But this is about 2016 - so lets look at what was bad and what was really bad insofar as SA Rugby is concerned:-
SARU Management
The set up was always poor - amateurs trying to run professional sport. Where they intervened it was always a disaster - but this year they got even worse. They made some real backwards moves:-
* accepting a further weakening of the time as a result of BEE selection enhancement;* the shady process that ended up with the appointment of Coetzee as coach; and* the selection of supporting staff for the coach.
The whole coaching fiasco contributed in a major way to the resultant mess. The coach was appointed late and he had very little opportunity to deal with coaching issues before the series in June against the Irish.
As a result of the deepening mess SARU was in he was replaced as President. SARU is busy organizing talk shop after talk shop and whether that would solve the problems is a real million dollar question.
SARU has also amended it structure to allow for more professional management and the effective separation of the amateur and professional components of rugby. They are on the point of trying to get the private sector to buy into the franchises and to thus create a more business-orientated system in place.
The above could work - but only if certain structural changes are made.
The appointment of the coach
SARU appointed a coach following a secretive process and the fact is that Coetzee was probably selected long before the announcement was made. The idea is that he would implement the quota system more effectively than the case would otherwise have been.
Coetzee has a long history of failure as a coach, He was the Assistant Coach for backline play of the Springboks in 2007. He was so clueless that White had to bring in Eddie Jones to get the backline more involved.
That was followed by a stint as Stormers/WP coach. The result was total neglect of the backline and the usage of ten man rugby - basically without any real game plan. The Stromers found it basically impossible to score tries and their backline wa in fact a seriously-defective joke.
The tests this year was a reflection of the rot that started in the closing ye at of Meyer as coach and just went further downwards - the main problem being the total absence of a game plan.
However, the worst issue was Coetzee's team selection. He seemed to specialize in selecting players in positions where they do not play regularly and causing havoc as a result.
As the year went on it became clear Coetzee "lost the dressing room" resulting in lackluster performances by players who apparently has no trust in their coach.
Team Selection
Meyer's conduct resulted in a long list f totally inexperienced players being forced into selection. Most of the duds who "retired" after the 2015 WC was way past their best and should have been phased out as early as 2014. This was not done and the results put the coach in a hopeless situation. : The situation was worsened by crazy selection flops. Of the more experienced players it was clear that Strauss was a poor captaincy selection made worse by the fact that Strauss indicated his retirement from test rugby.
So who were the really serious flops from the more experienced players. I would say that the list include JP Pietersen, Bryan Habana, Juan de Jongh, Morne Steyn, Francois Louw and Strauss.
Some of the new players Coetzee brought in also flopped - Jantjies, was pathetic at flyhalf and the absence of a game plan probably contributed to that as well. Others were weak and suffered from "lost dressing room" syndrome. However, it is clear that players like Paige, Adriaanse and even Whiteley are not test level players. Some of the others have seriously inadequate game time - so they must be watched in Super Rugby this year.
Coach57,555 posts
19 Dec 2016, 17:06
#1
19 Dec 2016, 17:06#1
