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The hopes of every South African rugby supporter lies squarely on the shoulders of Bismarck du Plessis and Jake White. That is the sad reality as the South African conference has had their worst year in Super Rugby history.
Why is this so? The player exodus? That the honeymoon period for the Cheetahs never ended?
The Lions returning after being in the wilderness, or perhaps the stale coaching that has been ingrained into some of the teams?
Perhaps it isn’t all that simple, and perhaps it isn’t all that dire.
Lions – The surprise team
Who said entering the Super Rugby from the wilderness with a largely inexperienced team and a new coach was a disaster waiting to happen?
The Lions ended with their best ever Super Rugby season, seven wins from 16 matches.
They started with a shock away win to the Cheetahs, with unknown Marnitz Boshoff kicking them to victory.
They subsequently annihilated the Stormers the next weekend, courtesy of the Boshoff boot. Boshoff contributed 29 points.
After two losses away from home to the Bulls and Sharks, they were a tad lucky to beat the Blues in a high scoring game with a controversial try at the death. They again escaped defeat against the Reds via the most talked about refereeing performance of Stuart Berry for the season.
It then seemed as if the bubble burst, a string of defeats in derby matches followed before becoming cannon fodder for the Chiefs and Waratahs. It suggested they have filled their quota of wins for the season.
For those who would have thought the Lions have had their last say in this season, they denied the Bulls a much needed win to qualify for the play offs.
Just to prove they were no one-hit wonders, the Lions took care of the Rebels and then annihilated the Cheetahs with an eight-try rout in their final match of the season.
There is much for Johan Ackerman to celebrate. They have the best scrum in Super Rugby, a decent line out and very good maul, pure guts and determination showed by an inexperienced group of players who will have learnt a lot this season.
The Sharks – Disappointing end to a long season
The Sharks shot out of the blocks in the first three rounds of the season and scored their only two try bonus points. Whether you want to blame the injuries of Patrick Lambie and Paul Jordaan or the stoic game plan of Jake White, their rampant start turned into a long slog for the rest of the season.
What must have been their main focus of the season, the overseas tour, turned into three wins and a close loss to the Brumbies, providing Jake White’s men 13 log points in four weeks. The problem for them came with a loss to the Highlanders the weekend prior to their tour, and the two losses suffered against the Stormers and Cheetahs on their return, effectively killing of any chances of finishing the season in the top two.
Whether they go on to beat the Highlanders this coming weekend at home should not be a comfort as they will have to travel away to play a semi final or final if they do get that far, which is something that looked highly unlikely at the end of week 16.
The Sharks should feel rightly disappointed in their season, they basically handed the pole position to the Waratahs and losses to the Stormers and Cheetahs in the “weak” conference of the season should never be excused. The lack of a willingness to play more positive rugby is of great concern.
Cheetahs – The less said, the better
It seems Naka Drotske never told his charges that the Honeymoon period ends when the new season begins, the Cinderella team of 2013 was brought back to earth with something akin to an obsolete satellite burning up in earth’s atmosphere.
They were really only spoilers this season, cannon fodder for most, and only served the purpose of halting the Sharks charge to the top of the log. They spoiled the party for the Brumbies and slowed the Chiefs to a draw.
Other than that there isn’t much to say, scrum was poor, line out fair, discipline poor and defence non existing. Conceding 59 tries in regular season would suggest the Cheetahs had a very poor attitude towards defence, and without attitude you may as well concede your matches.
The shining lights for the Cheetahs were Lood de Jager, WIllie le Roux and Coral Hendricks.
Perhaps it is time for the Cheetahs to start looking for new management.
Stormers – a season of two halves
How does one sum up the season for a team that wins only one of their first seven matches, then returns with a six out of eight record for the second half?
You could argue that injuries played a role, or you could argue that on their return from the Antipodes the Stormers improved when their coach Allistair Coetzee suggested they just go and play rugby as their game plan was not working.
Either way, the most important influence the Stormers had this season was to deny the Bulls a play-off spot, reduce the Sharks to qualifiers, deny the Force a play off spot and dent the chances of the Highlanders to win their conference.
The Stormers need serious changes in management. I do no longer care whether half the South African populace suggest we should stick to our guns and play a defensive game plan, it simply is no longer working, and the Stormers need to change their mind set. Tries win matches and tries provide bonus points.
Yes, there are times when you have to grind out a win, but how do you chase a game, if you have a fear of failure and no willingness to throw the ball around?
Bulls – Something there, or not?
The Bulls could so easily have made the play offs. All they had to do was beat the Lions and Stormers, yet, they failed.
I have said this many times before, and perhaps someone will listen this time round. Structure is good, set piece is important, discipline is vital, but there comes a time when plan A is not working, you are chasing the game and you need to change the point of attack, a one off runner into organised defence is like hitting your head against the wall.
If someone at the Bulls camp would just once try to hit the gap, or offload to a player in a better position, they will realise how nice it is when the pain stops and tell everyone else about it.
Was the South African season a failure?
Perhaps not, the Lions did very well for a team with no stars or experience, the Sharks grinded their way to a play off spot, the Stormers showed improvement in the second half and the Bulls were there or thereabouts.
The only real disappointment was the Cheetahs.
The derby matches were competitive, with the Sharks taking five wins, the Stormers, Lions and Bulls taking four each and the Cheetahs finishing with three.
The major contributing factor was the absolute dire results in the Antipodes. Apart from the Sharks, the Bulls came within a score in all four their matches, but had no luck, the Stormers came within a score twice, but again had no luck and the Lions were unfortunate not to get a second attempt at goal versus the Highlanders.
Whatever you want to ascribe those results to, it is simply not good enough.
Here is hoping next year will be better.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.