play the game. The All Blacks do physical and passionate rugby well, but they have also had backs who have out-skilled and out-thought the Boks.

Jake White's arrogance was his failure to recognise this. He might point to injuries, transformation and his starting position as mitigating factors to his team's current fall from grace, but to do so ignores what could have been done and what has not.

When the Boks won the Tri-Nations in 2004, they had beaten the odds and raised the hopes of a nation. It was a magnificent effort. However it was not a dominating performance (a points victory) and it was done through Jake's rescue plan. It was at that time that South Africa needed to be building plan B. In business there is a concept developed by Richard Foster loosely known as the S-Curve stages of growth theory. Basically it refers to how each innovation results in increasing returns before others catch up and the returns decline. Should new innovations be spurned, the company is said to have fallen into a success trap as their innovation dies. This is shown below.

Richard Foster's S-Curve theory Picture: Emerald Insight

Gradually other teams have figured out ways to challenge the rush defence and the Boks have struggled to mount the same degree of passion required to execute the defensive game for every match. The Boks have failed to improve their attacking skills and failed to develop depth of skills and experience in each position. In short, it was difficult to see where the next stage of Bok success was going to come from.

In the meantime, massively passionate efforts against the All Blacks in Dunedin and at Newlands last year gave the Boks more belief in the ability of the plan to compete. A shocking performance against the Aussies away was quickly forgotten as the Boks beat the them at Ellis Park. The Springbok end-of-year tour proved to be a nightmare for the Boks, and frailties at fly-half were ignored.

This season, the prelude to the Boks Tri-Nations showed a very poor quality of rugby and a complete lack of acknowledgement of the Boks abysmal command of basics. Such was the ignorance of the facts, that Jake used the Boks placing in the world rankings to publicly request a contract extension. Not only had the Boks fallen into the success trap, but so had Jake White as he pointed to his record when others questioned glaring deficiencies.

White has turned around the procession of Springbok players that marked the Streauli reign. But the faith shown in his capped players has contributed to some baffling selections and some might say contributed to the lack of depth and experienced combinations.

There are so many excuses that have been offered for the Boks increasingly fragile looking state. Foremost of White's have been lack of cooperation from the Super 14 franchises and lack of power to make things happen. No South African coach has ever had more power than Jake White, and it is difficult to see how the franchises could be asked to do more than give up their star players in the manner enabled by SARU.

Growing skilled, thinking players takes time, and it would have been preferable to have been confronting the problem in 2004 than now. So what can be done now?

It would be very difficult for Jake White to maintain the level of arrogance he has after the past two months results. Perhaps this might result in a more contrite coach willing to try something different en-route to the World Cup. However, White's startling comments to the media have continued unabated.

Only the Springboks will know how much White's public grandstanding regarding his contract renewal affected the Boks. What is certain is that it could not have helped.

There has been debate as to whether, if White deserves to be replaced, there is time to do so before the World Cup. At this stage one has to question whether South Africa have a realistic chance of winning the title anyway.

If a coaching change is to happen, what way is best to accomplish it? Should it be outright, it will again be expensive and disruptive. Some have mentioned a lack of suitable candidates, but Mallet is an obvious choice despite his many critics. Du Plessis is another. But whether either would like to regrasp the poisoned chalice is another question - particularly should they see no chance of lifting the Cup. Ian Macintosh is a obvious caretaker candidate, but has shown a lack of appetite for the role in the past. Pieter de Villiers and Heyneke Meyer have been mentioned as a potential team and both have stated higher ambitions. One has to question their lack of top-level international experience given the short run-in to the tournament.

International candidates are another option but again notice is likely to be too short. The longer term benefit of attracting someone like Robbie Deans, should they even be prepared to consider the position, might outweigh the costs of the disruption.

Another option is to appoint a mentor to White. Formally promoting McIntosh to this role from selector might help give someone the power to question White's logic and provide more advice. McIntosh is the logical candidate due to White's willingness to work with him. Naas Botha is another. White is likely to refuse to work with Mallet or Alan Solomons, two other possible candidates. Du Plessis does not present himself as a likely mentor due to his amenable nature. But would McIntosh or Botha work as a mentor and would White accept the position thrust upon him given his comments regarding the possibility of a South African director of rugby being created? He would likely see the appointment of a mentor as being an admission of failure and we know White as a proud man. But given that he wanted Botha as his manager for the Tri-Nations away trip, perhaps he might. Appointing the candidate as a temporary manager is probably the best means to accomplish things anyway.

Appointing a mentor is my preferred option. I have a preference for Mallet because I believe the Boks and White need a rocket lit under them and Mallet is the most likely to give it. But Mallet and White don't talk much. Botha represents the likely candidate.

Of course there is the option to do nothing. Depending on White's attitude, this might be the best option. But I have not seen any sign of him admitting a need for a change of approach. He admitted the severity of the result versus the Australians, but such an admission was hardly a concession.

Not much can be accomplished before the remaining match on this Tri-Nations away trip, so it is likely we'll be kept guessing prior to the team's return.

We won't take the 35-17 loss thanks

Try! Try in the first 15 seconds to Fourie du Preez after magnificent pressure on Daniel carter. It was more than what Boks fans could have hoped for but expressed the intentions of the Bok team for the day. It seemed as though the real Boks had showed up and were going to attempt to atone for last week's match.

The excitement crackled like static across the ocean as New Zealanders and South Africans hoped that a famous battle between the old foes might erupt.

And it was hard uncompromising stuff. The Boks defence was fantastic and the rush began to work again and put massive pressure on Carter and the All Blacks line. With the in-your-face rush, offsides was a distinct possibility and that was exactly what allowed the All Blacks their first converted penalty of the game

It was clear that the Boks were going to play back to their strengths and rebuild their shattered confidence from there. So competitive lineouts, strong scrumming and aggressive mauling was always likely. But the quality of each was surprising. Matfield and Smit began to renew their old partnership and after one such take, retained possession through 4 phases to end 5m from the All Blacks tryline. The penalty they gave away for holding on robbed them of any opportunities and was unfortunately typical of what was to come.

Meanwhile the All Blacks attempted the tactics that allowed them to beat the Boks rush in the past with sniping breaks from Weepu. Like at Newlands last year the Boks seemed prepared and the impact on Weepu was enormous. As early as the 13th minute he left the field for the first time clutching his shoulder. It was testimony to the Boks committed tackling.

In a physical defensive game the errors are always going to mount against the defending side. But the speed at which the errors were mounting against the Boks was a little frightening. When they're happening like that, the marginal ones go against you. And Jaque Fourie was unlikely to concede a converted penalty for a knee touching the ground as he fought for the ball. Van der Linde was equally unlucky to concede the next converted penalty for losing his bind in a Springbok scrum. Offensive scrums are seldom penalised. The same offence costs us against us the Aussies last week and it cost us again this week. The All Blacks led 9-7.

In a close game you have to kick your penalties, and Monty's first miss on the 25th minute was to herald and off day for the full back's boot.

Meanwhile Carter was withstanding pressure like the great he is and kicked another penalty for Bok offsides.

The Boks seemed to realise they needed to mount an attack. They were stopped just short of the All Blacks line, but the attempt betrayed the prosaic nature of the Boks' offence. Continually trying to bash the ball around the edge of the ruck (including the last unsuccessful attempt by Habana) from a ruck position 5m out in front of the poles shows a complete lack of confidence in their backline's attack.

Another attacking run saw the ball shoveled down the line to see four defenders cut down Habana against the touchline. It showed lack of basics on attack, with inside backs not even able to draw their opposing man.

Montgomery's nightmare with the boot continued and he missed another before an absolutely shocking missed line kick by Fourie du Preez (after full time in the half) saw the All Blacks run the ball back to score and convert. At 19-7 the Boks had lost momentum and faced a big lead.

Second half fight back

Continued errors from the Boks allowed Carter to punish them twice in the next ten minutes, then having kicked seven from seven.

Daniel Carter keeps the Springboks on defence Photo: Getty Images

Os had gone off the field for a blood bin and the Kiwi forwards murdered the scrum in his absence. It was worrying to see the impact of his loss - given his increasingly tired look.

The return of Os seemed to spark the Bok attack and good sustained pressure put the Boks into a position in the Kiwi 22 for Fourie du Preez to put in a pin-point cross kick for Paulse to run over. Monty converted that and at 25-14, the game looked more of a contest again.

Monty missed another penalty to have left 9 points on the field at the 61st minute. Had they been goaled, the Boks would've only been two points adrift.

The Boks were pressed into ten minutes of attack but looked innocuous - at one stage going through seven phases of attack before losing possession. Monty eventually got another shot at goal and converted to put the Springboks in with a sniff at 25-17. But a miserable day for the Bok fullback was capped as he let the ball bounce from the kick-off and very luckily managed to harry the Kiwis into knocking on with the line at their mercy.

Another penalty from Carter, who had kicked eight from eight by the 73rd minute, preceded brilliance from the pivot as he shipped over the defence before regathering and putting McCaw away. It capped a fantastic day for the best number ten in world rugby today.

Brave defence from the Boks kept the score to 35-17 until the end, but they will feel disappointed in another below par performance.

Better, but not good enough

It is easy to feel a little more happy given the Bok performance against the Aussies last week. But we should judge this game against the Boks talent, past and potential. And they will feel they could have done better.

The Boks were better in all basics than in any previous game this season. Their defence was back to very good - but not quite brilliant. It is apparent that Paulse has a very important role in organising the rush and this even helped Wynand Olivier find his role in the pattern. Their rucking was oodles better than the pathetic efforts of earlier this season, and it was heartening seeing the forwards committed to cleaning out. Tybilika gutsed it out and his speed to the breakdown made a real difference. Their mauling was close to outstanding and they made real yards on most efforts. Scrumming was very good against the heaviest All Black front row ever picked, but the impact of Os going off was a huge worry. Matfield and Smith were very good in the lineouts and competed well on the opposition throw.

While the basics were better, the Springboks cannot expect to compete by giving away the amount of penalties they did - especially when playing against a team with Carter in it.

As good as the improvement of the Boks backline defence was, their attack is looking worse and worse, and the status is now that of an emergency. Lack of attack pushes the Boks into overuse of their forwards and kicking for position. It also means that an off-day for Monty's boot becomes a crisis.

The Boks will be desperate for De Villiers to make his comeback. They must look to involve someone like Campese to improve their attacking skills.

The Boks loose trio needs work. Tybilika was a big improvement, but Watson's claims surely cannot be ignored any longer. Jacques Cronje probably had his best game of the season, but is not as impressive-a-ball-carrier as Joe van Niekerk on form. Juan Smith is not the same player that played havoc before getting injured in the Super 14. I believe that moving Dlulane to the Bok closed side is worth a try.

Albert van der Berg tried hard but the Boks desperately missed the aggression of Bakkies Botha as a foil to Matfield's skill.

Monty has had too off days after being the only Bok to hold his reputation against the World XV, Scotland and France. He'll be back.

Butch at flyhalf definitely made a difference, but his tackling remains a concern - he made two attempts today that were aggressive but allowed the attacker to bounce out. Greater use of the arms is the cure...

For the All Blacks, I thought Carter was unbelievable. His best match since the Lions. McCaw played his usual fantastic game and Ali Williams worked very hard. Nobody else had a bad game, although Howlett's drop was not his usual standard.

My player ratings

Percival Montgomery 4

Made some good tackles, joined the line early but was clearly shaken by his off-day with the boot. His missed kicks would have kept the Boks in touch.

Breyton Paulse 6

Organised the rush defence well, scored a good try from a great cross kick. But looks very disinterested on cover defence. Should have made two crucial cover tackles.

Jaque Fourie 8

Fantastic on defence. Made good tackles and contributed to turnovers. No real space on attack - but should also be drawing defence when passing.

Wynand Olivier 5

Much better. Made a good break early on by seeing a gap and dummying the pass. Made some good tackles. Conceded a stupid penalty by pushing John Smit off his feet over the ruck. But does not create anything for those outside him.

Bryan Habana 6

No real chances on attack. Gets shocking ball with loads of defenders. Poor decision to go round the edge of the ruck when clearing early on - should have passed. Made one or two good tackles. Tried to come off his wing to look for work in the second half, but generally needs to look for more opportunities to be involved.

Butch James 6

Massive improvement to the Bok line through straight running, hard defence and some good line kicks. Possibly didn't have the time with the side to work on creating space on attack.

Fourie du Preez 4

Big heart, very involved and a great cross kick. But two ambitious shocking line kicks that did not go out directly resulted in 14 points against the Boks. However his charge down try got the Boks off to a great start.

Jacques Cronje 6

Hardworking game and his best of the season. Carried the ball much more effectively with better protection. Made lots of tackles and worked hard in the loose. However too slow to link with the backline.

Juan Smith 5

Some good takes in the line out and good work rate. Slipped a few tackles though and was not his usual threat on attack.

Solly Tybilika 6

Good workrate and got to the rucks early and contested. Showed the value of a fetcher.

Victor Matfield 7

Great performance. Looked like he was committed and involved in leading the side. Contributed to Du Preez' charge down try and was immense in the line out.

Albert van der Berg 5

Involved but not a stand out player. Not the ball carrier he once was.

CJ van der Linde 5

Scrummed strongly on occassion but has to work out opposition tactics to disrupt his bind. It was a crucial penalty for the second week in a row. He also gave away a shocking penalty for going down over the ball in a ruck in front of the Boks poles.

John Smit 6

Best game in a long time with great lineout throwing. Should have thought of trying Butch at poles after the first half.

Os du Randt 7

Massive in the scrums and made some great tackles as usual. Looks tired though and needs better assistance and back-up.

WP surprise, Sharks win in a thrilling Currie Cup encounter

When the Sharks started today's match, it looked as though predictions might come true. They played at pace, put huge pressure on the WP scrum and played an aggressive rush defence.

Dusty Noble had looked very good and constantly looked for work and was rewarded with a try to follow a Butch James penalty.

The Sharks were always going to be in trouble if the WP line got ball. That potential was increased when Egon Seconds was added to the line in place of Joe Pietersen. With Zahier Ryland not even making the bench, the observation that Province had pace to burn would be quite apt.

For the Province backs to get ball, the forwards were going to have to exceed expectations. And so they did. With Luke Watson and Schalk Brits leading the charge, the Province forwards responded to the Sharks try by increasing the pace and quality of ball to the WP backs. The backs did not disappoint, and bewildered the Sharks by mixing things up on attack. Grant often took the ball at flyhalf with Aplon joining the line. Add to this that Chumani Booi looked everywhere for work and the Sharks were often left clutching at shadows.

After an exciting period of attack, Corne Uys chipped over the rushing Sharks defence to score for Province.

The game continued to surprise with the Province forwards giving as good as they got. Robbie Diack was impressive and played an important part in the home side's supply of turnovers. The Sharks forwards began to get frustrated and Johan Muller was lucky not to get sent off for rucking all over Attie Winter far from the ball.

Aplon was rewarded for his constant efforts in joining the line by running in for a great try. It same from turnover ball spun wide by Watson through great hands from Booi to feed Aplon on the run.

It was a game of surprises and Bolla's return to form was as pleasing as it was surprising. He enjoyed good supply of possession and was also everywhere on defence.

After half time replacements began to come on and Brock Harris joined the WP effort to replace Attie Winter. He increased the strength of the home side at scrum time and in the loose and looks a good prospect.

Watson made another great steal and Olivier made a great tap on pass to put Aplon away for his second. At this stage the home side looked to have really spooked the visitors and were enjoying quick turnover ball.

Dusty Noble's work-rate was crucial in respect of gettiing the Sharks back into the game. It resulted in him coming off his wing to add the extra man in the Sharks line and Brett Hennesy going over for an important Sharks try. The score stood at 18-15 to the home side and the match was set up for an exciting finish. Butch added a penalty and it was set up for a thriller.

WP immediately struck back and scored from a maul that one would have expected from the Sharks. It was a great reward for the surprising WP pack. It was converted and Wp were full value for their 25-18 lead.

Then followed some replacements for the Sharks and an altogether more defensive effort from the home team. Mxoli, Bobo and Pienaar made a huge difference for the visitors. It was great for SA rugby to see two of our young prospects in Mxoli and Pienaar perform so well. Bobo showed good touches and made the Sharks look much more threatening on attack.

The home side seemed to begin to ride their lead and perhaps this feeling of comfort when Butch James was dispatched from the field for a punch. The setback seemed to fire up the Sharks even more and they begun to dominate. After a penalty putting the Sharks at 21-25, the WP defence began to look desperate. The home fans must have thought their team had done enough after repelling waves of attack on the Western Province line. The hooter sounded with the WP team defending fiercely only to concede a penalty. The sharks charged up and Danie Saayman broke off the side to give the Sharks the win before the conversion sealed the matter.

What a game! Supporters from either side would not be able to complain. It was an advert for Currie Cup rugby and it was a shame that so few supporters turned up at Newlands to watch. Ticket prices cannot be blamed and hopefully the brand of rugby played will attract more of the Newlands faithful back in future.

The match also asked questions of the size debate with Aplon looking good on attack and defence. For WP, the new backline combination looks promising with Olivier at flyhalf and Grant at inside centre. But they will doubtlessly be even more happy with the performance of Robbie Diack and Brock Harris as additions to their pack in absence of their Springboks.

The Sharks will be concerened with the number of turnovers they conceded but exceptionally pleased with the way they stayed in the game and came back to win. They will be pleased with the addition of Dusty Noble to back up Odwa Ndugane and his exceptional work-rate. With Bobo looking good again, they are building impressive depth. They might start with Ruan Pienaar in the future. Starting with him on the bench seemed to rob the Sharks of much needed sharpness.

Great match, a fantastic advert for strength-versus-strength, and a real start to the Currie Cup.