Time to think outside the box

nights; the decision-making so crucial to the outcome of a match; and so and so on.

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, when asked about his success at the famous English club, once said: “When I work with the biggest talents, I tell them that hard work is a talent too. They need to work harder than anyone else.”

Back home watching how Cape Town City’s Benni McCarthy has made the transition from good player to good coach, Ferguson’s words certainly make sense. If there’s an aspect the former Bafana Bafana striker has stressed in his early days as a coach, then it’s “hard work”. He doesn’t compromise on it – and many a player has been dropped because of a lack of effort on the training pitch. More than that, McCarthy’s passion and energy are contagious, and it infuses the City squad with the same enthusiasm for the task at hand. I repeat the Ferguson mantra: “hard work is a talent”. Too many footballers don’t realise the truth of the quote.

Essentially, though, there is no formula to coaching success – and, whether the coach was a great player or not, it doesn’t mean all that much. Essentially, it’s like everything else in life: what you put in, and how you go about the job, is what you get out. For example: Jose Mourinho hardly distinguished himself as a player.

But we know what he went on to achieve …

STOP THE BOX-KICKING

Faf de Klerk is one of the most attacking, dangerous scrumhalves in the world game – but if he’s not going to be allowed to run at the opposition, feed his backs and be a nuisance to the opposition there’s no reason to be picking him. His forte is not box-kicking and coach Rassie Erasmus needs to rethink this “plan”.

GET PSDT BACK IN THE BACK-ROW

It wasn’t that long ago that fans were questioning the reasoning behind playing one of our premier locks, Pieter-Steph du Toit, as a blindside flank ... well, no more. Du Toit has shown this year he is more than capable of playing in the loose-trio and needs to move back there as soon as possible. The Boks have more than enough quality locks for Du Toit to wear the No 7 on his back. Against Scotland this weekend he needs to form a loose-trio with Siya Kolisi and Duane Vermeulen.

LET’S SEE BONGI HAVE A GO

Malcolm Marx may be one of the nominees for World Player of the Year, but he has not been on top of his game for some time now. While he hit his jumpers on Saturday – a marked improvement from the England game – he was far off the standard he’s set for himself in recent times. Swapping places with Bongi Mbonambi might just fire up Marx, who could be devastating coming off the bench, and allow Mbonambi to show his mettle again.

PLEASE PUT TOGETHER AN 80-MINUTE EFFORT

One of the mysteries of the Erasmus era so far has been the fact the Boks can’t put together a whole-hearted 80-minute performance. If they’re not starting slowly and falling behind early on (England in June), they’re giving up handy positions to lose in the dying minutes (New Zealand at Loftus). On Saturday against France, they were poor in the first half and only just better in the second half. Erasmus needs to find the magic to ensure the Boks maintain a high standard throughout.

SORT OUT THE INCONSISTENCIES

From one week to the next you just don’t know what you’re going to get from this Bok side. At times this year, they’ve varied their attacking game and looked dangerous when on the front foot, but on Saturday they seemed to have no idea how to unlock the French defence. One week they defend well, the next there are gaping holes in the defensive wall. Sometimes the replacements work, sometimes they don’t. Some consistency please.