No silver bullet for the Boks

15 September 2016 - 10:21 By Brendan Venter

After consecutive Rugby Championship defeats by Argentina and Australia, a sense of despondency has engulfed Springbok rugby.Diehard Springbok supporters are devastated by the side's decline.However, I would argue that although the men in green and gold hail from a strong rugby-playing pedigree, there is no divine right for them to keep winning matches.I can't understand why people were expecting a miracle from Allister Coetzee's new-look Springbok side.The fact that Coetzee was appointed so late by SA Rugby was a disaster.Owing to only being announced as national coach in April, he has had almost no time to prepare and mould a cohesive playing squad.A limited amount of coaching takes place when the Test season has begun, and a match week is all about fine-tuning skills and the tactical planning.Coetzee was effectively on the back foot from the start of his term, because he didn't have a "pre-season" to work with the players.Coetzee must be credited for selecting mostly in-form Lions players and attempting to employ a better brand of rugby.However, the bad news is that Springbok supporters need to lower their expectations because there is no miracle cure for the national team's ailments.The bottom line is that no coach in the world is going to remedy the problems overnight. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet that is going to solve everything.The quicker we understand that concept and the fact that we are building a team, the better. Coetzee needs to stick with the players he has picked and develop them as individuals. In spite of the chorus of criticism, at no cost can Coetzee afford to throw Elton Jantjies out.Jantjies is a really good player and, if I were the coach, I would take away the goal-kicking duties from him, hand them over to Johan Goosen and allow Jantjies to play his natural game.The pivot doesn't need more pressure as he develops into a proficient Test flyhalf.The common factor related to long-term success within any organisation is continuity. And, in the case of the current Springbok side, there is neither continuity in coaching staff nor team selection.Coetzee's reign has been underpinned by wholesale changes from the Heyneke Meyer era.In South African rugby we love chopping and changing personnel and want to achieve results as quickly as possible.As a consequence, the Springboks are disjointed and struggling to find their feet.Everybody is looking at Coetzee and asking him to solve the problems at hand.While he is a very good coach, a great man-manager and is well-organised, he's not a one-man army.Coetzee needs to surround himself with an experienced support staff of coaches whom he can bounce ideas off.Mzwandile Stick is going to become a good coach in time, but is currently a novice at international level.Meanwhile, Chean Roux, Johann van Graan and Matthew Proudfoot are by no means bad coaches, but they are largely untested when it comes to dealing with setbacks.By contrast, the All Blacks and Wallabies have appointed former or current franchise coaches as assistants.All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has the vastly experienced pair of Ian Foster and Wayne Smith as support staff, while Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has the savvy of Brumbies boss Stephen Larkham to call upon...

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