Indaba to look at SA Rugby’s decline

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The South African Rugby Union are now also worried about the state of Springbok rugby. That much is clear following the announcement late yesterday of confirmation of a coaching indaba, scheduled to take place next month. The Boks’ poor performances this season, starting with their lukewarm effort against Ireland in June and their equally disappointing showing in the Rugby Championship, have forced the rugby bosses to call a gathering to get to the bottom of the current state of SA rugby. Not only did the Boks squeak past Ireland, they have now lost three out of four Rugby Championship matches and still have two to play, at home in the coming weeks. The Boks are set to also tour the United Kingdom for four matches in November. National mentor Allister Coetzee and his coaching team have copped a lot of flak in recent weeks following the Boks’ away defeats by Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Questions have been raised about the style of rugby the team are playing and why certain aspects of their game are lacking behind their counterparts.

Also set for discussion at the indaba will be the matter of the overseas-based players and whether they should or shouldn’t be considered for the national team. Coetzee is still allowed to pick players from overseas-based clubs, but the world’s leading team, New Zealand, ban their players from playing for the All Blacks unless they play within their country’s borders.

The gathering, set to take place in Cape Town from October 19-21, will consist of the national coaches, SA Rugby’s rugby department and high performance committee, all the Super Rugby franchise coaches and conditioning coaches, as well as a number of invited rugby specialists.

The physical conditioning of our country’s players is also under the spotlight following the inability of several teams to last the 80 minutes against international opposition, while the specialists that are likely to be invited to the indaba could include former national coaches and even conditioning specialists.

Here one thinks of Derick Coetzee, who was World Cup winning coach Jake White’s conditioning boss, while Nick Mallett, Brendan Venter, Peter de Villiers, Naas Botha and even White could be called to give input at the meeting.

Up to 15 potential first choice Bok players are currently on the injured list.

The Star