For many years I supported the Springbok team and our Super Rugby Franchise, I hated to see how the teams managed to slaughter the game of rugby. The whole process basically worked as follows:-
* I hated to see the forwards battling bravely and when they manaaged to get the ball back it was handed back to the opposing team by aimless and inaccurate kicking . For me it seemed that our players hated it to have ball possession.
* We had coaches who claimed that SA backline players were incompetent in ball skills and could not be used as backline attacking and even coaches who was totally ignorant as to backline coaching In essence they believed in 10- man rugby and showed no real interest in development of backline players other than in defense.
* Although it was frequently mentioned to the contrary, the coaches had no game plans which were consistently applied.
* Since 2008 the coaches did not believe in team renewal and in essence that attitude persisted until 2015 when the bottom fell out. Those experienced players could in the main not adjust their limited ball skills and become better players.
* To hide their personal incompetence coaches spread the runour that they want SA teans to play “traditional SA Rugby” and this was taken up by some of their supporters, But what is traditional SA Rugby? It did not exist prior to 1990 and became a “caichword” since then. What it really meant was a predictable case of kicking and playing 10-man rugby,
Changes made by some coaches
The first signs that things were changing was when the Sharks in 2012 started playing more comprehensive rugby and they ended up as one of the top 6 teams in Super Rugby. Getting into the play-offs of the Super Rugby series, The idea was to use the backline as an attacking means and in the play-offs they beat the Reds comprehensively in Brisbane and then had to travel back to Cape Town to play and beat the Stormers ibn Caoe Town and then off to Waikato to play the Chiefs in the finals where they lost thegame.
Being used to the rubbish dished up the public was surprised when in 2013 the Cheetahs changed course and suddenly started beating teams left right and center. They were playing with thir limited resources in manpower - yet they beat or drew with teams like the Highlanders and Crusaders. The Cheetahs backline that year scored more tries than the whole teams of other SA franchises did, Fact is that year the Cheetahs backline scored more tries than the backlines of other SA Super Rugby franchises combined. The idea was to use the loosies and even other forwards to assist the backline in attacking by means of the ball-in-hand play.
The third team that really expanded on the initial steps of the Sharks and the Free State was the Lions and the whole process paid off for them in 2016 and 2017 when the reach the finals of he Super Series.
The problem was that Meyer because of ignorance did not like what the Lions produced and in the end he would not select any Lions players – at that stage the top team in SA - for the 2015 WC Squad However to blame him alone is not realistic - he realized that it would be impossible to get the senior players to be able to be part of such a form of rugby.
What happened on Saturday
The mess got worse in 2017 and 2018 and it looked as if things were getting worse instead of improving
So it was an eye-opener for me and perhaps thousands of others –to see how three teams on Saturday three SA teams playing a brand of rugby that was unthinkable as little as three years ago.
The Lions who was the leaders of the new brand of rugby fir years had a failure on Saturday in t he relevant regard. The lapse is hopefully not replicated in future.
It gave me a strong believe that rugby in SA is improving at last
