The Springboks will limp back into South Africa on Monday morning headed by a coach in Allister Coetzee who must know he has some tough and bloody minded decisions to make before his squad leaves again for Australasia on Thursday.
Argentina played well for their 26-24 win in Salta and we shouldn’t forget that last year they were one of the top four sides at the World Cup, with their best result being a comprehensive victory over Ireland in Cardiff. The first defeat on Argentinian soil was not wholly unexpected if you consider how close the Boks came to losing there on previous visits and the steady improvement that has been evident in the Pumas.
However, the problem for Coetzee is that the defeat came after four other games which left more questions than answers and in which his team was far from convincing. Currently Coetzee’s record reads two losses in five starts, but it could easily have been five losses in five starts. For the most part, the Boks have been poor this season, and it has to put Coetzee’s mantra that continuity (in selection) is king under pressure.
If you have a young team and you are building, then losses and lack of performance are acceptable. But not all Coetzee’s selections speak of a building policy. Bryan Habana and Morne Steyn won’t be at the next World Cup. Neither, arguably, will Beast Mtawarira. Steyn is not the perfect flyhalf back-up for Elton Jantjies as you are not looking at like for like.(As I said its time for a clean out )
It was in a way good to learn that Jantjies went off in Salta because of a groin injury as putting Steyn onto the field in the 46th minute, when the Boks were chasing the game and trying to up the tempo like they did so effectively in the second half of the Johannesburg test against Ireland, just wouldn’t have made sense.
Steyn has just never been the type of player that would be required in the situation the Boks found themselves in, and Coetzee’s decision to select the same safety net, because that is what he is, that was relied on for too long by his Bok coaching predecessor, has to be questioned. And that question becomes more necessary when Steyn doesn’t completely deliver on what he has been selected to do, which is kick penalties and conversions.
Up to now Coetzee has kept changes to a minimum, but there are too many areas in the Bok team where combinations are incongruous and lack complete synergy. Rohan Janse van Rensburg is apparently injured, but when he is recovered Coetzee surely should consider the excellent Lions inside centre for a promotion straight into the starting team.
There are people saying that Damian de Allende and Lionel Mapoe aren’t a great fit in the midfield, but perhaps the problem starts at the 10/12 axis. Wouldn’t Jantjies be better off with his regular Lions partner alongside him? (AS SUGGESTED BY THE SAVVY BEENO!!) Of course, Jantjies’ injury could mean he won’t even be there for the games in Australasia, in which case Coetzee could be in an additional pickle.
According to the Sharks management, Patrick Lambie is now on the road to recovery, but he hasn’t played since June, so selecting him straight back into international rugby would be a risk. If Jantjies isn’t able to play, and given the reservations already listed about Steyn, the best option would probably be to move Johan Goosen to flyhalf and select Jesse Kriel as a fullback. (NO KEEP JESSE ON WING AND BRING BACK WILLIE - COMBRINCK BEING THE OTHER WING))
The loose-forwards require some focus too. Individually the players may play well, but how well do they fit together? And if Coetzee is going to persist with Lood de Jager as a No 5 lock, shouldn’t Pieter-Steph du Toit be considered as a blindside flank. He is athletic enough and he is too good a player not to be on the field for the entire 80 minutes.
The whole policy of loading the bench with form players is another thing that requires thought( IS BONGI A FORM PLLYER! bWAHAHAHHAHAHAHA). Coetzee played plenty of cricket in his youth so will understand the pitfalls of choosing your best batsman to come in lower down the order. In short, you risk him running out of partners. Which in a sense is what happened to the Boks at the weekend, where the bench players excelled when they were on but in a sense had too much to do.
The real concern though may be less selection and more the identity crisis the Boks currently appear to be grappling with. It may not be coincidental that their best rugby this year has invariably come when they have been chasing the game and have had no option but to play what everyone likes to describe as Lions rugby by keeping the ball and being adventurous.
In the second half of the second Ireland test the Boks were unstoppable playing that way. Admittedly the Irish were out on their feet by then because of the altitude, but there was enough that was excellent about the Boks in those 40 minutes to imbue them with the confidence to be more attacking at the start of the following game in Port Elizabeth. It didn’t happen and they were lucky to scrape through with the series-clinching win.
A question that keeps getting asked surrounds the accuracy of Coetzee’s contention that you can’t play Lions rugby at international level. At the moment it is not clear what the Boks are trying to do and it appears they are continually between playing styles (except when chasing). Even the traditional strengths such as the driving maul are being neglected.
Coetzee needs to decide what he wants to do, what he wants his team to stand for, and then everyone needs to buy into it. Perish the thought, but if the way forward is to revert to the old physical dominance and kick and chase approach, then just be clear about that.
What harm though is there in trying out the no fear approach adopted by Lions coach Johan Ackermann in Super Rugby? At the moment the Boks are way off the eight ball if you regard New Zealand as the benchmark. The Boks will start as rank outsiders when they play the All Blacks, and will even have to lift quite radically to beat Australia in Australia, so what is there to lose?
Last week it was written that the Bok victories appear to be happening by accident rather than through planning. In Salta the trend of happy accidents stopped. Some radical decision making and perhaps some reinvention might be necessary to guide the Boks out of the fog.
THE POOR OAK CANT SAY THE QUOTA COACH HAS NO CLUE. COACH IS WORSE THAN OU ROOITWITTERBUG THE CLUELESS!
