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'Masterful coaching': Ex All Black sees genius in Nienaber and Erasmus plan
From injuries to results, plenty of people would think that South Africa’s World Cup title defence has not gone to plan so far. But former All Black Andrew Mehrtens believes an intricate plan devised by Jacques Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus is falling into place nicely.
While no coach would want to see any players get injured, it is a reality of rugby and World Cups that casualties will occur as the tournament progresses. Speaking on the Official Rugby World Cup 2023 podcast this week, the 70-cap All Black said that injuries in the Springbok camp have allowed the coaches to call upon their favoured fly-half, Handre Pollard, while also sending a message to the 2019 World Cup winner.
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Despite originally missing out on South Africa’s 33-man World Cup squad, Pollard was called up as a replacement for injured hooker Malcolm Marx, and is now expected by many to start ahead of Manie Libbok going forward. Mehrtens believes this was the plan all along by Nienaber and Erasmus, but they have also been given the opportunity to send a shot across the bows of a player “who has got comfortable in his position”.
“I wondered if it was just masterful coaching,” the 50-year-old said. “You know at a World Cup you are going to have injuries and you are going to be able to replace players. Did they know? We have seen it with New Zealand as well, they have brought in Ethan Blackadder. You know there is going to be some attrition on the way through. Maybe you’ve got a senior guy who has got comfortable in his position and he gets a bit of a jab, doesn’t get picked but he is going to turn up at the business end of the competition, maybe it was that.
“Libbok is a fantastic and exciting player. Pollard is just awesome, already a World Cup winner, proven success.”
The fact that a hooker was replaced by a fly-half, leaving them threadbare in the No2 department, suggests there is some veracity to what Mehrtens is saying. Then again, this plan may have all been reactionary after South Africa’s kicking struggles in their loss to Ireland at the Stade de France.
Former Scotland No8 Johnnie Beattie and 2019 World Cup winner Schalk Brits joined the podcast as well, where they gave their takes on who will start out of the two fly-halves for South Africa.
“I’ll make a prediction,” the former Saracen said. “They will start with Pollard, they’ll go with a six-two split and they will put Manie on the bench. The backline moves better with Libook there, he brings some x-factor to that team. Maybe the six-two split is a better combination for us.”
Beattie added: “Libbok has been phenomenal in the URC with his franchise in South Africa but if you’re ticking under 80 per cent on your top-level goalkicker you’re leaving 11 points out there against Ireland. You take those points, you win the game. I fully expect Pollard to be their starter.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Doxed himself. Great work Johnny. You are well suited to the Saders
1 Go to comments_Best game players _
1 Go to commentsWho's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
76 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
4 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
4 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
33 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
4 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
33 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
160 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
76 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
33 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
11 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
11 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
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