Depth is something that had never been an issue in South African before as the powerhouse schools produced an endless stream of naturally gifted athletes who slotted into the provincial structures until their bodies could handle the rigours of the big leagues. It was a system that worked, just look at the Junior World Cups and how competitive the Baby Boks were at each outing. Never would anyone have thought that depth would be the biggest stumbling block for teams going into the URC and European tournaments that come with it. The teams that are doing the best over the long period are the Stormers and the Bulls who happen to have foresight to target depth across their squads to maximise performance in ALL competitions. The reason depth is so important is not about having bodies that have the right measurables in terms of size, speed, weight etc. but rather about having the insight to know when to kick, when to attempt to jackal the ball or when to run the ball in high pressure situations where game management is key.
This sort of depth is not made in a gym or running up hills in off season but having assistant coaches coach the full squad on how to play in certain situations with certain referees in certain conditions. Gone are the days of the youngsters holding tackle bags for the starters until they get a gap to prove themselves. The nature of the competitions with the amount of travel required means that the ‘next man up’ mentality used in the NFL could not be more applicable then it is currently. Coaches will target certain matches home or away as has always been the case but the so-called 2nd stringers who play the next week have to be relied upon to get the job done or the grand old machine stops moving. This means that the coaches have to have faith in every match 23 to win whether some is 1st, 2nd or 3rd on the depth chart in each position.
Never has this been more glaringly obvious than with the Sharks who have been reluctant to rotate some players as they dont have faith in the backup players to do the job so they have run some guys into the ground and still not got the results. It is for good reason because the depth at the Sharks has been neglected for the big time players who will only play a third of the matches at best. The balance of the squad looks out of their depth to play at this level and the win/loss column reflects this. If I closed my eyes and pictured a second team Strormers or Bulls team it would whip the Sharks 2nd stringers home or away. The shiny looking Springbok infused first team looks good enough to beat anyone of the day but the season is a marathon and a team of Usain Bolt’s isn’t going to get it done.
The Sharks are very much in transition. I do believe they will get it right under the guidance of Plumtree but it could take a few cycles of shrewd off season recruiting to get there. The key issue will be the patience of the big spenders in the ivory towers as to how long the rebuild can take without the knives coming out. The recruitment that really matters at the moment is not the starting winger or lock, it is the third or fourth string hooker and whether they can throw the ball straight in a cold windy Irish day. That is often the difference in a long season between the extra bonus point or upset away victory that means you get a home knock out match that decides whether you get a shot at the big time or not. The top coaches understand this and are already reaping the benefits of coaching the full squad hard to make sure they can step up at a moment’s notice. One thing is for sure there is zero space for dead wood, gone are the days you could take a risk and sign an ageing player wanting to come home for his swansong. Then chalking it down to mentoring the youngsters when he gets injured or isn’t actually in as good shape as his agent said he was. Everyone has a role to play in a winning organisation and veteran coaches know that better than most.
The bigger picture is that this is great for SA rugby in general as the upskilling of players means a greater pool of players to pick from. The larger picture for the Springboks has never looked better because fringe players now have a reason to stay in SA when they aren’t announced as day 1 starters for their franchises. A third string hooker in SA would be whisked away to France or England before but now they can earn their stripes under starters which is worth its weight as gold for player development. I didn’t fully grasp the physical requirements of the URC and European competitions but this added benefit has been most welcome. The new arms race for the SA teams is for the bottom third of the squad which is a win win for everyone. For the record the opposite of the win win SA rugby position is the lose lose lose New Zealand Rugby find themselves in after proudly showing us the door.
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