Some advice for Straeuli and Sharks

When Rudolf Straeuli took over the position of “Commercial Manager” at the Natal Sharks this week, he may have wondered momentarily if he was caught in a time-warp.

Five years ago was when we saw Straeuli first introduced to Sharks rugby, and he would not have noticed much being different when he walked into his new office at ABSA Stadium.

Like in 2000, the Sharks are in crisis, and after their heavy defeat to Western Province which effectively ended their season, the public in Durban must be getting desperate.

For those who don’t know, next year is also one of some significance for Sharks rugby. For those linked to that union should be acutely aware that when 2006 arrives, it will be 10 years since “the team of the nineties” last won the Currie Cup. In other words, it has been a decade since the union that at one stage styled itself as the Manchester United of South African rugby has tasted any success.

Yes, there were Currie Cup final appearances in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003. But they all ended in defeat. You know that old saying: Close, but no cigar. And while glory appeared to be beckoning for the Sharks in 2001, when they made the Super 12 final, the momentum was never carried on.

In fact, ever since their excellent win over the Cats in the semi-final that year, the Sharks appear to have been engaging reverse gear. And judging from the reaction of sections of the Durban media to Straeuli’s appointment, it appears there are some who believe Straeuli’s appointment is also a backward step.

I must admit it does confound me that the Sharks never took a closer look at the credentials of Alan Solomons, the former Stormers coach who has outstanding management skills and who is probably better suited to a Director of Rugby position than he is to being head coach.

We hear that Craig Jamieson was also on the shortlist for the new position, which a very short press release issued from ABSA Stadium informed us is pretty much the director of rugby position that was advertised.

Jamieson, it should be recalled, was not just a former successful Natal captain, but also an outstanding general manger of the Natal Rugby Union.

With the new man set to be positioned just below Sharks chief executive Brian van Zyl on the chain of command, Jamieson would also have been an inspired choice.

But Straeuli, although a public relations problem so soon after the controversial end to his Springbok coaching career, and this was borne out one feels by the brevity of the almost apologetic press release, is not necessarily the ogre people make him out to be.

Straeuli was not the last Springbok coach who appeared to be afflicted by the madness that tends to visit incumbents of the most pressured job in South African sport. He made a lot of mistakes, in fact he made a heck of a lot of mistakes, while he was in charge.

And there are several high profile players still in the game who won’t in a hurry forgive him for making an idiot of them during Staaldraad.

But rugby people in Durban have been telling me for some time now that Straeuli is a reformed man, has owned up to his mistakes, and now that the pressure of Bok coach is off, he has regained his sense of humour and has lost the rigidity which was one of his downfalls in that job.

Having bumped into Straeuli a few times myself during trips to Durban this year, I can confirm that this was the impression he gave me too. He was a lot more like the Springbok flanker who together with hooker Uli Schmidt and armed with a carton of fireworks, set off a fire alarm in a hotel corridor where I was staying during a tour of Wales in 1994.

Straeuli did rescue the Sharks from a real mess in 2000. There was a reason he was chosen as Springbok coach at the start of 2002: He had guided the Sharks from last place in the Super 12 in 2000 to second in 2001. The bloke who manages that cannot be a mug.

But a word of warning for Straeuli and the Sharks – times have changed, people have changed, trends have changed. Much of Straeuli’s earlier success was built around a discipline regimen that will be scoffed at today, and which the modern professional player cannot possibly take seriously.

Anyone who has watched the Sharks play this season will know that their problem is not that they need to be taken into the bush and taught discipline. Their problem is that they need experienced campaigners from outside to be contracted into the union to help the several prodigiously talented youngsters uncovered by Dick Muir and the Sharks Academy to mature into their positions.

I watched the Natal under-21 side hammer the Leopards at the weekend and what I saw was heartening to one who remembers the Natal junior side being hammered by all-comers not that long ago.

There is a lot of young talent suddenly coming through at that union and I am happy to report that the KZN-Sharks at least appear to have delivered on their promise to get the pipeline working again.

What they, Straeuli and Muir need right now though is a winning team to get the public in behind them and take off some of the pressure. Straeuli is in charge of the contracting. Let’s hope he does it wisely, for there is much that needs to be done.