100% it's the coaches...they say

That seems to be the theme in most of the rugby press this Monday. We are rather stupid. Imagine trying to outrun the Canes or the Saders. You need structure when you are playing two of the most dangerous backlines on the planet....not an insane me too strategy.

Commentators say our problem is basic skills, but as we see with SA players abroad that's not true. Our problem is strategy. Our teams have no idea what they are trying to do out there....apart from getting a penalty and kicking it out to set up a maul.

We, like the Irish force lots of phase play inside the 22, with no surprise tactics for getting the ball over the line...with a fear of passing it to the backs, in case we lose 2 metres.

We have both issues right now...trickle up and trickle down. By that I mean often a CC/S15 team have the players and strategy to win and that core becomes the basis for the Boks. We saw that in the great Bools teams of 8 or so years ago. That's trickle up.

And we should have trickle down...the Boks strategy ought to be a template for our provincial sides....something we haven't seen since White departed.

 So we have no trickle up....no feeeder franchise and no self reinforcing trickle down. Strategy and tactics are random.

But when most fans say our coaches have it wrong it's because we aren't choosing the flavour of the day youngsters....most of whom will fade away without causing a test ripple. Can you believe there are still those who think a carthorse like Esterhuizen or a nothing like Stepfontein are going to be test successes. If we have the stupidest coaches we deserve them because we also have the stupidest fans.

Things have gone backwards significantly since 2007 and I can't see what is going to change that as so many of our rivals are finding the recruiting door to Fiji et al. We are churning while our rivals are getting stronger. That's coaching, but it's also the nature of things. The imperative to find real competitors and hone a strategy that suits our resources has never been greater.

We need big powerful chaps who love to compete at 10, 12 and 13. The outside centre needs to get deep in defence cutting off the passing lines....we cant afford neutrals. We don't have a pace edge in the inside backs...we need a power edge.

One thing I saw in de Allende against the Canes that encouraged me more than his excellent breaks was his desire to take on Nonu. There was an incident early in the game where he had a slight overlap but chose to test the Canes' centres. Not good tactics, but it showed combat instincts.....we need that kind of attitude.

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Okay here are Esterhosen's stats:

Here are Crotty's stats:

Crotty makes 2 clean breaks, beats 3 tacklers, gets a try assist, and offloads twice. He gains 57 metres. Esterhosen loses the ball once, beats no tackles, makes no clean breaks....gains 14 metres, but is penalized twice for a negative 70 metres. So his net yardage is minus 56.

Plus 57 vs minus 56! Boy those journalists really had that one wrong.

Ummmm.......if Esterhuizen never broke any tackles given he smashed Crotty out of the way on at least 3 occasions.......it tells us a lot about those stats.

I would expect Crotty to have gained more metres and beaten defenders......look at the score line......helloooooooooooooooooooo

Was Crotty good enough to make TOW......not even close. Esterhuizen made him look like a little boy.  

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1. "TRY, WASPS, HELU! 25-18. Wasps are on the attack deep inside Toulon's 22 after another sniping break from Simpson!.........."
2. "Wasps are under pressure at a scrum inside their 22 but Guy Thompson............"
3. "It's all Wasps at the moment! Joe Simpson makes a sniping break and is soon inside Toulon's 22 where he is brought to ground by Matt Giteau. Delon Armitage does well to win a turnover which eases the pressure on the hosts."
4. "The same rule applies if the ball is moved (passed, knocked, kicked or run) back inside the 22 by a player from the same team as the kicker."
5. "Once a tackle, scrum, lineout, ruck or maul occurs inside the 22 or the ball is moved there by the opposition a player can kick it directly into touch with the lineout forming where the ball crossed the sideline."
6. "If the ball is kicked directly (does not bounce first) over the sideline by a team member who is outside his 22 metre line the lineout is formed on the sideline perpendicular to where that player kicked it."