For all his success at both Super Rugby and Currie Cup level, Heyneke Meyer has become a polarizing figure in South African rugby since he became the Springboks Head Coach.
Looking at his CV, there can be little doubt that he has the credentials to coach at an international level. After overcoming his initial disappointment at not been given the Springbok job in 2008 when Pieter de Villiers beat him to the position, he came out of rugby coaching retirement when he was asked to apply for and was given the job he so desired. There can also be no doubt that he has a deep passion for rugby and his country. In the 2015 Rugby World Cup, he took the Springboks to third position after being knocked out at the semi-final stage by eventual champions New Zealand.
So what has gone wrong over the last four years and why has he become so unpopular with a significant portion of the South African rugby viewing public? We take a look at four particular points of interest that have brought South Africa rugby to the brink of turmoil.
Style of play
Many South African fans have quite frankly become tired of watching a team that has become known for using big forwards to subdue their opponents and scoring is dominated by penalty kicks and the driving maul. There is very little finesse or guile involved and Springbok fans have become envious of the Antipodean sides, Australia and New Zealand, with Argentina also starting to develop a large group of admirers.
It is true that Meyer did inherit the bulk of his squad from the Super Rugby franchises who were conditioned to play in the old “South African way”, a game which is played at a much slower tempo than their opponents and as it has become evident, a tempo too slow to consistently beat Australian and New Zealand teams. A success rate of one out of eight against the All Blacks since the last Rugby World Cup is simply not acceptable to the South African public. An attempt was made during August and September to increase the Springboks aerobic fitness, with the basement of the hotel that served as home base in their pre-Rugby World Cup camp being turned into hi-tech gym. A noble attempt, but a spinning bike can never replace playing the game at a high tempo.
Much has been said of the structures created on the field that creates opportunities and players are responsible for making decisions and playing what is in front of them. Once again, this is not what is practiced at a franchise level and the Springboks inability to cross the line against teams with an adequate defensive system is indicative of that.
It should come as no surprise that the All Blacks were able to read all the Springboks plays during the Rugby World Cup like a cheap comic book and were also very effective in neutralizing South Africa’s strongest set piece, the lineout. There is no solace in “only” losing by two points in that match. It is another loss and one feels that the All Blacks had a little in reserve anyway.
South African rugby does stare a huge opportunity in the face in 2016, as all but one of their Super Rugby coaches have been replaced. The Bulls and Cheetahs have gone with the relatively inexperienced Nollis Marais and Franco Smith respectively. The Sharks and the Kings have yet to unveil their Super Rugby coachs and Eddie Jones has signed for the Stormers. The only coach to survive the cut is Johan Ackerman of the Lions, who embraced the high-paced, ball in hand approach that fans are looking for. There were promising signs from the Stormers and the Bulls during the Currie Cup season and we can only hope that this more adventurous approach spills over into Super Rugby.
I do not subscribe to the notion that these skills are non-existent in the South African game. They are often seen on display at top level school games and at the annual Craven Week competition for provincial under-18 teams. It would also be difficult to explain away the skills of the next generation of Springbok players, players such as Jessie Kriel, Damian de Allende, Burger Odendaal and Harold Vorster. This is looking at the centres only and South Africa’s abilities in the sevens format is not explored. It is not that the skills do not exist, it is that they are not encouraged and developed, with coaches going for the safety first option that has become the staple of South African rugby teams.
Support coaches
There have to be questions regarding the support staff that Meyer has appointed to assist him in coaching the Springboks. A lot has been made of the experience the Springbok squad had at its disposal, but the same cannot be said of the backroom staff.
Scrum coach, Pieter de Villiers, has a wealth of experience at a playing level, but none as a top level rugby coach. The same can be said of backline coach Ricardo Laubscher. He has been a backline coach at age group level, at university level and at Vodacom Cup level. We have to question exactly how he was fast tracked into a Springbok coaching set up with no senior level experience.
Johan van Graan started off as forwards coach and is now in charge of attack. Given the sterile nature of the Springboks attacking game plan, it should come as no surprise that Van Graan also has no senior level experience has a head coach.
The question has to be asked why Meyer has been allowed to surround himself with such lightweight assistant coaches? Meyer has glowing words for all of them, but the results do not support the opinion.
Squad selection
Provincial bias will always be evident in South African rugby, simply due to the love South Africans have for the game and their teams. A fair amount of the criticism directed at Meyer regarding his selections is justified though. Most teams at the Rugby World Cup went with an out and out fetcher. Some teams, most notably Australia, had two fetchers. The South African loose trio consisted of three fantastic players in Schalk Burger, Duane Vermeulen and Francois Louw, who all have their own strengths and by virtue of their performances deserved their starting positions. Springbok fans, though, were left wondering how different results may have been if the likes of a Jaco Kriel or Heinrich Brussow had been selected to add a completely different dimension to their play at the breakdown and supporting runners, even if it was off the bench.
One of the most ineffectual selections of the entire World Cup was surely Willem Alberts. He was injured going into the tournament and made small cameo appearances off the bench and did not add much value. This is matched by the selection of Morne Steyn. He was largely unused during the tournament and was surely only taken along as insurance. Coenie Oosthuizen can also regard himself as very lucky to have been taken along as emergency cover.
Willie le Roux also did not deliver as expected. He was selected as he had the so-called X-factor, but by the end of the tournament it can be better defined as the Y-factor…. Why was he selected? He added very little on attack, was adequate on defence and extremely poor when kicking the ball out of hand. There was a lot of dissatisfaction in South Africa regarding the limited game time given to Patrick Lambie and we can only wonder how he would have done at fullback given the chance, noting that he has played in the position before.
Meyer has certainly underlined the fact that he trusts a close inner circle only and is not willing to change his opinion very easily.
Racial transformation
The job of the Springbok rugby coach is not an easy one as they have an additional requirement of them that is not expected of any other international rugby coach in the world. That is the responsibility of the racial transformation of the team they are responsible for. There has been a lot of political activity around the Springbok team recently, with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) as well as the little known Agency for New Agenda, trying to gain political traction by sticking holes in the Springboks racial transformation efforts.
In terms of their Strategic Transformation Policy, the South African Rugby Union has met all the targets they agreed to with the Department of Sports and Recreation. They have taken the game to hundreds of schools that are not traditional rugby schools. They met their target of 9 non-white players in the Rugby World Cup Squad. Unfortunately though, this is where the political detractors have been given enough ammunition to start questioning Meyer’s commitment towards transformation as well his trust of black players and this could be the final nail in the Meyer coaching coffin.
One striking example of this was during The Rugby Championship, when he was forced to make a selection on the wing due to an injury to JP Pietersen. The logical choice would have been to hand Lwazi Mvovo a start, but he opted to play Jessie Kriel out of position, shifting him from outside centre. There are also questions on how badly Lionel Mapoe did during his 30 seconds against the All Blacks in Johannesburg to not be selected again.
Meyer’s steadfast trust in Willem Alberts saw him leapfrog over an in form Siya Kolisi to provide loose forward cover from the bench. We then have to the curious case of Rudy Paige. His selection was clouded with controversy when his name was read out ahead of Cobus Reinach. Meyer defended this selection, stating that he had the perfect kicking game to fit in with the Springbok pattern of play. It is therefore a little difficult to understand why he only got twenty minutes against the USA Eagles and four minutes against Argentina.
South African rugby is at a cross-roads and their rugby future will only become clearer after 5 December, when their Executive Committee meets to unpack the Springboks performance over the last four years under Meyer. The high road would be to appoint whoever they feel is capable of moving the team forward, with complete buy in from the franchises to develop a more attacking pattern of play and centrally contracting the coaches would be a means of enforcing this.
The low road would be to continue as is, with or without Meyer at the helm. The reality is that the game has moved away from the traditional style of play and no change will point towards more disappointment for South African Rugby fans. The problem is much bigger than just one man and we can only trust that this is comprehended and acted upon by the SARU executive.
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