Why no de Allende, why no JJ, why no Lappies. Every day these questions are put on this site, and every day the conclusions are reached that the coach is stupid, timid, and ill informed.
Well they make mistakes. But they are mostly mistakes of commission....players the coaches have faith in, who can't cut it. Kirchner is a classical example. But many posters on here agreed on Kirchner....you know who you are.
Very rarely do coaches leave out players who can make a difference. Brussouw was such a player....maybe Willie for a while. But that was understandable, each of these players had potential flaws, sheer size in the case of Brussouw and playing style compatibility in Willie's case.
But I could list a whole team of players posters have demanded....who have failed.
Let's take the latest case Redlinghuis. For months now the call has been to drop Jannie and bring in Redlinghuis. So finally with Jannie hurt and Coenie marginal, in comes Redlinghuis. But in every scrum he was involved in the tighthead side was driven backwards....he was worse than Coenie. This guy will never be a great test prop
Opinions are fun, but some opinions count for more than others..
The fact that we lose doesn't mean the coach has made poor decisions. It's also up to the players....and the opposition. As we see in 7s, the S15 and in junior internationals. We probably do best relatively at test level.
But the top teams are very close, and we don't have an overwhelming talent advantage. Frankly even the Bargies run us close in aggregate and are better in many positions.
