Since day one the only thing that South Africa rugby coach Jake White has been focused on is the 2007 World Cup in France.
He again stated so on Saturday when the Springboks beat England 25-14 at Twickenham for the first time in nine years.
”It’s the World Cup that we’ve been working towards and this victory [over England] has given us a major boost ahead of facing them in France,” said White.
South Africa will meet England in the crunch game of the pool stages. The victor will have the easier passage to the final. When he took over from Rudolf Straeuli in 2004, White’s intention was to build a squad and maintain consistency over a four
year period which would give the Springboks a sound foundation for their challenge at the tournament.
While he has changed a number of his players from 2004 he has largely stuck to a core group that includes Os du Randt, John Smit, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Schalk Burger, Fourie du Preez, Jean de Villiers, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana and Percy Montgomery.
With this recent tour to the northern hemisphere he blooded a new group of youngsters ”to find further depth” and he succeeded with the emergence of Francois Steyn, BJ Botha and Johann Muller, to name a few.
It was a glorious first year in charge of the Boks for 42-year-old White. He won the Tri-Nations at his first attempt and was subsequently named the International Rugby Board’s Coach of the Year.
His team, however, continue to struggle away from home, and nothing has changed since then. While the Boks won a game more in 2005 than was the case in 2004 (when they were crowned champions) White’s men failed to defend the Tri-Nations.
They struggled again on the season-ending tour, and the poor form continued in 2006. The Boks battled to overcome Scotland in a two-Test series, then slumped to five defeats in a row against France, Australia (twice) and New Zealand (twice).
The pressure started mounting on the coach, especially when it became public knowledge that he was renegotiating his contract on the eve of the Test against France earlier this year.
White’s sometimes strange selections, like those of Andre Snyman and Gaffie du Toit, raised eyebrows, but so did his failure to see the talents of Luke Watson and Kabamba Floors — both considered too small to play Test rugby by White.
Floors proved otherwise in a more than satisfactory debut against England last weekend.
White has a superb home record of 15 wins, one defeat and one draw and remains one of the few coaches in world rugby who can claim he has beaten all the leading teams.
His decision to leave key players out of the Bok squad that’s just competed in Ireland and England has been harshly criticised, but as White has stated, the likes of Du Randt, Matfield and Du Preez badly needed a break from the game ahead of what will be a gruelling 2007 season.
And, while one win out of three can’t be deemed a successful tour, he has beaten England — the one team that’s haunted him for years — and found the back-up he was looking for.
White has been planning and building towards a World Cup victory for three years and if he does stay in charge, the Springboks may just be in with a chance. – Sapa-AFP