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Port Elizabeth - The Springboks decided at their first planning meeting of the year at the beginning of May that there were greater goals this year than the Tri-Nations, so coach Peter de Villiers and the team are unfazed about the three defeats they have suffered in this year’s SANZAR tournament.
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An outburst of pessimism and outrage is as predictable after a Springbok defeat in South Africa as the south-east wind is to a Cape summer. It always has been so and probably always will be, and the Boks have fielded plenty of criticism since they lost 14-9 to Australia in Durban at the weekend.
But as they started the build-up to the final Tri-Nations match against the All Blacks at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, the coach was remaining stoic and at a press conference on Monday he played down any potential damage to the Bok morale.
“In a team meeting this morning I told the guys that we are making great strides towards the World Cup, just not on the scoreboard. (As far as our planning for the World Cup is concerned) we are still on track,” said De Villiers.
Asked what that meant in relation to Saturday’s match against a weakened All Black team, whether the match was a win-at-all-costs affair, De Villiers replied that there was a bigger picture that was more important than any other consideration.
“Listen to me, we have a World Cup plan, and if our minds were only on Saturday’s game we would upset our wider plan,” he said.
“A victory would serve its purpose as part of the World Cup plan too because when you are doing your general planning you obviously don’t plan for losses and you don’t intend them to happen. You want to win every game if you can.
"So losing to Australia was a setback as you can’t control a game on the field for 80 percent of the match and then lose it on the scoreboard.
“There are many reasons why that was the case but the overwhelming one is that we did not take enough chances in the first half after working so hard to create them.”
When he was then asked about the mood of the players, De Villiers again referred to the meeting that the management had with the players in the first week of May in Cape Town.
“The main goal we put on paper at that meeting was 'Everybody knows, nobody guesses'. Everybody does know what is going on, everyone knows what the plan is and what we are working towards, we know what we are working for and where we want to be. That is good.
"I can tell you that this morning the mood was one of knowing that we are on track. We just need to get it right on the scoreboard.
“The guys are waiting for the big moment that will change our fortunes to come. There have been setbacks from the start of the Tri-Nations, when we had six injured locks and two of our best flanks are still injured. But generally we are happy (about the direction we are moving).”
