Currie Cup

From TurboCASH Wiki

Here we go round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush... The Currie Cup is an incubator for Super 14 Losers.

Ever since my eyes opened in Rugby (about 5 years ago) I see that same story played out. At first I thought it was only my coaching inadequacies, but now I have come to realise that it is not me, I am actually the one that is right, it is the fault of a nation. It is talked up by the journalists, ignored by the administrators, sends the coaches into denial and gets swallowed whole and washed down with beer by the fans.

The Currie Cup is a set of games played out at reduced pace, with close to zero defense and never stretches the players aerobically or anaerobically. The whole competition lulls us into a dream. Instead of using this period to build for the next Super 14 year, we blunt a new generation of kids with the belief that this half paced drivvel is what they have to produce for international success. All this talk of "brilliant-young-finds"and "depth-of-talent" - this is where the "overcoached", "give- them-creative-space" and "weight-training-makes-you-dof" crap comes from.

By 31 March 2007 (six months time) we are going to be wondering where it all went wrong. The solution would take hours to explain. Lets focus on: zero defense, lack of multi phase play, lack of conditioning.

Zero Defense

It is actually so widely endemic that it is pointless to pick on any one side. But if high scoring crunch games don't ring your bell then I guess not much of what I say here is going to make much sense.

Take the sight of Gio Aplon running through 7 tackles, or Danie Roussouw rumbling downfield with his centre of gravity 4 foot off the ground, or Springbok Lock Gerrie Brits getting pancaked by an unknown prop from Kimberly. If these images instill in you, a feeling of a South African Offensive Renaissance, then you have missed the point that we have a serious hole in our defensive coaching strategy. I don't mean esoteric inadequacies, I mean absolute basics: 3 point goal line, pumping feet, headup, arched back, hands off you knees, weight on the toes.

To understand how bad it is, watch a Currie cup Player swing a punch. Its laughable. You would see better action in Bar in Benoni. These guys have just never been taught the basics of contact..

Solution: Top coaches and players have to leave the ego at home for a few weeks. We need to go back to basics at senior level and reteach our guys basic tackling technique. The All Blacks under John Mitchell were an all offense - zero defense team. They leaned to tackle and defend in one year - 2005 - so can we. Just recognise the problem and apply the resources. Its simple.

Lack of phases

Go play the video. NMMU vs Maties, two of our best clubs. I am particulalry interested in this because of feeders for The Spears. I kid you not. NMMU make it to 3 phases once in the game, Maties makes it to 3 phases 3 times in the game! OK if you can see the problem in top club rugby, now look at Currie Cup. Curries Cup its only one phase better. They very rarely get over 3 phases. It is either kicked away or bundled away - I call it "bumbleball".

Do not be confused by "pick and drive", if you exclude this as a phase, Currie Cup is not much better than Club.

WP build their whole campain on one Open side flanker who can get them the ball on second phase, at third phase they have nothing! Amazingly this is enough to keep them in the competition.

Cheetahs score their tries from 1st phase! They have little to no plan to setup multiphase play. In fact it is the worst thing they coudl do for theor forwards, who are almost walking. Now switch over to any NPC game on channel 26 and watch regular sets of 5 to 6 phases, even amongst non quality sides..

It is no wonder that we are forced into this kind oif thinking. Any attempt to play mulitpahse rugby invariabkle leads to loss of the ball. Forwards do not keep up with the game and are ineffectual when they do. Backs do not have the power to drive through small advantages. This leaves us with what we see, backs desparately trying to run around the opposition or use tough rugby style moves to draw away the defense.

Its not only that we don't have the ability to retain the ball, we also don't have the capacity to sustain the pressure. It is common cause that it is harder to play defense than to play offense. Because we are unable to sustain mulitple phases, we give up one of the strongerst weapons in Rugby. It is like a boxer without a jab.

Solution : Unfortunately this takes a little more than half a page to explain. The solution is found in styles of Offense, called Smashmouth and Run and Shoot. The basic principle is to recognise that not all ball carriers are equal. In fact good ball carriers are an order of magintude better than average joes. Give the ball to the carriers and let them take it into contact. Everyone else is there to ensure that the next phase gets secured and started. You are going to have to read ironrugby to get the full picture.

Lack of conditioning

Over the last 2 months I have met many South Africa Rugby coaches, administrators and journalists. I am dealing with a generation that have simply never been exposed to weigth training. At worst, they beleive that weight training is counter productive, at best they confuse it with Virgin Active Lifestyle training. Either way, its something, "left to the players". Weight training is a national culture, you adopt it en masse or its a curiosity. Coaches, administrators and journalists who are not familar with the benefit that it brings, can never make the decisons required to drive us in the right direction.

I have met top Currie cup teams that train as little as 2 gym session per week and have like 3 coaches in a session with 30 players. Conditioning is a one on one activity. Look at how they train boxers or track athletes to get an idea of what is required.

Solution : Understand that Rugby is a fight. The strongest wins. Contact conditioning is a vital ingredient. It starts as a nation. Every father, teacher and coach should have his own weigth training program.

I am not going to point fingers at individuals, but the above combination of zero defense, no muliphase play and lack of conditioning, leads us to a game that is always desparately trying to get back to first phase. So much so, that we would rather kick the ball away to them. We would rather have first phase against us than open play 3rd phase where we have the ball!

The result is a South African brand of Rugby characterised by fat forwards (who waddle from one first phase to the next) and tiny backs (who run sideways). This system is selected and developed by adminstrators and coaches that can't tell the difference between a clean and snatch and cheered on by journalists who feed a gullible fan base with a system that has failed repeatedly in the Super 14 for 10 years.