RUGBY MAUL: WHY MEYER JUMPED

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WE take a look at some of the reasons why Heyneke Meyer just could not stay on as coach. Transformation The “T-word” followed Meyer like the bad smell of a springbok carcass throughout his four-year reign.

Let’s forget his selection of the minimal number of players of colour for a moment, and rather look at those he did include in his squad. Siya Kolisi, Rudy Paige and, to an extent, Trevor Nyakane – it was quite clear that given the game time (rather, lack thereof) they were afforded during the World Cup, the coach had little to no faith in them.

These are some of the players who should be part of the core group of players to take Bok rugby forward. If Meyer had no faith in them now, what would have changed if he were to extend his stay for a further four years?

Reliance on over-the-heel players and conformist staff

Bakkies Botha, Jaque Fourie and Juan Smith realised that they would add little value to the team, despite repeated attempts from Meyer for them to return to the Boks. Victor Matfield, who came out of retirement at the request of Meyer, and Jean de Villiers thought vying for one more World Cup title was the best decision – at the expense of younger talent.

All have been great servants of the green and gold — legends — but their work had been done, and should never have featured during Meyer’s tenure, especially at the World Cup. It was Meyer’s trusted men — Matfield and De Villiers, who are said to have been the ones who ignored the coach’s instructions in the embarrassing defeat to Japan at the World Cup.

We may not know what went on behind the scenes during coaches’ meetings, but whether Meyer’s assistants agreed to everything he said or made their voices heard behind the scenes, their contribution did little to assist SA rugby.

Emotional and contradictory

At first we thought it was “cute” — Meyer being overly emotional in the coaches’ box, in front of the camera and at press conferences. “He’s one of us. He understands how we feel,” we thought.

Coaches are allowed to be emotional, but there’s a limit. Meyer’s emotions may have clouded the real business of his job. Meyer’s emotional nature also led to a plethora of contradictions, ranging from the time he said Kolisi was too young yet Eben Etzebeth and Handre Pollard were old enough; to stating that there are only two types of rugby — winning or losing, yet after four years of failing to win any meaningful silverware, he entertained thoughts of continuing. Style of play We can’t forget that in his successful years as Bulls coach the Pretoria side actually played some innovative, good-to-watch rugby — a far cry from the predictable, boring brand we saw the Boks play, especially over the past two years. The Bulls were often second only to the dominant Crusaders in terms of try-scoring.

Meyer failed himself by somehow losing his way and identity, with the Boks often looking like they had little clue of what they were doing. To top it off, too often the coach failed to take responsibility, pointing fingers elsewhere instead.

Meyer’s rigid style led to embarrassing defeats to Argentina and Japan, and a last-place Rugby Championship finish this year.