The Stormers - tolerating mediocrity for far too long

Today's match against the Waratahs might be the worst rugby match I have ever seen.

The Stormers did the equivalent of arriving at work at 09h00, playing minesweeper, taking lunch, going to the sick room for a lie down and leaving at 17h00.

These guys are supposed to be professionals. So treat them that way. Pack some on the plane home. Fire some and never consider them for colours again. Jeez, in business I'd withhold salary for their being absent.

The sad fact is that the Stormers have been in terminal decline for years. And the reason is clear to see. Tolerance of mediocrity.

I groaned when the Stormers had their second loss of the season and Jean de Villiers claimed the performance was pretty good but the result had just not gone their way. He asked the crowd to continue supporting the team. Today he smiled in the post match interview, claimed they were happy with the defensive performance, they could take heart from the defensive strength and that they had improved from last week. And he "joked" that the Waratah's turnovers may not have been legal.

Jean you're a nice guy but you deserved a punch. Fact is you have captained the team to 5 losses from 7 starts. Not once have you showed any regret or that losing any game is just not good enough. And when you're losing, it's best to keep your mouth shut about refs and other teams.

But Jean is just the idiot we have to endure during the post match speeches.

Naqelevuki is the incompetent clown who's laughing all the way to the bank on his expat salary earned for a stroll around the park. Januarie's money is clearly not making it to the bank - the pie shop on the corner must be raking in record profits.

Jake White was right. Schalk Brits might as well be playing for the other side in scrums and line outs. Did someone say, "But what a lovely goose step?" If the backs could actually rely on seeing their fellow backs inside and outside them, perhaps they'd look a bit more confident and make a few yards. Brits and Bekker's athleticism might be wonderful for men of their position's but let's measure our players on their primary responsibilities. I'll give Bekker a break because he's got a sore toe and not on the tour, but Brits should join him on the couch back home. His lineouts and scrumming are diabolical.

Watson is one of our best performers in the loose. And he looks like one of the few players who is playing 80 minutes and exerting himself. But jeez, Luke please try passing the ball when you're in the line.

The Stormers cry foul at the mention of their "light five" tag, but as they pull their heads out their arses - where the Waratah's shoved them - I'd like to hear them to cry contrary.

But let's not exonerate the backs. When last did you see a Stormer chase a kick? When did you see a back run onto the ball, straighten the line and draw his man rather than flip a gentle pass towards the wing along with 15 opposition players. Let's face it, the Stormers look as likely to score a try from phase and set play as Bafana are to win the world cup.

Rassie you're a nice guy too. You claimed the side lacked a little belief in your post match interview. Not good enough mate. You have two Springbok assistant coaches on your team. You have a Springbok-studded side. You talk about poor execution of tactics and positional kicking. Take responsibility. Hold players accountable.

Guys. You're not far off the time the Newlands crowd booed the team and Gert Smal off the park. Frankly you're lucky you're overseas.

It's crap being a Stormers supporter, and a short story on rucking and running lines

Every year we hear how good the Stormers look on paper. Every year we get excited about some prodigious new talent. And every year we end up being disappointed.

This in contrast to the Western Province golden age, winning the Currie Cup year-in and year-out. A time when Doc Craven was heard to say that when Maties rugby is strong, South African rugby is strong. Such was the influence of the region.

Things have changed. The Stormers may boast capped Springboks, but these players largely trade on reputation rather than contribution to the provincial or Super 14 level.

And this year, it seems that the prodigies are determined to disappoint as well.

The game against the Brumbies marked a return to this reality after the surprise win against the Hurricanes.

And it is an awful reality.

While I celebrated last weekend's win against the Hurricanes and congratulated the Stormers for showing guts and determination, I felt uneasy. The win relied on the old South African formula of gees (spirit) rather than a clinical, skilled approach.

And to be sure, you'll win more games through spirit without clinical play than you'll win with clinical play without spirit. But let's face it - you need both.

How to be clinical and play with spirit

If you want to see an example of the game played at that level, you don't have to go back to watch the Crusaders last season. Watch Ireland versus England at Croke Park. Possibly the most motivated team ever given the history of Croke Park, Ireland managed to channel the emotion and were ruthlessly clinical in beating the English team.

To see the unbelievable spirit, watch the anthems below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItPlLnnol4c



The Irish defensive organisation was absolutely superb. As was their communication. As was their organisation at ruck time.

The key is the ruck

It may seem like I'm seating a drum regarding ruck time organisation. But it is my view that ascendancy at rucks is 70% of the modern game. It is the basis of maintaining or gaining possession. Quick ruck ball disrupts the tight modern defences and sets up attacking opportunities.

The highlights package of the Irish / English game below shows some awesome ruck ball for the Irish. Watch the rucks at the following video times: 1:28, 3:10, 3:35 and 5:20 especially, 6:01 is perhaps the best illustration of all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-b9srVaBoo



What the clip doesn't show is the Irish defensive ruck organisation. On defence, the Irish commit players to the breakdown and have a player standing close in on either side. Both players vocally nominate their positions and stand with one hand up indicating their defensive role. This is primarily to stop the pick-and-go from the back of the opposition ruck.

Defensive rucking is where the art is. Debate rages regarding the optimum numbers to commit to the ruck. Too many and you open up holes in the backline. Too few and you allow the opposition quick ball and opportunities for pick-and-goes.

This is of course where the fetcher comes into his own. His role in supporting the ball carrier on attack is really one shared by all team mates, but especially the rest of the loose trio.

But in defence, the fetcher sets the requirement for the remaining numbers required in the breakdown. If he does his job well, he slows the opposition ball down and eases the required number of ruck-time defenders.

In offensive defence, the fetcher supported by cleaners looks to turnover opposition ball. The key is picking opposition rucks where the player is isolated. The quicker and fitter your fetcher, the more cleaning support he has, the more turnover opportunities.

Of course the rest of the team play a crucial role. Any tackler can return to his feet and rip the ball - De Wet Barry is/was one of the best in the world at this. Supporting cleaners can be backs or forwards.

Physically, the tight forwards make the best cleaners.

To maximise effectiveness of ruck-time support play, the English world cup winning team pioneered the split-field organisation. The field was divided into left and right, and the tight forwards were evenly split and given accountability for a side of the field. This reduced the need to be at every ruck and run between every ruck - an impossible task.

If you're going to have a pattern of supporting players, you also need to ensure you don't run away from support. Running lines, communication and combinations all help to stop isolation on attack.

So what do we know?

• High speed offensive rucking creates the space for more effective attack


• Offensive rucking requires quick support to the ball carrier by cleaners and the scrummie


• Highly organised defensive rucking is critical to slow opposition ball and reduce pick-and-go opportunities


• The fetcher sets the required numbers of players required for the defensive ruck


• Tight forwards are crucial for cleaning at ruck time - on defence on offence


• Running lines and patterns decrease the chance of isolation and ease the need to cover massive areas for ruck support players

So why the ruck story in a commentary on the Stormers?

South African sides are pretty awful at getting quick ruck ball. The Sharks are probably the best. The Stormers are the worst.

We can do it - witness the Bok win over New Zealand at Newlands (was it 2005?). For once the Boks forwards worked as a unit and were ferocious at the breakdown.

Poor breakdown performance is one of the major reasons why the Boks struggle to create try-scoring opportunities. And despite some of the most exciting attacking backs in the Super 14, the Stormers mirror the problem.

It is also why I was cautious about getting too carried away with last week's Stormers victory over the Hurricanes. Intercepts were again a feature in the Stormers' scorecard. Of course there were other good features. And it was fantastic to win.

But the old deficiencies were brutally exposed against the Brumbies.

Jean de Villiers needs to get the message that he is a liability in the current team. Gio Aplon's positioning has been pathetic. He shows little of the promise displayed last season. Breyton Paulse looks disinterested and has an abominable work rate. We used to see him on the wrap-around from the blind side, cutting in at flyhalf. JP Joubert is the worst scrumhalf to play in the Super 14 thus far. His step on pass and generally slow service kills any chances of backline attacking success.

In the forwards, Bekker is awesome in the scrums and lineouts, but appears to believe he is even better than Matfield in the backline - hence his default positioning on the wing. He is perhaps the worst cleaner in the Super 14 - if he contributes it is by leaning on the ruck. Watson appears to have flyhalf ambitions and is no longer a feature on the ground in his primary fetching role. Schalk Brits needs to improve his lineout work. Jake White was right about that.

You may think I'm being harsh or exaggerating. So in order to prove the point, a new feature on A SA Rugby View - a video outtakes package. The following video shows the impact of the Stormers shocking cleaning and running lines on their game. Time and time again, players either run away from support or support is slow to arrive and commit. Contrast this with the Brumbies. Their ruck-time commitment is fantastic and note how they typically commit two players to contest opposition ball in tandem.

Part one:

• Clip1: watch the pathetic ball protection given by the supporting players, leading to the contesting player spoiling and forcing the error


• Clip 2: after doing brilliantly to win the ball at the kick-off, and getting fairly quick 2nd and 3rd phase ball, watch how the ball is then flung from standing player to standing player lying deep. Grant then takes the ball up making yards. Back to Brits who cuts away from support. Watch the Brumbies commit numbers and spoil, leading to Conradie scrambling the ball back. See forwards standing in the line watching. Forward to the 10th phase and the Stormers are penalised for holding on. They have gained zero meters. There are players that cannot be seen in any of the 10 breakdowns. Compare the tight forwards role to that of the Irish at Croke Park. And then compare the quality of attacking ball.


• Clip3: Unbelievable. Watson in the line and makes meters. No support runners, and the Brumbies again commit players - backs! - who rip and force the penalty. The commentators make the point - again the Stormers have been penalised as the attacking team due to the player being forced to hold on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHVCgE6MGwE



Part two:

• Clip1: The Brumbies win the ball from the kick-off and in 3 phases make 20 to 30 meters. Compare the numbers of players they commit to the rucks on attack, the speed of their ball and the holes around the ruck on the Stormers defence. Due to some shocking options and handling they are forced to kick for position.


• Clip2: Again the Brumbies on attack and with high speed second phase ball. Again, the Stormers barely commit one contesting player and ultimately Watson is penalised as the only Stormers player contesting.


• Clip3: From another skew Brits throw-in, the Stormers' cleaning is shocking. Another penalty against the Stormers on attack.


• Clip4: How it should be done by the Brumbies. Multi-phase possession, numbers to the ball carrier, good cleaning. Try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1OohpB-gJs



There is another big issue evident in these takes. It is one thing to lie deep - it is another to take the ball flat-footed and deep. Stormers ball is so static that the strategy appears to be pass to players lying deep with the opposition rushing up - and hope. The point of lying deep is to take the ball at pace when you hit the advantage line - the ball doesn't go 20m backwards!

Redeeming features

There were some redeeming features. Corne Uys' shadowing of Rathbone was outstanding. When Rathbone popped up on the left or on a cut in, Uys had shadowed him behind the line and brought him down. He missed a try-saving tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper but this was due to a mix up with the defensively inept De Villiers.

The Stormers also outscrummed the Brumbies. The grunt provided by the Bekker/Britz lock combination is visible.

Peter Grant is a must in the backline with superior distribution and defensive capabilities. De Wet Barry is looking good.

If anything, this game proved the point: this is a team with all the potential and none of the performance. Coaching and captaincy appear to be sadly lacking. In 11th log position, there is limited downside to changing the coach and rebuilding the team with changes in personnel and positions.

I'd like to see a more active role for Mallet as Director (ala Woodward's during his England days) with supporting roles of coaching staff like Solomons. This would be very close to the previously winning Springbok combination. He might not be involved in skills coaching etc, merely strategy, performance management and leadership.

For the team, I'd like to see focus on the future with backup from experience:

15. Aplon
14. Seconds, Paulse
13. Russell
12. Grant, Barry
11. Uys, De Villiers
10. Olivier
9. Conradie
8. Burger, Melk
7. Van Niekerk, Gerrie Britz
6. Watson
5. Bekker
4. Skeate, Boome
3. Andrews, Harris
2. Schalk Brits
1. Moller

Of course Barry has been playing well. Of course De Villiers can be a game breaker when he plays with commitment. It's a squad and there should be rotation and experimentation. The first choices send a message about the type of rugby I'd like to see the team play and that reputation is no guarantee of selection.

PS: With JP Joubert as the number 2, it's difficult to believe WP let De Kock and Carse go.

Stormers an embarrasment

I can't believe I got up to watch that rubbish.

Kobus van der Merwe might just (hopefully) be the first coach to be fired on tour.

Frankly, the Stormers could not have contrived to play more poorly if they tried. It is so difficult to believe their ineptness in every facet of play, lack of intensity and general disinterest that if it were cricket, there would be a match fixing investigation.

It's not even worth doing an analysis. You could cut and paste most of last week's review into this week's. Except everything was even worse. But some of my miserable memories include Brent Russell being the only man to attempt to clear the ruck after six phases of attack on the 30 minute mark. Just before half time, Tiaan Liebenberg stood in the scrumhalf position throwing his hands in the air at frustration at the slow ball. Uh, duh? Maybe you should have been cleaning you fat oaf.

I'll just direct you to last week's criticism of JP Joubert's step-before-pass deficiency. Because this week, let's add him taking the blind with Andries Bekker outside him, marked by a wing in about a 5m corridor. Great option. Or taking an up and under under pressure from the chase with feet flat on the ground.

But I didn't think much of JP Joubert anyway. It was more distressing to see players that we marveled over last season doing their best to impersonate schoolboy 5th team. Last year I heard Jannie Engelbrecht describe Gio Aplon as one of the finest talents he had ever seen. He was woeful today. He dropped passes, was nowhere in positional play and looked disinterested on attack.

We raved about Robbie Diack last year. His workrate was pathetic today.

Luke Watson played well enough last season to create a national outcry over his Springbok omission. He is anonymous this season. The left-right experiment with Schalk Burger is proving a dismal failure with Burger looking frustrated. At least Burger looks like he's trying though.

Brent Russell looks like a one-trick-pony since moving south. He jinks every time he takes a pass at flyhalf. In fact he seems so intent at drawing the extra man that he forgets to get the ball out efficiently. His shocker pass that resulted in an intercept try for the Highlanders was a result of not even glancing at the man on his outside.

I'm a bit worried about Bekker's performance on the wing (!). He scored a fantastic try, and out-chased backs for a grubber put through by Burger - but if he'd played things tighter and did his first job of cleaning in the loose, would there not have been more opportunities.

Maybe Bekker was playing a left-right split field combination. It can be the only explanation for the number of forwards standing out wide.

Talking of patterns, I'm not sure the mix-and-match approach of bringing Russell in at flyhalf on second phase ball is working. It seems to leave Grant out of play and the Stormers with no attacking pattern.

I'm not going to say anything about Jean de Villiers except to say that I motivated for him to be dropped two weeks ago. He should have been.

Make no mistake - this was the weakest Highlanders team we'll see for many years. This after the same could have been said of last week's Chiefs.

The fact is that the same can be said of the current Stormers team. And they're not even in the same league as their competitors (Chiefs win notwithstanding).

I'm conscious being incredibly negative. Well, kudos to the groundsman at Carisbrook. That was the best looking rugby pitch ever. It puts Newlands cricket ground to shame. And it was the best New Zealand weather I've ever seen.

Stormers guilty of the biggest problem in South African rugby

Jean de Villiers pickpockets another intercept try Photo: Getty Images

South African rugby has many issues that need to be addressed. Among those issues, one can debate cause and effect. But the biggest single issue is the speed of second phase ball.

As I said one can debate cause and effect. For sure, slow ruck ball is often a result of poor commitment and cleaning out at the breakdown. It might also be caused by the set up of the ruck or maul - poor choice of field position for the ruck / maul engagement can also be the source of the problem. And most often it is likely due to poor protection of the ball allowing opponents to slow down recycling.

It is delightful that the Stormers carded a win on their third attempt of the Super 14 season. But in truth, the Chiefs were not the strongest competition.

Against better sides with stiff ruck and maul competition, the Stormers will again look like the side we saw over the last two weeks. Their backs will look innocuous and their flyhalf will look flatfooted.

So whether the Stormers improved showing was due to the wholesale changes in personnel or the quality of opposition is debatable.

That said, Peter Grant very good. He was more direct as Kobus van der Merwe promised. He started his kicking duties with aplomb before falling away later. After working well in the inside centre position with Naas Olivier on his inside, his delayed return to the side from injury was overdue. It is still my opinion that Grant offers more at inside centre than Jean de Villiers.

De Villiers was better tonight though. He held his line on defence and looked more of a factor on attack. He snaffled a trademark intercept to score a runaway try that ultimately took the game away from the Chiefs. If he can increase his levels of commitment, I'd like to see him outside Grant at 13.

Wholesale changes may have accounted for the 20 missed tackles from the Stormers. It must have been very difficult to organise and entirely new line on defence. However, the figure is unacceptable and the Stormers were lucky not to leak more tries than the one resulting from a missed Corne Uys effort.

Getting back to that slow ball, a further reason for it was the service of JP Joubert. He takes a step on every pass from the base. Placing the front foot down the line of the pass is fine. Stepping with your back foot before passing delays the pass substantially. It's a flaw in technique that should have been corrected at schoolboy level and was the subject of frustration when observed by Doc Craven. He apparently remarked that if the scrummie took a step, the delay worked its way through the line leaving outside backs no chance at all.

Lastly with regard to the backs, I thought Brent Russell looked innocuous at full back. He played in the flyhalf channel enough to allow for glimpses of form. There didn't seem to be much. Is he overrated or have years of benchtime blunted one of South Africa's deadliest attackers?

In the scrum, the Stormers looked poor. Proving that dominant scrumming is often due more to technique rather than weight, the Stormers often looked shaky on their own ball. Brock Harris looked good but JD Moller looked to struggle with his bind. Behind him, the tight five couldn't have been helped with three loosies waiting to break rather than contributing to the shove.

In the loose, Harris and Gerrie Brits were outstanding in their contribution to tackles and cleaning. Bekker looked a much better player too. Letting the side down was Tiaan Liebenberg whose line-out throwing was putrid.

Schalk Burger had a tough day at the office due to some shocking refereeing. He was first pinged for playing a player in the ruck while off his feet. Replays showed it was Brock Harris AND he was on his feet. It happened directly in front of the referee. It began Burger's vocal dissatisfaction. Burger's third offence was for bringing down a maul. Replays showed him knocked off his feet and the maul falling over him. His indignation at the yellow card almost resulted in a red. I hope Paul Marx is censured for an unacceptable level of refereeing. But Schalk Burger needs to keep his temper.

So a lot for the Stormers to work on. They'll be missing that offer of Frederico Mendez to help as a scrum coach. They should never have turned that down. They will also have to focus on ball protection and cleaning at ruck and maul time. They don't need any specialist coach for that.