It’s time for the KZNRU to stop messing around and put a definite plan in place to ensure they at least win SOME silverware this year.
The Vodacom Cup kicks off this weekend and it’s a crying shame that, with all the depth available to the Union, they have not even managed to bring home this oft-underrated trophy. That needs to change this year. The Wildebeest have a new coaching team and a string of useful players available to them and they need to win the damn thing, now, finish and klaar.
The problem over the last two years has been that the Wildebeest team has been considered nothing more than a stepping stone to Sharks selection; a platform on which to show off players’ individual skills and match sharpness to prove their readiness for the bigger stage of Super Rugby. It’s bloody difficult to mould a winning culture if you have a team of individual egos all determined to shine.
That aspect is not going to change, I fear. Continuity in selection is one thing that the Beeste are unfortunately going to have to do without as injuries (and loss of form) in the Sharks squad will cause a lot of player turnover. Those who find themselves a permanent fixture in the team will no doubt suffer from a lack of motivation as their Super 14 dreams continue to elude them, much more so those who will view a Wildebeest cap as nothing more than a bit of easy match practice.
So, the answer here is money. That’s right, the good old pursuit of filthy lucre. How it works is this: the union puts a sizable bounty on the Vodacom Cup trophy. Let’s say it’s a reasonable chunk of cash, like R5 Million. Now, divvie that cash up pro rata, over 10 games (or whatever) and 22 matchday squad positions and you get a figure of something like 20 grand per player per match. So, each player that makes the 22 will get that cash in his pocket for each of the games in which he has played.
The only proviso is that it’s an all-or-nothing thing. Wildebeest win the trophy and everybody gets paid. No trophy and all the money goes elsewhere.
Sound like an interesting way to get everybody’s minds focused on the job? Let’s look at the Wildebeest stalwarts, guys like Andries Strauss, Alistair Hargreaves, Robbie Harris and Skipper Badenhorst, who are unlikely to feature regularly in the Sharks team. Each of these guys stand to make a decent amount, as they will have accumulated a lot of caps over the course of the season. They will take ownership of the deliverable and provide leadership to the team.
As for the “stars” that wander in and out, they now have a real incentive to play well, but put the needs of the team ahead of their own individual performances. It doesn’t really help to feature in a losing performance, because if the trophy doesn’t come home at the end of the competition, nobody gets anything.
Seem like something that could work? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
Tweet
Love watching the Beeste – but last year was a awful! Can’t blame the guys though – with so many of the players away doing Bok duty, they had to use the guys for the Sharks squad which left the Beeste with almost nothing!
It should be much better this year. We were in the finals the year before – were unbeaten and then lost to the Valke in the final. I was there – ask me – I nearly froze my butt off! It was FREEEEEZING cold in Brakpan and it rained.
That was an awful performance… best chance we’ve had of a trophy in YEARS and they threw it away.
And they had some really good players that day! I told the guys afterwards that after freezing my butt off the least they could have done was win the game.
Not enough at stake…
Could put out a pretty good side again this year:
Harris, Skipper/Jody, J Strauss/Pat, Hargreaves, Snyman, Daniel/Ndlovu, Blignaut, Downey, Mcleod/Mathie, A Strauss/Marx, Mentz, Swanepoel, Zondo, Wagenstroom, Matyeshana/Spedding
Who are they playing this weekend?
Would have been nice to play the WeePee as a warm-up to the s14 game.
yeah – it would have. They are playing the warm-up, but it’s against the Pumas.
Strange… SARugby.net has the following names down. Does this mean the official Wildebeest squad has been named?
Badenhorst, Rudolf Scheepers
Bezuidenhout, Carl
Blignaut, Nikolai Shamako
Bodmer, Wesley Neil
Bouwer, Pierre Christo
Cilliers, Patric Michael
Clark, Nolan
Dames, Hendrik Daniel Petrus
de Bruin, Cornelis Jansen
Deysel, Jean Roy
Downey, Justin
Dube, Sibusiso Bongumusa
Hargreaves, Alistair John
Harris, Robert Lee
Harris, Mark
Hawksworth, David James
Jenneker, Jody
Lensing, Kees
Mamojele, Thabo
Marx, Tiaan
Mathie, Scott
Matyeshana, Dumisani
McLeod, Charl
Mentz, Hendrik
Mthethwa, Melusi Norwel
Mvovo, Lwazi Ncedo
Ndlovu, Skholiwe
Pammenter, Shaun
Potgieter, Ulrich Jacques
Rhodes, Michael Kenworthy
Snyman, Johan (Joe)
Spedding, Scott Leonard
Strauss, Andries Jacobus
Swanepoel, Riaan
Sykes, Steven Robert
van der Merwe, Jan Bekker
Van Jaarsveld, Schalk Mattheys
Vulindlu, Luzuko
Wagenstroom, Frank Joseph
Zondo, Sizwe Musawenkosi
Zulu, Nqubeko Sithembiso
This is where Quinny comes in to explain who each and every one of these people is.
Mark Harris? That the guys with the deadly boot that we leant to the Lions?
Mark Harris? That the guys with the deadly boot that we leant to the Lions?
20.02.08 17:44:04 – robdylan
Ja he seems to be back! As is Spedding. Watch out for Riaan Swanepoel at 10/12, was u21 capitain last season. I reckon he’ll be one to watch this season.
Mentz, Hendrik
I take it Stef T is staring on the wing this weekend 😎
well – I’m not sure how much to read into this squad. I suspect that the Unions have to at least announce a squad to SARU x number of days before the competition kicks off. I don’t think it really means anything. Jean Deysel is in, but Keegan Daniel isn’t, for example.
I see this Pampoen van Jaarsveldt’s name is there, but Rudi Mathee’s isn’t.
told you re Mathee, he is with the Leopards now (*along with the rest of the Sharks rejects)
Where is JC Strauss? Don’t tell me they’ve sent him back to gym for the season AGAIN!
So who else is there? We know Monty is back in France and Ronnie Uys is with the Cheetahs. I guess you mean Pellow van der Westhuizen… Anyone else?
and that scrumhalf Jean Tiedt
I see Tiaan Marx, Dumi M, & Danie Dames all made the grade. All good u21 players too 🙂 Hehe, Sharks keep the good youngsters & send the average older players back. I like it.
Dumi M is about 27 in the shade, last time I checked 😉
is “Tiedt” pronounced the way I think it’s pronounced? 😉 (*)(*)
oh ok robert. But Marx & Dames are youngsters… (I tried to slip that in under the radar)
and erm you are correct re (*) – remember its singular 😉
of course, but I prefer pairs. Far neater that way.
Thabo Mamojele. Know anything about him? Big guy…
Nah…
Tell me why does Schalk van Jaarsveld sound familiar? (ie-do some research svp)
Off to see a man about a dog now.
Shaun Pammenter… seems he was a member of team Shosholoza. Wonder what he’s doing back on the rugby field?
Pampoen van Jaarsveldt.
Full Name Schalk Mattheys
Surname Van Jaarsveld
Height 199cm
Weight 97kg
Birth Date 5 July 1985
Birth City Welkom
Favourite Film Man on Fire
Favourite Food Meat
Primary School St.Helena
Secondary School Welkom Gimnasium
Another Leopards chap. Meant to be a lock, but seems VERY light.
seeing a man about a dog shouldn’t take this long. You do pee standing up, right?
Wondered what happened to Scott Spedding – like him.
Spedders continues to be developed, Ness… 😉
Glad to hear RD – I am getting very frustrated – my screen is hanging for 5 minutes before I can do anything. Going to drive me mad!
Will tell my daughter she needs to come and blog here – she wasn’t that mad about the Sharks site – you post a comment and can wait 15 minutes for a reply – if you ever get one. She got bored with it. Although now that rugby season is back the site has picked up a bit.
Well, having lots of girls here certainly increases the posting rate 😉
Well, having lots of girls here certainly increases the posting rate
Yeah the single guys’ post rate almsot doubles when the girls come on
being married of course and having Kette with us sort of limits me to what I can and can’t do
Who said there were any KSA, limits off, do all you like
JAAAAAAA so you say.
I been married for 13 years now I know better than that by now. 😉
I am staying well away from this one, KSA’s… 😉
😆 😆
Yup – me too! Good thing I am “older” – can’t say the same for my daughter though. She would, in any event, only be able to blog at night.