Ferdi Greyling ponders the decline of South African rugby in rec.sports.rugby.union:
The problems with SA rugby. (My book The Problem With The World to
follow soon.)
This after a newspaper article quoting Laurie Mains and listening to
Balie Swart (SA man helping Mains in NZ now), Naas Botha and Joost on
TV last night.
Mains said the problem is in the structure. The way SA rugby gets
disorganized by management.
He said it is as easy as this: To do well in the S12, you have to keep
the same team for a stretch and develope that team.
He said you can lose two players for the next season but when you
start losing up to 6 players you are fucked.
In SA teams gets chopped and changed.
The management (Sarfu) does not work for consistency.
That does not, however, explain the Sharks and the Stormers who have
been pretty consistent for a number of seasons.
Naas said he actually asked players about instructions (on Bok level)
and they told him they are playing under orders and strict game plans.
They were also told not to go for the half gap as that is a risky
thing to do.
In tha past on this programme Joost has also hinted that he is not
allowed to play as he can best play. He also in the past have
mentioned that sometimes he arrived at a breakdown and he has to fight
for the ball because the forwards are standing in the backline and
that is why a forward has to clean the ball at times.
They referred to Gregan who NEVER has to go and challenge for the ball
against opposition forwards and gets the ball laid out for him neatly
by HIS forwards. Basic stuff really…..
Balie Swart said with the Highlanders they know that players cannot
remember and execute more than 4 thing in games. So they keep it
simple.
They hone the basic skills, keep the instructions simple and play
rugby. Unlike SA rugby where the air is filled with black boards with
intricate game plans, it seems.
Swart also said in NZ there are two sacred things in rugby: The
players and the supporters.
The coach has the job of making it as smooth as possible for the team.
(In SA we also have sacred things in rugby. They are: The salaries of
the officials, the contracts of the players, the franchises at the
stadium, the vision of the coach, the ads on the jerseys, the sponsors
and the racial quota of the team.)
In another article the Brumbies told of how they live and train. They
play LESS rugby than SA with 7 to 8 weeks of rest and build up between
the S12 and the latter part of the season (that is when we bash each
other in the Currie Cup). They - the Brumbies - also live in one
housing complex. They are very much a team.
They use the long off seasons to get fit and build muscle etc. Comes
the S12 they work on tactics etc.
In SA our players use the short off season over December to get their
operations done.
We have sponsors to feed….. Ad companies to please….. contracts to
honour is other countries etc.
In short. SA rugby is being sacrificed to: 1. Money. 2. Coaches who
think rugby is a brand of philosophy. 3. Politicians who think rugby
is an extension of politics.
Go on like this and it will surely die.
{ 0 comments… add one now }