SA Fans to blame for Mass Player Exodus

April 24, 2017

Fickle fans drive SA players north

Brenden Nel

It didn’t take long for my Twitter feed to react in exactly the way I expected it to, but I was still disappointed.

Seconds after I’d punched out the news that Handre Pollard was injured, and likely to miss the June Test series against France, the first reply popped up on screen, “Nah, no great loss…who needs him?”

My heart sank.

This is, after all, a potential Springbok captain we are talking about. A player who wowed the rugby world at the age of 20, scored a brace of tries in our only win over the All Blacks in recent times and who is regarded worldwide as one of the best in the game.

You only have to speak to those in New Zealand to hear how highly regarded he is by the world’s best.

The way Pollard was written off by some Bok fans is a trait in our rugby that is killing the game and, whether you agree or not, is one of the prime reasons why players pack up and head to European pastures.

The social media exchange reminded me of the outcry when Sharks coach Robert du Preez dared to suggest that 19-year old star Curwin Bosch “not be rushed” into a Springbok jersey.

The social media trolls were out in full force, but they only echoed arguments I’ve heard over and over again in the 20 years I’ve been covering the game.

“If he’s good enough, he’s old enough,” the cry goes and everyone clambers for said player to be thrown into the deep end of international rugby.

And the player, as talented as he is, is hardly given the time or space to develop into a top player, with so much attention and pressure thrust onto his shoulders that he inevitably struggles in season two, whereafter the fans write him off.

“Yeah but what about Pollard, Pat Lambie and Frans Steyn,” one argument went, pointing out that all three of those players made their debut while under 21 and were all deemed good enough.

The counter-argument is that none of them, despite their Test careers, have quite reached the potential that they could have. If managed well, all three could have been South Africa’s answer to Dan Carter, or Beauden Barrett for that matter. But all three suffered with injuries and while they have had moments of brilliance, I’m sure they will even admit that their careers haven’t followed the trajectory which they had imagined.

But that is what we do as South Africans – we’re always looking for the next best thing. We want the shooting star to save us, the new kid on the block to show the world.

But let that new kid have two off games, let the opposition work him out and find his weakness, and we throw him away.

SA rugby fans are by nature a fickle lot, who crow when their teams are winning to the point of being unbearable, and then abandon them when things don’t go well. Don’t take my word for it, just have a look at the comments columns underneath rugby stories.

And the players know this.

They know that not every player is a shooting star and they know form comes and goes. They know they work hard to be fit and follow the plan that the coach has designed for them. They do their best against the best in the world.

But when it doesn’t go well, they become the scapegoats.

Curwin Bosch may well go on to become the best thing since sliced bread, the Springbok saviour and the world’s best player. Heaven knows, he has all the talent to dominate the world.

But he has weaknesses in his game as well, and he knows that. Chances are, his coaching team and the player himself are working hard at setting these right.

But there is no hiding in Test rugby, flaws are exposed under a microscope and if they are at some point in his career, will he be “no great loss” if he picks up an injury.

Bosch will learn that the fans will turn to the next great hope and forget him, telling everyone who will listen that he could have been a great, but that this coach or that province ruined him.

We have a long way to go in the way we treat our rugby players in South Africa.

Until we learn some maturity, don’t be surprised if players continue to up and leave, or their potential remains unfulfilled.

I disagree- to some degree. I think the fans often see greatness in a player- and then our coaches have no understanding of back line play- which causes fans to lose faith in the player.The coaches turn the players into Creatine Zombies that become only capable of crashballing. 
Saffex is however one of the main culprits for older players leaving, to make space for his new favourites. He is probably phoning about the European clubs to suggest which older players to take. 
Some of the younger players are not as good when they step into international stage

Good old Brendan. Why so scared to admit the hyped up media's role in the whole saga? They are the first ones who always jumps on the bandwagons to write up these kids prematurely. They should calm down and keep their breathless essays down a bit and leave the kids to mature in good time. Instead they start writing their glowing BS reports and why? To make their bucks out of the crap they spew. And then when the kids fail or stutter they just dump them and move on to the next victim. One example. PSDT struggled from one injury to the other without getting much game time. What has been happening since he has matured and become more hardened? He is coming to his right at last after how many years in first class rugby? Take Pollard. How many injuries hasn't he had in his young career. He has shown tha he has all the guts to take on the big guys. Only problem is that his young body is not on par with his guts yet.

True Vlag, the media are full participants.....but his point is spot on. He only failed to mention the initial blame for these players is always the coach that let them down....and then fans forget them as the 'newest new thing" arrives. . This article echoes what I have been saying for years and copped huge flak for. But how many of these promoted youngsters have succeeded vs failed. A very, very low percentage . We need a team , not a grouping of the latest form players. Access to that team should require clear, sustained evidence that the new player offers a significant improvement over the inc.umbent....a series of small improvements destroy the 'team'.

I'm sure that we could make up a whole host of teams from the list of bright young future starts who became ..... well... nothing.

It's cultural thing in South Africa....you rarely hear NZ fans slagging off their past heroes or asking for youngsters to be rushed into the test squad. They understand the role of the team. And frankly their commentators and journalists provide much more insight to school the fans. . Classic case last week in the Bools game, Jambo who has done nothing for weeks cut into the line from the off wing.....standard rugby stuff, he never beat a tackle in the process......but it was glory hallelujah time. Supposedly Jambo was involved in everything that was good about the Bools in the last period of the game. The 'big talk' about this or that player turns dumb fans' heads.

 This should be a concern no longer soon. NH clubs plan to turn SA into a feeder nation.
SA fans will no longer see the hottest prospects play in SR as they are going to be shipped directly to the north.

Harold Vorster was out injured for a length period and yet it didn't take him long to impress as though he had never left.

How come?

Pollard also suffered with injury ... was also away for a spell ... and yet still hasn't found the form we expected to see from his junior days. In fact he hasn't come close to dazzling us the way he did.

How come?

Rohan Janse van Rensburg was discarded by the Bulls ... he didn't fit in with their plans ... just not good enough ... and yet under Ackerman he brought something special to the Lions backline. Most have called for his inclusion as the starting Bok inside centre.

How come?

To blame us for the mass exodus is unfair. A professional sports star has no choice but to handle criticism ... it's very much part of the job ... and it's only a fraction of the pressure he'll be facing on the pitch ... in front of a stadium of 50 000 + expectant fans ... against top sides.

The Bok is no longer an attraction. It's no longer something special. Not like it used to be. One doesn't need much these days to qualify for Bok colours. Even our coaches aren't selected on merit.

Fleck instead of Mitchell. Coetzee instead of Jones.

Why not go abroad and make a bundle? Who knows, you may even receive citizenship and be appreciated by your adopting country.

We the fans are not responsible for the mass exodus.

I take your point on Rohan......Pollard was in a Burger like situation, close to death.....and even iron man Schalk took a long time to find his game after that. Vorster has now had two good games, after some disappointing outings. In South Africa that's enough to reach a non contestable conclusion. I'd like to see him a few more times against good opposition. .. But let's dig a bit deeper, the Bools had Stepfontein and Odendaal ahead in the queue. Everybody seemed to think these guys were the answer....so I can understand the Bools feeling they were covered......up until Rohan ran over Steppie last year. .. What I think this chap is saying is players feel they have no loyalty from the fans, less than an AB or Wallaby would. So they in turn feel with the Government against them, the fans against them, the media only excited about the latest youngster, and the Rand against them.....they need to look after number one. I get that.

I wrote a rather lengthy comment on the above before a power failure  and will just summarize it as follows:-
*   3 players mentioned (Steyn, Pollard and Lambie) - all three had injury problems, but the issue goes wider - Fat Fransie decided that gobbling up foot is more important than rugby - Pollard lost it after serious injury and is seemingly still unfit and pace-deficient -  Lambie is also injury prone.   Fact is that the first two psychologically became their own worst enemies - they think they were the dogs whiskers, so they di not have to perform.
*     The worst coaches in the world insofar as backline play specifically is concerned -  Meyer was clueless, Ludeke and Gold even worse and Coetzee the pits.   The coaches drove more players out of SA through crazy selections and rubbish game plans  than anybody could ever imagine.   Good players lost hope.  Their coaching deficiencies destroyed promising youngsters in any event - they managed to coach whatever skills the youngsters had out of them.
*     The activities of the Zupta Criminal Mafia Syndicate destroying the Rand as a currency.
*     The quota selection policy driving promising players who lost hope out of SA.
The fans is not to blame - the comments in the article is simplistic and misleading.






  

CM u keep referring to Frans Steyn as Fat Fransie.....turns u on, does it?
Show some respect for the man and remember he represented his country on the rugby field. What did u do to represent your country?
Move on and be grateful for his input to rugby over the years.
I certainly do.

 No it does nothing of the kind.  Let me explain Steyn was brilliant when I frst saw him on TV in a CC game.   He did well in his first three years of rugby - but then he decided that he preferred gluttony to playing the game.  
When he came back from France in 2012 I was shocked by the way his rugby deteriorated,   He was only 23 years old - but grossly overweight and obviously unfit.   I think that was part of the reason for his injury before the Aussie test in 2012.  
he was so fat that Plumtree advised him in 2013 to reduce his weight from 118 kgs to 105-106 kgs - but he managed to bring his weight down to 115 kgs - only 10 kgs overweight - but there was no improvement in his performances and he was pathetic until Plumtree decided to take action.  He was benched a number of times at full-back and in his next starting game after an injury to Jordaan he had a serious leg problem and was out for 6 months.  
In 2014 he has a horridly poor year - confirmed by statistics and he was worse in 2015 when White was not at the Sharks to protect him.   Matter of fact he could not get a new contract in SA because no franchise would embark on such a vast undertaking.
So why do I call him Fat Fransie - for no other reasons that he is FAT with reduced pace and a condition which had an impact on his serious-defective performances.

None of this is true, in 2014 the Sharks had the best winning record in the competition in the sequencev when Frans replaced Lambie at flyhalf ....including the epic win against the Saders with 13 men on the park.

Here's the relevant post . Steyn's win percentage at 10 vs Lambie March 30, 2015, 00:35:14 . Steyn has started 9 games at 10 for the Sharks over the last two seasons....and won 6. Many of these games were played in Oz/Nz last year. . Lambie has started 11 games at 10 for the Sharks ....all but one played in South Africa. He has won 5. . Win ratio for Steyn 66.7%.....win ratio for Lambie 45.5%. There are of course mitigating factors, but they seem to all to make Lambie's task the easier. Is it harder to win in Cantebury or Durban? But Lambie steered the Sharks to victory against the Chiefs one man down you say. Frans steered the Sharks to victory down a player against the Saders at home. . Sure it's all random you say, but the sample size is getting rather large. Perhaps a winner that rises above his mistakes is better than a loser who is too cautious to make mistakes.