Thinking is in short supply

When the South African Super 14 sides look back on their season, the chances are that all of them will have to admit that there were times that they made life so much more difficult for themselves.

Self-destruction is something that has probably been one of the most consistent traits of South African rugby in the post-isolation era. Think back to all those tests that were lost pre-1995 because of ill-discipline and missed opportunities, and the ones that have been lost since then because of poor selection, wrong options and crucial mistakes at critical stages of a game.

Well, it’s 2006 now, and nothing has really changed. We seem to love to blame the referees for much of what goes wrong, but overseas players just don’t come into a loose-scrum from such a blatantly wrong position as Hanyani Shimange did when he was carded against the Blues on Saturday.

And the De Wet Barry shoulder charge on the Blues flyhalf was every bit as stupid as the unbelievable head-butting incident which ended the Stormers career of one of his predecessors as captain, Corne Krige, in Roturua in 2004.

Yes, I mention Roturua in 2004. I could also throw up Wellington 1994, when Johan le Roux munched the ear of Sean Fitzpatrick, or Sydney 1998, this time Wickus van Heerden (the one from the Sharks), who allegedly did the same thing to Phil Harry. Or I could just spend the whole day dredging up incidents which, if they have not cost their team immediately on the field, have certainly cost them afterwards.

On too many occasions, both at Super 14 and test match level, South African teams have had the flow of a game swing against them because of ill-discipline which has led to players being either sent off the field completely or sent to the sin-bin.

I am not suggesting the Stormers would have beaten the Blues at Eden Park if they had not been reduced to 13 men at a stage of the second half. If anything, they played better in the time those players were off the field. But they did make life very difficult for themselves, much more difficult than it needed to be.

Good on Stormers coach Kobus van der Merwe for afterwards refusing to make any excuses for his players. It would be pointless to try and defend the indefensible. And it would also be pointless to carry on carping about the referees.

As Tony Greig said recently on Extra Cover, referees and umpires are things you have to live with at all levels of sport, and you have to learn to play to them. The culture of feeling done-in by match officials is doing nothing to root out the real problem that is besetting our rugby, which is the tendency for players to come up with the several no-brainers which we see every match and which collectively cost teams log points and victories.

When Shimange transgressed against the Blues, others in front of the television which I was watching the game on shouted out “What the hell are you doing” long before the ref blew for the incident. And it was the same with the Barry tackle.

But you could also ask questions about Adri Badenhorst’s decision to kick the ball onto the Blues when they had 15 men and his own team only had 13. There were numerous other moments in the game where Stormers players chose options which just made no sense.

It was not just them who were guilty of this. The Bulls, after looking so good earlier on, suddenly started to play the wrong game once they had established a good lead against the Chiefs. Their coach Heyneke Meyer, when looking at the log positions, was also moved at the weekend to regret the game dropped to the Hurricanes.

Yes, the TMO did have a big say in that one, but so did the decision making of the Bulls on the field. Talking of decision-making, this was also the Achilles heel of the Cats against the Reds. It was not that the Reds were physically stronger or even more skillful, they just seemed cleverer and more decisive.

And this is the nub of the problem. It was frustration that let the Stormers down against the Blues, but is it clever to let frustration get the better of you? Did Sean Fitzpatrick, for instance, ever let frustration get the better of him? Probably not, and this was probably why he was able to be so successful for so long while always living close to the line.