Springboks’ new dawn has not materialised

Rassie Erasmus came into the Springbok rugby coaching job with the reputation of being one of the smartest thinkers in the game, but the last couple of weeks have not been a good advertisement for his cerebral skills.

Not only has his Springbok team looked one-dimensional but they have made countless mistakes. Erasmus’ selection and man-management have also come under fire because players have been selected on the bench and not used, despite the starting player in their position having an absolute nightmare, and there was his unsavoury treatment of hooker Bongi Mbonambi last weekend.

The Springbok camp is clearly under huge pressure, so it is not going to help when the coach, in the week before their most daunting Test of the year, says he does not expect to keep his job if things go badly against the All Blacks in Wellington today.

Erasmus should not be heaping more pressure on his embattled players, whose lack of confidence suggests they are not too far away from panic, which is always the death-knell of a team’s hopes on the sports field.

When the All Blacks were asked about Erasmus’s comments that he could be fired this weekend (even though he is his own boss as director of rugby), they took it as an indication that the Springbok coach was trying to get an emotional response out of his team.

Which is one of the major problems in Springbok rugby. Emotion is not going to beat the All Blacks nor win the World Cup next year. It might get them close, like it did in the 25-24 loss to New Zealand at Newlands last year, but ultimately the world champions still found a way to quell the Green and Gold onslaught.

It is only with greater attention

Ken Borland

to skills, a watertight defensive system, set-piece accuracy and tactical nous that the Springboks will end their six-match losing streak against their greatest rivals.

Of course physicality, aided by emotion in the sense that the players will be willing to run through brick walls, plays an important part in rugby, but when that is the only thing you bring to the table, then the best sides are easily able to counter you.

South Africa have not even been able to beat Australia, who are very average at the moment, in their last three meetings.

By only relying on emotion and smashing the opposition, one creates a team like the Springboks – who are occasionally inspired enough to show the true ability lurking deep below, but generally disappoint.

Erasmus would do well to jettison this old-fashioned thinking and I’m sure the team would also benefit from some consistency in selection.

He is not only creating jittery players through his constant tinkering with the team, but his man-management has also been poor.

Scrumhalf Embrose Papier would have been left in no doubt that the coach does not trust him when he was left on the bench throughout Faf de Klerk’s horror show in Brisbane, and now he has been dropped from the squad completely for today’s Test.

In modern international rugby, coaches cannot afford to pick players on the bench who they don’t trust to play.

A settled, winning combination would do far more for the Springboks’ World Cup hopes than Erasmus looking at countless players in various combinations, ending up in a situation where he can’t see the wood for the trees.

Speaking of vision and clarity, such a lot of the Springbok game plan is based around De Klerk at scrumhalf that even mediocre defensive sides like Australia and Argentina were easily able to contain their attack.

Apart from when a freak called Fourie du Preez wore the No 9 jersey for South Africa, I cannot think of any great sides that did not have their flyhalf running the show.

Handre Pollard has had such success against the All Blacks before, and Elton Jantjies has played such a pivotal role in the Lions’ Super Rugby success: it is time Erasmus backed one of them and allowed them to be the general in the Springbok team.