“Where did everything go wrong?”: Vermeulen lets loose on South African rugby

Just to pre-empt the conspiracy theorists: Cape Town - Springbok coach Allister Coetzee has dismissed media claims that he has fallen out with Toulon No 8 Duane Vermeulen, whose Test appearances this season have been severely curtailed by injuries. "Duane called me to say 'Coach, based on my last outing with the Boks, I was not fit enough and my reputation took a bit of a knock. "He added: 'I feel at this point I am not ready for international rugby'." Coetzee said: "On top of that, Duane's wife is expecting their second baby in November - for those reasons he is not available for the end-of-year tour."

You're onto it Lano - the great thing about rugby is for every plan there is a counter plan - for every technique a counter. If you try and pigeon hole what everyone does then not only are you stifling innovation and inspiration but you are asking to be worked out and then worked over. It may be a temp fix but but eventually will leave you further behind than you were when you started.

Well said, Duane.

"Every detail from set pieces‚ attack and defence must be defined and set out in a plan and everyone must play the same. In that way, we will improve our skills and ability.” Please NO!

The players are NOT to blame. Rugby in this country is now run by people who are not real rugby men. Why are rugby men like Morne du Plessis, Naas Botha, Nic Mallet, Johan Heunis, Danie Gerber, Ray Mordt, and others not involved with the game at a senior level? In the days when SA rugby was run by rugby men like Doc Craven, Boy Louw, Johan Claassen, Ian Kirkpatrick, Butch Lochner, etc. , we were the kings of rugby. Now it is a shambles. And as long as we fart around with political correctness and political appointees, things will only get worse.

I don't reside in N.Z. anymore, and I also American, however, NZ v South Africa always gets my attention. Long ago, in the sixties and early seventies I would be woken up to watch the sacred tests the All Blacks played, and South Africa, more than the British Lions, was seen as THE adversary. It was compulsory to play rugby when I was a boy and thus I lived in culture that for males was defined by Rugby. The current All Black side play a style that first appeared in Auckland rugby in the seventies. It slowly spread--forwards supporting the backs, extending the line, coaches yelling at players in the backline who would hang back, the emphasis on mauling, on passing. I did a lot of passing practice--played classroom rugby, school rugby, and club rugby, as a boy, all the way through to the age of 17. Started when I was 9. What I saw in the South Africa match was fine in the first half, the familiar style of passionate defense, of kicking, of even kicking away possession. It looked very South African, the Morgan Steyn approach, but the backline wasn't a rocket waiting to be launched, and it was once phenomenal. The NZ approach was expected, and it is the national style that everyone plays now, a style born in Auckland, a style so successful that in the eighties for a while, people would say: just make Auckland the All Blacks side and all would be well! In the second half of the recent Apocalypse the South Africans were unable to keep up the defence: they cracked, which is very unusual, but if you're going to bet totally on defence you need to be able to sustain it for 80 minutes. I had read about a beautiful quota system on the horizon for South Africa, which, if true, will doom it to an unparalleled era of mediocrity. Sad as South Africa was a formidable foe, presenting all the Dutch Virtues of hard practicality and stubbornness. There was no quit in their souls and they could always answer the call for greatness.

"His brother committed suicide before last year’s World Cup and that’s when he said that he’s made peace with the fact that SA Rugby probably won’t select him again anytime soon" This is a misrepresentation of events: Frans was in the squad and HM, at that time, was making a big deal of Frans' capabilities. After the unfortunate family tragedy, Frans requested bereavemant leave for an indefinite period. HM, being the guy that he is, granted him as long as he needed. But time does not stand still, and due to the frenetic preparatory period before RWC, HM had to make other plans. Bu the time Frans was ready to go back to the squad, those plans had been solidified. "He also said he doesn’t really care – SA Rugby is a farce." Please refer to your source for this statement. Also, it was not his actual wages that was at issue, but rather commercial aspects of his brand value. He was paid his wages according to the contract stipulations.

Exactly right.

Yes, HM's team was still running on Windows XP, and only with Service Pack 1 installed. Then Microsoft stopped support for XP in April of 2014. Even though HM then installed SP2 and SP3, there was no way to guard against unknown vulnerabilities. Alistair has now "upgraded" the production system to Vista and, on the side, he is testing Windows 7, whilst getting confusing messages about Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. Maybe he should just get an Apple (which, one of per day, keeps the doctor away).

Good post.

In his opinion SARU reneged on promised remuneration, Given the thin skin of those who run our rugby,DV will probably never be selected for Boks again. Knowing this his words are quite quixotic.But brave.

Enlighten yourself.

The IRB knows that it's hands off, at least publically. We'll get no help from the IRB, or World Rugby whatever they are called these days.

Vermeulen is being very kind, I think he is not saying half of what he really wants to. It is interesting, recently I have noticed many rugby enthusiasts (I mean non-Springbok rugby supporters') comments on various forums, including this one. While I don't want to generalize, it seems that often outsiders suggest that Springbok rugby simply need to train harder, recruit better or simply catch up with the professional era. All of these comments carry some merit, but often, when a Springbok supporter bemoans the political interference, the problems with SARU's management style and the exodus of players to Europe / Japan, outsiders like to step forward and say its all poor excuses. We live in a politically correct era and it's evident when people nowadays maintain: "Springbok rugby simply isn't good enough anymore." I would encourage those who think that Springbok rugby is simply poor due to RUGBY reasons, to get yourself a copy of Jake White's book, published immediately after the 2007 World Cup: "In Black and White". In my personal opinion, it should be compulsory reading for anyone who wants to comment on Springbok rugby (I don't mean this literally, but I hope you understand what I mean). Jake White is no angel, as a lot of Brumbies supporters will testify (of which I am also one), but his book exposed the rotten core of South African rugby politics. It is a fantastic document that testifies to what it is like to deal with a system that is incompetent, corrupt, unfair and completely divided and dysfunctional. If my own son were to become a professional rugby player I would never expect him to put up with such treatment. Frans Steyn is an example of a rugby great (should have been a Springbok great) who was betrayed and humiliated by a rugby system that never had player's interests in mind. It is true that the South African rugby public also played their part in his departure and maybe what's happening now is a case of karma paying back those Springbok supporters who like to swear and throw objects at their own players, you only have to look at what Morne Steyn puts up with when he puts the Springbok jersey on.... You don't have to feel sorry for the Springboks, you don't even have to care, but don't for a second think that the state of the team is due to "rugby reasons". People should call it for what it is and if the IRB had an ounce of integrity, they would tell SA Rugby and Sports Ministry to get their house in order or face being banned from international rugby for the exact same reasons the Springboks were banned back in the 1980's. Non-racism and a governing body's corporate accountability is written in the IRB's charter...

The complexity of SA rugby and how it is run is beyond me, quota systems, people in power and their agendas , for the good of the nation and all that stuff, but if this article is correct, then you have a person sticking his neck out and risking his career and livelihood, because he can see what is wrong. Let's hope SA rugby can sort the problem out, because World rugby needs the Boks. The players are there, the supporter base is there,just need the powers of rugby to be there.

I think you do the Lions players a disservice. They are very similar to the Chiefs who wanted to play a high-tempo running game. it took them a few years to get it right and then to win the Super X trophy. I hope the Lions stick with their formula next year. With a Super X final and some test match experience Jantjies and his team mates will just grow better and stronger. The game plan is right (they beat every other South African team and made it to the final) they just need more experience with the reduced time and space that you have in finals and in international rugby.

How can a guy like Stick get the respect of he players? He is a rookie coach who played sevens until recently/ The players know more than him. It's a total farce. Anyway appears he is not needed to do anything because Coetzee disallows anyone at first receiver to pass the ball.

Frans did not retire, He made himself unavailable but not indefinitely. Smith came back for one really poor test under Meyer.

Enlighten us.

Jantjes flopped because the coach forced him into playing a game that is 100% the opposite of his natural game. And I think he and Coetzee just don't work together, as we saw in the disastrous year Jantjes had at the Stormers.