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South Africa: Bok Coach Still Singing His Annoying Song

Zeena Isaacs

20 November 2008

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Johannesburg — IT IS sad that days before the Springboks take on England at Twickenham, Bok coach Peter de Villiers is already making excuses for the team's performance in case they get beaten.

The hair-raising Test against Scotland was hardly over when De Villiers started singing his annoying song that the players were mentally and physically exhausted, even though it was hard to spot.

Ironically, respected players such as lock Victor Matfield and flank Schalk Burger have gone on record this week contradicting their coach, saying fatigue would not be a factor in this weekend's game.

Call me negative, but making excuses for a possible defeat before stepping on to the field is poor and unprofessional, and De Villiers should know that.

There is no doubt the Springbok players have played too much rugby this year and, unfortunately, the rugby season seems to get longer every year.

But these guys are professionals and should be able to cope with the load.

If they cannot handle playing three extra games at the end of the year and the sexy pay cheque that comes with it, then they should inform the coaches in good time so contingency plans can be made to take players who are hungry to play.

De Villiers is moaning about the guys being tired, but seven key Springbok players on tour have made themselves available for the Barbarians against Australia on December 3.

Tired? I think not. Substandard performances by those players, in particular, this weekend will be unacceptable.

Secondly, if the guys are so tired that they can hardly cope with the demands of Test rugby on tour, then surely the coaches should have looked carefully at all the data collected about the players' workload after the Tri-Nations and made a constructive decision to rest a few of them and instead groom a few talented youngsters for international rugby?

De Villiers has been lauding the players for their character in the past two Tests -- which they only just managed to win -- rather than highlighting their faults and making them aware that they need to step up and give everything they have against England on Saturday.

I agree with De Villiers that it takes great determination to bounce back after trailing 10-0 at half-time against Scotland and to hold on to a desperate five-point lead against Wales in the dying minutes.

But even that courage cannot hide the weaknesses in the Boks' game at the moment.

Their first-half performance against Wales was brilliant; they maintained possession and kicked when it was necessary.

But in the second half they allowed Wales to hound the ball and attack at will, which allowed them back into the game.

One would have thought the Boks would have learnt their lesson after the close call against Wales. But instead they tried to run Scotland off the park in the first half last week and kicked away possession unnecessarily, which gave the home team the perfect attacking platform.

I understand that De Villiers and his assistant coaches are trying to impose their own game plan and style of play rather than building on former Springbok coach Jake White's structured style of play.

But White's formula worked. It earned the Springboks a Tri-Nations trophy and a Rugby World Cup title.

That structured game plan also earned the team a record 53-8 victory against Australia at Ellis Park this year and its partial implementation saved the team from humiliating defeats against Wales and Scotland.

Hopefully, De Villiers and his assistant coaches will accept this and use it to work for them, rather than Saturday's game, which could cost them a win.

Zeena Isaacs is rugby correspondent

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