The Stormers ws hyped up as the team to watch in 2013 and the situation was just the opposite. They -
* ended up with no silverware - bar the Under 21 CC; and
* were out of the top 6 in the Super series.
The question remains - what went wrong with the hype? The answer is that although they claimed to be hampered by injuries - the real issue is really wih their team selection. That really was a nightmare and I think that the problem has beeb the coach's problematic team selection.
Lets look at it objectively and especially at the choices made by Coetzee insofar as the whole Super 15 series is concerned. The big story at the end of 2012 was the fact that the Stormers signed up Elton Jantjies and Jaco Taute for Super 15 in 2013. That was supposed to give them backline clout and that hey would be virtually unbeatable. That turned out to be a disaster.
Jantjies
Jantjies showed much promise as an under 20 player - but there were serious signs of him not developing further. There were especially in 2012 serious signs of poor play on his part and Michell lost his patience with him - he was at times benched and even put on the bench in some matches. The problems as illustrated in various matches (poor ball handling and passing when under pressure, failure to make contact and serious deficiencies in defence and under high balls when under pressure) were covered up by an endless stream of praise in newspaper articles.
Coetzee bought into the hype and persuaded the Stoprmers to give Jantjies a contract for Super 15 in 2013 with a massive price tag. It was probably the worst thing the Stormers could have done.
Jantjies showed up all his negatives in 2013 - He was at best a poor flyhalf and his goal kicking - a strong point in the past - deserted him completely in the first Super 15 match against the Bulls. They dared not let him kick at goal - so they had to bring in pietersen for that purpose - thereby disrupting the carefully laid out plans insofar as Taute was concerned.
He was such a poor investment that the Stormers could not wait for his contract to end - and ended up playing Van Aswegen in the matches towards the end of Super 15. Van Aswegen is a solid flyhalf - but no game breaker.
As the contract was only for the Super 15 series - Cetzee tried to convince the Stormers Board to contract Jantjies for both Super 15 and CC series of the future. They baulked and he was sent packing.
Taute
Taute in fact was a better "buy" than Jantjies. He wa excellent at full bak for the Lions - but then got buggered around by moving him to center as a result of injuries to the Lions centers. Meyer fell for the hype and selected him as center for the Springboks - but his performance were nondescript and his defence at times putrid.
Moving him to center damaged Taute's image badly and he had a lot to do to repair the damage in plying for the Stormers. He never got a chance to do that - because of the failure of Jntjies to kick t goal and the Stormers was forced into playing Piteren at full back.
Taute consequently had very little opportunity to find his footing in a new franchise environment. He was given very little playing time and obviously tried to impress the powes to be. In doing so - he made some errors - especially with line kicks and a tendency to run straight at defenders and getting tackled with ease by th first defender he encountered. 21013 was not a good year for Taute from the injury perspective. Before he really got going in his new team environment he encountered the second serious injury and was out for the rest of the year.
Be t as it may - his contract with the Stormers was extended and he has a mountain to climb to prove that he is a top class player worthy of team selection.
Coetzee's other Selections
Instead of improving the backline performances Coetzee buggered up the whole team performance by putrid selections:-
Juan de Jongh
Never a star in attacking play - De Jongh became a serious liability in 2013. His defence can be equated to a sieve - with a missed tackle ratio of 28% in Super 15. The obvious choice of playing De Allende and De Villiers as the center combination was ignored.
The Fyhalf fiasco
The failure of Jantjies caused problems and Coetzee mostly fell back to Van Aswegen with back up by the absolutely mediocre Coleman as buck up in the CC. The whole process was seriously flawed.
It was clear from early on in Super 15 that there was a serious bugger - up and the fact that they ran back to Catrakilis was prove of it. They had a very good flyhalf in Timo Swiel to fall back on - but ignored that option and carry on with mediocrity
throughout the remainder of the year.
SUMMARY
What will happen in 2014. I am afraid there will not e much of an improvement in backline performances. They let Swiel go and he flyhalf berth will be covered by Catrakills (a good player) - Van Aswegen (an above average flyhalf) and the useless and mediocre Coleman.
The no 13 position will be given to De Jongh - a proven failure over the past two years.
They will obviously get the lock selection wrong and also the loosie combination. would go wih Etzebeth and Manual Carizza at lock - with Ruan Botha as back-up and for the loosies would pick Vermeulen, Elstatdt and Fourie as the loosie combination - with Kolisi as back-up. The player to watch out for is Burger - he may yet be an option to consider.
However, the clueless Coetzee will not be logical and another fiasco can be expected.
