/ 23 September 2016

Bruised SA rugby looks for answers

Bruised Sa

When South African Rugby Union (Saru) president Oregan Hoskins resigned last month, few could have predicted how rapidly things would go pear-shaped. It seems that he was the glue holding the organisation together and now that he is gone, forced out by narrow provincial interests, the centre cannot hold. The great unravelling has begun.

Where to start? Perhaps with the nominal apex of the rugby triangle in this country, the Springbok coach. Seven matches into the reign of Allister Coetzee, the national side has won three and lost four. The squad announced this week for the home games against Australia and New Zealand pulls no rabbits from hats.

The return of Pat Lambie is significant in the developing horror story that is the career of Elton Jantjies, but otherwise the mix is as before. Many things could have been done; the captain could have been stood down and a new incumbent named. Underperforming individuals could have been dispensed with. But the coaching staff may have thought that, once they started pruning, where might it all end.

Reputations have been battered and bruised. So much so that when the coach announced that he was releasing five players for Currie Cup duty, Blue Bulls coach Nollis Marais said thanks, but no thanks. The players concerned, Rudy Paige and Trevor Nyakane, have played so little rugby during their stint with the national side that Marais considered them surplus to requirements.

Then the Currie Cup knockout stages were moved back a week, meaning that the domestic season now ends on October 22. The reason given for the change was that the Test match between South Africa and New Zealand in Durban on October 8 might be compromised if the Sharks earn a home semifinal.

It might be thought that this could have been anticipated when the fixtures were released, but Saru was so tardy in doing so that few are surprised.

Why, you may well ask, could the Sharks not play their semi as a curtain-raiser for the Test match? Because Saru demands a pristine pitch and clean branding.

This is a relatively new phenomenon. Before the turn of the century, a Test began early with curtain-raisers embraced by a rugby-mad public. The paint-splashed fields of today, advertising everything from sponsors to Twitter handles, have to be treated with kid gloves right up to the moment the national sides run on.

Ironically, in the circumstances, the remaining fixtures in the Currie Cup may well obviate the need for a Sharks home game.

Other fixtures of a more controversial nature were released this week. Sanzaar (South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia Rugby) tried to put lipstick on the pig that is Super Rugby in its 18-team format. What they couldn’t hide was the fact that 2017 will be the last time it will be played that way.

Stakeholders pulled no punches at the last Sanzaar meeting, slamming the system as unworkable. The only reason it survives for one more year is contractual. Two years were agreed to and franchises contracted players on that basis.

The Sunwolves in particular were compromised, only finalising their squad two weeks before the 2016 tournament kicked off, and then only because Sanzaar held a gun to the Japanese franchise’s head. The reward for the Sunwolves in 2017 is just four games in Tokyo and a travel itinerary of more than 200 000km.

Several new formats have been considered for 2018 and beyond, but insiders suggest that it will be reduced to 16 or perhaps 15 teams. That will mean the end of the Sunwolves and the Kings, with the possibility that either the Rebels or the Force might join them in oblivion.

Saru would like to ignore the question about how the Kings might fulfil their 2017 fixtures. The Eastern Province Rugby Union, the Kings’ parent body, is no longer a going concern and the team representing it in the Currie Cup went down 53-0 to the Sharks in Durban last weekend.

There is talk of a national under-21 team playing in their stead. Talk about throwing players to the wolves.

Tournament issues will surely be a topic of conversation at the coaching indaba Saru will host in Cape Town during the week before the Currie Cup final.

It has been prompted by the poor displays of the national side and the likely participants suggest the days of Coetzee’s support staff are numbered.

When he was appointed, it seemed as though his backroom staff were part of the deal. But too many poor displays have put a spotlight on their shortcomings.

Attack coach Mzwandile Stick is desperately short of experience at any level, a fact that was glossed over in the race to transform. Defence coach Chean Roux is not a specialist in that discipline and owes his inclusion to being a Saru employee without enough commitments in his portfolio. Forwards coach Matthew Proudfoot came through the Stormers system with Coetzee and his principal assistant, Johann van Graan, was the one survivor from the Heyneke Meyer era.

Coetzee’s job is safe, but Saru will be ruthless with the rest. In all likelihood, the players and coaches who go to Europe in November will be dramatically different to those who finish the Rugby Championship.