SA Rugby’s handling of the Kings seen as dismal

Impatient public leads to smaller crowd attendance

STATISTICALLY 2017 was an improvement for the Springboks after the previous season‚ which was the worst in the professional era but it was still a long way off being a good season.

Coach Allister Coetzee was given a stay of execution after his side won only four of its 12 Tests in 2016‚ and by the end of 2017‚ when the Boks trudged out of Cardiff after another defeat‚ his bosses were ruing their decision to keep him on.

The Boks won seven of 13 Tests in 2017‚ drawing two and losing four Tests. But of those four losses two were by such alarming margins and such pathetic performances that there was no way to escape the conclusion that the trajectory remains downwards.

Losing 57-0 to the All Blacks in Albany‚ the heaviest defeat in 126years of Springbok rugby‚ was a low point. But it was not as bad as the 38-3 loss to Ireland in Dublin two months later.

Ireland didn’t have to even play that well to destroy an inept Springbok team which appeared to be stunned by the home team’s tactic of hoisting up-and-unders.

Then losing 24-22 to Wales at the end of a long season was as predictable as it was miserable. Wales were missing 14 key players from flank Sam Warburton to star centre Jonathan Davies and wing George North. It was a chastening outcome. Despite winning their first five Tests of the year‚ talk of a Bok resurgence was tempered in most serious analysis of their season.

Swatting a spineless France aside over three Tests in June was hardly an indication of the Boks’ form but rather of the paucity of the opposition.

Two wins over Argentina were again no real measure of whether the Boks had actually improved in 2017 because the Pumas have fallen off a cliff since making the semi-finals of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Two draws against the Wallabies was another below par return for the Boks because Australia are an ordinary team too.

The Boks snatched a 23-23 draw in Perth‚ and failed to put the Wallabies away at altitude in Bloemfontein in the return game. A 27-27 draw was like a loss for the home team.

Another low point was that after losing 25-24 to an understrength All Blacks in Cape Town after they had already captured the Rugby Championship‚ Coetzee’s tone suggested the Boks had turned a corner.

It couldn’t be called a celebration of defeat but there was an element of satisfaction stemming from the Bok camp after running the All Blacks so close‚ which underlined how far standards have fallen. Losing at home is considered satisfactory.

The Boks finished third in the Rugby Championship yet again while the All Blacks continued to pull away from the field.

New Zealand went through the tournament unbeaten for a second straight year and took their Rugby Championship record to an incredible 30 wins in 33 matches with only two defeats and a draw over six years.

The Boks’ record now reads: played 33‚ won 14‚ lost 16 and drawn three. — TimesLIVE

ANY mid-term review of SA Rugby’s handling of the Southern Kings’ hurried entry into PRO14 rugby must be marked down as a dismal failure.

Because of the cash crisis that left EP rugby in chaos, the Kings are being bankrolled by the Saru who do not appear to have the will to transform the team into a winning entity.

It must be emphasised that it is Saru who have failed and not Kings head coach Deon Davids and his team who are fighting valiantly despite one hand being tied behind their backs.

Any team Davids puts out always plays with guts, and this season has been no different.

So far the Kings have crashed to 10 consecutive defeats and the patience of even their most die-hard supporters is starting to wear thin.

The losing sequence has led to small crowds watching games and the Kings have now opted to take their home match against Munster to the Outeniqua Stadium in George on April 7.

This, of course, has not gone down well with the increasingly disgruntled season ticket holders.

There is also speculation that the Kings might London.

If the Kings are to salvage some pride in the second half of the season, Saru urgently need to start investing more money in the team to ensure they are competitive.

Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen if one considers what SA Rugby previously said about the state of rugby in the Bay.

After the team lost their opening six matches, Weekend Post asked Saru what they planned to do put the team back on their feet.

SA Rugby responded by asking fans to be patient and to only pass judgement on the struggling Kings at the end of their debut PRO14 season following a dismal start.

“There will also be the opportunity to strengthen the squad as the season progresses but it’s a long season and mature judgement can only come on its conclusion,” SA Rugby media spokesman Andy Colquhoun said.

Because they do not have a sponsor, and are being bank-rolled by SA Rugby, it has become the case of the “Pauper Kings” having to battle for survival against opposition players whose riches they can only dream about.

While most of the Kings players are reported to be on a monthly salary of about R35 000, their European rivals are earning substantially more.

Unless the Kings can land a major sponsor, it would appear that they will struggle to retain or buy top players if are forced to rely on SA Rugby handouts.

In September EP Rugby Union president Andre Rademan said a process designed to eventually hand the play a game in East PRO14 back to his union had begun.

Rademan said a board would be formed comprising three EPRU members and three members of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, who will assist in obtaining sponsors for the union.

However, there has been no further news on how far the process has evolved.

It has been an emotional roller coaster ride for Davids who has experienced the highs and lows of being at the cutting edge of professional rugby.

The statistics show the resurgent Kings won six of their 15 Super Rugby matches, before slumping 10 consecutive PRO14 defeats.

What the two logs do not show, is that the Kings employed vastly different squads for the two campaigns.

At the end of the Super Rugby season, Kings captain Lionel Cronje (Toyota Verblitz), Louis Schreuder and Tyler Paul (Sharks), Irne Herbst (Benneton Treviso), Schalk van der Merwe (Ulster), Makazole Mapimpi and Malcolm Jaer (Cheetahs) and Chris Cloete (Munster) all headed for the exit door.

Despite the succession of defeats, Davids has emphasised that it is important that his team do not get to dwell on past results as they face their remaining 11 PRO14 matches.

“It is not the ideal situation because obviously we want to see a result but we need to be to be very careful how we approach things and not get lost in our past results.

“There is a lot of talent in the squad and a lot of good things that come with the squad. Looking at the PRO14, any team needs a bit of experience and quality in their spine.

“Looking at our Super Rugby squad we had Louis Schreuder and Lionel Cronje as our No 9 and No 10 and both of those guys were in the national setup.

“That gives you an idea of the quality of the players we had as drivers in those positions. This time we have some experienced guys but some of them have not played at this level before.

“You have to be realistic and say there is talent but this has to be nurtured and that is the best way to do it.

“I can chuck a guy in and let him play and we will find out in the first or second game that this guy does not have it. Then [we should ask] is this guy becoming a bad player or does this player need a more senior guy that plays ahead of him that he can work with.

“Then he can learn from him and gradually we will see his potential coming through. That is the type of assessment I make in terms of the squad in different positions.

“We have lost some quality and we have to be realistic in how and where we need to build some more depth and get more experience in,” Davids said.

Clearly, as the results clearly show, Saru need to make a much bigger investment if they want their ambitious Kings project to take off.