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Springbok rugby is awful!

Dear  Saru

I mail you  because I am very perturbed about what I see from the Springboks these days. I have been a passionate springbok supporter since I can remember. I am now 48. I cried tears when the 1974 British Lions gave us a rugby lesson in those years, but not even then did I feel so disgraced to be a springbok supporter as I have been this year and particularly the last two Saturdays.

I can take it if we lose to the All  Blacks because they are a brilliant team and if we play decent rugby I will keep on watching , but to be honest with you after the last two Saturdays I am not even going to waste my time to watch the game against England because what we are witnessing is utter rubbish from a coach that has no plan and is totally
Incompetent.

Our backline play is murdered and I have never seen a springbok backline not functioning at all as I have the last two Saturdays. If we continue on the current ways , backline play in South Africa is going to die and if that is the case we will never be able to beat the All Blacks in future encounters, because physically they are our match and we are playing such predictable rugby that we could not even score one creative try against a very average Scotland team. One was a rolling maul and the other a interception.

We have great backs but they  are not allowed to show their skills. Patrick Lambie is a great flyhalf but is not allowed to play his natural game which makes him look average which is probably the coach’s plan so that he can bring his beloved bulls nr 10 back into the team. The team is also not chosen on merit as there is still provincialism evident . A good example is our nr 15 and nr 11 who is not a specialist wing.

I would suggest that we go back to the old days where there was a selection committee of seven selectors who selected the springbok team. The coach must just be there to coach and nothing else. The assistant coaches must also be selected by SARU and not the coach. We are currently sitting with a situation where the best defense coach is with Western Province ( I am not a Province supporter   )  and because of this the All Blacks scored four tries against us because of poor organization in defense.

I can tell you from feedback and comments by News 24 readers that the South African public is getting fed up and many said straight that they do not even want to watch the Springboks on TV anymore. How full does SARU think their stadiums are going to be if the current game plan is persisted with. People pay anything from R300.00 to watch a test match which is a lot of money to pay to see our national team play like a bunch of idiots because of a game plan that is forced on them. Please do yourself a favor and see how many good attacking opportunities goes down the drain because our players to not play the situation and balls would be kicked away from turnovers and a possible four on two situations  because they are programmed to do so. 

I know  that you can probably  not get rid of the coach due to his contract and financial implications, but what I can suggest is to get Rassie  Erasmus involved with the coaching of the team the same way he assisted the previous coach during the world cup. Rassie has shown many times that he has a rugby brain. I would also like to see him have the  final say in the selection of the team and the game plan and his involvement in the team. I could see during the world cup  the impact that Rassie had on the team and I believe that we would have won it  if we were not blown out of it by Mr Lawrence  .

I am telling you again that I am not even going to watch my beloved Springboks on Saturday but I will record it just in case something  miraculous happens and somebody tells me the Springboks actually played real rugby. I will then watch it even if we lose, but I am not going to make myself sick with frustration watching what our coach call “winning rugby”.

Finally I would challenge Saru to really make a bold decision in this matter because if you wouldn’t our rugby is going to decline. People will not come and watch such rubbish and the Springbok brand is going to decline. We are already the laughing stock of the world media .

Regards and I hope that I will soon be a proud Springbok supporter again , at least before the end of 2013

Alex Andraos              
 
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