White tells his Springboks: you will win the World Cup

[Burgs]

For a match they were supposed to "smash" us in they are certainly talking it up after the event!
As good as it was, I didn't think it was that great a win, there was always time for them to score the winning try.
A good message though which was previously mentioned by John Mitchell, at this level it really is about the "top four inches".

White tells his Springboks: you will win the World Cup

Monday, June 18, 2007

South African television has captured fascinating footage of Springboks coach Jake White telling his troops they have shown they'll win the Rugby World Cup in rallying to beat Australia 22-19 in Cape Town on Saturday.

Huddled together in the victorious dressing room, White looked into his players' eyes and told them next week's Tri Nations Test against the All Blacks was what they were born for.

It was dramatic stuff and gave a passionate insight into what playing for the Springboks means to South Africans.

"At 16-10, I could see in your eyes that you actually believed you could win this game. I just said to someone after the game, 'That's how you win a World Cup'," White told All Out Rugby today.

"Put that into your memory bank. That's how you win a World Cup.

"You're going to be against the wall sometimes and you have to look at each other and say 'listen, we can pull this one out'.

"Honestly, I give you my word, you wouldn't have won that game four years ago. I promise you. So well done to you guys. I'm really proud of you.

"This is hard. This is Test rugby guys. This is as hard as it gets.

"Those guys have won two World Cups and now the momentum's broken. Now they haven't won a game for eight years in South Africa.

"So I want you to understand this is a good team (we have). This is a team that is going to win the World Cup.

"I'm not just saying that to win you over. You've just come back from 16-10 down to win the Test match. You can't coach that. Where is the manual that coaches you that? Tell me.

"How do you come back with eight minutes to go and then you get two drop kicks and then you score in the last minute? Who coaches you that?

"That is what I want you to believe. As soon as you decide as a group that you can do it, then it becomes easy.

"I want you to compliment yourselves. It was unbelievable, but I never doubted you.

"You've got the All Blacks next week. Now it gets even harder, but we get born to play rugby against New Zealand. That's why we get born in this country."

White's belief is backed up by the entire country. Everyone in rugby-mad South Africa believes the Springboks will win the World Cup in France in October.

But Joel Stransky, a hero of the Springboks' 1995 World Cup triumph in South Africa, said it would be foolish to write off the Wallabies, especially as they boast the most organised and effective defence in the business.

"This is a team with a bunch of experienced players and on the day if they can find a front row that can scrum a little and hold their own, they'll be very tough to beat," Stransky said.

"It was interesting to watch them defend as well because they defended pretty much like we've defended the last two years.

"The wingers were up quite quickly, forcing us to carry the ball into the traffic, two-on-one tackles and they won the contact situation."

AAP

[chook]

Nice spin for a team that pulled a game out of the fire. White would make a great politician.

[Burgs]

Wallabies far from defeated

By Wayne Smith
June 18, 2007

MAYBE only someone who recently had held the title of chief of the defence forces could fully appreciate what had just happened at Newlands on Saturday.

Peter Cosgrove was at his soldierly best at the after-match function, brief and to the point, as he summed up the Australian performance: "We're back."

That caused a ripple of confusion among South Africans in the room because, as far as they were concerned, the Wallabies hadn't gone anywhere.

They were right where they had always thought them to be, standing four-square in the path of every other country's World Cup ambitions. What they had just witnessed merely reinforced that belief.

If the Springboks or anyone else - like, perhaps, the All Blacks - have designs on lifting the Webb Ellis Cup aloft come October 20 in Paris, they're first going to have to find a way around the Australians.

No, the comments of the new ARU board member were intended more for domestic consumption. Suffice to say the general has picked up on some disquiet, some might say defeatism, in the ranks lately and was taking the heaven-sent opportunity provided by the Wallabies' heroics in the Tri-Nations opener to restore morale and put a bit of starch back into a few spines. If the Springboks are genuine World Cup contenders, then so surely are the Wallabies.

Yet for all of Australia's glorification of honourable defeats, World Cups are not won by gallant losers and the Wallabies need to reflect on what they did wrong in Cape Town to come out on the gut-wrenching side of a 22-19 scoreline.

A good starting point would be prop Guy Shepherdson's characteristically robust post-match analysis: "We defended pretty well, but that's also a reflection of how much better we need to protect the ball when we have it.

"We're not going to win matches with bugger-all possession of the football, so while we defended well, we want to get the footy in the hands and score some points."

Shepherdson did not need a general to tell him that battles are all about real estate - position, position, position.

Quite simply, the Wallabies never had command of the high ground, as the respective tackle counts of the two sides illustrates - 137 from the Wallabies, only 53 from the Springboks.

They looked good, the Australians - they looked great at times - but they all too rarely had ball in hand where they needed it, in the attacking red zone. When they did, they almost invariably scored, but it was all too infrequent.

Their tactical kicking was, not to put it too savagely, poor, save for Matt Giteau's pinpoint line kicking from penalties. Although Steve Larkham and Julian Huxley made outstanding contributions in other areas, their kicking in general play did not take the Wallabies to where they needed to be.

Granted, it was a tricky exercise. They were attempting to go for distance without putting the ball out of reach of their kick-chasers because the plan was to pressure the Springboks into hoofing into touch.

At least that way, Australia would have the subsequent lineout throw. Good in theory, until right at the death, when the Wallabies' lineout calling became scrambled and Adam Freier, newly assigned to the front, found himself required to hit Wycliff Palu in traffic right at the back with long, difficult throws.

So as the clock ticked down and their attack dried up, the Wallabies' last and best offensive weapon was their defence. Springboks coach Jake White had read the reports last week that the Wallabies were moving towards a South African defensive pattern by dramatically increasing their line speed but, as he put it after the match, it was a bit of a smokescreen.

Had it not been for Francois Steyn's two extraordinary drop goals in the last seven minutes, White and the Boks would have paid heavily for that misjudgement.

Yet, as Wallabies coach John Connolly ruefully conceded - before heading off for a consoling drink or two - the mere fact the Springboks could not find a way through the Australian defence and were forced to go over it was a fair compliment. Nine times out of 10, the Wallabies would have welcomed a long-range, angled shot at field goal from the opposition in the dying moments. Normally, it would have been as good as a turnover, but in the hands of that particular player at that particular moment, the roll of the dice came up as snake-eyes for the Australians.

Full credit to the South Africans, to stand-in captain Victor Matfield in particular, for having the courage to back themselves in the dying minutes by spurning two opportunities to shoot for what would have been a match-tying penalty goal.

But even when they were firing their heaviest artillery from point-blank range, the Boks still could not crack the Australian line. Remember that Steyn was only presented with the chance for his first field goal after the Wallabies had stolen Matfield's lineout tapdown, only for Larkham's left-footed clearance to miss touch.

It was a perverse match in more than just that respect. The Springboks won, but in a manner that has worrying implications for their World Cup hopes. The Wallabies lost, but in a way that suggested a third World Cup isn't just a fanciful dream. In general terms, we're back.

[chook]

I wonder why the lineouts were called to the back, and in traffic with Deep Freier newly to the field. What was the benefit? Was the Vickerman/Freier combo extremely confident? What's wrong with going to the front or near front in a tight Test match?

[Burgs]

Would think just purely the suprise factor Chook, the hairybacks would have been expecting a short safe throw to start by both Hookers as they are both under scrutiny at the selection table.
Moore achieved it, Freier didn't.

[Sagerian]

I'd have to agree with Jake White, they can win the world cup. 2 drop goals in about 5 minutes, that works out to be 96 points per game. Only the All Blacks and possibly the Crusaders could match that effort.

[Shaun]

Rugby in South Africa is not just rugby, it's life.

[James]

I'd have to agree with Jake White, they can win the world cup. 2 drop goals in about 5 minutes, that works out to be 96 points per game. Only the All Blacks and possibly the Crusaders could match that effort.

Are you taking the piss? I won't deny that Steyn is a very good drop goal kicker but the first one was pretty lucky- just because he makes 2 in a row doesn't mean he won't miss the next 3. His kicking wasn't very much on target when the Sharks played the Force and those were of a closer range.

I must admit though it is about the first time in a long time that I really want to see the All Blacks kill the Boks (and kill themselves too hopefully).

[Goldmember]

I must admit though it is about the first time in a long time that I really want to see the All Blacks kill the Boks.

Good thing I'm a gracious winner






IRB Rankings:
1. All Blacks
2. Springboks
3. France

Danm fish not biting today

[chook]

Fishing is a sport of skill

[Goldmember]

[The InnFORCEr]

"Those guys have won two World Cups and now the momentum's broken. Now they haven't won a game for eight years in South Africa.

"So I want you to understand this is a good team (we have). This is a team that is going to win the World Cup.

I didn't realise that the RWC was being played in Southj Africa again...get a bloody grip!

[Sagerian]

We haven't lost any RWC held in Europe yet, so suck it up.

[Jess]

I'd reserve judgement until they'd played the AB's if I were White.

He loves a good chinwag that bloke.

[The Lone Hydrangea]

I bet Jake has a few quiet Rand on the the French for the RWC. White has always been a abrasive bugger. He has the worst job in the world and sometimes i almost feel sorry for him.