Saint Plum vs Alistair the Dunce

Forgive me, but this has gone a step too far. Supposedly Plum was wrongfully dismissed by John Smit , also known as the Fransie look alike. Wrongfully because poor Plum was beset by injuries no man could handle. At the same time we read comments about Coetzee losing all his marbles....being totally incompetent . - Yet when I look at the tables I see the Stormers and the Sharks neck and neck in standing. But what about Plum's injuries? So I respond....what about Coetzee's injuries? Let me list them: - Taute....out for the season. van de Heever....missing for a month de Jongh....missing for the first month Jantjies missing for 5 weeks Grant gone....down to playing a kid at flyhalf. Malherbe our best tighthead gone for the season Liebenburg hardly playing Etzebeth....the key to Stormers dominance ....gone for the first half Bekker....gone for the second half Elstadt.....gone for the season Burger never arrived. Vermeulen gone for most of the second half. - And I've probably missed a few. That's what Coetzee has had to deal with....a complete decimation of the pack. So lets be a little fair....if we are cutting Plum some slack, do the same for Alistair.

No argument here, both teams had the same problem this year. And as a result are in much the same position on the log. Another thing both coaches share is the ability to do the hard yards, but then fall at the final hurdle. Referring obviously to Super Rugby, and not Currie Cup etc. Both coaches were being touted as options for the Springbok job, in fact, the more I type the more I realize how similar they are in most regards. Injuries ruined both teams this year, some of the injuries may be down to player management, and therefore be the responsibility of the coach, but for the most part, it is just bad luck. The good news is, we may yet have two teams in the Semis (Top six), and were it not for a freakish year regarding injuries, we may have had even more teams in the top six.

Mozart Agree with you here - Coetzee deserved the boot. Any coach playing a center combination of De Villiers - De Jongh - ahead of the combination De Villiers - De Allende - should be fired on the spor.

Alistair is not going to get the boot....we have a bit more class in the Cape.

Now that is where it gets interesting. "Any coach playing a center combination of De Villiers - De Jongh - ahead of the combination De Villiers - De Allende - should be fired on the spor (sic)."

 

Plumtree who, amongst others, made Frans Steyn captain, played him everywhere in the backline, etc, etc, was  treated onfairly by John Smit.