Super 12 failures show why Skinstad must stay

"The revolutionaries may stamp their feet, the Communists can scream their lies, but here is the reality..."

I forget which Apartheid era politician used those words to start a speech aimed at intensifying white paranoia against the "swart gevaar" and justifying the measures taken to combat the "Total Onslaught". It may have been the late John Vorster or his sidekick Jimmy Kruger, but I fancy it was PW Botha in that infamous Rubicon speech of 1985.

It was very tempting on Saturday to doctor those words and use them in my match report for the Brumbies win over the Stormers at Newlands.

It might have gone something like this: The coach can appeal for calm, the administrators can apply their spin and the Press can search for excuses to gloss over the truth, but here is the reality - South African rugby is in crisis and drastic measures are required to set it right.

Unlike the politicians of yesteryear, I would have had more than enough fact at my disposal to justify the strong words. When the Stormers conceded the opening try of the second half to Stirling Mortlock, it became obvious that South Africa was condemned to its 15th defeat in 16 starts to an Australasian side in this year's Super 12.

A sobering statistic indeed. As sobering was the scoreline between overseas and South African teams from the past weekend - 162 points to Australasia, 62 to South Africa. And no-one who watched the weekend round of games could possibly argue that this was not an accurate reflection of the way the games went.

But this is not an attempt to add more negativity to a scenario that has gone way beyond that. What we need is a solution to the malaise, and quickly. And seeing that Rudolf Straeuli officially takes up position as Springbok coach on Monday (April Fool's Day), perhaps now is the time to start looking at the type of rugby the national team should be playing in the new international season.

The person sitting next to me in the press box at Newlands was as awestruck by the quality of rugby produced by the Brumbies as the Stormers appeared to be during that walkabout second half of theirs.

It was sublime stuff and though the Stormers were still in the game at the break, there was never really any doubt that the faster and slicker team would win. But my neighbour in the press area, a radio journalist, did not agree that the Springboks under Straeuli would be incapable of beating a Wallaby team playing Brumbies rugby.

His argument did have some merit. Basically his point was that the Boks should not go out to copy the Brumbie style of play but should play them with a game based on traditional strengths. In other words, the Boks should go out to destroy Australia in the scrums and other set phases and then build their game from there.

Those with reasonable memories will recall that this is what the Boks did when they won a Tri-Nations match against the Australia in Pretoria last year. And while the Brumbies were brilliant against the Stormers, it is also true that the home team helped facilitate their own demise with an appalling display in the lineouts.

No less than eight Stormers throws led to possession for the Brumbies. Had this statistic been the other way around, we would not now be lauding the Brumbies for their slickness and the visitors would never have been able to show off their superior skill levels with ball in hand.

The problem though is that with the exception of the aforementioned Pretoria test, the notion that South African rugby has forwards to dominate and destroy Australia in set-pieces has largely been proved fallacious during the past few years.

As colleague Dan Retief pointed out a few weeks ago, one of the Brumbies strengths is that they are very seldom shaded in the scrums. Ditto for the lineouts. Even if the Boks did build a gargantuan pack, I fancy the Australians would be clever enough to find a way to combat it, as they did when they started outscrumming the South Africans towards the end of the Perth test in last year's Tri-Nations.

So suggesting that South Africa should just go out and destroy the Australian possession at source is a trifle too simplistic. It requires more than that to beat even an average team, as was proved by the Cats when they went down 30-21 to the Hurricanes in the opening match of the fifth round.

One particular statistic flashed on the screen during that match was particularly damning of our rugby - the Cats conceded three tries in a match where they enjoyed 66% of possession.

That says two things - firstly, the Cats defensive work was as woeful as ever, and secondly, not even the injection of the exciting young Andre Pretorius at flyhalf could prevent the Cats from being predictable and sterile on attack.

The Sharks were outplayed at forward by the Waratahs the following the day, but they have also played in games this season which underline the folly of thinking that a strong forward effort can suffice.

The Stormers forwards were shaded in the opener at ABSA Stadium but the Cape team were still able to win, and score three tries, with the minimal possession that came their way.

The message is clear - South African rugby requires stronger adherence to the basics but they also need greater innovation to break down the organised foreign defences.

If there is one team on the planet that they should emulate at this stage it is the French, who appear now to have got the balance right after years of concentrating too much on flair and too little on securing the possession necessary to make that flair count.

The Stormers are considered to be the flair team in South Africa at the moment, but even they were forced to admit after the Brumbies game that they lacked for it against a team of that quality.

A comment was made by a senior member of the camp that had Bob Skinstad been present, it might have been different. I don't know if I agree that the result would have gone the other way, but the point may have been the correct one.

When Straeuli was first appointed the media was rife with speculation that it should signal the end of the line for the incumbent skipper, Skinstad.

While few should have any problem with Corne Krige taking over the captaincy, and there may be good reasons for that, the events of the past few weeks, in particular the patent lack of dynamism or flair in the SA teams, suggests that the name of Bob Skinstad should be one of the first entered onto Straeuli's team sheet come the end of May.

Oh, I hear the argument that Skinstad has not played much rugby this season. But then I challenge those who emphasise the importance of current form over other factors to select a Springbok team out of the players currently playing Super 12.

Can't do it? I thought not.