What’s really wrong with Jantjies?
ELTON Jantjies has struggled in the Springbok jersey. After unconvincing performances in seven Tests, let’s examine the possible reasons for Jantjies’s inability to reproduce his superb Super Rugby form at Test level.
Does Jantjies have the mental strength to perform at Test level?
It’s a massive leap from Super Rugby to Test rugby. Or so people always say.
Yes, there is a gap, but it’s not exactly like leaping from bulletjie rugby to Paarl Boys High’s starting XV.
The Lions have faced New Zealand teams in this year’s Super Rugby competition, and in none of those outings did Jantjies look the way he does when playing for the Boks. Not even in the Super Rugby final, where the pressure was immense.
It is highly unlikely that Jantjies lacks the mental capacity to perform in big matches.
Is Faf de Klerk a piece of the puzzle?
De Klerk is another player who has not sustained his Super Rugby form. He is not really a kicking scrumhalf, and his distribution has at times been faulty.
At times, De Klerk’s passes have really put Jantjies under pressure, but the flyhalf has often been poor when De Klerk was nowhere near him.
De Klerk is not to blame, but his distribution has played a part in Jantjies’s struggles.
The Allister Coetzee factor
Jantjies had a tough time in 2013. He arrived in Cape Town, his father suddenly passed away, and he was given a couple of weeks off.
He came back in time for the Stormers’ Super Rugby season opener against the Bulls at Loftus, but it was a nightmarish affair for Jantjies, marred by missed penalties and an outof-tune performance. And that became his script for the rest of the season.
But before arriving at Allister Coetzee’s Stormers, his attacking flair had made him a standout. Jantjies was an out and out attacking player. So what went wrong?
It was very clear that he did not fit in. The Stormers were focused on conservative rugby. Safe rugby. Obviously, this was not Jantjies’s style.
Maybe he felt boxed in. Out of place.
Maybe he under-performed because he had to play a different game. Or, perhaps, he couldn’t perform because he didn’t have the backing of the coach to play his game.
Now Jantjies is playing under the same coach. And every week, Jantjies looks like a player who lacks confidence. The magic just doesn’t seem to be there.
With the Springboks, he has been guilty of horrible mistakes, tactically and technically. The question is: is he making those mistakes because of lapses of concentration, or because he does not have the kind of support he needs?
The support to just play his game.
It is not clear if he has that kind of backing from Coetzee. But it is unlikely.
Because if he did, he would play with the confidence, calmness and the flair with which he played before he put on the Bok jersey.
Last week Coetzee spoke about producing a “10 out of 10” performance and winning the set-piece battle “before anything else”, dominating the territorial contest “because you can’t score 70-metre tries in Test rugby”, and playing in the right areas of the field.
That doesn’t sound like a game plan under which Elton Jantjies would flourish. Perhaps he and Coetzee are just not a good fit.