How our Coaches destroy SA Rugby - Duhan van der Merwe

South African Teams have a long history of self-destruction of the sport in SA and the main culprit for years  has been Ludeke at the Bulls.    They signed players all over the country and then to neglect players constantly.    After a brilliant performance recor on school level - Van der Mere was in the Under 20WC team for New Zealand after initially not been selected for the squad by Theron and only used from  the bench.
Van der Merwe  was in the Under 19 Sevens team of SA showing real pace and he had a wonderful career waiting for him.   He is a big guy 1,93 weighing 100 kgs - but his potential career was wrecked by Ludeke and co.  
He was then signed by White when leeching SA players on a Junior Contract and seems to have gone off the boil.   However, his name keeps popping up when in his last two  games playing for Montpellier he scored a try in each of the matches.
 

 I wouldn't necessary say it is the fault of certain coaches. I think coaching in SA is poor and that we are too results focus at school level and that we have to win at all cost. 
These coaches and players make it to big leagues and take the same mentality with them. Which is what you want, but the players skills bar a few has never been built on. To much time spend on defensive systems rather than focussing on players. 
I also watched an interview with some New Zealand coaches and the people at the union. They have drastically changed their junior culture to get players to enjoy playing the game to be love for the game. Why do you think Soccer is so popular in England. Their teams have a slim chance of being at the top but the fans love going to support their team because every child England plays the game to enjoy it. 
On thing that stood out in the interview was that they stated, what is the point of shifting the ball to the biggest players on the field and letting him run over players to score a try when only one player enjoys and not the rest. This same player may be tested later against players the same size but will end up lacking the skills to compete. 
That is where we are stuck, we need to get our rugby community right and the love of playing the game rather than beating each other to pulp and losing in the process. 
School rugby should be on Enjoyment, Participation and Skill
We should not gravitate to the few gifted but ensure all of our players get to learn and improve. 

 You can't blame one or two coaches for destroying our talent and our rugby, it's the fault of every coach since readmission with a few exceptions like Ackerman.
Hell, as an example, senior Boks couldn't or didn't have the skill to pass the ball hence the reason we never saw an offload in the tackle or the passing of the ball, instead they would die with the ball in the tackle.

 Denny
Have to agree with you there.   However - in this case I refer to Ludeke because I dealt with a specific case - but what you wrote is absolutely true.
Of the coaches since 2000 most were only interested in what they call forward domination without regard to ball handling.   More importantly they laid down fixed game plans and allowed for no variations in play and I do not think they would understand the need for players to read the game and take on-field decisions.
That is why in tests they did win the Springboks scored few tries - matter of fact try scoring was to them a bonus and they could not comprehend that attacking play is required.   If you listen to comments of coaches you get a picture of how they bemoan poor attacking play and ball handling - yet they picked players who were basically incapable of ball handling, ball protection and recovery, etc. 
I think a lot of Springboks per picked for all the wrong reasons and then had to follow game plans that was totally without merit.
.
 

 I shudder to think of our wasted talent......that senior Boks couldn't do basic skills is unbelievable. Mate, forget a gameplan, put together by the man above it would count for zero if players lack basic skills.
It's no wonder the kicking game was the Boks preferred option.

 
Nothing wrong with the skill level of our players.

 Denny
My problem never was with the kicking as part of the game.   I view kicking as an essential part of the game.   What bothered me was the aimless and inaccurate kicking - the kickers cannot even do kicking properly - leave alone passing and ball handling in general.  
Lets take an example - Willie le Roux for instance.   He was brought in because Meye's favourite Kirchner was injured.   Le Roux did exceptionally well initially and Meyer could not drop him and bring back Kirchner.   However, Le Roux in time got neutralized because there were no other backs or even other players  to support him in what he tied to do.
I think it is clear that a cleaning up situation - especially amongst the loosies and backline - is necessary if the Springboks are going to develop as a functional team.   Those players who are deficient in ball handling skills, reading of the game and taking options through selecting suitable running lines, etc should not be considered.   

 Is that right? Well I'll be blown Bwhahahahahahaha

 
Haaaahahahahaaaa!!

Don't you mean you wish you would be blown?

It's been awhile, huh?

The only way that's going to happen, Dense is if you droop it out the window and hope for a stiff breeze.

 

 CC
I do think this site is for discussing variations in opinion.   Let me explain a bit further.   If one look at for instance backline players of the Springboks over the last 5 years there was to my mind a lot wrong in player skills which include decision-making and consequently  virtually total predictability.  
The problem relates to especially backline play.   Some players lack completely in their positions and if they had the skills were not allowed by coaches to exercise those skills by dead head game plans.
I agree with you about it that skills are present in all forms in the Lions backline and that the players do show flare.   Ackerman encouraged them to use their skills and decision-making to the optimum - but coaches like Meyer, Gold, Ludeke and Coetzee failed to do so. 
My main problem with coaching is that because of a variety of factors - inclusive of absolute adherence to game plans and as a result predictability - players are in fact coached out of showing their real skills in all facets of play.
The problem remains in SA Rugby - because of a serious deficiency in too many proper coaches our rugby is suffering badly.    
      

 
Players that were rejected by certain franchises because of their apparent lack of skills were snapped up by the Lions. These same players have shown that they have many skills and much to offer.

So far we've played 10 and won 9. That could not have happened if they were with out a good set of skills. 

The Bulls have an awesome team of skilled players. They should be dominating the competition and yet were run over by a depleted Cruasder side 10 trys to 3.

They are being suffocated by the coach and forced to play a style that most haven't bought into. There is a severe attitude problem there and it's brought on by the coach and management.

The players have not lost the skill set. Fingers need to be pointed elsewhere.

 I have to agree that our coaching at grass roots since re admission has been pretty poor and rudderless. 
As a good I could wait to get on the field to play a bit of rugby from age 7 to 13. We were lucky enough that my school coaches at durbanville both played for boland and wp. They made us train hard and we had to do the usual Koppe stamp, but we also spend a lot of time having fun and coming up with new plays. We were always taught not to run away from your support and that we shouldn't simply ship the ball to the biggest player. 
Fastforward to high school in the 90's and it all changed, all of of sudden it is hitting tackle bag after tackle bag and trying to skittle over players. I lost interest at that stage as it simply didn't enjoy being a robot. 
I remember one day i was in the B team and we were simply cannon fodder for the A team, but me and a couple guys said that we had enough of this and the coach was trying to coach a line out. So I decided that instead of just standing there and taking a pummelling we should compete on their ball because the so bloody predictable and that we should also attack. We succeeded by doing it every single time. The coach was so cross that he never wanted me on the training field again. 
Fast forward to my 20's and it is now the 2000. a friend of mine was playing club rugby and was looking to recruit numbers. I went along and after a few training sessions and games it became again predictable. Big player smashing it up, same as 5 years ago at high school. 
At that stage I decided to head north and ended up in Dublin, I was looking for a touch rugby team to join but end playing tag ruby with a bunch of expats from NZ, Australia and SA. We won the league and made the country tournament. We had a lot of fun and my skill level went through the roof. We got invited to play as a 3rd team against the best of Ireland and the touring team of Australia. We held our own for bunch of players. That winter I signed up to play for Landsdown road, never played in a hard cold winter like that where you lose your boot in the mud. Games was interesting but the we still try to run with the ball and make sure we can get ahead. 
I went back to SA joined the same club that my mate was at and I was competing with best centres but again the coaching was lacking. I was breaking the line at will and were looking for players to run off me but they weren't there. 
So yes, in my experience skills are shoddy and I think the reason why Ireland has progressed so much is tag rugby. It got everybody interested and it was great to see how the Irish people fell in love with the game

 Great post!

I said for years were have been out though and of course crooked out.Leaving the bent refs out of the question we have to face unpalatable facts. The Sun wolves play much more enterprising rugby than most SA sides.Next our Super sides beat the Jaquares but the Boks struggle to do so.. The dunces in charge don't have the ability to compete nor the desire to. 

And then in the midst of all this mediocrity a world class coach, Jake White, came along. In 3 months he turned around the mess that Destroyli created, the embarrassment of our humiliation by the ABs at the WC and we won the Trinations. From total chaos a team suddenly emerged. It wasn't all smooth sailing because the disgusting political types wanted to get rid of him. But he survived and we won the WC.....and then they got their way to a chorus of cheers from fans and officials alike. .. Stupidity begets mediocrity.

 Straueli wasn't half as bad as you make out. He was robbed blind by bad reffing decisions and horrendous injuries.
As for White he should definitely have continued and we would not b in this mess. Instead we got that buffoon PDV!!! No rugby nation could survive the clowns and nonsense we have ruining the game in South Africa .

Oh please.....Destroyli was a disaster.....can you remember Koen at fly half and Braam at centte? He gave so many players the Bok jersey the country had a shortage of the colour green. Enough with the balls Hasbeen.

 The cupboard was very bare due to injuries and a dearth of quality. Rudolf was robbed a tri nations through very bad ref decisions. FACT

I don't remember us being even close....Destroyli never got closer than 7 points to NZ in five games.

 Mozart
With respect White was not a perfect coach - he for instance knows nothing about backline play and never met that requirement without help.  He drew in Jones into the WC staff in 2007 and used Larkham as backline coach at the Brumbies.   At the Sharks he was a dead loss as a coach of the team playing comprehensive rugby.
I would also have preferred him to stay on as coach of the Springboks - but he was basically undermined by the Bulls who wanted Meyer as Springbok coach and they worked together with the Cheetahs and some smaller Unions under the Leadership of Cheeky Watson to get rid of him.   Who were the fans and officials who cheered when he was gone?
White was clearly a difficult person to get along with and his personality has caused problems in whatever post he served in.  
But he is gone and to keep on about him is counter-productive.   In any event this thread is not about all coaches and in essence only about the recent coaches.  

Four weeks ago the barking dogs were all telling us how the Stormers NZ coach had changed the Stormers backline play....you can't make this stuff up!

 What has the latest comments to do with our coaching deficiencies?  

 Rudolph Straueli was the worst Bok coach ever.....the only coach to have a squad of 90+ players, playing Braam Van Straaten side by side with Lois Koen and then to round things off embarrassed us with Kamp Staaldraad.
It's only Jihadi Beeno who thinks he was a great coach.....I kid you not!

South African rugby has become a conveyor belt of donkeys. 
Some of these donkeys can be effective- when a team also includes thinking players. (e.g. Willie Leroux, Barrett, Dan Carter etc).
Most of the players, however, lack basic passing and catching skills. With so many of the best players going overseas- it leaves the one-dimensional donkeys like Diesel - along with new inexperienced players.    

 South African rugby has become a conveyor belt of donkeys Fools....piss poor leadership, starting at the very top and finishing at the bottom.

Always has been really.....normally we were at the bottom of Super Rugby, below the Aussie teams. Remember how the Brumbies used to take us apart. And then Jake created renewed belief in our game, which permeated through to the Bulls, now chock full of WC winners. Now we are convinced we don't know how to play rugby at all, when all that has happened is the National team has imploded because we changed our team and style of play. Jake could fix this.

 I don't share your faith that Bok rugby could be fixed....sure JW would make a difference but I think it's even gone beyond him, that's how bloody useless it's become.
It was clear to me on my recent visit that mediocrity is acceptable and anyone critical is frowned upon.......brought back memories of "The Fountainhead"

Tougher to fix than in 2004, for sure, but not tougher than 3 years ago perhaps. My point is all the same fault lines ran through our rugby back then, but we were still feared....still effective. What has really changed...new coach, new team, new playing style the players clearly struggle to implement.Those are the reasons for our implosion, not the systems, racial selections, school boy training etc. To the extent that they have negatively affected our rugby, they have been doing so for 20 years.

 
What is this "we" Dense?

You are an Ozzie. There is no "we" when it comes to you.

You fled the land with your tail firmly tucked.

 Like Jake fixed the Sharks and got fired after a year?   He cannot fix things because his ideas about how rugby is to be played is not up to date anymore.   He is totally cleless about back line usage in any event.

 
And Rassie is, right?

He has oodles of international experience at his disposal. 

 CC
See my comments faouring a potential foreign coach elsewhere - I do not think in reality any SA coach should be considered - but Ackerman and after him Erasmus - would be an improvement on Coetzee.
The other SA coach mentioned - White - will in most respects have  an even worse affect on SA Rugby and it is only the total non-thinkers who state he would fix things.    

The other coach mentioned........you mean the only non NZ coach who has won a WC and a TN? That 'other' coach?

 A coach is not a one man band who has all the answers to all of the questions.He needs to be acutely aware of his shortcomings and man enough to acknowledge them (if this is back line play....employ someone). He then needs to be able to manage and inspire his whole group. Only then will he have a small percentage chance of winning a RWC.
Just look at Woodward, I read somewhere that he had a backroom staff of 45! I don't think that there are any 'clever'mike poms calling him a poor coach because he did not try to do everything himself.
Move on Mike, your repetitiveness on this issue is sooo boring.
At the end of the day who ever take over from the current window dressing is still going to have his ball$ in a vice with the cANCer at the controls. We have Zero chance at the next or any future RWC as long as the ANC are in power. 

 Mozart
Sorry we will disagree on White ad infinitum.   I was also an admire of White when he was coaching the Springboks in the WC in 2007 and was severely upset when his contract was not renewed.
However, White has spoiled his copybook since then and has become a problem.   The reasons are basically -
*   his problems relating to the changes made to the laws of rugby in 2008 and especially his total incapacity in dealing with comprehensive rugby;
*   his departure from the Brumbies  on false pretenses because he did not get the Aussie coaching job - as well as the problems he had with subsequent employers;
*   the serious damage he caused in the Sharks squad in 2014 which led to the termination of his services and is only now being repaired slowly by Du Preez.
I know that you will disagree about the above - but if Jake White comes back - the departing of players from SA will increase massively because of his deficiencies in player management and he will never solve the problems relating to team building, which is now a major requirement. 
Just a question - were Woodward and the Aussie coach in 2000 New Zealanders?

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Wrong again....if Jake came back he would cease to be a magnet for South African players overseas....providing a sense of security for those who want the financial rewards, but need a known leader. And the success and energy he woulld instantly bring to SA rugby would cause players going to other clubs to reconsider their future. .. Appointing Jake right now, today, is the obvious answer.

 
I agree BokBeF0k. In the end it is team effort ... coaching staff included ... with the head coach having the final say.

White brought in Jones and this helped win the WC.

White takes the credit in the end ... but all the flack went his way too.

Mozart
You really believe in what you write despite the fact that the players who had to renew their contracts for the Sharks refused to do so as long as White was coach.   I do believe White is more a dictator than he is a leader.   So why should SA players suddenly become loyal to him and return to SA because of him?   I think of only one player who might return - Fat Fransie  -  who is a friend of Jake and use that friendship to bully players and was the main reason for the player revolt.  

Stop with the rubbish.... please. They disliked him so much they went to play for him at Montpellier? Jannie, Bismarck, Spies, Frans, Willemse and a bunch of others....all attracted by Jake.