The coaching and especially team selection in all four SA teams paticipating in the URC has been poor to messy this year and I expected that some changes are possible. So lets look at the four coaches involved:-
The Bulls
The key ownership o the Bulls are as follows:-
- Rupert - 37,25%
- Motsepe - 37,25%
- Franchise 25.5%
The funding of new player cintracts are virtually limitless and they cana fford to choose the best players and the two majority shareholders appointed Brits in dealing wth their rugby interests
White has had 3 years in coaching the Bulls team and trophy wise it produced nothing to the franchise, The Bulls were involved in three finals and lost all three with unbelievably poor performances in all three series, . So why should that have been the case:-
- Very poor selection of contracted players, In his first year he contacted the over-the-hill Morne Steyn - and for the rest forwards initially, but that continued when he contracted Goosen - an injury machine. The latest contracting of Orie is a case in point, In the case of Orie there are at least 10 locks better than Orie in SA francchise teams alone . The result was an up and down result in URC matches and a disaster in the European Champions Cup matches,
- Deficiencies in team selections. An example is the case of Hanekom the best loosie in SA at present, He was in and out of the playing teams in both the Champion Cup matches and the URC matches. His selection of flyhalfs was a nightmare as well. His flyhalf selections include - other than perhaps Goosen who is still injury prone and even use Le Roux at flyhalf - which was inexplicable BS.
- The total absence of a game plan in matches was and still is an problem throughout his coaching career, Not only is there no game plan iro strategies to be used in matches there is no real involvement in analyzing the potential strategies used by the opposing teams - there is no analysis of opposition players strengths and weaknesses, So the amazing absence of any backline play in bth attacks and in defense,
So will the two majority shareholders be happy with White and give him a fourth chance to embark on the same old story. for another year, I myself doubt it vey much. White is a typical old -type forwad usage coach - but ih no development and usage of attacking backline play.
So who will be in line or selection of replacements should White;s contract ends with the Bulls, To my mind there are two potential candidates - namely Ackerman and Nienaber,or a combination of Ackerman and Nienaber or such a combination inolving Swys as well, Swys has medical (blood pressure) problems and dtress cause it to be come dangerous. But at least as assistant he does not ahve the same stress levels as he would have as Head Coach,
The Sharks ,
The ownership structure are as follows:-
- MVM Holdings - 51% - An international company with Headquartes in the USA
- Supersport - 23%
- Franchise - 26%
From a funding perspective - Rupert also has a huge Shareholder in Supersport through National Press - so both fanchises has adequate money available for player contracting: But this is where there is a prolem insofar as coaching is concerned, Rupert as an intenational business operator will also have influence and in this case also close ties to MVM Holdings - so that alliance will also not be happy with the present scenario.
Pumtree played for the Sharks and married an SA woman in he 1990's and has a long assciation with the Sharks both as a player and as a coach. It was insofar as coaching is concerned sometimes up and sometimes down. At the moment it is down and very much so, What is present in the case of the Sharks is totally deficient backline play - surprising in fact because as a New Zealander one would expect othewise from him. In 2012 the Sharks reaqched the finals in Superrugby - but in 2013 the Sharks had massive injury problems and it was so bad they had to borrow players from the Lions to get enough players to have 23 palyers in match squads. So the Sharks fired Plumtree and in 2014 they appointed White as Sharks coach. The latter was effecvely fired by Sharks at the end of the 2014 season. Plumtree came back as Sharks coach - but was never really succesful n Supersport level. amd now on URC and Champions Cup level.
This year the Sharks backline performance on URC level was a disaster. The Sharks needed a functionong flyhalf and this year that was part of the disaster, They also as an inside center in Estehuizen - a slow and deficient player when it comes to ball skills and match reading - basically a crashballer.
My personal opinion is that Plumtree is as bad a coach as White is - but have no idea whether he would be replaced and if so by whom.
The Stormers
.Ownership Structure
Disa Investments 74%
Franchise 26%
The Stormers was the worst-administered franchise and was effectively run by SARU and only a few months ago, Disa Investments took over the funding of the Stormers especailly insofar as reruitng of players ise oncerned, As to Diza Investments they have three enttities involved and although theyare obviously successful entites the Question is would they have the ability to provide at least a R100 million a year to fund the Stormers? While the S tromers franchise was administered by SARU, they used a payment system paying competitive salaries to a few players - while the rest got uncompetitve salaries,
That leaves Dobson in a messy situation where the team as a whole does not have the player resouces available to the Bulls and the Sharks, It left Dobson with a squad of players who are not a good situation to be in. But Dobson is also a poor selector of playing teams. The case of Sacha Feinberg-Ngomezulu is sn example of deficient selection strategy.
While the Bulls and Sharks has very little reason to account for their deficient performnces - the same cannot be said of the Stormers The Stormers need a better forward pack insofar as props are conrned - but theya re Ok in the loosie Department, while with Sacha and Wilemse they top class playes as well - but I am never happy wth their defense, When S acha and or willenmse are not available they have a big void in their backline play.
I not sure who is the Stormers defense coach and if Donson is to rermain as .coach - the defense component will have to be upped, A positive is that in the past the Stomers neglected the recruitig of school players and this year they stopped that by recuiting youngstes from schools, For many years the main exprt item of not of te ormers were shool-leaving rugby players recruited by other franchies from Western Cape schools.
The Lions
Ownership
Altmann Allers 74,9%
Lions franchise 25,1%
Altman Allers is also the Chairman of the Lions Board and there sis not much information about the actual net ork of the comapnies he own as well as his financial conribution to the Lions, In a recent newsoaper article he was criticized ir nit investing in the Lions and that is the reason why hey loe top players and rely totally on using youngstes fom schools to be recruited and nobody virually no real top class players are in eh squad and the few they hav regualrly leaving he franchise.
In my opinion in the present nvironment where the owner without a rugby background being the Board Chaorman can also be a negative,
In that environmment one cannot really blame the coach for the underwhelming perforrmances of te Franchise. If he had a stronger squad the team will inevitably perform better - but the present negatives no coach can ovecome, ,