Rugby World Cup
Monday Maul - What now for South Africa and Heyneke Meyer?
Tom Hamilton
October 26, 2015

Following South Africa's semifinal defeat to New Zealand, Tom Hamilton looks at what the next four years hold for the Springboks with some of the game's greats giving their views on five key areas.

THE COACH

Heyneke Meyer looks on
Heyneke Meyer looks on© Joe Giddens / PA Wire/Press Association Images

Heyneke Meyer would not be drawn on his future after their defeat to New Zealand, saying questions over his rumoured new four-year deal should be directed to SA Rugby but did reiterate his duty was to serve the country.

Sources suggest the deal is nearly done with Meyer set to continue for another four years. This is in part down to SA Rugby trying to prevent the knee-jerk reaction that has seen eight different coaches take charge of the Boks since Kitch Christie steered them to their 1995 triumph. But it is also down to the lack of a clear successor.

The prime candidate would be ex-Stormers coach Allister Coetzee -- but he has just upped sticks and moved to Japan -- or if they looked to an overseas candidate then Eddie Jones, but he has just signed to be Coetzee's replacement.

Critics of Meyer will highlight his inability to win a Rugby Championship, the opening World Cup defeat against Japan -- a game that could have ended his tenure there and then -- and his record of seven defeats in eight against the All Blacks.

Current Lions CEO Rudolph Straueli knows what it's like to be judged purely on a World Cup without the benefit of long-term vision after he was dismissed in the wake of their 2003 exploits, a tournament that was remembered for their brutal pre-competition training camp and eventual quarterfinal defeat to the All Blacks.

"I had to pick a lot of young players," Straueli said of his 2003 team when talking to ESPN. "I picked Victor [Matfield], Bakkies [Botha], Jean de Villiers and they are still playing 12 years on. I would've loved to have gone two terms. Look at Sir Clive Woodward and Sir Graham Henry -- the nations showed maturity there and I hope South Africa have got that maturity and emotion to let Heyneke take control for another campaign. He can't experiment with a limited time. Four years is difficult to grow a team, it's too quick for me."

THE PLAYERS

Bryan Habana
Bryan Habana© GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images

Matfield, De Villiers, Bryan Habana, JP Pietersen and Fourie du Preez will not make the next World Cup. The chances of Francois Louw, Ruan Pienaar, the Du Plessis brothers -- Biscmark and Jannie -- and Schalk Burger managing it are slim. But there are wonderful players coming through the ranks.

Lock-come-blindside Pieter-Steph du Toit did not see much action in the World Cup but he has the potential to be a Springboks great while Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager have another two campaigns in them. Siya Kolisi was underused while Jan Serfontein, Handre Pollard, Damien de Allende and Jesse Kriel can be mainstays in the backs for years to come.

The recent Craven Week also showcased the huge pool of talent present in South Africa with the likes of Eastern Province fly-half Curwin Bosch, soon to be a Shark, a case in point. The stars of the future excite World Cup-winner and ex-Saracens coach Brendan Venter.

"The next group is there and is genuinely ready to be counted," Venter told ESPN. "When older players leave, youngsters get the opportunity to perform. Our Under-20 rugby is in a very healthy state so junior rugby is in a good place and one of the reasons is that juniors get their chances earlier due to the players moving overseas."

THE OVERSEAS CONUNDRUM

© David Rogers/Getty Images

South Africa's sides flopped in Super Rugby and when you look at the Top 14 it is easy to see why. South Africa have no restrictions on where they can pick their Test side from and this season 20 Springboks will be plying their trade in France's top league -- Montpellier have 12 players who have represented South Africa at some level. Louw, Schalk Brits and reportedly De Villiers will be in the Aviva Premiership.

This is a double-edged sword. On one hand youngsters are fast-tracked into Super Rugby squads to fill the boots of veterans, as lauded by Venter. But with that comes an immensely steep learning curve when you are playing sides in Australia and New Zealand full of internationals with both having selection criteria geared towards keeping their best players in their own country.

The exchange rate is killing South African rugby and when wads of Euro are fluttered in front of your eyes the players, knowing they'll still be eligible for international duty if they shift overseas, are happy to make the jump. "Why would they stay here?" says experienced Sharks forward Marco Wentzel. "If you're playing abroad you'll be earning double what you would here. There's nothing to keep you here."

For the stakeholders it also presents an issue: there simply isn't enough Rand to keep their best players in the franchises, something Sharks CEO John Smit knows all too well.

"If it was up to me, I'd make sure that if you wanted to play for the Springboks, you have to play in South Africa," Smit told ESPN. "Right now, all these guys all over the world, they don't offer or contribute to the next generation. When I made the choices to go to France or England I knew I had to sacrifice South Africa. There has to be a unique value when you play for your country and I believe we've lost that."

GAME PLAN

© Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images

The limitations of South Africa's tactics were found out against the All Blacks. When the Kiwis had found out a way to deal with any breaks from the wonderful Kriel or Le Roux, the Boks continued to try and force their way through the black forcefield with bulk. It was too telegraphed, too predictable and rarely did it see them move their tanks into New Zealand's 22.

The fear that the Boks' gameplan would be found out was present long before they arrived in England. Speaking to Naas Botha in July, the great Springboks fly-half questioned the current incarnation's fixation with using a physical game when virtually every other side in the tournament can boast the same biceps.

"We are obsessed with getting over the advantage line," Botha told ESPN. "You can do it in other ways! You can drift and beat the defender instead of just running over the man. If you have a tree in front of you, you go around the branches rather than straight into the trunk of the tree. We have the ball players to do that."

TRANSFORMATION

© Anthony Harvey/Getty Images for ER2015

This topic splits South African rugby. In line with SARU's Strategic Transformation Plan -- a road map not a quota system, it says -- the 2019 Springboks squad must feature 50 percent non-white players. In this current squad, 23 of the 31 players were white, a number falling short of the 30 per cent target for black players.

Hovering over South African rugby, as I found earlier this year, is the question of quotas. Some are adamant they are present -- All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said as much this week -- while others, mainly the game's stakeholders in South Africa, stick to the party line that no pressure is put on Meyer over selection. Even the most blinkered supporter would struggle to believe that last statement.

"It is a political game, it is no longer about the sport," said Mark Andrews, a World Cup-winning forward, and you can see where he's coming from when their Sports Minister issues a 1,500-word statement addressing transformation moments after Meyer unveiled his squad for this current tournament. The current crop of players are reticent to talk about it but now ex-Boks captain Jean de Villiers is confident they are heading in the right direction.

"We are getting there," De Villiers told ESPN. "It's not something that'll happen overnight but from a Springbok point of view we want it to be a team that anybody can associate with and feels part of. We're getting there and that's pleasing. Since I started playing for the Springboks, everything is just getting better and better."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Tom Hamilton is the Associate Editor of ESPNscrum.

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