The Stormers need to change more than their coach if they hope to progress in 2020 and beyond, writes JON CARDINELLI.
We’ve seen this movie before. The Stormers begin their Vodacom Super Rugby campaign with a bang, telling all who will listen that they are champions in waiting, yet end it with a whimper.
It’s the South African rugby answer to ‘Groundhog Day’. The alarm for the new season goes off. Instead of a fresh start, the franchise begins the new year with a damaging off-field controversy.
The self-serving administrators do their best to compromise the coaches. The coaches play their part in the farce, though, as they make the same tactical mistakes over and over again.
The team suffers some early losses. The Springboks are played into the ground as the coach looks to turn the campaign around.
An injury crisis hits as the business end of the season approaches. The side capitulates in spectacular fashion, either in the last game of the conference stage or in the first round of the playoffs.
And before you can sing ‘I’ve Got You Babe’, the cycle of mediocrity starts again.
Allister Coetzee played the part of Bill Murray between 2013 and 2015. Robbie Fleck replaced Coetzee in 2016, and brought nothing more to the role.
STORMERS’ SUPER RUGBY FINISHES SINCE 2010
| LOG FINISH | PLAYOFFS | |
|
2019 |
10/15 | N/A |
|
2018 |
11/15 | N/A |
|
2017 |
3/18 | Quarter-finalists |
|
2016 |
3/18 | Quarter-finalists |
|
2015 |
3/15 | Playoff qualifiers |
|
2014 |
11/15 | N/A |
|
2013 |
7/15 | N/A |
|
2012 |
1/15 | Semi-finalists |
|
2011 |
2/15 | Semi-finalists |
|
2010 |
2/14 | Finalists |
Between 2013 and 2019 the Stormers failed to qualify for the playoffs on four occasions. And if it wasn’t for the conference format, which guarantees the winners of the South Africa divisions a place in the knockout rounds, they may have ended the 2015, 2016 and 2017 campaigns outside the playoff bracket.
Coetzee is long gone. Fleck has already confirmed that he will part ways with the Stormers at the end of the season. The big question is whether the next man in – John Dobson – has what it takes to break the cycle and take a potentially great franchise to the top.
Some have laid all the blame for the Stormers’ recent failings at Fleck’s door. They believe that a change in coach will usher in a change in approach and ultimately a more realistic chance of a title success.
Should we expect more of Dobson, though, if no significant changes are made at the franchise?
Surely those above Fleck should also be held accountable for the current state of Stormers and WP rugby. Surely there needs to be some admission by the bigwigs that the current system isn’t working.
The Stormers battled to recruit top players in the 2018 off-season. Given the franchise’s dire financial situation, one can’t see them bringing quality players and coaches to Cape Town in the near future. Indeed, they would do well to keep the Boks who are currently on their books.
Who has been tasked with formulating a masterplan that will turn the team and franchise around? Gert Smal left the WPRFU earlier this year. Has a new director of rugby been appointed? Has Paul Treu’s role within the set-up been clarified yet?
In short, has anything been done – beyond confirming Dobson’s appointment – to challenge the status quo? Will the Stormers be forced to play catch-up in terms of preparing for the 2020 season, and are we going to be fed a line about how the new systems will only reap benefits in 2021 or later?
One has to feel for Dobson, who may be the latest in a long line of Stormers coaches to go into a campaign with one hand tied behind his back.
Ultimately, one has to feel for the Stormers fans, who are being forced to live this nightmare over and over again.
Photo: Marty Melville/www.Photosport.nz
