Dear Heyneke
May 20, 2013 in Rugby, Springboks
Dear Heyneke
You know when you were named as the chosen one for the Springbok Rugby Coach job, I was very happy. Ja, I felt sorry for ou Divvy, but he was the maker of his own destiny, like Morgan Mandela said in that Invictus Movie.
So, last year, when you started picking Bulls players like Jaques Potgieter and JJ Engelbrecht, and gave them Springbok caps ahead of players who have shown their worth in the past and were much better in their positions, I started wondering what’s in your head. Are you a zombie? Then we see poor Lambie on the bench every single game, while Zane Kirchner keeps running on as full back. I wondered, is Heyneke the only one who sees value in NikNaks other than Simba?
Last year ended pretty okayish for you, with some nice wins in the Northern Hemisphere. But now, we are in a new year, and as much as we love beating the Brits, we love nothing more than beating the All Blacks and the Aussies. We hate nothing more than losing to Argentina or some other third tier side. We want you to win. Like that song goes, We wanna win. Read the rest of this entry →
I had the wool pulled over my eyes last weekend! The defeat of the Aussies in clinical fashion lead me to believe we have a good chance to beat the All Blacks this weekend. Say what you want about how bad this Aussie side is, but they still pipped us on the Rugby Championship log by beating Argentina twice, and also are ranked second again on the IRB Rankings. So yes, even this poor Aussie side is better than us despite us demolishing them last week.
Jean de Villiers may have stunned the whole country with what he said on Saturday night – that the Springboks had not changed their game-plan, but he was right.
I was happy that the Springboks finally managed to convert their efforts into points this weekend, and most of those thanks should go to Bryan Habana who put his hand up and took responsibility for making sure the Springboks score the tries they created. Full marks to him and those giving him a mere 9/10 should really get their heads out of their arses. 10/10 performance!
The Springbok E-zine brings us weekly “Hotseat” Questions and Answers and this week if was the turn of John McFarland, the Springboks defensive coach, to field questions from the public. I’ve picked a few answers from him which I think are interesting, confusing and indicative of the current mindset in the Bok Camp.
Forget about the Rugby Championship. By the Springboks not getting the full 10 points….or even just the 8 for that matter, against Argentina, and the All Blacks demolishing the Aussies, New Zealand has all but engraved their names on the inaugural Rugby Championship cup.
“We need to be patient. This process is still in process and the CRAP will continue until we’ve transformed the team into what we envisage this process to deliver”
Where’s the action?