Springbok coaching

The coaching problem since 1992 always bedevilled the  Springboks.    In the 1990’s the norm was that the 10-man game was “traditional SA Rugby” and backline attacking play was a no-no.  The backline was there for  defence  purposes  only.    This anamoly was carried forward by most SA Coaches since then. 

Matter of fact the argument can be raised of who were the worst coaches in the period since 1992 – but especially after  1995.    I would say the four worst coaches were Straueli, De Villiers, Meyer and Coetzee.    Straueli  is still involved in rugby administration and as such has nothing to do with coaching at all.   The other three will never get a coaching job again.    De Villier discredited himself first, followed by Meyer and Coetzee fired by the Clubs who contracted them after their Springbok  coaching years ended.   Both failed badly as Springbok coaches.

The fact is that despite the coaches the Springboks moved forward under Erasmus – who by some distance was the best coach since 1995.   Reason – Erasmus is really a rugby genius who knows how the game should be played to be effective,      England was the favourite to win the World Cup – yet they lost by a near to record number of points in the final.   T hat says it all.     

I would add Andre Markgraaf and Harry Viljoen. Jake restored Bok dignity at a critical time and Rassie has raised Bok hopes for the future.

Well, I think we just had a bad culture when it came to coaching and managing the Boks. 

I don't think Meyer was that bad as he actually made sure that the Boks stayed at number 2 for his time at the Boks. But he was very single minded and arrogant. 

He also had a lot of good players from the bulls that bought into his game plan. Probably the reason why he brought Oupa Matfield out of retirement 

Coetzee should never have been springbok coach. Neither should De Villiers. Those were quota selections. 

With De Villiers. White left a decent squad behind which meant that those players that won the World Cup had some good year ahead of them and we probably peaked in 2009 

Where as Coetzee had to pick up from Meyer who didn't leave any players behind with so many retirements 

Being a bok coach is to be able to identify talent and ensure that there is always a steady stream of you players coming through. 

I think to me we only had 2 coaches that did that. White and Rassie. White is amazing at identifying young talent and I'm glad he is back in SA. 

Rassie knows how to pick squads for games and knows how to deliver. 

The other person that I also rate very is Nick Mallet. He is not afraid to take chances and to experiment plus he has so much coaching experience and Probably the only SA coach to new successful in France. 

I support what Rassie is doing, I like the fact that he has brought in Davids and Stick. 

But the difference between these coaches and quotas is that they know how to build an environment to nurture talent 

Rassie has yet to build anything. The core of his team was inherited. How many more times must we cover this? Rassie is an average coach. I raye his man Management skills more than anything else. As a technical coach, an analyst, he is sorely lacking. But, in terms of perosnnel, he has made many blunders. Cornered himself electing Kolisi as captain. Refused to start RG, our best lock, Esterhuizen, our best 12, and only through injury finally stuck with Am. Bench usage has been iffy, andd his 2018, which was lauded, was worse than that of Coetzee's 2017 - NZ Herald, which included ex All Blacks in the column pointed to 2017 as the turning point for the Boks. The Boks have gone backwards in their play. Best coach in Bok history? No. Try keeping a side who lost it's entire spine, of legendary Boks, #2 for almost four years and then we can talk. That's a rebuild. And without media support. Rassie is the first Bok coach in my time following the game who has never faced pressure from the media or fans. Had an armchair ride. He has no history of evolving a team or creating a culture. His teams, for over a decade, have always occupied the bottom end of the table for attack output. All of the best qualities of his teams are directly tied to the work of his defence coach. Nienaber. 

This from an idiot who rated the coaching of Meyer and Coetzee - both fired for incompetence by the clubs they led to disaster.   The team and game plan plan carefully crafted by Erasmus and his coaching team destroyed the English in the WC final. 

As to mistakes you allege he made - you are to dim to realize what happened.   Erasmus inherited a totally devastated and poor squad of player from Meyer and Coetzee and yhrned them into world beaters in 18 months time.  He made no blunders in selection.   He picked Kolisis as captain and it silenced the ANC  politicos totally when it comes to team selection - a gamble but it paid off handsomely.    He made no mistakes in teams election - Esterhuizen did not meet requirements - he was given ample opportunities and failed.   Snyman is a number 4 lock and was the backup for Etzebeth,   

Erasmus in his first year used experimental teams to see what real player sources are available and for of the tests were lost because of experimenting.   Nobody realized it - but his usage of the bench caught everyone of balance  and ensured the Springboks forward domination in the WC.   

Erasmus is only human and he did make selection mistakes like Mostert, Le Roux and Jantjies, but he saved the country from serious embarrassment by not selecting Esterhuizen.        

In fairness, as good as you were in that Final, England were abysmal !! 

There is no plan A, plan B in rugby. There is a blueprint, and variables are either adapted to an opponent or not. Meyer has adapted variables of his blueprint to different opponents. Plan A and plan B are pure fantasy. 

Meyer had no blueprint and no adaptation at all and the loss against Japan in 2015 proved it,  His main problem was his team selection was totally poor and he had no idea about how to optimize player usage,   He will never get another coaching job again after the Stade Francais disaster.   

As a coach he was F class and not passable.at all.             

Nobody took Japan seriously....that was the issue and it’s an old Bok failing. We don’t put the minnows to the sword.

As for Erasmus he had a dreadful WC up till the final....lost to NZ, had an easy passage to the semis, which could have gone either way against an awful Wales team.

Then the Poms treated the WC final like a victory lap and didn’t show. That said the Beast scrummed brilliantly in the final.....and the defence led by Mostert’s  15/0 heroics was outstanding. Well done by Nienaber and Proudfoot.

Sure and who has the biggest loss margin ever against the Bargies.....why it’s Rassie Erasmus 32 to 19.