No substitute for proper leadership
Change is inevitable but oh, how quickly things turn in South African rugby. The last week saw songs of praise being sung for outgoing Lions president Kevin de Klerk; the Southern Kings, their adversaries in that infamous, life-defining promotion/relegation battle of 2013, announcing a financial windfall of their own, and the wind very much changing direction for Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.
Rassie has enjoyed fair winds at his back up until now, but the pathetic capitulation in Mendoza has seen him buffeted by criticism, his reputation as a top-class coach tarnished by how tactically naïve the Springboks were against Argentina last weekend.
But expectations may have been a bit too high because the Springboks are generally disappointing away from home these days: of their last 16 Tests on the road, only four have been won. They are talented, but they rely heavily on physicality. Test matches these days are won by skill, execution and planning, defences are mostly well-equipped to handle a barrage of one-off runners.
What was especially galling in Mendoza was that the same players who we had seen be so dominant the weekend before in Durban – the likes of Eben Etzebeth and Malcolm Marx – were inexplicably flat and had no impact.
As far as falling for bait goes, Erasmus took Argentine coach Mario Ledesma’s much-publicised comments about the Pumas not being able to live with the Springboks’ physicality after the Durban game hook, line and sinker. It was really silly for the Springboks to bank on merely physically dominating again in Mendoza, putting all their eggs in one basket with no attacking plan B, no dummy runners and no changes in point of attack in sight.
As quickly as the Springboks charged forward, as rapidly they were chopped to ground and then destroyed at the breakdown.
There is at least some good
Ken Borland
news finally coming out of the Eastern Cape as the Southern Kings announced new owners and a partnership with Isuzu. It will take time for these investments to bear fruit on the field, but if they are able to retain some of the talent that has poured out of their region for so many years, they can at least start building a foundation that could ensure sustainable success.
It is ironic that the light at the end of the tunnel for Eastern Cape rugby should become apparent in the same week that De Klerk called time on his nine-year tenure as Lions president.
De Klerk, who throughout his term showed a keen appreciation of the bigger picture and provided humble but forthright leadership for the Lions, even mentioned this week that the current powerhouses of South African rugby were only two points away from suffering the fate of the Kings, so tight was their two-legged Super Rugby promotion/relegation play-off in 2013.
The Southern Kings, of course, suffered from abysmal leadership, most notably by con-man turned rugby parasite Cheeky Watson. But there are high hopes in Port Elizabeth now and they have an excellent CEO in Charl Crous and a fine coach in Deon Davids.
They will also be helped by the news coming out of the SA Rugby executive this week that they are looking to constrain the amount of contracting some of the greedy richer unions are currently doing. Spreading the talent around more but at the same time concentrating resources by making fewer professional contracts available, will sharpen and strengthen the game in this country.