With the Super Rugby tournament approaching the end of the 2015 edition, it is an opportune time to select a few key learnings from this season.
1. Francois Hougaard is a winger
As much as Hougaard does not want to hear this, his best position is on the wing. His kicking game at scrumhalf is not strong enough to hold a spot down at his franchise, let alone at international level. His ability to break the line as a wing for the Bulls has been impressive and in a side that has struggled this year to get the ball wide, he has managed to shine.
2. South Africa’s tighthead stocks are improving
For a long time there has been a worry around tighthead depth in South Africa. This has improved during the 2015 Super Rugby competition. Frans Malherbe of the Stormers has confirmed his international claims with continued impressive performances. Waiting in the wings is another Stormers tighthead, Vincent Koch. Koch took the long route to Super Rugby, being missed by both the Bulls and Lions age group structures. He then found a home at the Pumas in Nelspruit and is on loan to the Stormers. He is very much in demand in South African rugby and the Pumas are sure to receive some big money offers to secure his services. There is another a new contender on the block. Young Thomas du Toit of the Sharks impressed everybody as a 20 year old loosehead prop playing in Super Rugby. He has recently moved to tighthead for the Junior Springboks and he has the size and technique to make a successful transition. For the Coenie Oosthuizen fans, sorry, but Coenie is not a tighthead and will never be as he does not have the technique to be one and tends to hinge when he scrums and that is fatal for a tighthead. Trevor Nyakane provided more than adequate cover at tighthead for the Bulls and proved to be a more secure option than Oosthuizen.
3. There is impressive talent at inside centre
Over the last three years, it was thought that Jan Serfontein would be the natural successor to Jean de Villiers at inside centre for the Springboks. His game has stagnated over the last year and equally young players without the same reputation have started to surpass him. Damian de Allende of the Stormers has been the most recent incumbent of the Springbok number 12 jersey when De Villiers has been unavailable. Serfontein needs to look closely over his shoulder as there are are a number of young pretenders who would love to usurp his claim to that number 12 Springbok jersey. Burger Odendaal of the Bulls has always made a significant impact when he has played and has shown a lot more attacking intent than has been usual in a Bulls team in 2015. Harold Vorster of the Lions has been allowed a lot more attacking freedom and has delivered both in terms of defense and attack and is a prospect post the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Andre Esterhuizen of the Sharks also looks to be a great prospect and he will pressure Serfontein, Odendaal and Vorster for the green and gold number 12 jersey. All of these players are in their early 20’s and there is sure to be a tough battle over the next couple of years that will be worthy of watching.
4. Refereeing remains a problem
Watching weekend after weekend of Super Rugby inspires no confidence in the quality of officiating. Refereeing decisions are too easily picked apart and this includes TMO decisions. How can it be acceptable that television audiences can make the correct decision based on the video evidence in front of them, yet the paid official gets it wrong? Without delving into the differences in interpretation between referees, the rugby world would be a happier place if they just got the simple stuff right.
5. Conservative coaching is limiting the South African game
Apart from a few exceptions, the quality of coaching by Super Rugby coaches is not of the highest level and is far too conservative. Gary Gold of the Sharks can be excused from this conversation as he inherited a squad a week before the tournament started. Stormers coach Alister Coetzee has stuck to what he knows best – a conservative defence based game plan. On the rare occasion he has allowed his backline to counter attack, but always relies on his forward strength and tight defence for crunch games. Winning the South African Conference regularly is one thing, but they never seem to be able to take the next step and be true title contenders. Naka Drotske of the Cheetahs has already fallen on his sword, but his attacking game plan was not supported by any form of structured defence, so for all their attacking intent they failed outscore enough opponents to have a decent season.
Frans Ludeke appears to have lost his direction at the Bulls. Taking a look at the attacking talent he has at his disposal, it is confusing why the Bulls stick to a ten man style of rugby that has become completely ineffective. Rumour has it that he won’t be at the reigns at the Bulls in 2016 – he is either completely out of the picture or will be given the Director of Rugby position that Heyneke Meyer vacated three years ago to take up the Springbok coach role.
In my opinion, the only coach that can truly look back at his year’s work with a sense of pride (pun intended) is Lions coach Johan Ackermann. He has developed a group of players who either have always been loyal to the Lions cause or who were surplus to requirements at other franchises into a team that was in with a shout of conference honours right up to the second last weekend of the tournament.
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