When I say club or country, or more accurately “province or country”; I am referring to the many rugby fans in South Africa who support their province or Super Rugby side first and foremost above the national side. More specifically they support the players from their respective favorite unions before the players in the Springbok side.
There are ‘Bok supporters’ who seemingly want the Springboks to fail so that the “bloody Bulls” coach, Heyneke Meyer, will be fired so that their chosen provincial coach can replace him.
Certain supporters want to see their team’s favorite player chosen ahead of the incumbent because of a good Currie Cup, regardless of the make-up of the Springbok squad. Sometimes they actually want the incumbent to fail because he happens to play for a different province. I am not sure if this happens in other countries but it definitely happens here.
Being successful in international rugby is not as simple as choosing the best individual players in their positions and hoping for the best. Provincial teams in South Africa play different styles of rugby and so do the Springboks. If a player has had a good season playing to a specific game plan, this does not necessarily mean they will be able to slot in and dominate in that position in the Springbok side.
One of the toughest jobs any coach has is choosing the correct players to fit the game plan he is trying to implement. The squad needs more depth in certain positions, than in others and certain skill sets are needed to complement specific players in different positions.
Fanatical fans often put more stock in their provincial leanings than what is clearly best for the national side. They also seem to forget that Heyneke Meyer does this for a living and spends far more time analyzing player’s strengths, weaknesses and how they fit into his game plan, than the average fan (or rugby pundit for that matter) does. It baffles me that some people (some of them vocal rugby media pundits) honestly think they know more than the national coach does. After all, hindsight is 20/20 and it’s much easier to sit on the side lines and criticize than to implement a strategy that allows Meyer to achieve the long-term goal of guiding the Springboks to a successful Rugby World Cup.
Meyer’s job is made even harder because players are contracted to their provinces first and SARU second, which means that provincial coaches decide how many games their Springboks play in a season, which if you are Jake White, is all of them. They decide which positions to play the Springbok players in and the workload they should take on. This may suit the short term goals of a province or Super Rugby franchise but in extreme cases may even contradict what Meyer is trying to achieve.
In New Zealand, it works differently. All Black players are contracted to NZRU and coach Steve Hansen can literally instruct a provincial or Super Rugby coach to rest a specific player or play them in a different position if that is what he decides is best for the national side. How Meyer must wish this was the case for him. Unfortunately, as it stands he has no say until his squad assembles a week or two before each Test.
I am not saying the national coach is beyond reproach or that he will always get things 100% right, but when to see fans that hope for the Springboks – or a specific player – to fail or do badly because they disagree with the national coach, his selections or strategy leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It seems for these supporters and pundits that if the Springboks lose it is the coach’s fault and when they win, it is in spite of him.
I for one say that when the Springboks put on the green-and-gold, it does not matter which province or club they play for. They play for the country and we as fans should support them with pride and passion for doing so.
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