Boks will only play 'winning rugby'
New Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has no intention of ‘building’ anything, instead he will target consistent success from the start to take the Boks to the top, where he thinks they belong.
While he may have signed a four-year contract and will lead the team to the World Cup in 2015, Meyer wants to unite the country behind the Springboks by winning as many games as possible from the outset.
Speaking at the press conference at Newlands where he was unveiled as new Bok boss Meyer explained that he is not willing to compromise on results and wants to breed a culture of success in the team which he believes is the ideal preparation for a World Cup campaign.
He said: “My goal is to go out there and win every single game. I think the World Cup is obviously very important to win, but I believe that you can’t build at Springbok level, that has to be done at Super Rugby level.
“It is going to be very tough because a lot of the other unions have a lot of continuity, but I am very proud of my country and of my team and every single game is going to be very important to me,” he added.
The Bulls legend, who was handed the deserved opportunity he was so cruelly denied four years ago on Friday, believes that in order for the Springboks to take what he believes is their rightful place at the top of world rugby then they need to achieve excellence consistently.
“I think that if we get the ethos of the team ready and get the right type of players that will die out there for their country then the World Cup will take care of itself,” he said.
In terms of the style of play that the Springboks will adopt under his tutelage Meyer said that he would be pragmatic and do whatever it takes to win as often as possible using the specific resources at his disposal.
He explained: “I only believe that there are two types of rugby: Winning rugby and losing rugby, I prefer the first one.
“I am not going to make promises about the way we are going to play, the way we play will differ week by week.
“It is my job to make the people proud and help the team win. We are not going to have a fixed playing pattern, I will look at our strengths and the weaknesses of the opponent and we can work a gameplan out according to that week by week.
“I probably will get criticism but at the end of the day it is all about winning and that is what I intend to do,” said Meyer.
By Michael de Vries, at Newlands
