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Cape Town - Former Springbok flyhalf Joel Stransky says Allister Coetzee should not be blamed for the national team's demise over the last two years.
The Springboks finished 2017 with seven wins from 13 matches, while Coetzee now has 11 wins from 25 games since taking over as national coach last year.
Record 57-0 losses to the All Blacks and 38-3 to Ireland were the low points of the Boks' year, which left many South Africans fans frustrated and calling for his axing.
Stransky, who kicked the winning drop goal in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand, says we shouldn't be pointing a finger at the under-fire Springbok coach.
"I don't think Allister has blazed himself in glory and results have been poor," Stransky told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
"But I also don't think we can look at Allister in isolation. There are too many provincial unions with South African rugby and the local coaching structures are poor. The system has failed Allister and while we probably do need to make a change in terms of the current coaching team, we also need to put in place long-term measures too.
"We have too many professional players and the money is spread too thin. We should be able to pay better salaries to keep our best players in South Africa," said Stransky.
"Everybody is pointing a finger at poor Allister, but for me the system is more at fault."
SA Rugby announced last week that a decision regarding Coetzee's future will only be made in the New Year.
