A Springbok in crisis

It’s been nine days since the rugby massacre in Durban and a lot of introspection has taken place as well as some research. Social media has gone crazy and the South African rugby public is fuming. The once mighty Springbok team is now a bunch of imposters, incapable of living up to expectations.

Even current and former players have voiced their opinion. Joel Stransky, Duane Vermeulen and Schalk Burger all chipped in to the debate. It’s already too late to start the fix, so whatever needs to happen, needs to happen soon.

The coaching indaba this coming week is a step in the right direction. I feel it is ludicrous that Heyneke Meyer was not invited, he was coach 12 months ago! Let’s just hope all the stakeholders have their say, are being honest, and that the current leadership, including Allister Coetzee listens and learns.

To be fair to Allister, the problems didn’t start this year with him and his inexperienced coaching team. It started long before that. I’ll dig into all aspects of the South African rugby crisis in more detail later on. Let’s first look at the Springbok results over the last seven years.

2009 was one of the last truly successful rugby seasons in recent history. We beat the Lions, beat the All Blacks three time, won the Tri-Nations and was named World Rugby team of the year for the second time. We had a very experienced side who wasn’t that old (Matfield was only 32) and who carried the confidence of 2007 with them. I think the Lions series played a big part. It’s a once in a lifetime tour and the players really wanted to make up for the series loss 12 years earlier. But that momentum soon dwindled…

In 2010 the Bulls won Super Rugby for the third time and expectations of the Springboks continuing their dominance over Australia and New Zealand was high. It wasn’t to be. We struggled against Italy in the first test and lost all three tests against New Zealand and two to Australia, including a home defeat in Bloemfontein. The end of year tour will be remembered for a loss to Scotland. Scotland. Not a successful season.

In 2011 we expected experienced players to come back strong and pull us through to the World Cup final in New Zealand. But the senior guys were under cooked when the international season started and we again lost a home game to Australia in Durban. We were well beaten in the two away tests in the Tri-Nations and although we did beat an under strength All Black team in Port Elizabeth, we didn’t perform well in the World Cup. The Springboks were lucky against Wales and struggled against Samoa before crashing out against Australia in the quarter finals. Not a successful season.

There was renewed excitement around the Springboks in 2012 when Heyneke Meyer was appointed coach. He had all the credentials and a proven track record of building up a team to be the best in the world. Being a Bulls supporter myself, I was more than pleased with this decision. It wasn’t a great start though. Meyer wasn’t quite sure what his team should look like and there were lots of changes in personnel in his tenure as coach. In 2012, we drew against England at home and against Argentina away. We were also well beaten by the All Blacks at home and although the end of year tour was a successful one, the entire season was a bit of a hit and miss. Not a successful season.

2013 was a good year. We only lost against the All Blacks who went unbeaten for the entire year. We dominated Australia and beat them by a record score in Brisbane of all places. Here’s the kicker; a decision was made by Meyer and the senior players in the team to play a more attacking game. The result? We scored more tries than the All Blacks in 2013. It worked. An attacking game worked!

2014 was another hit and miss season. We beat the All Blacks for the first time in three years in a nail biter at Ellispark, but cracks were showing on the end of year tour and we struggled against Italy and were comprehensively beaten by Ireland.

Should we just skip 2015? A home defeat to Argentina and the World Cup fiasco against Japan. The less said the better.

So when we look at the eight seasons since 2009, only two of those can really be considered successful. So how did we end up here? And I say “we”, because the rugby fans are the single most important stakeholders in the game. Not the politicians, not the players and definitely not the administrators. Let’s look at all the challenges facing the game today and what can be done to fix this game we love.

Transformation

In 1999 Riaan Oberholzer walked into the Springbok camp after our loss to Wales and told Nick Mallett the team he selected needs to change and that that was the last time a 100% white Springbok team will be selected. Stefan Terblanche was dropped for Breyton Paulse for the test against the All Blacks in Dunedin.

Now Breyton was a truly great wing and would have got his chance to shine on merit in any case, so why force the selection? This is my first issue with transformation. It often makes the rugby public question the merit of non-white players. Rugby is too important in this country for coaches to not pick the best players, whether they are black, coloured or white. The cream should always rise to the top. Players like Paulse, Habana, Mtawarira and Pietersen are all too good to be questioned in this manner.

The way transformation is enforced also demotivates young players. Whether true or not, it creates the perception that the best aren’t always selected. SARU has done nothing to dispel that belief among young players, so the perception is still there.

There is also a perception that transformation is partly to blame for the mass exodus of players to Europe and Japan. The very public admission of “targets” by the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Fikile Mbalula and instances like the appointment of Peter De Villiers for reasons “other than merit” makes it clear that political interference is rife and that we strive to be the best without employing and selecting the best. It doesn’t make sense.

Now, it is important for the Springboks to have the support of all South Africans. I would like to talk to the non-white rugby supporters who actually fork out the money to go to test matches and proudly wear their Springbok jerseys every Saturday. Do they care what the demographic of the team is? I’d bet my life savings the answer is an emphatic no.

If you really support this team, you want them to be the best. Pick 23 youngsters from Umtata for all I care. Just win regularly. Now I would like to ask a question. Why can’t a predominantly white team be supported by all South Africans? Is the racial divide in this country that big that a black South African cannot support a predominantly white team? I don’t have the answer for that. Conversely, can a white rugby supporter support a predominantly black rugby team? I hope the answer is yes, if the team is the best and selected on merit.

This brings me to culture. The reason I am fanatical about rugby and the reason I’m writing this blog has got everything to do with my upbringing. I grew up in a house where rugby was the only sport that really mattered and it is all I wanted to play at school. Do the majority of black kids growing up today love rugby?

Culturally rugby is still seen to be a predominantly white and coloured sport and soccer a predominantly black sport. Unless you go to one of the top schools, as a black kid in South Africa, you won’t have too much access to the game. I know how this sounds, but it’s a reality and cultural and social factors outside of the game play a big part. The Springbok rugby team can only represent the demographic of the rugby playing public, NOT the demographic of the whole country.

Transformation on its own is not the issue, it’s the application that is the issue. If rugby is rolled out at grass roots level, by default the game will transform. To find out more about what is happening at grass roots level, go check out this article.

The challenge here is the South African schooling system and rugby as a program is not available to all schools. This is not SARU’s problem, this is the government’s problem and SARU seems to be doing more proactively to try and fix the deficiencies of an ineffective and incompetent government.

We also have to question Supersport’s monopoly over the public broadcasting of rugby. We want to take the game to the masses, but we only broadcast rugby on a premium service that costs over R900 a month. How do we expect young kids to start watching rugby and idolizing their heroes if they can’t watch them play?

The alternative isn’t much better, as the current situation with the SABC will in likelihood cause advertisers to pull the plug on their spend. The SABC is also going to transition to DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television), forcing the general public to install satellite dishes and potentially making it more difficult to get access to rugby matches. The solution? Make SS1 available on compact packages.

My last comment of transformation. Rugby isn’t an elitist sport anymore. It’s open to anyone to play and if you are good enough, you should be picked. This is the general feeling of the South African rugby public. Just look at Sergeal Petersen and Ox Nche. I haven’t been this excited about two youngsters in a long long time. They both deserve higher honours at some point in future. Not because they are black, but because they are bloody good rugby players.

Skills

The skill level of South African players has been a talking point ever since Nick Mallett coached the team in 2000. It’s not a new debate, New Zealand and Australia have always had more skilled players, but we have stayed competitive by playing to our perceived strengths of “maak sag voor en slaan agter” and of course the dreaded kick chase game. We haven’t progressed our game that much in the last 15 years, we only executed what we can do more accurately at times, which brought us some success.

Now, this notion that the Springboks aren’t renowned for their try scoring abilities, is hogwash. Historically we were always a side that could score tries. The Springbok sides of the 50’s, late 70’s, 80’s and late 90’s were try scoring sides. The same could be said of the crop of 2013. These were successful Springbok sides. So the notion that we cannot play 15 man rugby needs to stop. It’s our lack of proper coaching that creates this culture.

At school level, the big strong kids are chosen to play, because they will always gain yards and run over their smaller opponents. A conservative kick-chase game plan at senior level is the safe option and in 2016, if you still coach that game plan, you shouldn’t coach at this level. Don’t get me wrong, kicking will always be part of the game and the All Blacks kick more than most sides, but they don’t kick to attack, they kick to get themselves into attacking positions.

Talking about game plans, there is too much focus on it. Players’ skills and decision making aren’t being trusted by coaches, but maybe there’s a reason for that. I don’t think our players have the necessary cognitive skills to be able to make the right decisions in pressure situations.THAT is where proper coaching needs to be applied.

At school level, why do we pick players based on age? Why not based on size? That will force kids to learn how to beat opponents by sidestepping or being creative in open play. It’s radical, but they do it in New Zealand.

We lack skills on all levels, not size and fitness. In 2005 the Sharks finished bottom of the Super 12 log. They brought in David Campese as a specialist skills coach for the 2006 season and they almost made the semi finals that year and played really attractive rugby. It’s not rocket science.

Coaching

We used to be trend setters in world rugby at one point. Heyneke Meyer was the first coach to use a hooker as a scrumhalf from a line out to create a man over in the back line in the late 90’s. This was copied by most teams during that time.

Jake White introduced a new rush defense system in 2004 and although it didn’t have longevity, it still worked that year and caught opponents by surprise. These are just two examples of how our coaches developed the game and didn’t try to copy other coaches. Why is Nick Mallett, Rassie Erasmus and Brendan Venter not coaching in South Africa?

Another concern is the lack of a coaching pipeline or succession plan. I will again refer to the All  Blacks. Steve Hansen was assistant coach for 6 years under Graham Henry and when the time came to select the next All Blacks coach, it was a no brainer. We didn’t have any idea who would succeed Jake White, Peter De Villiers or Heyneke Meyer. We only start speculating when the media gets hold of the potential short lists.

It just feels like our coaching methods are out of touch and that we are losing ground every year. I am not a coach, so I can’t criticize. I just hope the indaba this week addresses some of our short comings.

The Weak Rand

The South African economy plays a huge part in the player exodus every year to Europe and Japan. Players cannot earn the same money locally as they would overseas. Arguments like “they should play for the pride of the jersey, loyalty, etc.” are arbitrary. It’s a global professional game. You cannot fault players for seeking greener pastures. So how do we keep them in South Africa?

Two things can happen here; SARU can contract all players ensuring the best players in each position gets game time during Super Rugby and also ensuring that they handle all contracts. We get the biggest cut of the SANZAAR pie and we should use that money to keep players in South Africa.

Another, more radical, option is to privatize the Unions. The current power trip the 14 unions are on needs to stop. They don’t have the Springboks’ interests at heart, only their own interest. How awesome would it be if supporters of teams could actually buy shares in their sides, or if a billionaire from Europe buys the Bulls, pumping all his funds into our economy and ensuring the best players play in South Africa.

Amateurs running a professional game

The current structure and leadership of SARU is not serving the game. Yes, they serve the players, the back office staff and us, the supporters. The 14 Unions are only seeking their own benefit and they do not work together or make decisions that benefits South African Rugby as a whole.

The president’s council is again an old school, archaic leadership structure and it needs to change. We need savvy business people collaborating with rugby people to run the show, NOT politicians wanting to score brownie points with the government. Why is Johan Rupert investing in Saracens and not his beloved Western Province? We need to get that capital and business expertise back into the country.

We also need leadership to push back on political pressure and stand up for the excellence that is the Springbok team. Kneeling to government pressure is damaging our rugby to no end. Politicians don’t have rugby matters at heart, only political matters.

And what about public KPI’s for our coaches and administrators? Let’s be totally transparent to understand what impact is being made by all stakeholders.

The structure of rugby

The current rugby season is long and winded and at the end November most rugby supporters can’t wait for it all to end. We have also got it completely wrong in terms of how the season is structured and a lot of it is down to our tunnel vision and stubbornness at SANZAAR level.

We wanted a sixth team in Super Rugby although we cannot field five competitive teams each year. Again, yielding to political pressure forced us to include a team which cannot govern itself and won’t be competitive in the near future.

We have also given up the strength of the Currie Cup, for many years the backbone of our rugby, for a watered down version of Super Rugby. The Currie Cup needs to regain its importance and relevance as it is the prime breeding ground for the next talent pool to shine before making the step up to Super Rugby the next season.

One thing that is working is the Varsity Cup. Credit has to be given to the organizers for giving a platform for young talent to shine. Oupa Mahoje and Damian De Allende are two players who have come through the Varsity Cup.

I propose this structure to the season:

• Create a Super 20 by expanding to the Pacific Islands and adding another team to Argentina. Split the competition into a Premiere League and a First Division, with the two finalists in the First Division gaining promotion to the Premiere League the following season. This will ensure all teams pull out all the stops to win each game, they won’t have the certainty to be there next year.
• The Super 10 Premiere League will then be strength vs strength as you will have to play all teams in the Premier League. You could wrap up Super Rugby in 13 weeks and run the tournament from February to May, giving international players some time to recover and prepare for the June Internationals.
• The Currie Cup can kick off in June/July and run until End September
• The Varsity Cup runs in parallel with Super Rugby
• Perhaps the Varsity Cup could be expanded to a National Club Competition. How great would it be for players not playing Super Rugby, playing for their clubs, but being paid by SARU/the Unions?

I don’t have all the answers folks and yes, I am frustrated with the current rugby landscape in South Africa. I am also mad that it got to this point. So you might not agree with everything said here, but at least I’m saying something. I also don’t have all the answers, but I am happy to contribute in whatever capacity to save our beloved Springbok from extinction.