COACH’S BOX

True, idle hands can be the devil’s playground

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has taken some of the country’s best talents on a joy ride to some of the most scenic European benches during this November tour.

At the start of it I wrote that this tour would be definitive, not necessarily in results – although results were important – but in breeding a pool of players that could carry out a winning game plan at next year’s World Cup in Japan.

While there is no doubt that there are seeds of a winning game plan, evidenced by the victories against France and Scotland this month, there is a heavy cloud hanging over some of the tackle bag carriers in the squad.

Erasmus took 36 players on the end-ofyear-tour, which were later joined by European-based players such as Faf de Klerk, Francois Louw and Willie le Roux.

For the large part, the coach has stuck with roughly the same starting XV, bar a few injury-enforced changes throughout this tour.

That he finally gave Embrose Papier

astart, after the young scrumhalf was screaming for more game time, must be commended but the rest of the squad is imbalanced, untested and undercooked.

I fail to understand what players such as Trevor Nyakane, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Louis Schreuder, Ruhan Nel, Sergeal Petersen and JD Schickerling have learnt from this tour.

These players serve a huge purpose in the makeup of a World Cup squad and they needed something to take from this tour but sadly, after barely any changes for Wales this week, that hasn’t been the case.

Notshe was due for a place in the match 23 against England in the first week and even trained with the starters on the Monday in the lead up to the Twickenham tussle.

But somewhere down the line, Erasmus, in his infinite wisdom, saw it fit to add an extra lock, Lood de Jager to the lineup, thereby relegating Notshe to the stands.

These things have a terrible turnaround effect on a player’s confidence. And the same applies to Nyakane, who I feel can do no worse than Thomas du Toit and has shown far more versatility in playing on either side of the scrum.

Moreover, front-rowers need to constantly get game time in order for them to get back into shape. Frans Malherbe was far from limber and lean when he returned from injury but because he enjoys favour from the coach, he managed to get the requisite minutes under his belt to play his way back into form.

There’s also the issue of idle hands being the devil’s playground.

Sportsmen and women across the world often get frustrated when they don’t get a chance to display their skills to a gallery of onlookers.

That frustration can lead to the nonplaying members of the group finding “extramural activities” between training sessions.

I know times have changed since I went on tour with the Boks at the turn of the century, but I know from first-hand experience what idle hands can get up to. Curfews get broken, visitors get snuck into hotel rooms; the full Monty.

This can be avoided, of course, if players feel like they are part of a larger plan and they buy into the full structure. If there’s even one or two that feel disillusioned, it could tear up the spirit in the camp even before a ball has been kicked in Japan.

Again, I like to make the comparison to the All Blacks.

Even though they are going through a trough at the minute, this hasn’t stopped Steve Hansen from giving players some minutes.

In what was a relatively must-win game for them against Ireland, Hansen picked Damian McKenzie and Ardie Savea to start – two players that weren’t exactly regular starters.

With less than a year to go before the big showpiece, Hansen realised that the more he can get out of their reserves, the stronger the collective becomes.

As a result, the Kiwis arguably have two world-class players per position. And that’s how you win a World Cup.