Springbok and Blue Bulls scrumhalf Fourie du Preez has denied that there are any divisions in the Bulls squad after it surfaced that certain players within the Bulls squad are unhappy with the conditions of their stay at their annual pre-season training camp in George.
Du Preez, who is part of a contingent of Bulls players who are not staying with the rest of the squad at the Hoerskool Outeniqua hostel, stated that no player was obliged to stay in the hostel and that no rule exists that forces players to stay in the hostel with the rest of the squad.
“As far as I know there has been no complaint in the team. There is no rule that says that we can’t stay out of hostel and, as far as I know, if we choose not to stay in the hostel, we must pay our own way. We just need to make it to training and the rest of the team functions during the time of the camp,” he said.
Du Preez, along with captain Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana, Jaco Engels, Danie Rossouw, forward coach Johan van Graan, backline coach Pieter Rossouw and coach Frans Ludeke are among those who opted not to stay in the hostel during the camp with Van Graan, spending four days outside the hostel and the rest in the hostel.
“For the past four years under Heyneke Meyer, I stayed at the hostel because I chose to, but this year I got married and I chose to stay outside with my wife. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
“I understand that there are guys who will not always be happy with everything but these are things that can be discussed at the beginning of the year when we get back to Loftus and have a review of things. Obviously, there are people who don’t like it here and they won’t like it because it is a very tough camp and we have been training hard,” Du Preez said.
However, chairperson of the Blue Bulls Old Players’ Union and a member of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union executive committee, Piet Uys, has reacted with anger to the fact that members of the Bulls squad are not all staying together.
“This can never build a team. You can’t have others players and management living separately from each other. That is not acceptable at all. Rugby is not about individuals – it is a team sport and the guys must experience things together,” said Uys.
This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on December 19, 2008
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Way to go Bulle- great way to end the year and start the S14 campaign… 😎
‘However, chairperson of the Blue Bulls Old Players’ Union and a member of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union executive committee, Piet Uys, has reacted with anger to the fact that members of the Bulls squad are not all staying together.’
😯
I hope this affects their performances this year. Negatively of course.
How would he know, he is staying in town not at the hostel?
Let them eat cake
I wish the Bulls nothing but success and prosperity for 2009
@KSA Shark © (Comment 3) : Off with his head!
@PJLD (Comment 4) : You continue to surprise me, young Clayton 🙂
Ah thank you
“For the past four years under Heyneke Meyer, I stayed at the hostel because I chose to, but this year I got married and I chose to stay outside with my wife. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
And in those 4 years under Heyneke Meyer how many of your married team mates didn’t stay with their wives?
“I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
And that is why I will always consider you a BOX
Obviously, there are people who don’t like it here and they won’t like it because it is a very tough camp and we have been training hard,” Du Preez said
AGAIN I ASK. HTF will he know if it’s very tough?
He hasn’t been part of half of it.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 10) : This statement stinks to high heaven and ain’t going to endear Furry to his already embittered team mates.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 10) : 😆 😆 TOOL ❗
😆 This is too much.
I are glad i are not Piet Pienaar’s wife.
🙄
To be fair I dont really see how not sleeping in a 100m radius of your team mates, but still attedning every practice and team fucntion, will affect team performance.
I think that in this day and age of professional sport the days of “spanbou bo alles anders” are over.
Thinking it’s necessary for everybody to stay in the same place is getting a bit too close to Staaldraad for comfort.
IMHO of course…
I’m actually still puzzled as to why sides still have these “camps”. And why does it need to be on the other side of the country.
Can anybody confirm if the Ozzies or kiwis do this?
@wpw (Comment 13) : hey – apparently he has a parole hearing today.
How #$&*$ tough can a camp in George be in anycase!?
@MorneN (Comment 17) : Nice avatar boykie
@PJLD (Comment 18) :
Future 10 my bru!
I prefer yours however but I am morally (and legally) not allowed that type of stuff anymore 😉
@PJLD (Comment 18) : I like half of yours… 🙂
The one looks a bit like a dude though…
So who is to blame?the coach?
@MorneN (Comment 21) :
Tranny?
@Bok-Clyde-Kiwi (Comment 22) :
Die Stad van Tshwane.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 14) :
IMO it is worth it and it does work. Doesn’t have to be where the coach has a holiday home necesarily but i think it works.
All about doing things as a unit. Getting up to mischief in the evenings and things like that.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 25) :
Why KSA?
Surely it’s the same sort of mentality as playing with passion as opposed to playing with your brain?
@VinChainSaw (Comment 26) :
To be fair though – playing with passion is the Bulls way… so each unto his own I suppose.
@Bok-Clyde-Kiwi (Comment 22) :
Bulls mentality.
🙄
@VinChainSaw (Comment 26) :
I tend to agree with KSA.
You can have 15 brilliantly talented individuals and professionals. If you cannot gel them into a unit you are screwed.
Rugby is and will remain a team sport.
That synergy and trust and also knowing the next guy (his game) is built over time, and by letting them do it like a unit.
They are on a training camp, not a training holiday.
You have to ask why a guy brings his wife along when he is suppose to be working?
Rugby is his job afterall.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 26) :
it’s all about being friends and doing things together. I come from a situation where I came from a different region (having gone to school in Kroonstad) and then playing rugby in PTN. Yes the players and i were all friendly to each other but it took at least a season before we became friends. That only happened coz we went on tour to PE together and had a great experience together.
These camps are about sharing experiences and spending time together.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 26) : The fact that some players are bothered…means it has a negative effect. It might be a small thing but people…being the emotional machines that they are…have a way of blowing things out of proportion.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 28) : oxymoron 🙂
@KSA Shark © (Comment 30) : you also need to remember that the majority of rugby players operate far more on a passion level than they do an intellectual one.
@robdylan (Comment 32) : He he he…
@robdylan (Comment 32) : Now I’m laughing again because another way to describe someone who has a “bulls mentality” is calling him an ” oxy moron”…
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 35) :
See, I told you it was only a misunderstanding.
One big happy family this Bulls lot.
@blckshrk – PROTEAS (Comment 35) : brilliant!!! 😆
@MorneN (Comment 29) :
Dudes, I feel what you’re saying.
But to be perfectly honest, “gelling” is about what you do on the field, not off the field. And these guys train 3 to 4 times a day together durign the season.
As for the question about why somebody brings their wife with. Well a newly married man being away from home up to 6 months a year might have a little to do with it.
This might be no indication of the truth but a simple google search finds no results for a canterbury crusaders training camp…
@VinChainSaw (Comment 39) :
That is the job he chose dude.
He gets paid a shit lot of money for it too.
I get your point about being professional.
But then we need to apply it all the time, not when it just suits you.
Also you play better with guys you like or are friends with than with those you are not.
Same as you work better with guys you like than those you don’t.
Yes professionally you still have to get on with the job, but in reality you will do a better job.
If some guys are raised above the others, the old thing of Witbroodjie treatment, do not expect to be liked by those left behind.
@MorneN (Comment 41) :
Was in reference to bringing his wife of course.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 40) : maybe they were camp enough already? 🙂
All I’m saying is – kids who feel like they are being treated “badly” by their peers find creative and unpleasant ways to disrupt school… 😐
@VinChainSaw (Comment 39) : I have to totally disagree here: “But to be perfectly honest, “gelling” is about what you do on the field, not off the field.”
Read what the Sharks players attributed their success to, and much of it is about the friendships and vibe in the camp. That comes about from the right team spirit which is not only about winning on the field, but what happens off the field as well.
If you have the coaches and senior players eating and sleeping in comfort while the rest of the mere mortals have to sleep in a school hostel, there is the PERCEPTION that not all is equal, or just like communism, some are more equal than others.
I am thrilled, this could be nice and divisive!
@Baldrick (Comment 46) : they aren’t the real enemy. Crusaders are
@robdylan (Comment 47) : I have respect for the Crusaders as a good side. I don’t like the Bulls because of their bully-boy tactics.
@Baldrick (Comment 48) : agree
@robdylan (Comment 47) : Yeah…they are not in our league… 😎
Tiechmann attributes some of the problems the Boks had in 1996 and 1997 to the fact that their were “2 classes” of Boks being paid differently , the 1995 RWC millionaires and the rest of the Boks. It seems as though the Bulls have a case of the 2008 RWC stars and management on the one hand and the rest on the other.
Management is to blame they should have ensured all were treated equally or that the players were properly explained the options up from and the reasoning.
@Dive Pass (Comment 51) : ah yes – good point. I also read that book again just recently 🙂
a comment.
🙂 a smiley
^ A smartass
😯 PJLD,
Warre jell gan an op daai sneppie van jou???
Die ene links lyk alte fraai maar regs lyk soos ‘n dude, man!
PA, now that’s a darnright proper pic you have – raise ’em right from a tender age!
@Namboer (Comment 57) : hoesit tjom! Haven’t seen you in a while.
How’s the Namib desert treating you?
@MorneN (Comment 53) : child abuse 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 58) : Heowzit Rob! Ag not too bad I guess – the usual “overworked, underpaid, diesel is duur en die plaas is ver!” Not going anywhere over Christmas, need to do some things at work. Big whoop.
Sucks that there’s so little rugby going on, Feb better come so we can get on with the S14.
Gonna be playing again next year myself, looking forward to that as well.
How was the run?
@Namboer (Comment 56) : howsit ol chap!so u dont like my new look
@Namboer (Comment 60) : the run was very slow, but it was important. I need to start getting my fitness back up. Man, it is so hard to get motivated when it’s so cold outside.
@PJLD (Comment 61) : Think I like the left half, from this rather acute angle but the right half looks like Gaffie in a see-thru bastardization resulting from the coupling between a WP and orange FS kit. Not good visuals!
@robdylan (Comment 62) : You also still playing or you focusing on running? Would believe you about the cold, can’t be a picnic.
@Namboer (Comment 63) : nah – I’ve given up on Rugga for the time being. Might try again next season.
@PJLD (Comment 61) : make that a bastardization between a Kwas & FS jersey, lets keep WeePee out of this…
@robdylan (Comment 64) : My mom and sis recently started complaining about my bubble so I’m feebly attempting to do something about it. Little bit of running (+- 4kms I guess), cycling, swimming, touch rugby and gym. Hopefully it helps for rugby fitness too, we’ll probably start practicing late Jan.
@Namboer (Comment 65) : I have been running an average of 20 kms a week for 6 months and I’ve lost NO weight 🙁
@Namboer (Comment 65) : @robdylan (Comment 66) :
Eat plenty of smallish meals a day untill you get your metabolism going then you can increase a little on the size of the meals..
Breakfast is very important – even if its just a rusk or two, then about 10 eat something, lunch again, about three, and supper..
Always take apples and “nana’s” with you to chew on if youfeel hungry.
I eat anything – not “healthy” stuff, drink quite often 😳 and do not pick up weight….and that has not always been the case…so this REALLY woks.. 😀
The VinChainSaw guide to weight loss:
Eet minder, kak meer.
🙂
@robdylan (Comment 66) :
Are you in better shape than you were before though?
@VinChainSaw (Comment 69) : yeah – I think I am
@VinChainSaw (Comment 69) :whateva ice just said is the truth
Hey all you Sharksworldians.
Posting maybe haphazzard over the next 3 weeks so here wishing you and yours all a restful, happy and peaceful time.
Till next year.
Enjoy.
@Ice (Bébé de Glace) (Comment 67) : Nah, cardio will do the trick for me – not overweight just developing a bit of a belly. Kinda like a matchstick that swallowed a pea… 😯
Eat a helluva lot of red meat, not much else. Been too skinny all my life, so much so that creatine & muscle grow mass didn’t help me at all to gain some bulk for rugby!
@Namboer (Comment 73) :
Develope that freezer for yur six pack or working on the afdak for the Mercedes? 😉
Keep it up with the rooi vleis! 😎
@PaarlBok (Comment 74) : Erm…uhm…nee man, wat is nou die regte antwoord vir daai een!! 😳
😉 Won’t stop with the red meat any time soon though, and with a good supply from de farm I’ll just keep on smiling, and braai-ing!
@Namboer (Comment 73) : all that wont do much withought some serious weights Nam
@Salmonoid (Comment 72) : have a great festive season, Salmo. Thanks for all the support.
@Namboer (Comment 75) : Did the weights & all, probably not as extensive as a body builder but hit the gym 3 times a week. Think I picked up a kilo in 3,4 months.
Anyhoo, wEEkEnd has arrived, time for R&R.
Cherio all, have a good one!
Cheers Nam!
@Namboer (Comment 78) : bye. Nice to see you here