Nothing cowardly about Kobus
15 Mar 2006
Coach Kobus van der Merwe has been caned for the performance of the Stormers in the Vodacom Super 14, but his brave team selections for the crucial Cheetahs clash deserve nothing but praise.
In partnering Jean de Villiers with Marius Joubert in the most attacking midfield combination possible, and selecting both Tonderai Chavhanga and Joe Pietersen, Van der Merwe has confounded those who seek to tag him as an ultra-conservative.
De Wet Barry played 872 out of a possible 880 minutes of the Stormers’ Vodacom Super 12 campaign last year. Despite disappointing results compounding week on week, Gert Smal became more entrenched that Barry was essential in jersey 12.
The worse it got, the quicker Barry was picked.
Van der Merwe’s results may be similar to last season, but it his reaction to these results that deserve applause.
Naming Schalk Burger at No 8, opting for the untried Jean de Villiers as captain and handing Justin Melck a start above the likes of Gerrie Britz and Hendrik Gerber are not the actions of a man clinging to his job.
Van der Merwe’s baptism of fire in the Vodacom Super 14 has taught him that you never arrive in first-class rugby, you only leave. He and technical director Gary Gold have been in the job at Newlands for less than a year, and already there are calls for their dismissals. There is no denying that the Cape side’s underperforming, but lumping the blame on the collective doorstep of Van der Merwe and Gold is foolhardy.
Both are coaches with track records that underline their tactical ability. Whether either were prepared for the complex politics of Cape rugby is another question, and the occasional ‘deer in the headlights’ effect can be attributed to a lack of streetsmarts rather than a lack of smarts.
In the face of hostility, the honesty with which Van der Merwe deals with the media has led to accusations of naivety, but where he has been criticised he should be commended. Despite the avalanche of criticism the only mind games Van der Merwe has played concerned the fitness of De Villiers, when he delayed the announcement of his exclusion due to injury for two days before the Brumbies bash.
After only one victory from five matches, four of which have been at home, other coaches in Van der Merwe’s position would (and have) release dummy team-sheets, stick with combinations obviously not working, make statements that the team is one victory away from turning it around, and generally just hit and hope.
Van der Merwe’s stint as Stormers coach has not yielded acceptable results thus far, but his attempts to redress deep and underlying problems in a side he inherited have been proactive and not reactive.
Allied with Gold, one of the finest tactical thinkers on the game our country possesses, Van der Merwe’s honesty and adventurous mindset could yet rescue the Stormers from the spiral they seem scarily close of slipping into.
82 Comments
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15 Mar 2006, 17:55 pm
“Proactive and not reactive” my eye.
Never read such twaddle in all my life.
15 Mar 2006, 18:00 pm
“Van der Merwe’s honesty and adventurous mindset” …. caramba is just gets worse!
(Grabs peppermint chewing gum to stifle gag reflex).
15 Mar 2006, 18:01 pm
Mmmm.. This is fun.
Ranting away to myself without Bliksem and Stan.
15 Mar 2006, 18:07 pm
caramba
holy cow:?:
15 Mar 2006, 18:18 pm
Cmon you gotta admit it’s tripe.
15 Mar 2006, 18:18 pm
DavidSP, Kobus coached the SHARKS backline under Straeuli.
Many factors involved in a slip to mid-table.
Your all-in-one, overly simplistic attempt at correlations is pathetic.
SA fans hardly have any damn perspective. Mallett was right.
15 Mar 2006, 18:25 pm
Mikeybraas
You’re right. Fans don’t have any damn perspective.
They tend to live in the here and now and not harp on what their coaches did in a past life.
15 Mar 2006, 18:52 pm
hehe dawn,
so mike, since you seem to be in the know, give us a rundown of his record as coach then?
15 Mar 2006, 19:01 pm
If someone wants to slam someone else, do it from an informed base, not facts dragged from someone’s arse. If you don’t know a fact, don’t give a false one. Pretty easy and yet so bloody difficult.
Perspective is always important. No perspective = knee-jerk reactions (as per Mallett and White’s public statements in the past regarding this ****)
15 Mar 2006, 19:25 pm
Be grateful that you have vd merwe.
Without him it would have been 5 losses…
15 Mar 2006, 19:35 pm
so apart from the sharks thing, what was wrong about davidsp’s comments?
he said stormers instead of sharks.
what else makes his statement or post “all-in-one and overly simplistic” as you so nicely put it?
“if you dont know fact” either what gives you the right to slam him?
pot and kettle?
again i ask, if you know his record then please enlighten us, otherwise your “public slamming” of davidsp’s comment is exactly what you so vehemently condemn.
otherwise just stop now.
15 Mar 2006, 20:39 pm
Mallet said he will give him 3 YEARS as coach
15 Mar 2006, 20:46 pm
fair enough.
i actually rate mallet.
i hope results wil come sooner rather than later for his sake (and Kobus)
15 Mar 2006, 22:23 pm
This is an articel meant to open a debate. So, Chris, well done you got it!
I agree that new things are being tried and tested done in the Cape and it feels great. I remember in 97 when Percy was put at fullback, 99% of the country thought the end was near!
It’s not like there was a winning formula down there for the last few years, its nice to see something different. To be honest,we have sem some of the best play out of sicknote (who is finally living up to his nick). And those of you who say he has morew to offer, I don’t think so!
Give the young guys a run, the old gaurd might come back from overseas but blood the new talent.
Kobus & Gary will prove their worth in that I am sure!
16 Mar 2006, 00:01 am
Has South Africa ever thought about getting New Zealand Coaches into the system, as New Zealand have done so many times before, by allowing outside coaches to coach in New Zealand just to see how the rest of the world do things.
16 Mar 2006, 07:34 am
Where does this praise come for Kobus ‘Mom-I’m-on-tv’ van der Merwe. Face it, he was a mediocre player at best and the same for his coaching. Are you telling me that his track record compares to someone like Pieter de Villiers. If Nick Mallet went around the country looked for good coaches, how the hell could he go to Griquas?
Has anybody questioned Nick Mallet? He is a good coach but his not doing much, besides having hissie fits every week. Could he have not struck a deal with David Nucifora, Alan Solomons, Rob Louw, Pieter de Villiers. Are you telling me, Kobus was the best he could negotiate?
16 Mar 2006, 07:35 am
yes, laurie mains and grisley wylie coached in sa before.
16 Mar 2006, 07:38 am
The problem is not the players, its the gameplan…Kobus van der Merwe has some of the best young players in the country…in the world. Most of these guys have one a junior World Cup medal. Its any coaches dream… I still can’t figure out what is there game plan. If it is…forwards take the ball up, then swing to the backline, then kick. Then we are not much different from the bulls.
16 Mar 2006, 07:41 am
If you analyse the Crusaders and the Brumbies. The reason they are successful, is because they have a specific gameplan. To me, it seems Kobus has sort of a High School gameplan…and when one player is injured he panics and switches to another gameplan.
16 Mar 2006, 07:47 am
Very vauge post Edwil.Care to eloborate on the curent gameplan.Rugby is rugby wheter high school or Super14.
16 Mar 2006, 07:55 am
Dankie bliksem…Anybody who’s played rugby, knows there’s a difference between High School and Super 14 rugby.
Super 14 rugby is about, how quickly your recovery or turnaround time is, confidence, concentration and intensity. Firstly that is not in place with the Stormers because the coach has no clue what this is. Secondly your gameplan has to have some sort of close structure and must be player independent. When playing in the Super 14, relying on one player (Jean de Villiers) to implement your game plan is fatal. If you look at Australia, New Zealand, England of a couple of years ago. Nobody dared panic when there’s an injury. The gameplan didn’t change.
The Stormers have always played entertaining rugby and that is what the Stormers is all about. We used to have quick turnaround time. Meaning when we are on defense and the ball is loose, suddenly there’s a counter-attacked, everybody knows there place and angle of run (watch the Crusaders). We used to run into gaps more than now. (Watch Jean De Villiers playing under Carel du Plessis a couple of years ago).
16 Mar 2006, 07:58 am
Edwill the basics stay the same.We dont compete because we cant even do the basics.Tana has admitted that when he has a bad day at the ofice he just falls back and just does the backs.His bad day at the office is usualy a solid performance.
16 Mar 2006, 08:00 am
Are F’n telling me, a Super 14 coach should be teaching basics to professional rugby players who earn R15000 a month and up?
16 Mar 2006, 08:05 am
Well Edwill that is the problem.Our players cant do the basics.It stems from a bad/non existant coaching program for coaches at all levels.
16 Mar 2006, 08:07 am
That’s why I ask…what is Nick Mallet doing?
16 Mar 2006, 08:08 am
And you can’t win the Super 14 by just doing the basics right…
16 Mar 2006, 08:09 am
Edwill you need to have mastered the basics first and then build from there to win.
16 Mar 2006, 08:10 am
Ask keo what mallet is doing,they are mates.
16 Mar 2006, 08:10 am
Well, duh!
16 Mar 2006, 08:14 am
Keo doesn’t know…I’m not sure, Mallet knows.
16 Mar 2006, 12:42 pm
Things went better last week despite the last minute debacle and JDV had a lot to do with that. I think that the Centre combo Jdv with Joubert must just come off if Peter Grant plays the game and if the Cheetahs forwards allow the Stormers the ball.
My only concern is the time it will take the centre’s to personally hand the ball to the blistering stormers wingers because neither can catch the bloody thing.
Now imagine if the Stormers had kept Gaffie, I still rate him as one of the best SA flyhalves on his day, and Percy. And then if Nick “Mullet” Mallet had done some pre-season forward buying as the Bulls did. With that little lot happening one could see something happening at Newlands….Its simple really….
16 Mar 2006, 12:44 pm
Sorry guys Typing error I meant the new centre combo MIGHT come off not MUST come off….
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