De Villiers won't stray from 'masterplan'
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:43
Facing the media: Bok coach Peter de Villiers
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers remains defiant about implementing his own style of rugby on the Bok side despite his team suffering a 0-19 whitewash at the hands of the All Blacks at Newlands on Saturday.
The Bok coach is coming under increased pressure with the Springboks seemingly struggling to establish any kind of a game pattern in their Tri-Nations encounters.
At the start of his tenure with the Springboks, De Villiers spoke about implementing a gameplan where his players would be given plenty of freedom around the field, a tactic that would rely on each player's ability to make the right decisions at various phases of the game.
After Saturday's Test, De Villiers said that he would continue with his plans of moulding the team into playing his way.
"The team is in a transition period at the moment," the coach explained.
"I've got a style of rugby that I want to implement, and if you look at most of our Super 14 teams, it will take you more than a year and a half to get exactly what you want.
"We progressed really well, but what we did in the past as South African rugby teams when there was nothing on, is to go to ground.
"Now we are trying to do things the other way around. So when it gets tough, the players go back to what they know.
"But still, we won't give up on that, and that's exactly where our decision-making starts," De Villiers said defiantly.
"Slow ball management isn't part of what we want to do, we want quick ball. Maybe it calls for more detail, but we will definitely work on certain things this week."
Apart from struggling at the breakdown and executing some poor tactical kicks, the Boks were also guilty of many dubious decisions against the Kiwis on Saturday, especially in terms of not releasing the pass when the overlap was on.
But the coach insists that the team are on the right track, and are closing in on getting to their target in terms of their gameplan
"We're not far from our goal. The more the confidence grows, the more they will want to play [this way].
"Maybe the fear factor is still there - not for anybody on the field, but I think we're afraid to make mistakes sometimes.
"I want them to make mistakes, so that we can work on the things we need to work on."
The Springboks will now come up against Robbie Deans' Australia in Durban next Saturday. Deans is a notoriously shrewd customer, and will most certainly be picking through the weaknesses in the Boks' current approach to the game.
And if the Boks make the same mistakes as they did against the All Blacks in Cape Town, they can expect the Aussies to take full advantage and punish them accordingly.
By Phil Coetzer
