De Villiers pleased with his 'headache'
Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:11
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers had few complaints about his team's performance following South Africa's 26-0 victory over Italy in the one-off Test at Newlands.
De Villiers said that his team did the job they were meant to do, and also raved about the options he now has at flyhalf, following Francois Steyn's run-out in the No.10 jersey.
The match was played out in soaking wet conditions, making it very hard for either team to play attractive running rugby.
The Springboks scored four good tries in the match, and managed to keep the Italian score sheet blank.
Two of the Bok tries came from solid driving mauls, which yielded two tries for hooker Bismarck du Plessis.
There was also a try for Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira, but the best of the bunch came from the prodigious young Francois Steyn, who scored after a brilliant solo effort in which he chipped the ball past the Italian defensive line, outsprinted the opposition and gathered the wet ball expertly to score.
Coach De Villiers said that he was happy with the win, even if the Boks did not really kick into their highest gear.
"Nobody send me a message about how they would like to win, so I hope everyone's happy," he joked.
"I said before the game that we would take any win, no matter how ugly it would be. I think South Africans like to win, and we're keeping them pretty happy at this stage."
The Bok coach pointed out the positives and the negatives of the Bok performance in the treacherous conditions, and put it in perspective for the upcoming Tri-Nations tournament.
"We didn't have the chance to play conservative against Wales. The weather was better than that. I think today we played a little too conservatively. We let roughly four tries slip through our fingers today.
"We did well today in the wet weather, looking after our line-out ball, and we did well in the driving mauls.
"Italy are one of the best teams in the Six Nations in terms of driving from the line-out.
"I think our scrum was indifferent today. But we played against people on the other side that were also came at us with a big challenge. I think the fact that we were prepared to absorb that challenge, will give us a good base going forward," he said.
The big talking point of the match was the patchy performance of Francois Steyn at flyhalf. There is no doubt that the youngster has astounding natural talent for the game, as illustrated by his spectacular solo try.
Yet Steyn, who admitted to a few lapses in concentration, drifted in and out of the match, and seemed to switch off at times. Even so, the enigmatic playmaker's massive boot dug the Boks out of occasional trouble.
It has to be remembered that Steyn is only 21 years old, and that he will continue to grow with experience.
De Villiers echoed that sentiment, and evaluated the performance of his young playmaker.
"Francois is a young guy. If you look at the way he scored that first try, he just took a chance in the wet and everything came together. From there, he just went back into his shell again, I don't know why.
"If he kept on playing the way he can play, and the way he can make things happen on the day, I think he'll live up to the standard that we all expect of him."
De Villiers also stressed that South Africa were in a very fortunate position to have three players of the calibre of Steyn, Butch James and Peter Grant in their arsenal.
"If you look at the two flyhalves we played [Francois Steyn and Peter Grant], and how differently they played, you can see that I've got a great headache.
"Just look at the talent and individual brilliance of a Francois Steyn, and then you look at how Grant came in and attacked the gain-line again. Then you've got Butch [James] at home enjoying time with his family... what a great headache we've got, leaving one of them at home.
"I've always said that our talent base is so great, that if we make mistakes in selection, even the third or fourth [choice] guy will be capable of winning games for us.
"But Francois kept us on the front foot with that huge boot of his today. If I look ahead at what we can expect in New Zealand, there's space for all three of them," said the coach.
Veteran Springbok lock Victor Matfield skippered the side in the absence of John Smit, who missed the match due to his commitments for his French club, Clermont Auvergne.
Matfield confirmed the coach's sentiments, but added that it was not possible to play expansive rugby in the conditions.
"I think we are very happy with the match. As the coach says, there were opportunities where we could have finished better, but the weather made it very difficult, and didn't allow us to play the ball wide to the wings.
"On the other hand, we are very pleased with our driving play, our scrums went down well, but of course there is always more work to do, but we're happy after today," Matfield said.
By Phil Coetzer
