Why all the negativity?
With their mix of experience and youth, the Bok squad stand as good a chance as any, says Jacques van der Westhuyzen.
|||Johannesburg - ‘They’ve got no chance’. ‘Heyneke’s picked the wrong men’. ‘There are just too many old balies in the side’.
These are some of the things I’ve heard about the Springboks in the last week. It’s going to end with a whimper, like it did in 2003. Really?
I find it difficult to understand why there is so much negativity around Heyneke Meyer and his World Cup-bound Boks. Sure, some of his selections are questionable and yes, there are a few older men in the side, but that doesn’t mean the campaign is going to come unstuck.
If the Boks lose, say at the quarter-finals or semi-finals stage, it will simply be because they were outplayed and beaten. It happens.
The thing is Meyer has gambled on a few men, but one also has to understand why he’s done what he has. Victor Matfield, for example, is still a mighty fine lock forward, if Fourie du Preez is fit he’s still surely better than the man next in line, while Jean de Villiers has proven himself an excellent captain, respected by every referee in the game, and every member of his squad.
There’s also no better defensive organiser in South Africa than the skipper and if he can get up to speed in the pool games he could be brilliant when it most matters - in the knockout games.
Every team that’s won the World Cup has had a good mix of experience and youth and that’s exactly what the Boks will have. They’ve certainly got as good a chance as anyone else of going all the way.
Let’s not forget England will be under heaps of pressure to perform in front of their own fans and on their home ground - and their press will make sure they know it - while we all know how vulnerable New Zealand can be when the pressure’s on.
I suspect many fans are negative because of the Boks’ results this year. Yes, they were poor in going down to Argentina in Durban, apparently because they were pushed too hard in training before the game, but they were pretty impressive against both Australia and New Zealand in the Rugby Championship and had they won those very, very close games the sentiment might have been different.
The margin between winning and losing is tiny between the world’s leading teams and there’s nothing to make me think it’ll be different at the World Cup.
There will be a surprise or two - there always is - but the Boks will be up there. Perhaps it’s a good thing the pressure’s off them. They can get on with being in the best shape they can be and not have to worry about tags and labels. And, correct me if I’m wrong, are the Boks not at their best when their backs are to the wall? We’ve seen it before; let’s hope we see it again.
The Star