Rugby: Coaching rift adds to Bok turmoil

South Africa have struggled this year under (from left) Peter de Villiers, Gary Gold and Dick Muir. Photo / Getty Images

A major split has opened up within the Springboks coaching management team, sources close to South African rugby claimed yesterday.

Significant differences exist between the coaching style espoused by assistant coaches Dick Muir and Gary Gold. Head coach Peter de Villiers is said to be wavering, uncertain which way to go forward.

The source, who has impeccable connections to the Springboks and their squad, said: "Dick Muir wants to play a complete attacking game, ball in hand the whole time like the New Zealanders have done in this Tri-Nations.

"Gary Gold wants to play a structured game, based much more on traditional Springbok rugby values. And Peter de Villiers doesn't know which way to go forward."

The source further claimed that senior players such as John Smit and Victor Matfield were playing a major part in running the team, but that internal belief and discipline was breaking down under the lack of a single clear voice in the camp.

The Springboks' performances on their Tri-Nations tour seemed to confirm such suggestions. They looked uncertain as to which game plan they were supposed to be playing. At times in Brisbane, they played a traditional South African style, driving the ball up strongly among the forwards and then hoisting high kicks.

On other occasions, they threw the ball around down the backline as though playing sevens, and their passing accuracy was often pretty ordinary. When they did that, they looked like what they were: a side that is clearly uncomfortable playing in this manner because they are not sufficiently familiar with it.

Against Australia, even though they matched the Wallabies' two tries with scores of their own, their indiscipline (highlighted by Jaque Fourie's absurd second-minute yellow card) gifted Australia six penalty goals. That was enough to win the match.

Suggestions of discord at the top of Springbok rugby would go some way towards explaining a disastrous Tri-Nations tour which ended with a third consecutive defeat.

Somehow, half a dozen top South African players have, in less than a year, gone from certain starters for a World XV to a bunch of also-rans, players who hardly look international class besides appearing demoralised, disenchanted and totally out of sorts.

Even in their team selections, the South Africans have got it wrong consistently in the past eight months.

The poor selections were highlighted in Brisbane where they clearly chose the wrong back row and paid the price as Wallaby flanker David Pocock, albeit sometimes illegally, dominated the breakdown and made a significant contribution to the Wallaby victory.

It is important to remember that this poor Tri-Nations campaign should not be viewed in isolation. The rot began to set in late last year when the Springboks toured the Northern Hemisphere and suffered the humiliation of defeat by English club side Leicester, besides losing to France and Ireland.

Then, last month, the nonsensical decision was made to send Smit and Matfield, South Africa's two key men for next year's World Cup in New Zealand, all the way to Wales for a meaningless test match at the end of a long, hard Super 14 season. Still worse, the Springbok management compounded the lunacy by picking Matfield against Italy, a second-tier nation.

It was as though de Villiers felt unable to go into a test match without his two most senior players, fearful of losing if they were not there. But this non-stop diet of rugby has come home to haunt the South Africans. Their senior players have looked close to falling apart on this tour.

Smit was asked on Saturday night if his side's repeated failures could be attributed to the absence of Fourie du Preez. Wisely, he resisted the temptation to clutch at straws. "If we looked at it that way we certainly wouldn't be giving ourselves a fair chance of competing not only for next year's World Cup but for the remaining games," the captain said. "We have to believe we have got more in our squad than just the loss of one man and at the moment I think we probably haven't adapted well enough without him."

The Springbok management have some searching questions to face in the course of the next couple of weeks. If they cannot come up with suitable answers, maybe someone else in South African rugby has to start taking some tough decisions.