Ian Jones made an interesting remark the other night on TV during pre-match run-up to the RWC final. The panel were debating Graham Henry’s tenure as All Black coach and what makes him so successful. Jake White over emphasized –for understandable reasons- the fact that NZRU stuck with Henry and gave him another change, which brought that experience of having been there and knowing what it’s all about into the team environment. Jake has a good point to which I’ll return a little later in my dialogue, but Ian Jones took a different angle.

Jones revealed that Henry’s approach has always been –even as a schoolboy coach- that you need world breakers in 5 key positions and that you then built the rest of the team around those players.

The 5 positions being:

1. Tight head prop to solidify the scrum
2. An enforcer at No 4 who can do his line-out job
3. A ‘fetcher’ flank who can win the battle at the breakdowns
4. The other flanker
5. The No8 who needs to combine with the ‘fetcher’ to win the battle of the break down but also have the ability as ball carriers to punch holes and link with the back line.

Jones being a forward obviously is obviously naturally inclined to being biased towards the forwards as the core of a rugby team, hence the fact that all five key players are forwards in his estimation.

Looking at the All Black team they also had a decision maker in one of the pivotal positions of 9 and 10 (first Carter and later Weepu) someone in the midfield that asked serious question of the defence and lastly some real flair and speed in the back three.

Having world breakers in key positions is undeniably a non-negotiable fact. You can’t win the Melbourne stakes or the July handicap with a donkey but there is more to it, I believe.

Even after having selected the right players in the key positions these players still need to be gelled into a cohesive unit. Rugby after all is a team sport where the collective energy of 15 players working as a unit should be able to triumph over 15 brilliant players playing as individuals. Another aspect is desire or hunger to succeed.

In my mind there are consequently two other factors crucial for success at the highest level (I say top level because I am arguing from the perspective that you have the best players selected and not players selected for political reasons or to coach the side because the coach can’t do it).

The two factors include fronting-up and proper coaching.

Fronting-up

It was Brad Thorne who brought this concept to my awareness when he –during an interview- said the most important thing he learned at the Crusaders was to front-up. To front-up at practice and at matches no matter how you feel and no matter what else might be going on.

France fronted-up in the final for the first time this season and almost won the match. This emphasize what is possible if the players really front-up. New Zealand teams / players front-up for every single practice and match. This is the key to their success; winning and being the best is what the All Blacks are all about.

Philippe Sela once said that the difference between NZ and France is: “France remembers when they win while New Zealand remembers when they lose”.

That is exactly the reason why France have a 55% overall success rate while New Zealand has a 75% one. Winning every time is just not important enough for the French players and nation.

This desire to be the best is what is driving New Zealand rugby.  The desire is imbedded in the nation psyche as was evidenced when 200 000 people showed up on Monday for the All Blacks victory parade through the streets of Auckland.

Is that desire to be the best and that willingness to front-up still present in South Africa rugby?

If you want to be the best you also make sure you appoint the best coach.  Not a coach for political or personal agenda’s but it goes even deeper than that you appoint the right people to run the national rugby administration. Also those people in charge will be willing -like the Samurai- to fall on their own swords if disgraced in battle.

It is time for SARU management and administration to front-up, to get it right or to fall on their swords in admission of their lack of backbone. Nothing less nothing more; front-up or get the hell out of there.

Stop being puppets that are manipulated by fools with agenda’s and answer to your own consciousness and get the consciousness issue right; it’s not about corrective action it’s about selecting a coach that can take SA rugby forward. Make no mistake the Springbok coach is the most important person in South African rugby. Not the SARU president but the Springbok coach because he more than anyone else sets the standards and unite the S15 and provincial coaches into a collective unit that has only one thing in mind namely to raise the winning percentage of the national team.

So let’s look at coaching as the second pillar of a successful team.

Coaching

It is no co-incidence that 3 of the four teams that played in this year’s RWC semi-finals had kiwi coaches.

It is no co-incidence that each of those 3 had more years coaching experience than all the other coaches of all the other national teams together.

It is no co-incidence that all three those coaches had success records at the highest level. They earned the right to coach on that level. They proved themselves before they got handed the national teams of those respected countries.

It is no co-incidence that both the teams who are going to play in this year’s Currie Cup final has kiwi coaches namely Plumtree and John Mitchell.

It is no co-incidence that both Mitchell and Plumtree are experienced coaches with track records of success at the highest level.

Laurie Mains took the Lions from last in the S12 to a semi-finalist the next year. Mitchell made a massive impact on the Lions this year. One of his biggest challenges he said halfway through this year’s S15 campaign was to change the existing culture of softness. There is a culture of softness; a culture of not fronting-up at the Lions and the team will only start to win once they learn to front-up.

Now fronting-up starts with the president, the administration and the coach. They need to front-up first and set a culture of fronting-up by selecting the right people and only then will you get the players to buy in and front-up on the paddock.

Fronting-up on the paddock only really works when it was preceded with fronting-up in preparation (that is good coaching and working hard in training).

Today in the news is the fact that neither Rassie Erasmus nor Alistair Coetzee wants to coach the Springboks. This is the biggest vote of no confidence in SARU that you can get. It is, if nothing else, an admission of not wanting to work for SARU because they don’t feel comfortable with them and don’t trust them.

If nobody else but Peter de Villiers wants to put their hands up to coach the pride of the nation, the Springbok team, then it’s a vote of no confidence in administration and then the right thing to do for SARU management is to fall on their swords and not to re-select a person who they know cannot do the job.

You need a national coach that is respected by players and peers and who can inspire and unite everyone involved in SA rugby into a unified and collective strategy to improve the skills of individual players and the quality of the rugby in the country at large.

This is no easy task but starts with the national coach knowing exactly how he want to play and what sort of players he is looking for in each of the key positions on the field. The national coach would then communicate this message to his franchise coaches and will identify players he wants to see developed and who he wants to see managed with care so that they are not over played. He would travel from franchise to franchise during the S15 tournament to work with the S15 coaches and the players he wants to develop certain abilities / skill sets.

Now you tell me which current coach in South Africa has the stature, the knowledge and the ability to do just this? Which coach has the reputation and the respect of players and other coaches to be accepted as a guru and national leader?

I know the answer and I am sure most readers / bloggers will know who that person is. No more than two current South African coaches (with a possible third who I don’t consider because he is not currently coaching) will spring to mind, I am sure.

Here is a challenge for the current SARU management group. Let each member write the name of the person he think should coach the Springbok team down -in private- on a piece of paper and hand it to the convenor. If there is not 95% agreement get out of there; hand in your resignations and get the hell of there because you’ve got no idea what you are doing.

If there is consensus go and offer that person the job and don’t accept no for an answer.