Time to fix the Springboks

One of the most serious indictments of the Springboks, both coaches and players, after their unimpressive exit from Rugby World Cup is the lack of improvement in the quality of their play over the last year.

For a team that is surrounded by a national coach, three Super 12 coaches plus a technical analyst and who have, since August, done nothing but practise and prepare for the World Cup the shortcomings in their technical skills were alarming.

They prided themselves in the power of their scrum, but seem unconcerned that they were unable to control the ball on their put-in against England. They smashed Samoa, but were then comprehensively outplayed by the All Blacks in the match that really mattered.

So much, then, for playing to their strengths.

As the game has evolved, especially in recent times, ball retention has become all-important as the skills of the players have become greater and the need to deny the opposition the ball, or suck in and eliminate defenders, more intense.

In the Springbok team this ability to re-cycle the ball through successive phases, patiently building a platform from which a try-scoring move can be launched, has been consistently poor.

In the quarterfinal against New Zealand, for instance, it took the Springboks 35 minutes before they managed to keep the ball for more than one (yes one) phase. In the entire match they managed only three periods in which they re-cycled the ball up to three times against opponents who time and again maintained long spells of possession.

This was a phenomenon evident in the season’s opening tests and into the Tri-Nations yet at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne it was still apparent with players seeming to lack the technique to keep the ball – either by falling improperly, preventing them from presenting the ball with a deep place as other sides do, or by players becoming isolated and there being too little support around the ball-carrier.

Early on in the year many experts started to urge the coaches to make a change at flyhalf to give the side more speed and variation, yet the team selectors stuck doggedly to the boot of Louis Koen – even after the team produced its best performance of the year in going down to the All Blacks in Dunedin but succumbed because kicks were missed and there was not enough creativity among the backs.

Crucially the team’s management failed to acknowledge that for this test the All Blacks had made significant changes to their pack which adversely affected their performance.

When the change was finally made in Australia it was too late; with the decision to give Derick Hougaard a chance appearing to be almost grudging and the youngster looking everything but the confident pivot who is allowed to run things at the Blue Bulls.

This may be a case of a player struggling to find his feet, lacking experience, in a tougher arena but the decision to try something else should have been made sooner.

Obviously untimely injuries to players who might have made a difference – Andre Pretorius, Marius Joubert, Gcobani Bobo and Jean de Villiers come to mind – played a role but one doubts whether they would have made a significant impact in a backline so lacking in direction and strategy.

One fact stands out. The Sprinboks played two big games at the World Cup – against England and New Zealand and in both they failed to score a try. In their four Tri-Nations games this year – against Australia and the All Blacks – they were able to score only four tries.

Other nations – notably England, New Zealand, France and Australia – have left South Africa behind in terms of the quality and depth of their play while others such as Ireland, Argentina, Wales and Scotland are now at our level, if not better.

It is no longer good enough to talk of tradition and the physicality of Springbok rugby. South African rugby has lost its aura of strength because other teams have bigger and more physical players while in terms of skill and flair we have been left behind.

South Africa’s recent record is unacceptable. Seven defeats in a row to New Zealand, five in a row to England, record losses to France, Scotland, England and New Zealand.

The Springbok team is merely the culmination, the product if you will, of South Africa’s rugby structure and if it continues to struggle there must surely be something wrong with the system.

This is not a time for calm. This is not a time for stability. This is a time for panic and desperation, for strong action, apportioning blame and finding real solutions… a time for rugby administrators to tell us what they’re going to do to put the Springboks back on top of the world.