Was it Div or the players?
rugby365 columnist Steve Farrell takes a look at the early stages of Peter de Villiers’ tenure as Springbok coach and asks if the record 53-8 win over the Wallabies at the weekend was his doing or did the players simply step up.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has endured a wave of criticism in his brief tenure as mentor of South Africa’s national team, but his team’s record 53-8 victory over the Wallabies has given the eccentric coach some much-needed breathing space.
The knives were being sharpened for the man they call ‘Div’ ahead of the Boks’ final Tri-Nations encounter at Coca-Cola Park at the weekend. The World Champions had spectacularly capitulated in the latter part of the competition, seemingly running around like chickens without heads. It was this lack of a structured game-plan that had Bok fans up in arms. But Div refused to take a backward step. The man from Paarl in the Western Cape was adamant that the Boks needed to play ‘new-age rugby’. The public grew impatient as this so-called expansive style of play was nowhere to be seen.
The forwards forgot to clean out the rucks, and Richie McCaw and co had a field day. Three losses on the trot, two at home, and De Villiers was under serious pressure. And the more pressure he was under, the more ridiculous his mutterings at press conferences became. For a man who has been at the helm only a few months, he certainly has built up an impressive repertoire of rather bizarre quotes. None more so than on Saturday, when he likened his situation to that of Jesus. Seriously! Has Div finally lost his marbles, or was he just a tad excited that his team finally got it together and played the type of rugby that he wants them to?
“The same people who threw their robes on the ground when Jesus rode on a donkey were the same people who crowned him and hit him with sticks and stuff like that, and were the same people who said afterwards how we shouldn’t have done that, he’s the son of God,” Div said. Unbelievable. That has got to go down as the most bizarre quote in rugby union history. He quickly re-iterated that he was indeed not God, although his team’s miraculous turnaround at Coca-Cola Park might have some people believing the contrary!
But lets face the facts. The Springboks came last in the Tri-Nations with only two wins from six encounters. They could have, and should have, won more. In fact if they had played the type of rugby they played on Saturday, they would have won the tournament. Instead they decided to run it from everywhere against New Zealand in Cape Town, and forgot about the breakdown. De Villiers promised an improvement against Australia the following week in Durban, but instead, Springbok fans had to endure much of the same nonsense, as the Wallabies completely dominated the Boks at the breakdown point. This sparked a nationwide outcry and some emotional responses from Bok fans. And rightly so, considering the Boks success in 2007.
It’s no secret that South Africa has the most talented players in the world – and compared to New Zealand and Australia – has the biggest playing pool to choose from. The talk was that 2008 would be the year that the Boks would dominate their southern hemisphere rivals, and lift the coveted Tri-Nations trophy for only the third time. The Boks won in Dunedin for the first time and picked up five points on the road. All and sundry thought that the Boks would be too strong on home turf and win three from three. How wrong they were.
So just how was De Villiers faired in his first season as South African coach? One has to put Saturday’s game into perspective. The Boks were desperate to win, whereas the Wallabies probably had one eye on next week’s decider against the All Blacks. Add to that, the Ellis Park (Coca-Cola Park) hoodoo and the Boks had it all in their favour, despite being extremely low on confidence. But let’s give credit where credit is due. The Boks finally showed what they are capable of. They looked after the ball and played ‘Test match’ rugby. The coach claimed his team were only “60 or 70 percent of where we want to be.” It remains to be seen whether they achieve 80, or even 90 percent on the De Villiers scale. If that happens, and staying true to form, in the words of Div, “the opposition will be in for a hiding.”
But for all his animated references to the Almighty, and all his endeavour, De Villiers had flattered to deceive in his early part of his tenure. He ignored calls to stick to the structures that brought the Boks success in the past, instead re-inventing the Bok wheel to suit his style. De Villiers needs to be applauded for showing guts and sticking to his guns in the face of some stinging criticism, but he also needs to be criticised for not showing enough respect for the strengths of Springbok rugby. Yes by all means adopt a more enterprising approach, but you cannot neglect the fundamentals of rugby that lay the foundations to play attacking rugby. There were too many occasions this season when the Boks created a try-scoring opportunity, only to turn the ball over because the forwards were in the backline. On Saturday there was a vast improvement, and if De Villiers and his team can build on that, they can regain the number one ranking in the future.
So the jury is still out as to whether Peter de Villiers can make a success of the Boks, and whether he can guide them to glory in 2011. A lot of water has to flow under the bridge before then, and if the South African hierarchy continues as they have in the past, we might have had two or three coaches by the time the Springboks attempt to successfully defend their World Cup crown in New Zealand in 2011.
In sticking to the theme of this article. I’d like to hand over to Div himself. Here are some of his more memorable quotes from the season.
After the Boks were trounced 0-19 in Cape Town, Div said, “I believe we’re developing a style here that the whole world will fear.” Not the best choice of words Mr de Villiers!
His post-match assessment after the Boks’ pathetic performance in Durban was far more apt and to the point. “We played kak,” was his take on his team’s 15-27 loss to the Wallabies.
His reference to all things Biblical have become a common occurrence at press conferences…”I’ve got nothing to prove. I believe in myself, the players and God,” he said.
And my all-time favourite Div masterpiece, “I was appointed to make rugby decisions. I promised to be honest and focus on rugby. We never said it was going to be a perfect world. If you look at the Bible, Joseph started out in the pit and ended up in the palace. There was a moerse lot of kak in between.”
Priceless! His team may have come last in the Tri-Nations, but the man with the moustache was streets ahead of his compatriots when it came to post-match analysis and ‘shooting from the hip.’ Now it’s time for his team to do the talking on the field. As the saying goes, ‘talk is cheap.’
Do you agree/disagree with Steve? Email us.
