New mental psyche of Springboks: Togetherness and toughness

Peter de Villiers’ style of coaching adds a unique dimension of team togetherness and camaraderie, that surpasses previous recent Springbok coaches.

Previously, the Springbok teams were treated like a constellation of stellar individuals playing for the Springboks. In many instances the overwhelming and intense media attention on some of the players made them start believing in what they were reading off Google News, and inhibited them from becoming the player they could become.

Excellence in international elite sports is determined by the elusive cocktail of the combination of the athlete’s physical and mental ability, that makes you the best in the world, differentiated from the competition by either a nanosecond, as in the case of the track or swimming, or, to a point or two, as in the case of the average score of 15-17 between the Springboks and All Blacks over 72 test matches.

The Springboks have played the more tests (72) against the All Blacks than any other side. They have won 29 and lost 40, with 3 being a draw.

The last time that the Springboks beat the All Blacks was a 21-20 win in Rustenberg, for which they have Rodney So’oialo to thank, as he gave away all 21 points from New Zealand.

Under Peter de Villiers, what is rapidly emerging is that these elite high performance rugby players selected on Tuesday to tour New Zealand and Australia, leave this evening from OR Tambo International Airport with a togetherness and spirit that the Springboks have missed in years.

The Springboks leave for New Zealand, more inspired and more motivated as a team unit, that will play for and off each other, in a brand of running rugby, that for the first time in years, since 1998 at Athletic Park Wellington, they have the capability to once again vanquish the All Blacks at home. (That was the last time South Africa beat the All Blacks in New Zealand.)

I spoke to Peter yesterday morning and he conveyed the spirit and mental toughness of the Springboks that has morphed itself, over the past five weeks, into a resilience and mental toughness, to beat our arch enemy, the All Blacks.

Achieving consistency and having the Springboks perform to their limit on these overseas tours, is heavily reliant on the players’ mental state, which like physical skills, is developed through training with a coach that gets them to fire all together, on their instincts.

In the past three Tests against Wales and Italy, Peter de Villiers has crafted a commitment, confidence and concentration. Now this needs to be controlled and unleashed along with the Springbok players rugby prowess on 5 July.

It might well come down to the final hooter and whistle on the 5 July, but to be sure, it will be a nailbitingly close contest, as close as one or two points, but as Peter says “a win is a win”.