Winning's a healthy habit

Former Springbok centre and sport365 columnist Robbie Fleck is a fan of Jake White’s controversial ‘B-Team Boks’ – but he believes resting ones top players should not come at the cost of victory. After all, winning is a habit… and a good one at that…

I happened to be in Durban this past weekend and was fortunate enough to witness, first hand, a high-quality Test match and, once again, a very, very good Springbok performance.

Unfortunately, and as well as they played, the Boks were just not able to claim a win against the All Blacks.

Physically, the Boks were up to it; they hassled on the ground, they disrupted the All Blacks line-outs and they hassled their scrum, too. Sadly, it was not enough for them and I felt very sorry for them. In the end, however, they were beaten by a side that made use of their bench, with three high-quality players – Keven Mealamu, Luke McAlister and Leon MacDonald turning the game on its head.

Butch James, once again, was a shining light for the Boks and they lost direction when he went off. Bob Skinstad going off made a huge difference, too, whilst Pedrie Wannenburg’s yellow card – whether it was his fault or not – hardly helped their cause either. With John Smit not there, the senior players failed to take the lead once again. I guess fingers could be pointed at Victor Matfield’s captaincy, but he could not have done more…

To be honest, the Boks actually surprised me with their performance.

When I heard that Juan Smith and Pierre Spies had pulled out during the week – and with John already out – I expected the worst, but with 10 minutes left in Saturday’s match I actually thought we had the match sewn up. Then came the three M’s – Mealamu, McAlister and MacDonald – and they moved the ball wide, we got tired and their pace proved too much for us.

Sitiveni Sivivatu and Joe Rokocoko showed throughout just what real pace can do for you – how we missed Bryan Habana – and they had it when it mattered most, especially on the counter-attack. Also, Richie McCaw led his team well again, he was outstanding as his team got stronger, while we just dropped off the pace and allowed them back into the game.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry would have been a happy man on Saturday night – for many reasons. For starters, the Kiwis have not had the best record in SA under him – they lost here in 2004, 2005 and once last year – but, and more importantly, he can issue a simple “Told you so” at his critics for his controversial decision to withdraw the top 20 NZ players from the first seven rounds of this season’s Super 14.

Of course, this week, it’s been the turn of Jake White to take some heat for his ‘resting period’, with Jake deciding to take a ‘weakened’ team to Australia and New Zealand for SA’s away leg of the 2007 Tri-Nations.

I, for one, agree with Jake, he needs to cotton-wool his key, senior men, but, and rather crucially, it’s all about balance and some of the guys he has rested could actually do with some game time right now. (More of that later, however.)

What I can’t understand though is all the moaning and bleating from the Aussies and Kiwis. New Zealand spent the first seven rounds of the 2007 Super 14 without McCaw, Carter and co., despite being legally bound to play their best teams throughout the tournament. If you ask me, this is a prime case of pot calling the kettle black – I think they should get off their high horses, quickly.

Or is all this moaning because they are worried that Jake has actually got it right by resting his guys now? We’re less than three months away from the Rugby World Cup – New Zealand chose the Super 14 to rest their players and the Australians are yet to cotton-wool the likes of Vickerman, Smith, Waugh, Larkham, Giteau, etc. Has Jake got it spot on?

As I mentioned above, the only concern I have about Jake’s 20-odd group of ‘untouchables’ is that maybe some of the guys he is resting actually need game time at this stage of the season. By all means, rest John Smit, Victor, Bakkies, Schalk and Percy, but someone like Os du Randt thrives on game time – although he does not look himself these days – and Francois Steyn would have been my first guy on the plane to Australasia, especially after the weekend. Frans needs to build his confidence and play more big games. He can win matches for his country – just go back to Newlands two weeks ago – but he showed again on Saturday that he can lose matches, as he did during the Super 14 Final. He’s young, as is Pierre Spies; these guys need the experience.

One interesting selection in the Springbok squad is that of my old 1999 World Cup and Stormers team-mate Cobus Visagie. Cobus has won plenty of accolades abroad for his performances for Saracens and technically is an astute scrummager, but he has not played a Test match in four years. The Premiership is one thing… it’s different to the Super 14 and Test arena. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for Cobus, but if it was always Jake’s intention to involve him, why wait till now? Cobus, my friend, you’ve been put under a lot of pressure.

One thing Cobus does bring to the party, however, is experience, which could be invaluable on this two-match tour. I still believe you need to keep together a strong enough squad to challenge Down Under. What happens if the All Blacks put fifty-odd points past the Boks – can they cope with the losses, will it affect the Springboks psychologically before the World Cup? Only time will tell I guess…

Looking at the new caps in the squad, Peter Grant’s selection is a positive one for me.

He is so similar to Henry Honiball and I love the fact that he takes the ball to the line so often, he attacks the opposition – like Honiball used to do and like Dan Carter does today – which puts his centres on the front foot immediately. I know some people prefer the traditional kicking fly-halves like Derick Hougaard or Willem de Waal; me, I was lucky enough to have played with ‘Lem’ and with Butchie; I would have given anything to have played alongside Peter Grant for the Stormers and Western Province. Players like Honiball, James and Grant give their team-mates plenty of confidence on attack and defence.

If all goes well, who knows, Grant could find himself as Butch’s back-up come the World Cup, especially with André Pretorius still under an injury-cloud and Jake not seemingly sold on Hougaard as the No.2 fly-half. Either way, World Cup or not, this kid has a very bright future in South Africa and his selection should be applauded.

The fly-half position aside, it’s been quite interesting of late to see all the criticism levelled at our first-choice centres – Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie. Frankly, it’s nonsense, they are the best Springbok centre combination and they have proved themselves. End of. Jean has the vision, Jaque is outstanding with ball in hand, but he should not be wasted on the wing, as he was, at times during the Super 14.

With Jean and Jaque not touring it is obvious that Jake sees them as his top unit, and rightly so, but I beg to differ with his back-up players. At inside centre Frans Steyn and Brad Barritt would be my next choices, with Waylon Murray – who showed his class against Samoa – the next in line at outside centre.

Wynand Olivier has had his chances, but he has not performed this year. On Saturday, he came off the bench and missed four tackles. Jake wants him on the bench because he can cover both centre positions and wing, but centre remains a specialist position – you need your next best player on the bench, not someone just because he offers utility value. Let’s go back to Saturday again – Luke McAlister is the second best No.12 and probably even the second best No.10 in NZ, he is a quality player, look what he did when he came off the bench? Leon MacDonald gave the try-scoring pass to Rokocoko when he came on at full back… Again, he is the second best No.15 in New Zealand and it made a difference.

Picking a bench is a crucial aspect of rugby today – remember when Bobby and co. made such a difference during the 1998 Tri-Nations? The question is, of course, which Springboks are capable of coming off the bench and closing off matches, like Saturday, for instance.

Well, Frans Steyn is an obvious one – but he should serve as the back-up at inside centre and full back. He is not quick enough for wing – I seem to be saying this every week! – and Saturday proved that he is not quite ready for the move to fly-half yet. He needs confidence first.

What we really need on the bench is pace. When Habana comes back that will solve one major dilemma, but aside from him and Jaque Fourie there is not much else in South Africa’s pace department. JP Pietersen and Ashwin Willemse were both found wanting against the All Blacks – although it must be said, their pace would suffice against other teams.

Fourie du Preez’s fitness, however, is vital in terms of the final make-up of the Springbok bench. When he comes back and takes over at No.9, Ruan Pienaar will drop down to the bench and cover the entire backline along with Frans Steyn, giving Jake a 5-2 forward split. After that it is up to Jake; does he start with Bob or use him off the bench, what about Danie Rossouw and Pierre Spies. Now that AJ Venter has retired, how does that change things?

Special players win you the big matches… We need more special players. Look at how good Schalk was once again, yet, the All Blacks were able to nullify his brilliance with the dual efforts of Jerry Collins and Richie McCaw, who also had big games. We missed guys like Smith and Spies – imagine if we were able to call on them off the bench in those dying minutes? It could have been a different game.

Looking ahead, at least we can all relax in South Africa this weekend with the Boks not playing! Instead, the Wallabies and All Blacks will be entertaining us at the MCG in the first of their annual Bledisloe Cup battles. It should be a cracker…

Until next week,
Robbie Fleck

* Fleckie’s ‘Last Word’ will appear weekly on sport365.co.za – and also on rugby365.com and iafrica.com – so log on next week for some more opinions and in-depth analysis from the 31-times capped Springbok centre. Also, feel free to mail Fleckie at sport365@365digital.co.za with any comments or queries.

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