In an ideal world we could tear up the script for the Springboks’ 2016 season and push the restart button, with a host of new protagonists on centre stage.
But it is not going to happen and Allister Coetzee and his inexperienced support staff will beat on against the tide, labouring ever more into the eye of the storm.
The question is this: What can the South African Rugby Union do to at least make the passage to the next World Cup steadier, and what can Coetzee himself do, selection-wise, to right the listing ship?
Coetzee said after the weekend’s catastrophe in Christchurch that certain players had not risen to the occasion after a series of opportunities, against Ireland, Argentina, Australia and now New Zealand.
That is surely the death knell for Elton Jantjies and while Morne Steyn is next in line at flyhalf for the Loftus Versfeld Test against Australia, Coetzee will be tempted to fast-track Patrick Lambie into the squad, at least for a bench spot.
It is just a pity that the Sharks have a bye this weekend, preventing Lambie from building on his comeback against Eastern Province at the weekend after three months of concussion.
Coetzee is faced with a number of selection conundrums as the pressure cooker starts to whistle a haunting tune.
Three wins and four losses from seven Tests is a living nightmare for a Springbok coach in the first year of the job.
Considering that he is now picking overseas players with impunity - the call-up of veteran Willem Alberts from France remains a mystery given that South Africa is never short of loose forwards - why not now go the whole hog and reconsider Montpellier stars Frans Steyn and Bismarck du Plessis?
The Battleship Bismarck is currently in the dry docks because of a pectoral injury and not available for the remaining Rugby Championship matches against Australia and New Zealand but South Africa’s most combative forward has been setting French rugby on fire at Montpellier and could be the way forward.
But Steyn is fighting fit and the former Sharks centre (and the youngest ever winner of a World Cup gold medal, at 19, in 2007), is in blistering form and kicking penalties and drop goals from No Man’s Land, and heavens knows that the No 12 position is proving troublesome for Coetzee.
Damian de Allande and latterly Juan de Jongh have both struggled in the vital, play-making position, although to be fair to them, their causes have not been helped by Jantjies being sadly out of form.
When Steyn was the 12 in 2009, when the Boks beat the Lions and New Zealand on three consecutive occasions, the New Zealanders named him the ‘rocket blaster.’
In short, if Coetzee is going to select overseas-based players, then go the whole hog and select the best possible team to beat the Wallabies and the All Blacks in the remaining Rugby Championship games.
The can of worms is already open; no good shutting the gate now, the Brumbies have already bolted ...
At the moment, Coetzee’s selection policy is neither here nor there, pretty much reflecting the Boks’ game plan.
But that is a story for another day.
Personally, this writer agrees with what Jake White first said when overseas-based players were first picked by Heynecke Meyer some years ago: “South African rugby is making a rod for its own back by going this route,” White said. “The Currie Cup and Super Rugby teams will weaken as a result and thus also the base from which the Springbok coach must pick (the majority) of his players.”
Bismarck is world class and would give the Bok pack a physical edge going forward and when he is over injury.
As for the Bok coaching staff, if Saru is to continue with Coetzee as coach, and they will, then they need to eat some humble pie and admit that he requires assistance. There is enough of it around. Proud South African rugby men such as Brendan Venter, Nick Mallett, White, Peter de Villiers and Heyneke Meyer would not resist a tug at their patriotic heart-strings if asked to consult to the Boks.
South Africa also has some of the best defence coaches in world rugby. Even bearing in mind how good the All Blacks are on attack, some of the tries conceded by the Boks came down to amateurish defence. Substitute scrumhalf TJ Perenara’s saunter to the Springbok line off the back of a set scrum springs to mind. What about a call to Omar Mouneimne, who sorted out the Sharks’ Super Rugby defence in a jiffy?
Coetzee as head coach is only as good as his backroom staff, and right now Coetzee appears to be a man lost at sea. Saru must wake up and throw him some lifebuoys.
Independent Media