Where to go from here
With the Rugby Championship lost, what can he do to restore faith and build confidence in the remaining matches against the Wallabies and the All Blacks? Bok coach Allister Coetzee takes a long, hard look at the future
SPRINGBOK coach Allister Coetzee conceded he may have to make some tough decisions before his team clashes with the Wallabies and the All Blacks on home soil next month.
He is not promising drastic change but he will need to make key personnel changes to arrest the team’s three-match losing streak which now includes away losses to Argentina, the Wallabies and yesterday the All Blacks.
Their sole victory in the Rugby Championship came in their opening game when they came from the dead to beat Los Pumas in Nelspruit.
Coetzee knows he is treading a minefield with a damned if you do and damned if you don’t scenario facing him in selection.
“Maybe some players are not ready for this,” the coach admitted.
“I will have to make some tough decisions. We will get one or two experienced players back. At the same time, we shouldn’t have a kneejerk reaction. It is a tough call. Players don’t make deliberate mistakes. For some of the players, it was the first time they played against New Zealand in New Zealand. They have to adapt quickly,” Coetzee warned.
The coach hasn’t been averse to making tough calls.
He dropped flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe from his squad ahead of the Nelspruit test and he axed his centre combination following defeat to Argentina in Salta.
The weightiest question facing him is what to do with troubled flyhalf Elton Jantjies. The pivot was in sparkling form in Super Rugby but he has never quite been able to replicate his form for the Lions at test level. Equally, halfback partner Faf de Klerk has lost the effervescence in his play.
Coetzee doesn’t have many options but he will be hoping Sharks’ flyhalf Pat Lambie can hit the deck running upon his return.
Lambie was his first-choice flyhalf but has been sidelined with concussion since the first test against Ireland. Even if he is rusty, he may still be a better prospect than Jantjies, who frankly has become a liability. Jantjies is a lot better than what we’ve seen in recent weeks.
At fullback, Johan Goosen also underwhelmed.
“You don’t want to break players,” the coach cautioned. “You can’t think that you may not need them again. We are impatient and I know the errors were schoolboy errors. In Super Rugby, you can make a mistake and get away with it. Here [test rugby], you take up position behind the poles when you make an error.
“I hope that the errors are reduced and that the players will take responsibility. A lot of the errors come because of a lack of confidence. You need self-belief.”
Coetzee believes one win can drastically alter the mind set.
“The players also have to find ways to restore confidence. We have to do the basic things well. We have to do the small things consistently well.
“We have to look at individual skills and try to improve that. We have to look at kicking accuracy as well as kicking and passing.”
Coetzee desperately searched for positives. He believes he found one in debutant Malcolm Marx, although the hooker’s radar was off in two lineout feeds.
“I know when Adriaan [Strauss] stops we will have Bongi [Mbonambi] and Malcolm [Marx] with test experience. They will be the two hookers going forward.”
Strauss left the field after 44 minutes allowing Marx to get a proper first taste of test rugby. The 36 minutes he got was about six times the amount that Mbonambi got the previous week.
When Strauss was asked about the injury that forced him from the field, he looked to Coetzee and said he was yet to see the doctor.
“It’s spasm in the lower back,” Coetzee interjected before the topic quickly changed. “Our scrums were another positive,” Coetzee ventured. “The forwards have done well.
“The other positive is Pieter-Steph du Toit at five. I thought he called the lineouts well. He had a chance and he took it.
“Willem Alberts also made a difference when he came on,” said Coetzee.