Volume 19 Number 2006 June 2019

ldquoWhen [Graham] Henry coached the Blues to a Super Rugby title way back in 1996 he had already notched up almost 20 years of school teaching and almost 25 years as a coachrdquo -- Tom Vinicombe writing on RugbyPasscom

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A Developmental Vacuum in Schools Rugby

One thing that has been consistent about South African rugby is our apparent inability to convert enough of our ldquoworld-beatingrdquo fantastic schoolboy rugby players into world-beating professional rugby players Somewhere along the line things go awry as promising talent is lost to the game

Part of the reason in years gone by was that chasm between school rugby and provincial rugby Craven Week FNB Varsity Cup and club rugby provided partial bridges for those lucky enough to get into the right teams and to be noticed But the problem runs much deeper than just a lack of pathways from schoolboy level into a provincial team and possibly national honours

A recent Fresh Take column on AllOutRugbycom offers an insightful analysis based on actual measured statistics of why South Africarsquos power at schoolboy level so rarely translates into power at professional rugby level

The analysis is penned by Brendon Shields developer of wwwrugbycologycom a Google-based game-analysis system for schools and club rugby It is a commercial service but the $39 once-off fee per team is not going to make anyone rich

Using data collected from a variety of actual rugby matches Shields has constructed a narrative that makes a lot of sense And the opinion he formed is that the mismatches in our school leagues produce players who cannot think strategically or play tactically ndash something the pro game absolutely demands

ldquoToo many games at school level end up with one team winning by a huge margin and this is not good for the development of our playersrdquo he writes

ldquoThere is nothing wrong with our mindset at schools level to want to win games Itrsquos how we construct those wins that sits at odds with how players are required to operate at professional level

ldquoPro level rugby as a direct result of data and video analysis has become more and more demanding because there are fewer weak links and nowhere to hide To win a rugby game you need 15 super-fit athletes with great skill who make few mistakes and who have the ability to strategise and make plans during game playrdquo

Itrsquos certainly a compelling argument and we urge you to click-through to read it in all its glory It may give you a new perspective on the problem

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Surprises Keep Coming in Super RugbyU20 Baby Boks Flatter to Deceive7s Series Ends With a Very Damp Squib

Kenya Dodges the Relegation BulletCream Rises to the Top in the SRCSuccessful New Zealand Rugby Coaches

Page 1

Page 2

Surprises Keep Coming in Super Rugby

The first surprise of weekend was the Bulls pulling off a draw in New Zealand when they faced the Blues in Auckland It was a 76th minute converted try that made a draw possible - that and a missed penalty kick by Blues flyhalf Harry Plummer

The next surprise happened later Friday morning in Melbourne when the Rebels lost to the Waratahs from Sydney (15-20) It was the visiting side that got ahead on the scoreboard and never let their hosts back into it

On Saturday normal service resumed when the Brumbies defeated the Sunwolves in Tokyo But the weekend went all topsy turvy again when the Chiefs trounced the Crusaders in Fiji (40-27) It was a cracking game that shows yet again that the Christchurch-based competition leaders are fallible

Normality was restored after that as the Jaguares secured another away win by beating the Reds (23-34)in Brisbane The bonus point victory cemented the Argentiniansrsquo position on top of the Africa conference

That was followed by another unsurprising result when the Hurricanes blew away the Sharks (17-30) in Durban It was perhaps just a little perplexing that the canes were unable to secure a bonus point but theyrsquoll be happy with the win nevertheless

The final match of the weekend saw a welcome ndash in this newsroom at least ndash return to form by the Lions as they humbled the visiting Stormers at Emirates Airlines Park (41-22) The final score flatters the Cape side because it includes two tries incorrectly awarded by referee Marius van der Westhuizen

The first non-try involved at least one forward pass and the second was shown by replays to have been grounded short of the line Still the bonus point win shot the Lions back up to second in the conference

U20 Baby Boks Flatter to Deceive

This past week Tuesday to be exact saw the start of World Rugbyrsquos Under-20s age-group world cup tournament in Argentina Unfortunately for South African fans the 43-19 win over Scotland flatters the Baby Boks

Yes they achieved a four-try bonus point but the unpalatable truth is that they looked anything but the slick well-oiled machine of previous iterations of the competition And not to put too fine a point on it the opposition on Tuesday was pretty ordinary

In the recent U20 Six Nations tournament Scotland finished dead last They were never going to beat the Baby Boks but they got a lot closer than they should have because Chean Rouxrsquo team was predictable on attack and sloppy in defence The one move that worked well for them repeatedly was the inside pass but against better opposition thats unlikely to be as successful if at all

The next assignment for the Springbok U20s is Georgia on Saturday (1530 on SuperSport 211) and after that the toughest task yet New Zealand next Wednesday (2030 on SuperSport 201) Wersquoll know a lot more after those games but the early signs are not promising

The other U20 results this past Saturday were as follows

Australia 36-12 ItalyArgentina 25-30 WalesNew Zealand 45-13 GeorgiaEngland 26-42 IrelandFrance 36-20 Fiji

Page 3

Page 4

7s Series Ends With a Very Damp Squib

For most teams on the World Rugby Sevens Series circuit the results turned in by the Blitzbokke in 201819 would be welcomed Despite going into the season without seven count them SEVEN of the players that successfully defended the title last season they havenrsquot done too badly

The Blitzbokke ended third in Paris and fourth in the series Along the way they won two tournaments (Vancouver and Singapore) and their worst result was joint 7th but they got three of those

Given that there are only ten rounds in the series each year those results cost them Winning the series requires a team to be consistently in the top 4

They only have five top four finishes this year and that was never going to be enough Itrsquos a very long way off the high standards that the team and coach Neil Powell set for themselves

Therersquos a break of about five months now until December in Dubai when the 20192020 series kicks off

It is likely that coach Powell wonrsquot lose many players to fifteens this year because 2020 is an Olympic year The allure of a possible gold medal should keep his charges interested for at least the next 12 months

The important match in Paris was the Fiji versus USA semifinal The Americans were within a whisker of being the first northern hemisphere team ever to be World Sevens champions

But on the day in Paris Fiji were too strong took the title for a fourth time

Kenya Dodges the Relegation Bullet

There was a fascinating sub-plot running through the final event in the World Rugby Sevens Series in Paris this past weekend Three teams were battling to avoid relegation from the group of fifteen core teams to be announced for next yearrsquos season

Last year Japan returned at the expense of Russia This year Japan Kenya and Wales have been fighting all season to avoid relegation and going into the Paris tournament they were in 15th 14th and 13th position on 25 27 and 30 points respectively

After the pool stages Kenya had done enough by making it through to a Cup quarter-final against the USA Japan and Wales meanwhile had crashed out of the Cup and had to try to salvage as many points as possible in the Challenge Trophy ndash but it wasnrsquot to be Japan was thumped by England (52-7) and Wales had no answer for Canada (31-12)

That left the pair of them squabbling over a shot at 13th place and a measly three points In the end Kenya secured a spot among next yearrsquos core teams finishing in 13th on 37 points So did Wales (14th on 31) four points ahead of the now relegated Japan Sad for Japanese fans because it would have been perfect preparation for the Tokyo Olympics next year

The team to benefit from Japanrsquos demise is Ireland And after being invited to London and Paris the Irish did very well finishing 6th in the British capital and after defeating England in a pool match finished in 10th place in Paris And yes there is history there the last time England defeated Ireland in sevens was back in 2004 Sadly the two teams have only played four times since

Page 5

Cream Rises to the Top in the SRC

The weekend action in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge began on Friday night with a hard-fought encounter in George where the SWD Eagles defeated the visiting Border Bulldogs by a single point But that was the closest result of the weekend by some distance

On Saturday Goldern Lions put the Griffons to the sword (42-15) in a curtain-raiser for the Super Rugby match (see page two) in Johannesburg Later that day up in Nelspruit Pumas ran riot against the Namibian Welwitchias (106-0)

In Brakpan at the venue of the previous weekendrsquos Sunday double-header Valke suffered defeat to Blue Bulls (22-47) Meanwhile down in the Boland the home-town Cavaliers piled on more misery for the Zimbabwe Academy (52-16) and the Leopards fell at their home ground in Leeudoringstad to the visiting Griquas (16-31)

In the double-header on Sunday some typically poor refereeing by Stuart Berry allowed Western Province to burgle a win despite the opposition Free State Cheetahs being the superior team throughout most of which The final score was 33-37 But sanity returned later in the day when the EP Elephants thrashed the Sharks (27-7)

The final pool matches this weekend still offer two teams a chance to make the semifinals next weekend

In the northern pool Golden Lions must beat Griquas in Kimberley to qualify On the South table Free State Cheetahs must first triumph over Border Bulldogs and then hope that Western Province defeats Boland Cavaliers

The weekend fixtures begin on Friday when Blue Bulls host Leopards at Loftus while on Saturday there are another five matches lined up

Free State Cheetahs vs Border Bulldogs (Bloemfontein)Namibia vs Valke (Windhoek)Griffons vs Pumas (Welkom)Griquas vs Golden Lions (Kimberley)Zimbabwe Academy vs EP Elephants (Cape Town)

On Sunday therersquos a double-header but only for television viewers

14h30 Western Province vs Boland Cavaliers (Robertson)16h30 Sharks vs SWD Eagles (Durban)

This fixture is understood to be scheduled for False Bay Rugby Club

Page 6

Successful New Zealand Rugby Coaches

In recent weeks every one of the South African Super Rugby coaches has come under fire for something they did or didnrsquot do And while the general consensus in this newsroom is that with the possible exception of Swys de Bruin the SA coaches are lost at Super Rugby level

Whether that assertion is true or not is beside the point the general perception is that they havenrsquot paid their dues in lower levels again with the exception of the Lionsrsquo de Bruin However if his team fails to make the play-offs this year the knives will be out for him too

But we digress The thesis of the article that sparked our train of thought is not South African Super Rugby coaches but new Zealand coaches at that level and their relative success by comparison Perhaps something can be learned that may help SA Rugby to improve the quality of coaching in SA Or perhaps not

Anyway Tom Vinicombe has written on RugbyPasscom that New Zealands best coaches all have one unheralded skill in common their ability to not just develop exceptional talents but to nurture young minds

Itrsquos an interesting thesis and he lists numerous successful Kiwi coaches and attributes this particular didactic skill to them

For example he writes of Graham Henry who coached the All Blacks to a World Cup title in 2011 that he ldquois probably the best example of a school teacher-cum-coach Henry was never a prodigious player and after his playing career with Canterbury came to an end Henry took up a role at Auckland Grammar School

ldquoWhen Henry coached the Blues to a Super Rugby title way back in 1996 he had already notched up almost 20 years of school teaching and almost 25 years as a coachrdquo

The didactic link is also relevant to South Africarsquos most recent World Cup winning coach Jake White He coached rugby at Jeppe High School for Boys for years before moving into senior coaching ranks

So perhaps SA Rugby should be looking and developing successful school and club rugby coaches into provincial coaches rather than former players You know like it used to be

Page 7

For your weekend viewing pleasure

Consulting our trusty Ultimate Rugby app we see plenty of exciting rugby action this weekend As we mentioned on page two the World Rugby U20 Championship is underway in Argentina with match days on Saturday and next Wednesday

Therersquos also the penultimate regular season round of Super Rugby (before the play-offs commence in two weeks) and the French Top 14 is at the semifinal stage Similarly the American MLR season also appears to be coming to a climax

Speaking of climaxes as we explain on page six the SuperSport Rugby Challenge has also arrived at the sharp end with the semifinal places being decided this weekend

So whatever you choose to watch enjoy the rugby action at a stadium near you on the television screen in your lounge or both

Thanks for reading our newsletter We need feedback to improve it ndash and only you can give us that feedback Please take the time to send us an email We want to hear from you ndash good bad or ugly a pat on the back or a kick in the butt Remember to look us up on Twitter where youll find many of our contributors on our timeline

The Rugby Team at Leopard Newsletters

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