The careers of rugby players and coaches are often characterized by one incident/match or remark. A defining moment so to speak; an occurrence by which a player, team or coach are remembered.
Kamp Staaldraad was Rudolph Straeuli’s defining moment.
Harry Viljoen had his defining moment in his first match as Springbok coach when on November 12, 2000 he instructed the Springboks not to kick the ball in a test match against the Pumas. The Springboks scraped a 37-33 win on that day and Harry Viljoen started his career with a label of being a lunatic and not entirely clear headed. He proceeded to coach for another 14 test matches but the Springbok supporters had no more faith in him and were effectively waiting for him to resign.
Nick Mallet’s defining moment came when he first sacked Gary Teichmann as captain in July 1999 and then selected an injured Bobby Skinstad for the 1999 RWC squad two months later. When the fans complained about this Mallet responded by saying South African rugby supporters don’t know much about rugby anyway so he is not concerned at all about their opinions. 
Craven had his defining moment as coach after the loss against Canterbury in 1956 and the South African Newspapers started to keep score of all his excuses. That was effectively his last season as Springbok coach (read here).
The defining moment of the 1956 tour from an All Black perspective was when the selectors picked Kevin Skinner, Peter Jones and Don Clarke for the 3rd test of that series. Similarly the defining moment of the 1976 tour was when the Springbok selectors got it right and selected Johan Strauss and Kevin de Klerk for the third test of that series (read here).
There are many examples like the Joggie Jansen tackle in 1970 (read here) the train crash that the 1949 All Black were involved in during their 1949 tour (read here) and so forth.
Sometimes what you think is a defining moment becomes a launching pad for greatness. I remember for instance the day in 1999 when Percy Montgomery got booed at Loftus after knocking on a pass. The Springboks were playing horribly and the All Blacks were leading with an unassailable lead after about 30 minutes in the first half. The crowd was getting increasing disillusioned and were already ‘gatvol’ with Percy after a string of below par performances in the Springbok jumper when he knocked a pass that an under 11 player would have no difficulty in catching. That was it with regard to Percy. The crowd had enough and vehemently booed old Percy every time he got within touching distance to the ball. Percy was dropped soon after that and played rugby in the UK for almost 5 years before Jake White brought him back. Percy was a changed man, he simplified his game and had a dead eye two-step place kick that made him an certainty for the bok team to the extent that he become the first Springbok in history to win 100 test caps.
I believe that last weekend’s test match against the Pumas was Heynecke Meyer’s defining moment. In contrast to Percy I don’t think it will be a launching pad for him but the start of a downward spiral into dishonourable discharge. I base this view on his response on the mediocre performance of his team against the Pumas.
On question whether he is going to make changes to the team Meyer responded that he is not a ‘picker’ but a coach.
His job according to him is to coach players how to be better and not to reject them and pick other players.
In effect he is saying I am not going to be manipulated to pick players that are in form and belong in the team. I will pick players that can play my way. He is saying he will prove that he can win with an outdated and flawed game plan and with mediocre players because he can turn mud pies into meat pies.
Meyer will be remembered for this as this will ultimately prove to be his downfall. We better prepare ourselves for some massive and humiliating defeats against the All Blacks and the Aussies in the next few weeks. Wrong players and wrong game plan has disaster written all over Meyer tenure as Springbok coach.
You could be very right or very wrong
But good article
I hope I am wrong.
Let’s hope this does not come true – with a small few substitutions:
Harry Viljoen (Heineke Meyer) had his defining moment in his first match as Springbok coach when on November 12, 2000 (August 25, 2012) he instructed the Springboks not to kick (fetch) the ball in a test match against the Pumas.
Oh yes, first should be fifth
Ha, ha, ha….funny.
The selection of Duane, albeit I’m very glad because he deserves it, proves that Meyer is sticking with the bashup method. Duane is the only nr 8 in the country that can bash it up over the advantage line. Other than him, it’s only Daniel that can get it over the line, difference being he runs into spaces, not face.
Duane will be much more effective if he is allowed to play his natural game. Go for the crash up ball and offload to a speedster next to him. On defense he is a demon, and he is very physical at the breakdown, something the Meyer will like.
But as happy as I am about his selection, so disappointed am I that it is mere confirmation of the tpe of game we can expect, and if we can expect it, the AB’s and Aussies already know how to beat us with it.
Just wrote more or less the same thing on Hanjo’s lastest post.
I agree that this could be a defining moment in Meyer’s tenure, however it will be a long while before he even sees a chopping block. Sadly he will not deviate from crappy rugby. To drop Daniel shows that clever rugby is not a prerequisite for Meyer. If you can think on a rugby field you are not particularly loved by the man. probably because you can see his method is flawed. If we don’t start picking players who can think for themselves and have other skill sets other than kicking then i don’t see a bright Bok future
Fully agree MarkusA – guys like Lambie, Jantjies, de Jong and most of all Aplon (that does the uncoachable sometimes) are not picked because they might take risks – hell why don’t we get Metropolitan or Santam or some other live insurance company to coach the team if we do not want to play attacking rugby? THE PLAN may be devoid of risk, but there is a great risk of our cupboards being devoid of any trophies! Sadly they do not give conference winning trophies in the Championship!
Make me coach. I can do just as shit @ a tenth of the salary
I wouldn’t say Percy being booed was a defining moment. He got booed often in a Bok jersey when playing up North. That wasn’t anything new to him. He had a decent 1999 World Cup, played in 2000 for the Boks and Harry Viljoen played him at flyhalf on 2000 UK tour and 2001. He won Currie Cup with WP in 2000 and 2001.
He left because he was gatvol and dissillusioned with Straueli’s shennanigans. He left SA in late 2002. Came back in 2004 a better man and placekicker.
The problem I have with HM is the fact that intelligent rugby is not on the cards and being mediocre is OK. This in turn makes the whole exercise not worth the pain and effort in watching 80 minutes of Blue Bulls Rugby.
“His job according to him is to coach players how to be better and not to reject them and pick other players”.
While you understand the sentiment, and what he is trying to say, as you don’t want a revolving door selection policy, with no chance of continuity and combination. However, one of the most effective tools a coach has is to drop non-performers. The first thing the conquistador Cortez did when he landed in Mexico, aiming to conquer the Aztec Empire with a few thousand men and a couple of hundred horses was to burn his ships. Concentrated the mind and efforts of his men on the task at hand wonderfully well!
One coach who gained immense respect from his players and extracted maximum effort was the great 1960s All Black coach Fred Allen. Dropping players, including All Black greats such as Kel Tremain and Chris Laidlaw in their prime was an example of his ruthless use of the technique that made his teams so good.
Defining moment for Fred Allen came when Colin Meads inadvertently yawned in one of Allen’s pre-game meetings (it was still a couple of days before the test).
Allen fixed Meads with a stare, and asked, “Am I boring you Colin?”
Meads, realising his place was on the line, quickly spluttered out a denial.
“That’s good, because if you aren’t interested in the job, Pinetree, there are plenty others who are”.
So the All Blacks knew that if Allen was so ruthless that he would drop the greatest All Black of all time just to prove a point, there was little hope for them if they didn’t perform!
Yes that defining moment for Fred Allen became even more powerful when Allen challenged Meads to one on one duel to prove a point and won the contest.
Allen wanted the All Black to hold on to the ball and his point was that if you hold onto the ball long enough you will eventually end up with ball player in a one on one contest to the line which the ball player will win. When Meads expressed doubts about that view the 39 year old Allen challenged a young Colin Meads in the prime of his life to a one on one contest from 10 meters or 20 meters (can’t remember the exact distance) out from the goal line and won the contest.
That eventually became a defining moment for NZ rugby the result of a man with vision that were prepared to back himself to prove a point.
A very good article. This should be in the papers. My head tells me you are right and my heart hopes that you are wrong.