Why the AB system works is because the transition from provincial to test rugby is seamless in terms of style of play. Players move into the test arena confident in what is expected of them, knowing exactly what game plan, pattern of play is the order of the day. It’s all familiar to them as its pretty much what they are doing with their franchises for months on end in the Super and domestic leagues.
A national coach only has his players for a few weeks of the year and given this very fact, you cannot possibly change the way they are used to playing when playing for their provinces. Expecting them to change is a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what we are witnessing with the Boks. There is no uniformity in how our provincial sides play, most seem to be advocating the need to be more expansive but that involves a change in mindset and instinct which takes time to evolve and implement effectively. When these players then find themselves under Coetzee, there is a step back towards the conservative percentage approach, which is affecting the Lions players more than others for they are the one group who are at home with the expansive approach. Indecision and lack of confidence is the order of the day. This in turn is perpetuated by the losses week after week. The pressure builds and the side unravels further. The saddest product of this will be the discarding of players like Jantjies, Jaco Kriel etc who have proved at the Lions they have what it takes to achieve results. The biggest issue with Bok rugby right now is the massive divide between how the game is played at Super vs test level. There is no seamless transition…….its like T20 players expected to play test cricket after playing T20 all season.
The obvious solution for the Boks post Meyer was to agree amongst the Super 18 and CC coaches the most effective way to play the game, which is clearly the Lions/Kiwi way and to select the best coaches to implement this way which obviously is Ackerman and Swys. With that their main responsibility given the lack of quality time national coaches have with their teams is for them to get the selections right. Patterns of play and structures need to be engrained at provincial level with the test players seamlessly making the transition with confidence when playing tests.
Coetzee fails miserably when it comes to selections and he is yet to work out how to play the game……it’s a double edged sword. He either needs to go or he needs to demand that he be given the best support staff available. The first person he needs to bring on board is Swys de Bruin, the brains behind the Lions evolution. He currently has nobody Stick as his attack coach and equally nobody Roux as his defensive coach……it’s a joke.
