Round 6 Super 12 2005 Wrap

Hurricanes 28 Chiefs 16 (My tip was Hurricanes by 10)
This match was always going to be the Hurricanes. I must say that the Chiefs tried hard, but the Canes just had to much and too many experienced campaigners to blow the Chiefs out of the water in the end. The final intercept try by Tana Umaga put a cherry on the top for the Hurricanes and summarized the match for the Chiefs. Whatever they tried, they had something going wrong or a Hurricanes hand was in the way.

The Hurricanes are looking good on the log, but they still have to face he Brumbies, Crusaders and Blues and must be careful that there current fortune is not turned into the final swan song. The Crusaders and Brumbies has the ability to destroy their confidence.

The Chiefs, well they are slowly starting to prove that their good showing last year may just have been a flash in the pan.

Reds 16 Highlanders 23 (My tip was Highlanders by 5)
I expected the Highlanders to have the beating of the Reds as the Reds have proved to be a hot-and-cold side over the past years. They have some great talent – the try scored by Chris Latham was really exceptional – but the team always seems to struggle to keep good form. They were in fact fairly poor in this match – not that the Highlanders were so much better!

The end result is that the Reds only have one victory in four outings. They do, however, still have to play all four the SA sides and looking at current form of the SA sides, they definitely must have a chance in all four those matches.

The Highlanders are looking good on the log. To me it is a bit of a shock as they have really been lucky to win a few this year. The reality is that they are right up there with a good chance and is riding their luck at the moment. They have a very tough schedule ahead and I will be surprised if they actually managed to grab a place in the top four at the end of the tournament. They just are not good enough!

Blues 17 Brumbies 0 (My tip was Brumbies by 15)
I unfortunately did not see the match due to some traveling, but if I was Britney Spears I would be singing, “Oops, I did it again!” There was absolutely no way in hell that the Brumbies could have lost the last two matches – and yet they managed to do it! This past weekend was the first one they managed to put a full strength side in the field and they lose three players within the first quarter! By the time of writing this, I do not have an update on the status of the injuries, but the ones to Rathbone and Larkham sounds serious.

David Nucifora must be laughing after he was dumped by the Brumbies last year as soon as he won the Super 12. This was one match Nucifore definitely did not want to loose and they Blues did not let him down.

The Brumbies must have a concern or two in their camp after not only losing players to injury, but also the poor form showed in the last two games. Like I said before, I did not see the match, but saw the tries and read the match reports and none were complimentary to the Brumbies. They are, however the defending champions and must not be written off.

I said before that the Blues have enough talent to beat any side on he day. I also said before that the Blues will improve once they dump the “wonderful” King Carlos. They did the latter and their backline seems to have found a life. Watch out for the new Nucifora team. They may just be surprise package in the final!

Waratahs 27 Crusaders 33 (My tip was Crusaders by 5)
I made the call and got it right – or just about. The Crusaders is the team to beat this year and if you want this title, you will have to get past the red and black team. I unfortunately did not see this match either, but have also seen the tries and read the match reports. To go to Sydney and play the Waratahs after and unbeaten run in this year’s Super 12 and go home with a full house of points, takes some doing. The Crusaders did it and did well. They are a very matured side that can teach many teams a lesson or two on how the game should be played.

I have to back the Crusaders for the title as they look like the total package. They have a very proud Super 12 record and this year is no exception. At the moment it looks like a question of whom they will be playing in he final?

The Waratahs have done well so far this year, but this is normally the time they start their famous fade in the Super 12. For many years they have really looked the part, but faded away during the second half. Maybe this will be their year!

General Super 12 comments
This past week my tips ended up somewhere where I could not find them on the web, but I had a fairly good week, except for the Brumbies who not only let a lot of supporters, but themselves down as well.

The one positive thing, from a South African point of view, is that for the first time in a very long time there was not a single SA who lost a Super 12 match the past weekend! That was really awesome and something we are not accustomed too!

Other Rugby
Nothing worth writing about. Only a couple of Heineken Cup matches.

The Final Word
If there is one job you do not want in South Africa – that is if you have any long-term objectives – it is a coach in one of the major sides. That is from the Springboks to Super 12 to Currie-cup level. I have been asked many times what could be the cause of this high staff turnover. We just saw it happening again with Kevin Putt been axed as coach of the Sharks. I do not want to go into the merit of the axing, but rather just the principle.

I personally think this problem started during he isolation era in SA. That, for the younger readers, was the time pre-1992 that SA was kicked out of world rugby due to political reasons. During those times we seemed to have a very solid coaching base in South Africa with legends like Buurman van Zyl, Cecil Moss, Nelie Smith, Danie Craven (every now and again) and Pa Pelser – to name a few – controlling the provincial game in SA. They were legends and were around for many years, coaching their respective unions for decades. Like most of our Southern Hemisphere countries, we thought we were the best in the world. Maybe it was rightly so cause we really has a great lineup during the eighties with Naas Botha, Danie Gerber, Rob Louw, etc that could take on the world. Unfortunately they were never consistently tested over that period of time on the international scene. Looking at his provincial records, someone like Naas Bothat would have been a joy to watch in the points chase with Grant Fox and Michael Linagh.

What the isolation thus caused was a great anticipation to see our greats take on the world – with the expectation that they can beat the best. In 1992 our return was masterminded with a whirlwind tour by the Wallabies and the All Blacks and we were brought down to earth with a bang! Our masters, like the Naas Botha’s and Danie Gerbers were at the end of their careers and no longer the great players of yesteryear. The isolation period had taken it’s toll and it was time to move on. On the coaching scene we had a number of the then “younger of the older coaches” like John Williams and Nelie Smit left and they were set in their ways, but the game moved on. The way rugby was played changed internationally from the early eighties to the nineties and the isolation era left SA a little behind. There was a new generation of coaches required.

If you can remember, we started seeing the things happening when we nearly saw coaches falling as the Boks lost. In SA the public and administrators were convinced that SA was still the greatest team and they were very harsh on failure. As soon as you hinted at non-performance, your head rolled. Kitch Christie steadied the ship a little with the win of the 1995 World cup, but lets be honest, if that cup was played anywhere else, SA would not have made the final. They defended themselves like maniacs into the history books. With a cloud over his head Kitch was asked to resign after winning 14 matches in a row without any loss. Why? Really could not say!

From here on we saw the new generation come in. People with limited experience who knocked heads with Louis Luyt (the then president of Sarvu) and/or his then son-in-law, Riaan Oberholster (CEO of Sarvv).

We then saw Markgraaff leave with a cloud, Gysie Pienaar get fired before the first match and Carel du Plessis get fired for loosing the series against the Brittish and Irish Lions. That after walloping the Wallabies.

We then had Nick Mallett come in and turn the Springboks around into the most exiting outfit since isolation. They now scored tries and won the Tri-Nations for the first time. He also coached them to equaling the 17 on a trot wins of the late sixties All Black team. It looked like Mallett was there to stay. Then the controversy around Skinstad and the a heavily injured Bok sided started to slip a lile. Mallett made a statement against ticket prizes and was fired. Just like about all the coaches post isolation – the exception only being those who were pushed into resigning! We saw the totally professional onslaught by Harry Viljoen fail dismally and then the record losses under Rudolf Straueli. They were both – you guessed it – pushed to resign.

Currently Jake White is the man in the saddle and we all hope he will last at least one more year…..

What all of this illustrates is that the turnover in coaches is so high that only some of them could settle down slightly. A number of then has very limited coaching experienced when they were thrown into the deep end and when they could not swim discarded. How many of these guys that coached the Springboks are still coaching in SA today? Surely if you were regarded as good enough for the Springboks as some stage, you should have been good enough for a provincial side?

What you read here is only the Springbok history. That is unfortunately the situation with most of our teams in SA. Look at the experience of our Super 12 coaches. Two teams, the Cats and the Sharks are coached by people who are in their second year of actual coaching. Second year and you are coaching a Super 12 side! Either you are a genius or someone looking for a short-term job while investigating other opportunities! I don’t want to say that they cannot be successful, but the odds and history is stacked against them.

Potentially they could both be fired at the end of this season’s Super 12 if their respective teams do not win another game. In South Africa the demand is for immediate results. Nothing else seems to be acceptable. Someone like Sir Clive Woodward would have never made it if you came up with the results he did when he took over the coaching of England. SA officials and public would not have stood for it.

Until that attitude change takes place and we could have left people like Ian McIntosh, Carel du Plessis and Nick Mallett in tact, we will struggle to let coaches built up a the pedigree and work themselves to the top. We need to let coaches walk the mile and gain the experience before SA will become a major force in world rugby again.

PS: On a personal note; Kevin Putt should have been fired last year already!

What do you think?

Futures topics:

• The best player in the world

• The man of the match award

• If you want a short-term job, become a coach in SA!

• Referees and their impact on matches

• Ex rugby players who play analysts

• International tours

• The English bubble

• Bonus points in competitions

• Yellow and red cards in rugby

• The format of the Rugby World Cup and spreading of the game

There are many more, but if there is something you would like me to add to the list, please feel free to let me know!