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Bok flair players need to step up: Meyer
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer knows that the young stars of the Springboks need to step up to compete against the best in the 2013 Rugby Championship.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has expressed his desire for the younger players in the Springbok team to step up and show their skills in this year’s Rugby Championship tournament.
Meyer has previously expressed that he is allowing more freedom for players to express themselves and capitalise on opportunities with their own decision-making.
“I’ve spoken to some of the players, and it is obviously a step up that they have to take. It’s a mindset. You also play away from home, but I’ve said to them at the end of the day it is a mindset. If you believe it will be more difficult, and you believe that then often you don’t perform,” said Meyer on the challenge of playing away from home.
“I want them to make the step up and show they can do it against the best teams in the world. There was certain flair on the incoming tours series – we know defences are better but we still want to go out there and score tries. Guys like Willie, JJ and Bjorn have to show they can make it to the next level and score the same type of tries and create the same type of opportunities.
While Meyer wants the likes of Willie le Roux and JJ Engelbrecht to use their individual talents, the Springbok coach is aware that defence is what will see them through.
“You win these competitions with defence, so I want to see how they defend against the best teams in the world, how they adapt and how they handle the pressure. These games are all 50-50 and usually you win those games by adapting to the pressure. That is the next step in their learning curve, but I’m very happy that the youngsters are doing well. However, they need to take it to the next level.”
Meyer also said that he was happy with the way the incoming tour against Scotland, Samoa and Italy went in June, but knows that there is an emphasis on being clinical.
“The one thing that made me happy is we created scoring opportunities and we finished them. We have very exciting backs at the moment. I don’t want to see any soft moments, we need to convert pressure into points,” said Meyer.
The Springboks take on Argentina at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on August 17.
James N-Y
August 14, 2013 at 14:39
Very true, they have been given the opportunity to wear the Green and Gold, and now they must step up. Simple as that. I think there have been a few players, in the past, who have gotten too comfortable in their positions and have dipped in form but still retained their positions in the starting side. This may be due to a lack of competition for that same position or the selectors only looking for players from a certain team.
We have a talented group of youngsters coming up from the provincial teams who have played very well throughout the last two Super Rugby seasons and now need to prove themselves at the International scale.
Jeremy Proome
August 14, 2013 at 14:47
Exactly – I think the competition within the squad will push every player. There’s literally no one who’s position is “safe” given the talent at the moment, which is a good thing for South African rugby on the whole.
Guys like Serfontein will be pushing de Villiers, Lambie pushing Steyn, Coenie Oosthuizen pushing du Plessis and Beast – so there’s some good internal competition going on.
James N-Y
August 15, 2013 at 10:25
Agreed, it feels like the players we’ve had in the past have just been a continuation of the ’07 Bok squad. Players that would have fitted in or benched for that squad but the game has changed.
Now we need to find new creative combinations!