It became clear that in the tests this year that the Springboks never played as a team - but as a few individuals - sometimes they tried - but they never functioned as a team. Why is it that most players fail miserably and even the better ones were not really 5/10?
The problem started when Coetzee was appointed as coach, The fact is that Coetzee has been exactly what he was at the Stormers/WP. As a coach there was NO game plan and there was no vision. The team was selected with no regard to performances and there was no consistency.
So lets start what went wrong with the above issues:-
Game Plan
Coetzee's record as a coach has had a long history and it goes back to the 2007 WC when he was the backline coach. He was clueless and in the end even White - who knows nothing about backline play - was forced to bring in Eddie Jones to try and get some progress in backline play from the team.
Coetzee went to the Stormers and initially when he was backed up by Erasmus was doing quite well. When Erasmus left the set-up the rot set in and the only idea that Coetzee came up with was the following:-
* The only way the backline functions was to kick the ball away or crashball - there is no allowance for backline play - in other words Coetzee religiously followed what White did insofar as teams are concerned where he lacks a backline coach of substance.
* Ball skills coaching was seriously neglected and the passing game was atrocious.
* Backline players were only needed for defense.
* Try scoring by players were not of any value - it was a deadly sin to score tries or assist in scoring of tries, When that happens the player as penalized by leaving him out of the next test.
* Defense was supposedly the only real function of backline players - but there was no team defensive strategy and no co-ordinated defense.
Team Selection
The problem started with Coetzee's selection strategy and his tendency to play players out of position. This was especially noticeable in the backline - but equally so in respect of the forwards. There was no consistency and no real selection norms other than variation of players.
Who has been used? There were three players who played at full back and only one of those are a regular as a full back - the others were not really functioning as full back - they on lower level played in other positions.
On the wings there were no real consistency either. Habana was the consistent selection throughout - the rest was not. Pietersen was brought in and failed miserably - he lost pace completely - Habana clearly is not the player he used to be 5 years ago and his defense was a lottery and poor - Hougaard was the same in defense and not of use in attacking play - Combrinck looked well early on and did well against the Irish, got injure and lost his mojo. Who did I leave out? Ulengo only had one game - but never got any opportunities to perform yesterday.
The center selection was a joke and that includes a list of centers including some real failures like De Jongh and there was zero consistency in selection as well, How many centers were in fact selected by Coetzee. De Jongh, Mapoe, De Allende, Kriel, Van Rensburg, Venter all in 12 tests. There were never a really settled combination and De Jongh was played at 12 where he was poor. Every team announcement there was a different combination and every time the situation turned for the worse.
Flyhalfs was a lottery too. After Lambie got injured early in the first test against the Irish, Jantjies was selected. He clearly was out of depth and the lottery then started. Morne Steyn flopped and then it was back to Lambie who never showed anything and back to Jantjies, What is clear is that none of the players played to full potential and the fact is that Jantjies and Steyn were flops - with Lambie not showing much form.
Here the lottery continued insofar as Faf de Klerk, Paige and Van Zyl is concerned - Faf was inconsistent and lost his mojo. Paige was poor consistently and showed he is not a test player - he was a regular on the Bulls bench and was then picked to start for the Springboks.
I could go on and on about the loosies - there was no real consistency there as well, I think that the combination was horrible and Whitely was the only consistent player at 8. the following were all flops - Mohoje, Carr and Alberts. The selection of Du Toit - the best lock this year - as a 7 was a fatal flop as well. There was no breakdown ball protection and recovery and the defense was useless as well. Although Whiteley started of well - the player lost interest and was not up to standard as a result. We have been suffering for years from poor loosie combinations and Coetzee managed to get them even worse than before.
I think too many players showed a decline in performance as time went on and it is clear that it could be as a result of the poor environment they played in.
Summary
I cannot see how Coetzee can recover any form in team selection and game plan - he vigorously endorsed Jake-ball - but he is no White and cannot get the players to even apply the miserable game plan. A change is absolutely necessary.
However, unless there is a performance clause in his contract - he will have to be paid millions should he be fired and that would be a happy situation for a poor coaching experiment that should never have been made.
Coach57,555 posts
27 Nov 2016, 08:08
#1
27 Nov 2016, 08:08#1
