Building the Bull dynasty

To suggest it a few years ago would have been tantamount to asking if you could be fitted into a straight jacket. The Springboks, the Wallabies and Western Province all conceding over 50 points within one week of one another? You've gotta be joking!

But it did happen, and clearly there are some people doing things well and some people doing things not so well. Blue Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer definitely ranks up there with those who are not only doing their job well, but excelling at it.

Before we go any further, let's get one thing straight. This column is not predicting that the Blue Bulls are going to win the Currie Cup this season. It is not even suggesting that the Bulls will repeat the rousing performance they turned in against their old Cape foe when later in the season they bump into teams who have less of an attitude problem and more of a commitment to the simple things, such as tackling.

But no-one who visits Securicor Loftus these days can miss the excellent work that has been put in by that union to turn around the malaise that so nearly sunk them just two years ago.

It is hard to believe now that just 12 months ago the Bulls were not at all sure that they were still looking forward to a future which included top level Currie Cup rugby.

They were involved in a desperate battle for survival and their quest was not so much to win the competition as it was to just make sure they retained senior Currie Cup status in the new strength-versus-strength format.

Meyer had a three year plan and as long ago as 2001, the first year of that plan, I predicted that the Bulls were headed for another golden age. I did not foresee it happening so quickly, and neither did Meyer.

But the coach does have to be lauded for the pivotal role he has played in dragging the Bulls up by their boot laces to their current position as the top South African provincial union.

For Meyer, when he took over, took responsibility not just for the senior provincial team, but also for all the other levels and bands that contribute to make a union successful.

Two seasons ago few would have argued that it was the Cape that was producing the bulk of the country's young players. Looking at the recent Craven Week results, that may well still be true, but Meyer, in his role as chief talent identifier at the Bulls, is streets ahead of his rivals.

It was Meyer who lured Derick Hougaard, then just an 18-year-old "kid" from the Boland, to Pretoria. He was also instrumental in bringing several other young players to the union.

The result is that the Bulls now have enough depth to select an under-21 side that this past weekend were as comprehensively victorious over WP as their senior side was.

Up in Pretoria they reckon that fullback Hugo Daniller, another young Cape player taken from under WP's noses, is going to be every bit as big as Hougaard. Importantly, Meyer will not be scared to pit him into the top flight when he feels the youngster is ready.

For Meyer, good enough is always old enough, and this view was vindicated when his young team became the South African champions. There are other players, now established in the Bok team, that Meyer identified.

The prime example is Pedrie Wannenburg. Spotted by Meyer when he was at school in the South Western Districts region, Wannenburg moved to Durban early in his career, but Meyer quickly diverted him to the Bulls when it became apparent Rudolf Straeuli, then with the Sharks, was not interested in fast-tracking him into his senior team.

The Bulls were criticised many times last year, not least by this pen, for being stereotyped and one-dimensional (it was in the game against the Eagles in George that they were particularly bad). But Meyer knew what he was on about and, as was written at the time, he and his support staff had to be lauded for the way they had improved the Blue Bull ball retention skills beyond all recognition.

And the impressive thing now that we are watching the Bulls depth be tested in the under-strength Currie Cup is that the upgrading of skills has worked across all levels.

Remember, the Bulls were only denied Vodacom Cup success earlier this year by an excellent second half showing from Lions centre Grant Esterhuizen in the final.

Last year Meyer got the Bulls to play towards their strengths, which is why we were unable to judge his ability to coach a team to play an allround game. But this year the loss of so many forwards to the Boks has demanded of him that he adjust his game to prioritise a different strength. It says a lot for his ability to do this that the Bulls team that scored eight tries against WP last Saturday did so on a day where they struggled a bit in the scrums.

Meyer was criticised by the Bok management for leaving out Pedrie Wannenburg and Geo Cronje last week. But he knew what he was on about when he spoke of the need to keep his combinations together, and maybe those who criticised him should take the hint: Rugby success is built around coaching individual players to be the best that they can be and moulding them into a unit.

This takes time and too much chopping and changing is not conducive to attaining the goal that Meyer has been employed to achieve. And those that would now wish to point out that Meyer failed with the Bulls in the 2002 Super 12 should also read that failure for what it really was: Failure of the regional system that demanded that he spend his time playing politics with the administrators of different provincial unions all pulling in different directions.

Regardless of what may happen between now and the end of the current Currie Cup season, which the Bulls will compete with half their team out, Meyer deserves immense credit for what he has achieved.