Ex supersport
Bryan Habana, interviewed in the Cape Press in the build-up week to the first Vodacom Super Rugby match of the new season, summed up what everyone involved with the DHL Stormers is thinking at the start of 2012.
“When I was at the Bulls we reached three semi-finals before we won the competition,” said Habana. (Yes and only through a ref error!!!!!!!!!!)
“But no excuses, we are disappointed with the results in the last few years, and we need to learn from our mistakes.”
Silverware has become an obsession in the Cape. It’s because of the lack of it. Some might argue that the Super Rugby Conference trophy won last year might become more coveted with the passing of time (Anyone woth half a brain cell knows the SA Conference i sworth more than the third tier Currie Cup) but as it stands the Stormers or Western Province haven’t won anything since Corne Krige’s WP side won the Currie Cup in 2001.
After such a long drought maybe it is understandable that there is so much soul-searching going on in the shadow of Table Mountain, but perhaps there is also been a loss of perspective. Rassie Erasmus, the architect of the Stormers’ rise from nowhere on the log in 2007 to consistent contenders in the last two years, admitted he vacated his job as director of rugby because of interference from elected officials. (please note Dr Moz - and so did Mallet. No self respecting coach will put up with the bonehads administrators!)
Those officials were reacting to the pressure created by a public and media unhappy that their team couldn’t take the next step in a two year period where they finished in the top two of Super Rugby twice and the Currie Cup once (Talk abou ta lack of realism - any side finnishing second on the Super 15 log has had a grea tseason!!!!!!!!!). This season will tell us though whether they were guilty of throwing the baby out with the bath-water because a culture of excellence was being built up under Erasmus (Anybody could see the huge improvement under Rassie) and what Habana and others who have mentioned how the Bulls didn’t become successful immediately haven’t pointed out is that the key to the process is patience.
It’s laughable to imagine the Bulls sacking Heyneke Meyer after one of his team’s failed semi-finals in the middle of last decade, but if he was coaching the Stormers now it seems it could be contemplated. That is how desperate everyone appears to have become, and it could be the union’s undoing as it is a quick drop from where they are now back to where they were in 2007, but will take a long time to recover.
PRE-SEASON
It’s been a case of so far so good for the Stormers as they adapt to life without Erasmus. They did lose a rare pre-season warm-up game to the Cheetahs, but that was with their second string team. The performances against the Boland Cavaliers, the Lions and the Kings were all good enough to suggest they will challenge again this year.
However the question mark hovers over what the reaction will be when the team hits a crisis, which is inevitable in a long season like they face? It was always Erasmus who provided the calming influence along with the undeniable X-factor when innovation was needed. (Please note Dr Moz!)
COETZEE’S DOUBLE ACT
Coetzee has effectively taken on the role of director of rugby along with that as head coach (the high performance position is going to be an administrative role only) and that could prove problematic. Already in this week building up to the first game Coetzee has found himself scurrying around trying to placate young players on junior contracts who no longer know where they stand now that Erasmus, who was always very clear about the succession planning process, is no longer involved.
Player agents and, in the Cape at least, even the players’ fathers create a minefield for a coach who wants to deal directly with the contracts and the ambitions of his players. Now it is Coetzee, and not Erasmus, who is going to be fielding SMS’s from players’ fathers and agents, and as he should be operating on a game to game basis, he may find doing the double act quite taxing.
BIGGEST ASSET
Perhaps the juggling act that Coetzee is going to have to do is a problem that will make itself more felt in the future rather than now. Right now the Stormers do still have the biggest asset of the past few years, which is the defensive system introduced and coached by Jacques Nienaber, and the Stormers were as frugal as ever in the pre-season games. (Nienaber of course was taught by none other than Rassie)
PLAYER MOVEMENT
Most of the first choice players from last year are back this year, the notable exceptions though being quite big losses. Who is going to be the team’s fetcher now that Francois Louw is playing for English club Bath? (well why no tthe grea tSchalk Burger?) And Jaque Fourie, now in Japan, was the brains in the defensive system, the man who did the communicating and around whom everything revolved.(Yes he is a loss - but there ar esome options))
After Sireli Naqelevuki left the region to satisfy ignorant officials who never understood his role, Fourie was also the big back who got the team across the gainline. Who is going to do it now? (I have a concern about the size of the Stormers backs - hopefully Habana can cut it at center)
The personnel question goes deeper than that, however, as since last July the region has lost a whole tier of players who had Super Rugby experience and who presented themselves as potential back-up options in times of emergency – Conrad Jantjes, JJ Engelbrecht, Tim Whitehead, Johann Sadie, Lionel Cronje, Ricky Januarie, Pieter Louw, Anton van Zyl, Adriaan Fondse, JD Moller and let’s not forget that in the last Super Rugby season Springbok prop CJ van der Linde was also playing for the Stormers. (Only Sadie, Francois louw and perhaps Pieter Louw were losses - others have been sucessfully replaced)
Of course a lot of those players were deemed surplus to requirements, and certainly don’t represent a talent drain like the one suffered by the Bulls. But it should nonetheless be a concern ahead of a competition which is these days as much about survival and managing the attrition rate than anything else.
A MORE FAVOURABLE DRAW
Speaking of attrition rate, there is at least one aspect of the season where the Stormers should feel better off now than they were last year – they have a much more manageable draw.
By having two proper byes plus the break for the international interlude when the England series is played in June, the Stormers will be able to do something they were unable to do in 2011. They will be able to break their season up into bite sized pieces to make it seem more manageable.
Perhaps not enough was made last year of the debilitating aspect of the draw that the Stormers were landed with. Their first bye came in the first round of the competition, which effectively meant that once the season they had no respite until the end of the campaign, with the exception of the second bye, which came at the midway point.
That meant the Stormers had to play the season in two chunks of eight games in succession, something that would have contributed to the high attrition rate towards the end. (Something ignored by many)
This year is different in that although the first bye does come early again, there are at least two home games for the Stormers to get their teeth into before taking the break and reassessing. When they come back in mid-March they will then have an unbroken sequence of six matches, including the overseas tour, before taking their second bye in the first weekend of May.
OUTLOOK
Contenders for Conference honours again but they won't take the next step by winning the competition.
I am not writing off our winning the competition just yet. This team if managed well could be something to behold. Some great talent.
