Life after Braam

For a man who appointed as his own media relations manager one of South Africa’s most cussed and acerbic rugby writers, Harry Viljoen is highly sensitive to criticism.

It seems to cut him to the core when his motives are questioned or misunderstood but after the naming of his most recent Springbok squad the coach must be wondering what it is he has to do to satisfy his critics in the media and the public.

And, seeing it from his perspective, how can he win?

One moment he’s in trouble for not picking Braam van Straaten and now people are berating him for selecting the very same Braam van Straaten.

We whinge about the inability of the Springbok pack to dominate like they used to but when he brings in a big, strong lad like Danie Rossouw he is castigated.

What’s a man to do?

Having been among those who voiced dissatisfaction with the touring squad allow me to explain.

At the outset of this season I did not include Braam van Straaten in the Bok squad I would have picked.

My choice went to Butch James as I believed South Africa had him in a unique player with the potential to give the Springboks something unusual and, hopefully, an edge. I also believed that James should be entrusted with the goal-kicking and told to make it his business to become one of the best. What’s more he had earned his cap in the Super 12

Like many others I felt Van Straaten’s tendency to cradle the ball to his chest and crash forward, allied to his lack of pace and the fact that he has not shown himself to be an imaginative passer of the ball militated against him being put in charge of the Boks’ backline.

Harry Viljoen also decided on Butch James, but he went with Percy Montgomery as his goal-kicker.

Both experiments failed. Montgomery, who had been Viljoen’s flyhalf experiment the year before, did not come up to scratch as a kicker and James seemed to have his style of play changed in the Springbok set-up. Whereas he tended to take the ball flat and make contact for the Sharks, he developed a tendency to go sideways or try to chip the ball forward for the Springboks.

He also allowed his propensity for committing tough tackles to stray on the wrong side of the thin line that separates competitive aggression from thuggery. In retrospect a number of people probably feel bad about the way James was handled and wonder whether they should have taken a stronger line to rehabilitate the chunky flyhalf, but the reality is that he squandered his chance to give the Springboks some stability at flyhalf.

With Montgomery and also James failing to kick goals it then became apparent – particularly when we lost a test we should have won against the All Blacks at Newlands – that we simply could not play in a test without a reliable goal-kicker.

And on that score there was only one man – Braam van Straaten.

The decision was made to incorporate him at inside centre – like the 1997 Lions chose to include Neil Jenkins at fullback for the same reasons – and, thanks to him, we beat the Wallabies at Loftus and drew with the world champions in Perth.

Fact is Van Straaten did very well at inside centre. He stood his man on defence, hit the ball up strongly and, because other teams expected him to be missed out in attacking moves, acquired additional value as a decoy.

And that’s how it should have been. Braam van Straaten was to be our goal-kicker and the best position to slot him in was at inside centre.

This was a given and, from here my criticism, one would have thought that weighed against this reality every effort would have been made to keep the goal-kicker supreme in the Springbok set-up.

Instead Van Straaten was permitted to slip through the net. He signed a contract to play for pounds in England and, in classic fashion, attempts were made to close the door only after the horse had bolted.

Once he had gone, a new fundamental was in place. If Van Straaten was no longer to be available surely it was time to bite the bullet and try to develop a flyhalf who might do for the Springboks what Stephen Larkham and Jonny Wilkinson did for Australia and England respectively.

Instead, Viljoen and his fellow selectors Francois Davids and Wynand Claassen chose not only to persevere with Van Straaten, who can play a maximum amount of four more tests, but to pick him at flyhalf… the position which by common consent he is not best suited to.

In addition they opted, in Louis Koen, for a deputy flyhalf who, apart from his goal-kicking, has not shown himself to possess the qualities to galvanise a Springbok team incapable of bringing out the best in exciting runners such as Breyton Paulse, Dean Hall, Robbie Fleck, Conrad Jantjes and a number of others.

Frankly, these choices are nonsensical and completely at odds with Viljoen’s prior statements as to how he saw the Springboks progressing.

As to the decision to elevate Danie Rossouw into the ranks of the Springboks, I feel now as I did when Jantjes and Joe van Niekerk were promoted. Not only is there a danger of the colours being cheapened, but the wrong message is being sent out to those who have slogged it out through the Super 12 and Currie Cup when the Springbok jersey is not earned.

I am unwavering in this view and I have yet to speak to a Springbok, both current and former, who does not agree with me.

The message from within the camp is that Jantjes and Van Niekerk have justified the coach’s decision to pick them on the basis of their promise, but I disagree. Without denying their potential, all they have done is manage to cope and not embarrass themselves, but they have certainly not shown themselves to be superior to the like of Thinus Delport or Rassie Erasmus who might be in the side instead of them.

Some other questions crop up. Why are we seeking solutions at loose forward when the real problem is at flyhalf?…and, if Van Niekerk and Rossouw are the kind of loose forwards we are moving towards, where does Bob Skinstad fit into the equation?

To be fair Viljoen finds himself between a rock and a hard place with no patently obvious contenders to claim the No10 jersey. Virtually all the leading points scorers in the Currie Cup are flyhalves, but it cannot be said of one them that he has all the qualities required to be an outstanding test stand-off half.

The best kickers – Koen, Herkie Kruger, Conrad Barnard, Nel Fourie, Francois Swart – are not as competent in the position as the like of Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Chris Rossouw and Gaffie du Toit and to me this tour represented the ideal opportunity to see if one of them could make a fist of it.

Viljoen made radical changes, what with his introduction of Australian coaches and the like, when he took over a year ago and with his latest squad he seems almost to have reversed course. He should not be surprised that rugby folk have reacted critically.