Stick fires back at Jake, backs Boks to embrace challenge

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Assistant coach Mzwandile Stick is “disappointed” with recent criticism from Jake White but confident the Springboks will beat Wales in the decisive Test in Cape Town on Saturday. DYLAN JACK reports.

In a hard-hitting column for RugbyPass, former Bok coach Jake White went on the offensive against the Springbok coaching staff, criticising Jacques Nienaber following the loss to Wales in the second Test in Bloemfontein.

Nienaber made a total of 19 changes to the matchday-23 that opened the series with a last-gasp 32-29 victory in Pretoria, something White took particular issue with.

JAKE: Nienaber must coach, not learn lessons

“The job of a national coach is to win Test matches,” White said. “National coaches shouldn’t use Tests to see if players are good enough, that is what A sides or training is for.”

The comments got the attention of Rassie Erasmus, who took to social media to point out White also fielding heavily changed teams in the Tri-Nations Tests in 2007.

During a press conference on Friday, Springbok assistant coach Stick, who was joined by captain Siya Kolisi, was asked about the column.

“What Jake said, that’s his own airtime and we won’t pay too much mind to it,” Stick began, before opening up about the critique.

“What I was disappointed with, especially coming from somebody who was in the same position as us [as Springbok coaches], doing things his own way, was that he came out like this.

Begging the world champion Boks to pitch up in Cape Town

“He also used to rotate teams and give people opportunities. Ultimately, he went on to win the World Cup, which is always healthy for South African rugby.

“That’s part of life. If we aren’t going to test these youngsters now, when are we going to test them?

“It shows arrogance to me when someone suggests we cannot learn at this level. We are all students of this game.

“For him to have a comment like that as a coach, that’s one thing that has disappointed me. This is someone I look up to. I followed his career. I enjoyed what he has done for South African rugby. To win the World Cup is very special for our country.

“But, once again, for someone of his age and experience in this business to be able to go in public and comment like that, it is very disappointing.”

 

KEO: The paying public want to see world champions, not impostors

Saturday will not be the first time that this group of Springbok players has been in ‘finals mode’. After losing their opening match of the 2019 World Cup to the All Blacks, the Springboks won every game in the Japan-based tournament to claim the title of world champions.

A couple of years later, they were in the same position, this time against the British & Irish Lions, after the tourists won the opening Test of the series.

Stick believes that track record of success shows the Springboks will go on and once again win the series in a do-or-die situation.

“We as a team strive while under pressure,” he said. “In the World Cup, we lost to the All Blacks and then everyone said there has never been a team that has lost a game in the group stages and gone to win the World Cup, but we did it. Against the Lions, it was the same thing. We lost the first game and the last game was a final.

“As South Africans, we don’t shy away from challenges. We face them. That’s who we are by nature.

“We will take some lessons from those games, because we have done it before.

“If we come tomorrow and do everything according to the plan and play at our best, we will probably be in the same position again and win this game.”

The Springboks are not the only team facing a decider against northern hemisphere opposition. The All Blacks, Wallabies and Argentina are all playing do-or-die third Tests against Ireland, England and Scotland respectively on Saturday.

“It’s going to be a tough one, but if you look at the last weekend, New Zealand and Australia are in the same boat as us,” added Stick. “For the fans, rugby is looking much healthier. There is a lot of competition. I know we as Springboks don’t enjoy losing, but if you have a DSTV subscription, you are getting value because you just don’t know who is going to win. For rugby in general, I enjoy that.”

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Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

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Dylan Jack