Ken Borland

The Rugby Coaching Indaba this week will not make any difference in the short-term, but that does not mean it’s a bad thing for Springbok rugby.

Brendan Venter is a superb facilitator, he will ask questions and get the involvement of all the coaches, while Pieter Kruger is highly professional and used to dealing with these sort of gatherings. So I’m sure they will get to where they want to, I’m confident they will go in the right direction.

There will be discussions about a national philosophy of playing, the way Allister Coetzee envisages the Springboks should play and the skill set that needs to be developed to go with it.

Skill sets are what I feel should be discussed most. It’s what we as the Springbok coaching group between 2012 and 2015 felt was lacking at national level – things like high-ball work, box-kicking, lineout throwing, goalkicking etc.

We desperately need an individual skills programme for elite performance and high-quality skills coaches. Maybe we need a director of rugby, but without the right contractual model he can’t prescribe to the franchises, he can only influence the contracted Springboks. And Allister Coetzee did not get the job until mid-April, so what went on between last year’s World Cup and then?

I know Johann van Graan, who is the one assistant coach who remained in place, did go to the SuperRugby franchises to see what was going on there, but how New Zealand rugby works is that the national coaches even work with the franchises regularly.

In Heyneke Meyer’s time we had a good relationship with all the SuperRugby unions and we would pay two two-day visits to each franchise every year. So there was a lot of contact and from my point of view I knew all the defence coaches, how they coached, their strategies and how individuals defended, how they folded, their line-speed etc.

We would share information and how we saw the Springboks going forward, on where we were at that moment, and it was a two-way engagement so we would touch base about individual players and we would hear from them how they felt about certain players. Everyone was very honest about what needed to be worked on.

In 2013 I spent two weeks at the Sharks helping them with their kicking structures and I twice went and helped the Cheetahs, who changed a few things and made the playoffs for the first time.

So there was a good exchange of information and it worked out really well.

But it’s difficult to prescribe set things to the franchises because different teams have different strengths and abilities. If a team doesn’t have a good box-kicker at scrumhalf then they’re not going to spend a lot of time with the wings helping them to compete on the high ball. But every team needs to feel safe under the high ball.

Every coach has his own style and has to do whatever is right for his team. For example, at the Kubota Spears we have a close relationship with the Hurricanes and they play slightly differently to the Highlanders or Crusaders.

What’s really interesting about the Hurricanes is the amount of work done with the individual player and his skill set. New Zealand’s skills are highly developed because the players are helped with their skills, the resources are there for individuals around the country.

But skills work needs to be driven by the coach, he needs to be on top of the players’ individual skills. In 2012, I can remember Malcolm Marx didn’t make the SA U20s and Dawie Theron said to me that his lineout throwing was the major problem. So Malcolm would come through every week with Robbie Coetzee and work with me on that. What work has been done individually with him since then? I don’t know.

For four years we’ve had the High-Performance Mobi Unit in place, but what work has been done on Elton Jantjies’ right foot? He has a tremendous left foot, but it would be great if he could be two-footed like Jonny Wilkinson, it would mean he would not be under nearly as much pressure. Can Rohan Janse van Rensburg or Jesse Kriel kick? What is being done about that?

Dave Alred helped us in 2015 with the fielding of high balls, we put that structure in place.

The major problem is that the SuperRugby teams all play differently and the core of the Springbok team is no longer in South Africa, in the current 30-man squad, not many of them are locally-based all year round. The core values need to be kept the same so that a young player can seamlessly move through the system and be coached in the same fashion. We have to find the right balance in terms of game plan, there’s no point in the SA U20s playing a certain way and defending a certain way that is different to the senior side. Likewise if the SA U20s play a passing game with width and the Springboks are playing kicking and territory.

The coach can have a say in the Springboks and the SA U20s because they are contracted sides, and the higher the stakes, the more pressure there is on those games.

The All Blacks are on a different level to everybody at the moment and the Springboks are ranked fourth, but if we weren’t upset by their performance in Durban, if we just accept that, then there is something wrong with our rugby.

New Zealand played well, and as usual ran away with the game in the last 20 minutes, but what the match really underlined was the Springboks’ lack of ambition. They just relied on their set-piece and Morne Steyn kicking penalties and drop goals. Seeing as the All Blacks average 38 points per game, Morne would have had to break the world record for penalties and drop goals for the Springboks to have won!

But most Springbok coaches have been through something similar, because the expectation is so high for excellence. Hopefully the indaba will result in more excellence in our rugby going forward.

Of course, the disappointment of the Springboks’ performance has been put into perspective this week by the shock passing of Munster coach and former Ireland loose forward star Anthony Foley, and I would like to pass my condolences to his family and loved ones.

The Springboks’ humiliating defeat in Durban last weekend was a painful reminder of the gulf in quality that exists between the administration and structure of the game in New Zealand and back here in South Africa, with All Blacks coach Steve Hansen making sure to mention the decision-makers in their rugby when he was asked for the reasons behind their world record equalling run of 17 successive wins.

A solid structure from schoolboys to the Springboks is what is needed for our rugby to remain amongst the best in the world, not yet another overhaul of the national team and their coaches; that’s just treating the symptom, shuffling people around, and does not address the root cause of our problems.

And, as great as next week’s Rugby Indaba sounds – except for the unfortunate two coaches who have their preparations for the Currie Cup final disrupted (another example of Saru’s awful treatment of their flagship competition) – it’s not going to address our real problems either. There might be some good ideas about game plans and what-not, but the coaches and the franchise CEOs do not have the power to change the structural failings in rugby, that lies with the South African Rugby Union and their turkeys who will steadfastly not vote for Christmas.

Below the national sides, there should just be six teams playing fully professional rugby based in the major cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein. And those six unions should have the power in South African rugby, not the eight lesser unions, largely amateurish and as relevant as dinosaurs, which are currently the tail that wags the dog.

Below that, all 14 unions can have semi-professional teams, but the amount of money that can be saved by only having six fully professional teams and by eight economically unviable organisations no longer drawing over R20 million a year in Saru grants could go a long way towards keeping our players in the country.

Just like in New Zealand, talented rugby players must fight for a limited number of professional contracts through their performances at club level, that lead to them playing for their provinces and then being chosen for a Super Rugby deal.

The vast majority of schoolboy players in New Zealand don’t become professional rugby players when they finish their education. They go to university and play rugby there, or play for their local club side while working, which is why so many All Blacks have had interesting occupations like lumberjack, piano mover or, as in the case of Aaron Smith, apprentice hairdresser.

It’s a system that builds character and ensures only the fittest and hungriest players survive to reach the top.

Good schoolboy players in South Africa should be lauded in their school hall and with selection for provincial and national schoolboy teams; not with professional contracts and way too much exposure on television.

There is far too great an emphasis on schoolboy rugby in South Africa and that just creates entitled, spoilt players, wastes a lot of late-developing talent, kills our clubs and also gets in the way of transformation in many cases.

This is not to say that our current Springboks and their management are beyond blame. The All Blacks have a relentless drive to improve on and off the field every day, they see every challenge as a means of getting better.

Do our Springboks and their coaching staff have that same hunger? The same desire to do whatever it takes? Because it will also come down to that if they are going to close the gap with the All Blacks.

Any top professional sportsman worth his salt would turn a record 57-15 hammering at home into motivation to lift their conditioning and skills to new levels.

The South African cricket team has just completed an historic 5-0 series whitewash of world champions Australia, with captain Faf du Plessis saying a culture camp they held before the start of the summer has ensured that they are now playing as a team again and, most importantly, are really challenging each other to be better.

Now that’s the sort of indaba that could be useful for our rugby players and coaches, but the administrators still need to make the major, unselfish changes that will really benefit the game in this country.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls moved into the top two of the Currie Cup on Friday night, playing some terrific rugby in a 57-20 win over Griquas at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Friday night.

I must say I find it quite disturbing sitting here in Japan and reading about the Springboks being in chaos … and that’s coming from a lot of people who have never coached a game of rugby in their lives!

I thought the Springboks gave it a full go in Brisbane against the Wallabies and there was far more intensity than there was in Argentina. People must remember that we lost by only six points, it was not a 49-0 result after all!

The Springboks were right in it until the last minute, so it was a similar story to the last few years when it comes to matches against the Wallabies – the Springboks built a lead and then Australia clawed it back.

I thought the Springboks finished strongly, but there were too many mistakes in the attacking red zone: too many knock-ons, fumbles and the carriers would lose the ball on their way down to the ground just when we had built up some momentum.

To those who are suggesting the team is not being coached, this is plainly unfair. I know Allister Coezee and Johann van Graan well and from working with Johann  for four years I know they would have looked at Australia in detail.

Game planning is now a collaborative exercise between the players and coaches. As attack coach, Johann would meet with the senior players and the key decision-makers, show them clips which he felt were relevant and then they would agree on the way forward after bouncing ideas around. Johann meets with small groups like the breakdown, attack leaders and lineout groups and the different units within the team to discuss with them what they need to do. To say there is no planning in place and chaos in the team is far from the truth.

So it’s always clear what the plan is for the forwards competing and the attack or the kicking game or whatever, and certainly for the defence when I was there. The plan is always clear on attack and defence, but clearly you then have to execute. I don’t know how Mzwandile Stick and Chean Roux work, but I imagine it would be the same.

And then there’s a 45-minute meeting with all the players and leadership group where feedback is given on different areas, so the game plan is always clear to everyone who is involved.

So the game plan will be a collaboration and it’s always a very busy week for the players and coaches because not only do they have all their on-field training, but they also do a helluva lot of video work and planning.

An international coach only has 12 games per year, but it’s like playing 12 finals because for every game he has to prepare like he would for a final.

I think there certainly was an improvement by the Springboks in Brisbane. The defence was better but there were still far too many cardinal errors.

They should have set the blindside defence from the breakdown better after the lineout maul and you could see from Bryan Habana’s reaction that he got sucked in because we clearly didn’t have enough numbers there on the blindside.

On the second try, the defenders overtracked on Foley. You should be coming forward and be square that close to the line, otherwise you will be stepped.

But the defence did set much better and it was more organised, but that was predicted because Juan de Jongh and Jesse Kriel are better communicators and more vocal.

It was also really obvious though that the Springboks should have been kicking more on to Quade Cooper when he was on the wing. It’s hard to do it from the left side because Elton Jantjies is a left-footer, but it would have been easy for him to swap around with Johan Goosen.

They should have managed that better, they were just set up all the time for the maul and box-kick. It was also disappointing that they then allowed Australia to play from there, they should not really be able to attack from there because the chase should be much wider and into position quicker. The Wallabies have had to run back to get behind the catcher, so it’s really just a question of work-rate when it comes to the Springbok chase.

You generally have a plan beforehand, but Test rugby is so high-paced and frantic that it’s very difficult to change things during the game. You have to have clear plans before the game and you have to have practised it if you’re going to make a change. By putting Johan Goosen at flyhalf on the left-hand side they would have opened up the middle of the field and allowed the Springboks to kick away from Israel Folau. If you kick long and then they kick it back, you must reply with a short running bomb, which is always fielded by scrumhalf Will Genia, and surely we can win aerial battles with him!

The Springboks are also generally not generating broken-field ball with their kicks, which is strange because we do have right-footed and left-footed combinations.

The Lions have won in New Zealand this year, so I hope the things that served them well will come in. I think it could be quite close against the All Blacks in Christchurch, I don’t think the Springboks are going to get beaten by 40 or 50 points.

In the last four years our away games against the All Blacks have been relatively close. In Dunedin in 2012, the Springboks missed a lot of penalties – we only kicked at 33% – and lost 21-11, while 2013 in Auckland was when referee Roman Poite reduced us to 14 men for most of the game when he yellow-carded and then red-carded Bismarck du Plessis, which was subsequently proven to be unfair. Then in 2014 in Wellington they won 14-10 thanks to Kieran Read batting back a crosskick to Richie McCaw to score, and that game became very close at the end. Last year the Springboks lost 20-18 in London in the World Cup semifinal.

It’s essentially a very similar group playing again this weekend and it’s always the biggest clash of the year for both teams, the Boks certainly approach it like that and, as All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster has alluded to this week, they view the Springboks as their greatest competitors and rivals so I fully expect it to be a much closer game than some of our fortune-tellers in the media have predicted.

I know this group of players will always stand up and be counted and it’s always the same with the Springboks: when you back them into a hole they perform at their best, they need that extreme pressure, under that their real character is shown and this group does have character.

John McFarland is the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and was the Springbok defence coach from 2012-15, having won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.