CATS
From TurboCASH Wiki
March 10 Week 5
The CATS Super 14 Campaign is saveable!
Tackling CAN be taught. It requires resources, it requires coaching commitment, it requires repetition, it requires specialised equipment which I have, it requires that your Defensive coach carries a high rank in your organisation. There are approximately 50 scrums and lineouts in a game, there are over 300 defensive encounters. The CATs have currently one of the worst Defenses in Super 14. They would benefit the most from correcting this. The South African ethos that Tackling is a mental thing dominated by courage is a mistaken belief. Confidence comes with improved technique.
The lack of conditioning is going to be a serious drawback, there is no short term fix for this. At this stage the die is largely caste, you are due for a very rough Super 14. What you need now is not a jolly-hockey-sticks-lets keep-a-positive-attitude approach, what you need is quick solutions to a serious predicament.
The CATS spend less that 10% of your resources on Defense. You need to alter your defensive strategy. You should accept that you will be playing Defense for around 60% of the Super 14. 60% of your preparation should now focus on this. If you look at the video material of the competitive teams particularly the overseas competitors you will see that they have lifted the intensity of the tackling technique. The Cats have fallen further back. If I were you and some outsider said this to me, my intial reaction would be to put my back to the wall and strike out. It takes a lot of self confidence to see this honestly, admit your errors and make the required changes.
You should be able to see that the other South African teams are also unable to cope with the increased Defensive intensity. As most of the remaining important games are against SA teams, a Defensive strategy will have the biggest effect on improving the CAT's results.
It is now too late to discuss Defensive theory and conditioning programs or taking a minor role, in which we experiment with minor teams. You need to take incisive action to correct this. You need commit resources immeadiately to filling the Defensive holes. You will need to commit HALF of your training sessions to Defense. You will have to CHANGE. Do this and you will have a chance.
