To Windhoek and back

Former Springbok centre and rugby365 columnist Robbie Fleck has had a busy time of it lately; from coaching in Namibia, to coaching in Cape Town and, of course, keeping up with the Tri-Nations.

It’s been quite a busy few days for me, what with my involvement with the South African Students team, having recently been asked to serve as Matthew Proudfoot’s assistant coach.

Matthew, as some of you might remember, coached the NWU Pukke side during the FNB Varsity Cup side and it was certainly a case of quite a few familiar faces in the mix, with this SA Students side having been picked from players from the Varsity Cup and also the recently held SASSU rugby week.

We got together on Thursday only as a squad and flew to Windhoek on the Friday for a Saturday afternoon match against the Namibian national side.

Given the lack of time the squad enjoyed together, and the one training session we had on the Friday, I thought the side did well to record a victory.

We dominated territory and possession – I would guess to the tune of about 80% each! – but, typically for a student side, we very nearly threw it away! The Namibians used their pace well, but in the end we managed to sneak a victory.

I hate to moan, but if we think we’ve got refereeing problems in the Tri-Nations and the Super 14, the refs in Namibia are battling a whole lot more. For starters, the chap who blew our game did not know if he had to be blowing to the ELVs or not – so I will leave that up to you to decide how confusing things could have got during the match…

All in all, however, it was a great weekend and I really enjoyed it. The players were chuffed to bits to be there representing their country, whilst it was also an honour for Matthew and myself to be involved. Everybody likes a pat on the back and I was also especially proud to see two UCT players in the mix, too.

In the greater scheme of things, it’s also nice to see just how much depth we have in this country of ours and I think that SARU are on the right track here by selecting teams like this for matches of this nature.

I arrived back in Cape Town on Monday and was unfortunately greeted by news that our UCT side suffered a loss at the weekend in a league match.

However, head coach John Dobson and I were able to call upon an old friend in the shape of former Springbok assistant coach Tim Lane at training this week. Tim actually took a session himself the week before and it really is great for Dobbo and I to able to tap into somebody as knowledgeable and well-respected as Tim.

Tim is a good mate of mine – from our time together in the Bok mix – and he is in Cape Town to see his son, who is still at school here, at Bishops. Tim’s son is a pretty handy little No.10 himself and even though he is in Grade 11, he has already played a few matches for the Bishops First XV. In fact, don’t be too surprised to see young Lane in the Craven Week mix for Western Province next year either…

Tim has helped out with many teams across the world since leaving South Africa on a full-time basis – he is currently based in Georgia – and these past few days have been particularly enjoyable for me as a rugby person. Rugby is all about sharing philosophies and making friends; it’s been terrific having an old friend like Tim back in town and being able to talk rugby to him once again.

Of course, Tim’s countrymen, the Wallabies, aren’t doing too badly at the moment, but we didn’t really talk about the Tri-Nations too much!

Even though the All Blacks went down 19-34 in the end on Saturday, I don’t quite think that scoreline was a true reflection on proceedings. Yes, the Wallabies deserved to win, but the All Blacks played fairly well; dominating possession and territory in the process. The big thing for me, however, was that the Wallabies once again made the right decisions at the right time and executed their plays superbly.

A big issue for me was that incident at 24-19 (to the Wallabies), when Peter Hynes tackled Sitiveni Sivivatu without the ball, with the goalline about a metre away… Now, I don’t think it should have been a penalty try and one cannot say for sure that it would have changed the outcome of the entire game, but I most definitely think a penalty should have been awarded, along with a yellow card to Hynes. Surely that would have had some effect on proceedings?

The Wallabies’ defence was, however, brilliant on the night. The kept the All Blacks at bay with some desperate tackles and then hit back when any opportunity arose, scoring some fantastic tries .

I said it last week, good teams score when they have to and it reminds me a lot of that Wallabies side that just beat us in the 1999 World Cup semifinal at Twickenham. When you play against a well-drilled, error-free team, you can quickly find yourself 9-0, 12-0 or 15-0 down – and that from a team coming into your half just three times. It’s impossible to fight back against a team like that.

These Wallabies are fast becoming a quality side. I know I said the Tri-Nations would come too early for them (in a previous column), and I still believe that, but their defence and ability to score when presented with an opportunity means the Springboks will not underestimate them come their matches in South Africa.

The All Blacks, on the other hand, are in disarray at the moment…

For me, the big factor is their blatant lack of respect of the ball – something that I never expected to accuse the All Blacks off. As worrying, however, was the general laziness of some of their big-name players and a distinct lack of urgency.

The only key man firing at the moment is Dan Carter, but when you look at the performances of guys like Sivivatu and Sione Lauaki it just makes you think that there is something very wrong in that New Zealand camp.

Despite their problems, I cannot see them losing three from three, although they should lose their next one after this weekend in Cape Town, and I think a lot is down to Graham Henry’s poor selections; something he has got wrong since the start of this year.

I have spoken about the selections of Adam Thomson and Jerome Kaino in recent weeks and even though Henry has made some good selection moves in his backline, the retention of Ma’a Nonu is a major weakness in the All Blacks line-up, too.

Recalling Leon MacDonald at fullback is the right move, as is moving Mils Muliaina to the wing. Muliaina is a superb attacking fullback, but he lacks the tactical nous of MacDonald from the back. However, Muliaina does have plenty more experience than Anthony Tuitavake or Rudi Wulf – both of whom have no kicking or defensive games – and his shift to the wing makes sense from a defensive point of view.

I am glad to see Conrad Smith back in the mix at outside centre. I don’t think Richard Kahui did too badly last week, but I still cannot understand why Smith was dropped in the first place. After all, if Smith could be dropped, then surely Nonu could be dropped too?

We all know – and love – Nonu in the Super 14, but in Test rugby, against top nations like the Springboks and the Wallabies, the same kind of holes just do not open up often enough for Nonu to have an impact. I can see why they want to play him and what they want from him, but Nonu is not producing at Test level and he needs to replaced by a more creative player at second five-eighth. Stephen Brett is an obvious choice, but even Conrad Smith would do a better job at 12 than Nonu.

It really is very easy to mark Nonu out of the game at inside centre and it reminds me of the way Jonah Lomu was employed by Wayne Smith in 2000 and 2001 when he was the All Blacks head coach.

When Lomu first burst onto the scene in 1995, the likes of Frank Bunce and Walter Little spent 80 minutes creating one-on-ones for him. They were clever about it and knew that Lomu would be way more effective in space. After the days of John Hart, however, Lomu was used to truck the ball up and it was pretty easy for us to defend.

The All Blacks have some pretty formidable specimens at their disposal, but if they’re not going to create space for them, there is no point picking them. Nonu, for instance, could even be used as a decoy runner from time to time in the midfield – even that would create some uncertainty amongst the Wallaby defence.

I find it very interesting that Smith, who was responsible for the ‘mis-use’ of Lomu back in 2000 and 2001 is once again getting things wrong some eight years later. You can’t play without your No.9 and No.12 – poor old Dan Carter must be minutes away from a nervous breakdown of sorts.

This weekend will be another massive one-on-one duel between Henry and Robbie Deans, who many thought should have been given the All Blacks job after their World Cup failure last year.

For me it’s all about the personalities of the two coaches. Deans always has a smile on his face and he is always positive, whereas Henry has become quite a dour guy, who always seems to be moaning about something. I said the same during the Super 14 when Fourie du Preez kept moaning about the ELVs. The Bulls, with their captain being so negative, were never going to win – much like the All Blacks at the moment.

I love listening to Deans speak about the game, his whole philosophy is so right; the rugby language that he speaks is incredible and it reminds me of my legendary schoolboy coach Basil Bey, who just has this way of talking about the game that can excite anybody.

There’s a big difference between Deans and Henry. Dan Carter reckons Deans has showed his entire hand, I don’t agree, I think there’s more to come. And I can’t wait to see for myself…

Fleckie’s prediction: New Zealand are a VERY proud rugby nation and I just cannot see them losing a third match in a row – nevermind a second successive loss at home! Passion and desperation to win it for the All Blacks… just.

Chat next time,
Fleckie

* Email Fleckie at rugby365@365digital.co.za with any comments.

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