delcarmel@sundaytimes.co.za
It has been another infuriatingly familiar year for Springbok supporters, one in which they must have felt trapped like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.
For all the hype, the Boks engaged in a rooted-to-the-spot routine of one step forward, one back, which left coach Rassie Erasmus with a deeply unpalatable 50% win rate from 14 Tests played this year.
This is the coach, if we may use a Peter de Villiers-ism, whose arrival was greeted, as if he was on the back of a donkey, with messianic fervour.
A year out from the next Rugby World Cup (RWC) it is worth asking whether the Boks have significantly advanced from the Allister Coetzee era.
Last year Coetzee boasted a 53.8% win rate but his overall record stood at 44.
Three of the wins under Erasmus were achieved away from home, which of course is pertinent in a RWC context. Last year they only won three Tests away but they also secured a draw in Perth under Coetzee.
What has been different this year is the manner in which the coach has conveyed his message. He had been clear about his plans from the outset and almost steeled the rugby public for the setbacks to come.
With varying degrees the media, public and those in high office have fed from his palm so when failure came, it was received with less incredulity.
The coach will be stripped of that luxury in the months leading up to RWC next year.
The weightiest decision facing Erasmus, and his most urgent order of business, is his choice of captain for the tournament. The coach has steered conversation away from the prickly matter and understandably so. The Bok captaincy is a contentious matter at the best of times but next year the debate around the leadership is likely to stir emotions like never before.
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It is a matter that will require delicate diplomacy. It will almost certainly prove deeply divisive.
Not since Jean de Villiers captained the side to the 2015 RWC has the Bok skipper had a firm hand on the position. De Villiers had effectively led the side since 2012.
Since then Fourie du Preez, Adriaan Strauss, Warren Whiteley, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Siya Kolisi have all had a crack.
Erasmus will only make a decision once next year's Super Rugby has run its course. The attritional competition may yet spare him from making a desperately difficult call.
First of course, he needs to settle on what he deems his best starting side. It is clear from their record this season that the Springboks have a few issues that could be remedied by selectors' intervention.
A senior member in the Springbok set-up conceded this week that better choices can be made next season.
"I think there are one or two positions that we will have to look at," said the insider who did not want to be named.
"We have a bit of time still to look at the loose forward combination. We still have those Rugby Championships games we have to play."
Very rarely this year did the Springbok back row operate as a cohesive unit, a fact betrayed by the selection of Kolisi, Du Toit, Duane Vermeulen, Whiteley, Francois Louw, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Jean-Luc du Preez, Dan du Preez, Oupa Mohoje, Kwagga Smith and Marco van Staden. To be fair, the coach was always going to cast the net wide.
Though the Damian de Allende/Jesse Kriel partnership is the most established in the backline, the source the Sunday Times spoke to has his reservations about the combination. "I'm not sure our centres are performing at 100%. We'll probably have to look at that."
Among the three quarters, Warrick Gelant is expected to play himself back into contention next year.
Faf de Klerk and Handre Pollard appear to be the halfback partnership with the most going for them, with Embrose Papier and Elton Jantjies cast as support staff. A third scrumhalf with loads of experience is worth considering.
In the pack Tendai Mtawarira, Lizo Gqoboka and Coenie Oosthuizen will join the front row debate, while in the second row the Boks seem equally well stocked.
How foreign-based players, other than the ones we've seen this season, will be incorporated remains to be seen. Jan Serfontein and Pat Lambie would be rock solid additions to the side.
Perhaps they can help plug the gaps that still exist. "We need a bit of killer instinct in our play," said the source. "Decision-making also lacked a bit on the end-of-year tour. We also need better support play. We can also read the opposition better."
Overall, however, he is sanguine about the Boks' prospects.
"Rassie has created a good atmosphere for the players. On the field there are a few things the coaches still need to sort out but I think we are on the right track."
THE POSITIVES
• WELLINGTON WONDERS
A week after the Brisbane defeat, the Boks not only fought back from an early 12-0 deficit, but led 24-17 at halftime as they went to record a 36-34 win. It was their first in New Zealand in nine years.
• ELLIS PARK FIGHTBACK
At 24-3 down against England, the Boks looked down and out but they mounted the first of two series fightbacks to win 42-39. They clawed back from a 12-0 deficit to win the series in Bloemfontein the following week.
• BONGI'S THE MAN OF THE HOUR
Three consecutive accurate lineouts from Bongi Mbonambi saw the Boks move from deep within their own half after the hooter trailing 22-26 against France in Paris to score the match-winning try from a rolling maul to win 29-26.
• KOLISI'S HISTORIC MOMENT
Siya Kolisi became the first black Springbok captain and happened to don the same No 6 jersey worn by Francois Pienaar at the very same ground where the Boks won the Rugby World Cup in 1995. It remains a moment frozen in time.
THE DISAPPOINTMENTS
• MENDOZA MUNCHING
Argentina sprung a serious bear trap on the Boks through a 32-19 win, in which nothing went right. They slipped to a second defeat in three games.
• WASHED UP IN CAPE TOWN
The England series was won by the time the Boks arrived in Cape Town. In what was an acid test for what the Boks could expect in Europe, the Boks were outmuscled at Newlands. Elton Jantjies had his worst Bok Test.
• BRISBANE BUMBLING
The Boks have won only once in Brisbane since 1993 and played like a side that didn't look like winning. They started well but Mbonambi fluffed a 5m lineout from where Australia scored and he was unfairly hauled off by Erasmus.
• MALCOLM MISSES HIS MARX
While the recent Twickenham Test against England will always be remembered for Angus Gardner's gaffe, Malcolm Marx had a game to forget, missing his jumpers and the proverbial barn door at crucial line-outs...