Naas Botha once said the Currie Cup is not won in May and I suppose we could say the Super Rugby is not won in February either, however when you start looking around it is clear the South African Franchises are not in a good head space at the moment.
Sharks
They are currently the clear front runner in the South African conference, not only by results but the manner in which they dispatched the Bulls and took care of the Hurricanes in Round 2.
The Sharks scored four tries in the opening round, the first a well-executed try featuring Pat Lambie offloading to Lwazi Mvovo in space, and then ultimately Paul Jordaan for the finish in the corner. The second try came from pressure in the lineout and an intercept by Cobus Reinach for the easy run in.
The third try came from a clever Frans Steyn cross-kick into the hands of Akona Ndungane, who finished off in the corner.
Their fourth try came from a long period of pressure in the final minutes of the match when Lambie dummied to his outside and crashed over from five metres.
Against the Hurricanes the Sharks scored their first try from a close-in drive by Willem Alberts after a few phases of pressure on the Hurricane line, and their second from a well anticipated intercept by Mvovo.
Bulls
It took them 72 minutes before they managed to score a try from a well-executed maul against the Sharks.
Against the Cheetahs the Bulls went tryless.
Against the Lions, the familiar Bulls game of kick and chase, maul and drive worked, their first try coming from within their half when Jan Serfontein recognised the opportunity to attack, drew his man and passed outside to JJ Engelbecht who fed Bjorn Basson. He made the run down the line and, after drawing the final defender, passed inside to Jan Serfontein, who finished.
Cheetahs
The Cheetahs started their campaign full of promise against an unrated Lions outfit, their first try courtesy of a Willie le Roux counter from inside his half, then passing to a sprinting Raymond Rhule to finish the try.
A second try was in the offing when Willie le Roux again saw the space out wide and gave a long pass to Cornell Hendricks to score in the corner.
Against the Bulls the Cheetahs went tryless.
The Cheetahs scored their first try against the resurgent Rebels from a maul, their second again from a maul.
Lions
For all their endeavour thus far in their first three outings the Lions have created one try with attacking play, a line break by Warren Whitely in the midfield with a flat pass to Stefan Watermeyer on the outside and running the ball close to the uprights for the score.
The Lions managed two tries against the Bulls, both from charge downs.
Stormers
Against the Lions, Scarra Ntebeni was the only try scorer from a collapsed maul when he rolled around (with some suspect obstruction by Rohan Kitshoff) and dotted down.
On a wet Newlands, the Stormers needed all of 80 minutes to score a try from a maul to take the game by one point against the Hurricanes.
It is disconcerting when you can fill up the try scoring exploits of five Super rugby franchises in just one page after three rounds. What is even more disconcerting is the manner in which these tries have been scored.
After the first three rounds, the Sharks have a try for and against of 6-1 after two matches, the Bulls 2-6 after three matches, the Cheetahs 4-5 after three matches, the Lions 3-4 after three matches and the Stormers 2-4 after two matches.
It seems the go-to guide of South African rugby is the maul; if all else fails, go for the corner, set up a maul and grind your way to the tryline.
The Bulls have not changed their manner of play at all since 2007, the Stormers are as innovative as toast, the Lions are willing but simply won’t last the season and the Cheetahs are yet to come down to earth and focus on their structures.
At least one of these four teams need to get it together.
Rugby matches are mostly won by scoring tries, only the odd match will results in favour of a team being outscored, and it stands to reason no team can defend for 80 minutes.
The big issue here is the coaches. Neither Frans Ludeke nor Allistair Coetzee have altered their game plan in any way since 2008, yet rugby is a living entity that forever evolves, be it the laws that force you to change tactics or opponents finding ways to nullify your game plan.
It is no longer about physical prowess – everyone spends time in the gym these days, we all have sport scientists ensuring athletes perform at their optimum, but the few inches of space between your ears coupled with sublimely-coached skills will set the winners apart from the losers.
Of course, a little bit of vision won’t hurt either.
Digby
Roar Guru
Ahh yes. Thank you Commen. Henry was advisor in 2003.
Common Sense
Guest
Add Peter Sloane to that list.
Johnno
Guest
It's a culture thing, South African's are conservitave by nature, Cape town, is a very conservative city. We see it with the Newlands faithful, it comes out in the crowd the conservitave side. South Africans, need to be more innovative, and attacking, and we see it with the Bulls and Stormers, a bit lacking in flair.
Harry Jones
Expert
BB: Good stuff, as usual. I think the loss of the overseas players, many of whom have a lot of flair or attacking skills (e.g. Habana, Louw, Brits, J. Fourie, FduP) and just the sheer volume of them, all gone, is going to have to have a big effect on overall quality. You can pick a really good 30-man squad from the SA guys in France and UK. But I know, I know. The coaching is kak, too.
firstxv
Guest
Hi ya Biltong yes Ive heard that in the Blues camp at least the kick, run, pass moves are being practised over and over and over until either of the three optons become second nature, everyone ready for any and all of them at any time. Doing this not only ups the skill levels in being able to execute them come match time but it 'licenses' the players to try them-its part and parcel of their reason for being on the field, in the same way as the lineout or scrum is part of the packs role. The Boks lead the way last year in the open game in SA and the sxv sides need to follow suit, ultimately being the provider rather than the pupil. Innovative backplay still seems an afterthought, a supplement to forward play in SA other than the Le Roux's and Habanas who rock the trend and go it alone. Only when its part of the cultutre of the side that backs are just as important as the forwards- and in some cases more so, will things change for the better. To be honest I think theyre getting there and the best is yet to come from the SA sides. But that risk averse culture sure is a stubborn one to wear down...
Digby
Roar Guru
Colin Cooper and Ian Foster are others that spring to mind that perhaps stayed too long. I agree, four years seems the reasonable lifespan, particularly without success. I do wonder about the quality of coaches at this level BB. Chiefs spring to mind here. A perenially underacheiving franchise having only made the playoffs twice since 1996 introduce new coaching structure and a quality first five, largely keeping the same playing squad and are now looking for a hat trick of titles! With all of the talk of worries around talent and playing depth I do wonder if its in the coaching ranks where we actually struggle most?
I have come to the conclusion by watching Blackadder, Ludeke and Coetzee, 4 seasons should be the limit for a Super Rugby coach at a particular franchise, he then needs to move on, same can actually be said of John Plumtree.
Hi mate, I agree, I was watching the Stormers backline in particular this past weekend, waiting for the penny to drop with the kick into space behind the first line of defence, it was tried once with poor execution.
MOrning commonsense. I admit, this article comes across as insular, however I think it needed to be said.
Sadly I have to agree with your sentiment Sheek.
firstxv
Guest
Agree with the need for vision. One of the things the NZ sides are doing more of is using the chip through or over to very good effect. The Blues brought in a concept this year that had every attacking play built around three things- a kick, a pass or a run- the 3 ptions remain available at all times. Looking at the tries the Blues scored the kick option has proved very successful. The chip through from Hickey caused the Saders error under pressure to give the ball up, Weepu's chip two yards out from the line resulted in a simple fal on the ball try as the defence came up. In other games Cruden has been using the chip for some time and the canes try to Corey Jane made the effort look easier than it probably was. The oz sides are doing it also but the SA sides are certainly lacking in creativity when it comes to scoring tries. Rugby is no longer about muscling the other side when the stocks are more or less even. The Chiefs are winning matches with 30% possession AND territory. That suggests serious smarts and efficiencies are at play.
Digby
Roar Guru
Super Rugby Winning Coaches - Graham Henry Wayne Smith Robbie Deans Eddie Jones David Nucifora Heyneke Meyer Frans Ludeke Ewen Mackenzie Dave Rennie Fairlly impresive list. I would also suggest BB that coaches are not just a SA problem either. Is it possible that as opposed to playing talent there is actually a shortage of top qualtiy coaches across the board?
Matt
Guest
There's still a lot of people who are associating the success of the Sprinkboks with South African Super Rugby. But if you take a look at which clubs the No.2 ranked Springboks are playing for the it paints a rather interesting picture. It's no wonder the Bulls are so toothless when they don't have Steenkamp, Rallepelle, Botha, Du Preez, Morne Steyn, Wynand Olivier, Kirchner and you'll start to be less optimistic about their Super Rugby chances. Similar story with the Stormers and guys like Bekker, Fourie and Habana. More than 1 in 3 Springboks are now based outside of Super Rugby. That's certainly not good for marketing the competition and attacting fan attention, but it is particularly not helping provide leadership and star quality. The question is, if you are South African why would you remain playing Super Rugby if you can still play for the Boks? I think we'll see a significant weakening over the next couple of years. The 6th franchise will make an impact, but it'll be continued departure of established stars that will hurt the most. So if the Sharks have a good 2014 season then maybe it'll be the turn of Lambie, Du Plessis or Alberts to "try something new and look after their family".
Common Sense
Guest
I agree with you on all of your points but I think you are being a bit too insular. Out of the 15 teams in the competition only 3 teams (one from each conference) look the goods this year. The Sharks, The Chiefs and the Waratahs are the only teams that realistically looking at winning the competition this year with other teams like the Blues, Lions, Highlanders and Rebels showing early promise. Every other teams has been very poor. And just a rule of thumb for every team. If you want to win this competition, hire Wayne Smith.
Adam Julian
Roar Guru
Sharks look like the best team by a mile. If their pack stays healthy and they get home ground advantage in the finals they could take the comp out.
Simon_Sez
Roar Guru
BB, I think the SA Conference is being weakened by the policy of SARU allowing its test (and best) players to be selected either from local and overseas based players. With many of its best players now based overseas, this must have a negative effect on teams like the Bulls, Stormers etc. It will be interesting to see how SA performs overall and in the long term when the current selection policy has had a chance to settle down.
sheek
Roar Guru
BTB, There are plenty of Roarers who will tell you there can never be enough sport. I disagree entirely with this premise, more is not always better. I belong to that train of thought that sport, like life itself, requires moment of reflection, so that we can appreciate what has happened & look forward to the next good bits. But if sport is thrown at you 24/7, you have trouble remembering what happened yesterday. let alone a year, or a decade ago. I can recall the events of the first decade I followed sport with clear clarity. That's because I had plenty of time to enjoy each sport & reflect upon it. I also looked forward towards the next installment with great anticipation. Today super rugby is quickly followed by inbound tours, followed by the rugby championship, followed by outbound tours. In between the RC & outbound tours, Saffies & Kiwis also get a full dose of Currie Cup & ITM Cup. By the time the outbound tours have concluded in November, it's difficult to remember with clarity how the SR season started way back in February. In the old days, you could easily remember 4-8 tests per annum, who played in how many & how each test panned out. These days, with 12-14 tests per annum, by the time you get to the last test, you can't remember the first test of the season. More is not always better. Speaking specifically about the players, injuries re becoming a concern with greater stresses on the body due the frequency of high quality matches each player is required to participate in. The maximum of 30 matches per player by RUPA appears to have been quietly shelved. Leading players in the southern hemisphere won't get away with much under 35 matcher per year anymore. In the northern hemisphere, about 40 is the norm. We're being given tons of quantity (great for pay-TV programming) but the quality is beginning to fray. I guess this is a roundabout way of answering your question. It's not only the Saffies franchises that will suffer for visions, skills & innovations whilst-ever the administrative authorities wish to take rugby to all corners of the globe & inflict more-ever meaningless matches on us to justify the ever increasing costs of our sports pay-TV subscriptions. Sorry, cynicism is alive & well today.
Lions have already lost two players to injury, derek Minnie and Lionel Mapoe, the impact of losing that experience was evident against the Bulls this past weekend. Their squad is inexperienced, and injuries will quickly depelte their squad and their chances for more wins.
Hi Temba, I was watching the Stormers maul last weekend against the Lions, their setup was so slow with hardly any intensity or urgency that the Lions managed to negate their maul to an extent where it became quite pathetic. Similarly this past weekend against the Hurricanes when they realised they couldn't get through the Stormers defence, they began to kick into the space behind the rush defence. The Stormers again never adapted, there was no sweeper, nobody realised they should stay back and be aware of the soace behind them. Jean de Villiers is the Springbok captain, is he not able to read the game? The Stormers were extremely lucky to win this weekend, and the reason is their attack is one dimensional, direct with no finesse whatsoever.
JT
Guest
Odwa Ndugane plays for the Sharks, Akona plays for the Bulls (sorry for nitpicking). Cheetahs look like they missing 1 or 2 quality players in order to challenge for the playoffs. (Adriaanse,Ebersohn etc?) Bulls looked a lot better at pulling off their game plan with JLP at 10, front row and back 3 look weak to me Stormers attack has been limited since alistair Coetzee took charge, think they will make the playoffs but will never win with the way they play. Lions look like they've at least got some good team spirit and that they not gonna be walkovers for anyone. Think they gonna play a horses for courses kind of game plan. Sharks look the real deal, and maybe with Jake White at the helm they won't have their annual implosion, they've got the frontline players, got quality depth and now they've got the coach. Cant really see any weaknesses in their team