Meyer's lucky escape

13 October 2015 - 02:02 By Ross Tucker

I've been attending World Rugby meetings in London for the last week, and I've been fascinated by the English media's dissecting of their team's performances and their coach Stuart Lancaster's failures. Dissecting is too kind a word, it's more a dismembering by a pack of hyenas, and every other coach should be grateful they're not exposed to the same post-failure brutality!Heyneke Meyer could have found himself in a similar position. Truthfully, he should never even have broken a sweat or had anxiety from our pool (unlike Lancaster), but defeat to Japan put him at a similar fork in the road to what the England coach has faced for a few years.Meyer and the Boks went left, and look forward to a quarterfinal and beyond, while Lancaster's Roses went right, and now anticipate unplanned vacations or new jobs.What was the difference between these two journeys? Paradoxically, it was a well-timed and necessary combination of injury and failure that drove Meyer one way, while Lancaster took the road more often travelled!Injuries and defeats are usually spoken of as undesirable and detrimental. And I believe that injury-management will still be decisive in this World Cup, but Meyer benefited from both in the sense that it finally gave him clarity of selection.That is, his tactical problems were simplified and the result was the emergence, finally, of player security in terms of selection, roles and purpose. Basically, the combination of defeat to Japan and injuries solved the coach's dilemma - who to pick, and how they should play.This is a recurring challenge - remember Nick Mallett with Gary Teichmann vs Bobby Skinstand? Or Peter de Villiers with Bismarck du Plessis vs John Smit?At the elite level, where players have achieved near-mastery, recognising and selecting the best players in the best combinations is perhaps the joint highest priority for a coach, along with providing a clear vision for how they should play.Meyer, with six matches to play to win the World Cup, finally arrived at an answer that seemed to have eluded him for years. Lancaster never solved the riddle.In 2013, I attended a performance symposium put on by the English Rugby Union, and Lancaster spoke of his World Cup vision. It included developing a team with stable combinations and at least 600 caps in his run-on 15 at the World Cup final.He had, as history suggests, recognised the need for continuity and experience ahead of the World Cup.He never got close. In part due to "luck", his selections were often forced by injuries, and in part due to the pressure of not quite finding effective winning combinations, he ended the tournament, and probably his tenure as head coach, still uncertain about his best players in key positions.Lancaster did succeed at developing two, sometimes three players in key positions. All were good. None were great. Ultimately, he finished four consecutive Six Nations campaigns in second place.The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was always within sight, but never in hand. It is a classic illustration of how some success can hinder the progress required to take that final step to the top of the podium.South Africa achieved just enough success over that period to satisfy most people's requirements. But inconsistencies plagued the Boks, and Meyer never really seemed settled on who to pick, or how to play. Then came Japan, followed by injuries that forced him to select his best possible team.Allied to this fact, the defeat to Japan was such a nadir that it also crystallised the tactical approach, and the way forward was clear.Both personnel and purpose, perfectly framed, and the rest has been, to quote just about every player and coach interview I've seen since Japan, "a return to basics and Springbok rugby".Whether that will be sufficient to get through three difficult matches remains to be seen. Lancaster has no such opportunity, and may in hindsight rue the fact that fate didn't intervene to help nudge him towards a better solution...

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