Man management
Last night's SuperRugby was fairly interesting. Jake White was studio guest. SuperRugby's dial-in audience are always interesting to those wishing to keep a finger on the pulse of the rugby watching public in the country.
Jake didn't say to many controversial things, except that it was clear he's not going to change his selection policies anytime soon. Errol Tobias pleaded with him to make form the overriding selection ciretia, and Jake made it clear that team building came first.
Callers were irate over John Smit and Percival Montgomery's form and demanded that the captain make the team on form first and then captaincy ability. Jake talked to how he handled form and it is clear he gives his players every chance to play their way back into shape. In a clear dig at Nick Mallet, he contrasted his style to how Gaffie du Toit and Dave von Hoesslin had been handled post the Bok defeat in Dunedin in 1999.
After Jake had left, Joost contrasted coaches' man mangement styles and talked of the brilliance of Kitch Christie in this regard. He gave the example of if Kitch had told him (Joost) he'd played terribly versus if he had said the same thing to Ruben Kruger. The criticism might have sparked Joost to play better, but Ruben Kruger would have showed him just how badly he could play! Kitch adapted his style to suit the player.
The thing about life is that between various points of view lies the truth and the ideal. The Boks got a rocket from Mallet in 1999 for their worst ever loss to the All Blacks - 28 - 0. After losing 49 - 0 to Australia this season, the Boks smiled ruefully as they shook the Aussies hands and Jake blamed the referee during his press conference.
Jake didn't say to many controversial things, except that it was clear he's not going to change his selection policies anytime soon. Errol Tobias pleaded with him to make form the overriding selection ciretia, and Jake made it clear that team building came first.
Callers were irate over John Smit and Percival Montgomery's form and demanded that the captain make the team on form first and then captaincy ability. Jake talked to how he handled form and it is clear he gives his players every chance to play their way back into shape. In a clear dig at Nick Mallet, he contrasted his style to how Gaffie du Toit and Dave von Hoesslin had been handled post the Bok defeat in Dunedin in 1999.
After Jake had left, Joost contrasted coaches' man mangement styles and talked of the brilliance of Kitch Christie in this regard. He gave the example of if Kitch had told him (Joost) he'd played terribly versus if he had said the same thing to Ruben Kruger. The criticism might have sparked Joost to play better, but Ruben Kruger would have showed him just how badly he could play! Kitch adapted his style to suit the player.
The thing about life is that between various points of view lies the truth and the ideal. The Boks got a rocket from Mallet in 1999 for their worst ever loss to the All Blacks - 28 - 0. After losing 49 - 0 to Australia this season, the Boks smiled ruefully as they shook the Aussies hands and Jake blamed the referee during his press conference.
posted at 2:18 PM
1 Comments:
"The day we’re happy to lose is the day the Springboks become truly second rate." - Dan Retief 10 August 2003
Remember this? . Mallet also made some huge sacrifices of form players in his day. Andre Venter had played out of his boots for the preceding games only to be put on the bench. It was a turning point in Mallet's tenure. From that day on form was not the criteria. It all came down to some other agenda. Dan Retief wrote about it some time later. Can't find the article anymore though.
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