I have been trying to clear my thoughts to voice my opinions on the state of South African rugby over the past few weeks.
There are so many issues worth discussing that I find it hard to prioritise the most pertinent issues.
Player resources
In light of the recent performances by the Super Rugby franchises this is likely the most important discussion point.
The current number of actively capped Springboks (49) plying their trade overseas is now outweighing the number of locally capped (48) Springboks. By my last count 88 South Africans are playing in the top three professional competitions in Europe, this excludes Japan, Australia and lower-tiered professional competitions.
The sixth Franchise
Looking at the number of active Springboks and high quality players not playing in South Africa does make the idea of a sixth South African team competing in Super Rugby from 2016 a bit of a farce.
It stands to reason that the exodus of professional players in South Africa will continue as the selection policies of Heyneke Meyer to select players from anywhere has encouraged our players to leave for bigger contracts. There is no incentive to remain local.
It severely affects those youngsters who have come to realise that loyalty to local rugby does not necessarily bring reward for higher honours, and as careers are becoming shorter due to the physical demands on bodies, a shorter but better paid career is making financial sense.
How SARU plans to maintain six competitive franchises is becoming a real concern and the question is what will they be doing about retaining local players? Is there a possibility of central contracting and how are they going to increase revenue to a point where higher player salaries can be sustainable?
Coaching quality and game management
There is currently an obvious lack of try scoring ability within the South African conference (1.8 tries per match) when you compare it to the New Zealand conference (2.9) and the Australian conference (2.3).
Now we all know that South African coaches at Super Rugby and international level prize structured game plans concentrated around forward-dominated packs and territorial kicking game plans.
However, when you consider that New Zealand, in particular, have improved their tactical kicking to the point where they now often dominate the territorial kicking game against their South African counterparts suggests South African coaches have fallen behind in the evolution of the tactical game.
Further proof that the South African coaches at Super Rugby level have fallen behind is when you start comparing their teams’ performances at the breakdowns, where statistically we get turned over far more than our Australian and New Zealand rivals.
The maul, which is a traditional strength of South African teams, has been mostly negated by effective tactics. Where are the counter tactics by South African coaches to ensure that the maul remains a tactical weapon worthy to employ?
Granted some of the franchises have been hit hard with injuries, but most franchises have injury lists long enough to have a cause for complaint.
I would dare to suggest that a coaching summit is sorely needed by Heyneke Meyer and Rassie Erasmus to address the above issues.
2016 and beyond
I fail to understand how Jurie Roux can advocate that SARU got what they wanted with the suggested acceptance of the four conference model for Super Rugby’s future.
I do not see how they believe the two new conferences within the ‘African’ conference are to the benefit of South African rugby. Effectively there will simply be a repeat of the same six teams competing in the Currie Cup during the Super Rugby tournament, albeit now in two supposedly separate conferences.
South African rugby is slowly beginning to stare into the abyss, and is facing severe challenges in regards to maintaining a sustainable financial structure.
It is already evident that even rugby-crazed supporters are walking away from losing teams and if the continued fall of quality continues then I fear we might be doing more than just staring into the abyss.
Players moving abroad, coaches falling behind the tactical eight ball and continue expansion is coming at the cost of quality.
Whether SARU have spoken to their supporters to find out what they really wanted, whether they are blissfully unaware of our tactical deficiencies and the player drain or whether they have an inkling of how to address each issue, I don’t know. But I sure as hell hope so.
The reality is that something has gone wrong very quickly, and it is most likely a combination of a number of factors. Whatever SARU is going to do next will surely be indicative of where they believe South African rugby finds itself and how serious they are in finding a solution.
