DOBSON SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE REINS

SO, THE Western Province Rugby Board has decided to back Stormers coach Robbie Fleck for the remainder of the Super Rugby season. Fair or flawed?

After meeting with Fleck last week, the Western Province Rugby Union (WPRU) issued a statement at the weekend saying that they “back the Stormers head coach to get the results required in the next few weeks to ensure the team is firmly in the playoff mix this season”.

According to earlier reports, Fleck was told that the stormers had to win their games against the Bulls and the Jaguares.

The Stormers went on to beat the Bulls 24-23 in Cape Town, but lost 30-25 in Buenos Aires.

Those results left the Stormers with a record of five wins from 11 matches, but in eighth place on the overall standings.

In the statement on Saturday, WP Rugby chief executive Paul Zacks was quoted as saying: “Rugby is a game of inches, and there have been some frustrating results this season from the Stormers where the rub of the green has not gone our way, but we all need to give them our full support as we get closer to the play-offs.

“We have seen some inspirational stories in the Uefa Champions League in recent weeks, with both Liverpool and Tottenham producing epic comebacks that show what is achievable if all stakeholders are aligned.

“There is no reason, with all the quality we have in our playing and coaching group, that the Stormers cannot emulate those performances this season,” he said.

That Zacks referred to Liverpool and Tottenham is one thing, but there’s way more that’s gone wrong with this team than just the “rub of the green” not going their way.

Being unlucky doesn’t explain some of their results this year, and neither can the results of the last three-and-a-half years be attributed to it.

Almost-theres, inconsistency, coming within a few “inches” and just plain unacceptable results should have been enough to prove that change is needed, that it has been needed.

And while John Dobson is set to take over the head coach role with the Stormers next season anyway, giving him an early start before the 2020 season would have given him more time to fix the Stormers and to get off to a good start next season.

With five matches to go until the play-offs, it does, in one sense, make sense to let Fleck see out his contract.

But what it also does is give the impression that the results we have seen until now have been constantly excused for some reason, and that doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially if you’re asking for continued support from your fans.

Besides, just because it is almost over doesn’t mean poor results should be tolerated, because more of the same will certainly not do any good for the team’s psyche going into 2020.

As Zacks said, the Stormers’ playing group boasts quality, so there is no reason for them not to deliver. So why haven’t they been able to do so consistently… or even regularly?

I’m not saying the Stormers would be on an express train to the Super Rugby final if Dobson took over right away, but it would at least be a positive action taken by the WPRU, and it could lay a solid foundation for next season.

And at the moment, a solid coaching foundation is desperately needed.