After a disastrous 2015 Super Rugby season, there has been a near total clean out of South African rugby coaches. For those who like a good conspiracy theory, it might seem like an executive decision was made in the SARU boardroom.
This could not have come at a better time, as the South African game has stagnated to the extent that attacking options are limited to the kick and chase, the driving maul and forwards acting as first receivers, trying to bash their way through opponents’ defenses. All three of these options have been relatively easily defended over the last couple of years and it appears that South African coaches have been unable to evolve their game plans past the power game that was successful up until 2011.
Let’s take a look at all of the South African franchises for the newly constituted Super Rugby tournament in 2016.
Emirates Lions:
This is the only South African franchise that carries over their coaching team from 2015. Johan Ackermann has started to develop something special at the Lions and his attacking mindset is a rare exception in the South African Conference. After briefly flirting with the idea of taking the reigns as the Southern Kings head coach, Lions assistant coach Swys de Bruin decided he has unfinished business at the Lions and will remain as Ackermann’s right hand man.
Toyota Free State Cheetahs:
Head Coach Naka Drotske tendered his resignation and was granted an early release with two games to go in the 2015. His replacement is Franco Smith, an ex-Cheetahs, Bulls and Springbok center/flyhalf. He has experience coaching in Italy at Treviso and then as head coach of the Shimlas, who won the 2015 edition of the Varsity Cup. His stated intent is to allow his players to play with a smile on their faces and this was evident in the Cheetahs win over the Bulls in the final round of Super Rugby. He is sure to be the breath of fresh air that the Cheetahs are looking for, but there is the perennial question mark over the franchise’s ability to retain their marquee players in order to be a legitimate threat in the tournament.
Cell C Sharks:
There are many Sharks supporters who have it in for current Head Coach Gary Gold, but the truth be told he inherited a squad he did not recruit and a support staff he did not appoint. For 2016, Gold will be moved to the Director of Rugby position and the Sharks are looking for a new Head Coach. Brad McLeod-Henderson thought he had the inside track to get this position, but this was not the case. He was offered a new position at the Sharks but he declined and tendered his resignation on Monday 15 June. A number of names have been bandied about including John Plumtree and John Mitchell. John Smit was instrumental in removing Plumtree and Mitchell, who does have an exceptional rugby brain, has question marks over his man management skills after rumoured run-ins with officialdom after player complaints, both at the Western Force and the Lions.
DHL Stormers:
The Stormers Head Coach position has been the one that has been available for the longest in South Africa as it has been known that he is on his way to Japan for a long time. John Dobson’s name has been thrown into the hat for the position and John Plumtree has been approached as well. The Stormers desperately need a new outlook on how to play the game. They may have won the South African Conference more than any other team, but they have never tasted Super Rugby success. With the attacking talent they have at their disposal, this is unacceptable and they need to look past the current conservative game they are currently playing. John Mitchell was also approached for this position but declined as current Director of Rugby, Gert Smal, only has two years left on his current contract and Mitchell was not guaranteed employment after this and he was not prepared to resign as CEO of the engineering company he is employed at, as well as his analyst job at Supersport for what in real terms is only a short term contract.
Vodacom Bulls:
The Bulls are the most successful South African franchise in Super Rugby, having won the competition three times. For a franchise with the proud history of the Bulls, the last two years in Super Rugby and the Currie Cup is just not acceptable. Fans have been calling for the resignation of Frans Ludeke for a long time, so his decision to step down on Saturday 13 June was largely welcomed. Nollis Marais, the current Under 21 coach, has been appointed as the new Currie Cup coach, but there is no news as to who the new Super Rugby Head Coach will be. Victor Matfield’s name has been thrown into the hat, but popular opinion is that he is not ready to coach a Super Rugby team yet. I would agree with this for one simple reason. As the Bulls attack coach in 2015, he promised a much more attacking mindset from the Bulls in 2015, but we saw little of this so I have to question how much influence he really did have. Some pundits have also correctly pointed out that the transition from player to coach is not easy and very few have done so immediately with much success, just take a look at the example of Martin Johnson in the England job.
Southern Kings:
The Kings’ readmission to Super Rugby means a fresh start for them and they will also be in the market for a Head Coach. Former All Black flyhalf Carlos Spencer might have thought that he had the position, but it appears that he is not in the reckoning at all as he has been demoted from Currie Cup coach to backline and skills coach. Brent Janse van Rensburg has been appointed as Currie Cup coach. He has previous experience as coach of the Madibaz in the Varsity Cup, but is not ready to coach a Super Rugby team. After Lions assistant coach Swys de Bruin decided not to sign with them, the next name associated with the position has been former Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse. It would be a major coup for the Kings to pull this off though as Stonehouse has only just started his tenure of Japanese side Toshiba Brave Lupus and I don’t see them being in the financial position to leverage this, given that they have yet to announce a title sponsor.
It is well known that South African rugby franchises are very reluctant to appoint coaches from outside of their current coaching structures and this is a a sad state of affairs as this means that they are unlike to revolutionize their approach to the game. What South African desperately needs now are coaches who encourage a more creative game plan. I don’t subscribe to the notion that South African players do not have the skills to adopt a more adventurous game. It is there at schoolboy level, but it is coached out of them as soon as they are contracted at one of the Franchises.
I don’t see hugely different results in 2016 as it takes time for a new coach to impose his pattern of play on a new squad unless it is the same old game plan that the previous coach used. I would gladly accept this if it meant that and change to the South African game is revolution as opposed to an evolution.
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