After plenty of chatter, on May 28, new head coach of South Africa Allister Coetzee put pen to paper and formally ushered in a new era of South African rugby, naming nine uncapped players in his first squad.
Only eight who finished in third place at the 2015 Rugby World Cup were invited back by Coetzee, who took over previous coach Heyneke Meyer.
Four tests later, and despite three wins, Coetzee’s ‘Baby Boks’ have failed to really grasp any kind of consistent play style, perhaps through no fault of ‘Toetie’ himself.
In fact, the 53-year-old was always going to be on the back foot from the time of his appointment, on April 12.
For at least the remainder of the 2016 season, he would be without whiz kid five eighth Handre Pollard, recovering from a serious knee injury.
After one test and one loss with utility Patrick Lambie pinch-hitting for Pollard, he too would miss the remainder of the series against Ireland, forcing Coetzee to give promising Golden Lions fly half Elton Jantjies another crack at test rugby.
Concerningly, Jantjies has also failed to put both arms through the sleeves of the jersey in his three appearances under Coetzee, with his coach explaining that the Springboks’ decision making of when to run and when to kick was not spot on.
But this was not a problem all season in the Lions’ 2016 run to the Super Rugby Final, or their Currie Cup triumph a year prior, both of which saw the same halves pairing as the incumbent Boks – Jantjies and Faf de Klerk.
In fact, the two connected well in their first test together under their new coach, when they set up one try and almost a second, which was disallowed after the final pass went forward.
In that test, the South Afrian forward pack took the brunt of the blame, as they were out muscled, out skilled and generally out classed by the Irish, which allowed the backline little to no space to work with, ending in a win for the visitors.
In fact, Coetzee’s criticisms may have made more sense if they had come after the second test against Ireland, when it was a revitalised forward pack rarely taking their foot of the break, tiring Ireland to no end and eventually breaking them in the second half.
It would’ve reminded Springboks fans of the Boks teams of old, where legends such as Francois Pienaar would muscle their way up the field and let halfback Joost van der Westhuizen engineer the five pointers.
It was test newcomer de Klerk, who has not put a foot out of line since debuting, playing the role of van der Westhuizen, despite help from his other backline members coming few and far between.
The third test was like an uneasy and scarcely clinical mix of the first and second. A flash of the backline’s pinpoint accuracy was seen at times, with Jantjies providing a perfect cross kick for a try for winger JP Pietersen.
The forward pack, whilst not flawless, also did as was required, providing the poise defensively at the end of the match, and at scrum time, to hold the Irish out, but drawing a dead head on offence with a rarely broken green defensive wall.
The first test of the 2016 Rugby Championship against Argentina played out much the same, with South Africa getting it right and wrong at certain times on both side of the ball with both the forwards and the backs.
The surprise dropping of former World Rugby Player of the Year nominee Willie le Roux for the rarely sighted Johan Goosen also provided inconsistent dividends.
Goosen, a natural stand off, brought a similar energy to the fullback position to le Roux, but impressed Coetzee enough with his play in the attacking line to keep his spot for the away trip to South America.
But defensively, Goosen showed similar traits to le Roux in his first test at the back of the park.
Despite trying hard and being proactive on d, he often found himself out of position, occasionally defending at his more favoured first receiver slot, whether this was by design or not.
With so many different and wide-ranging problems across the park for SA, can Allister Coetzee be criticised for his first 4 tests in charge? Yes and no.
The unavoidable teething of a new head coach is inevitable, especially with the landmark changes Coetzee has brought to the side after a fairly successful WC campaign.
What is perhaps most concerning for Springboks fans is that we have yet to see a tangible style emerge in the Coetzee led Boks.
His Western Province sides of 2010-2015 saw good success, including a Super Rugby Final and two losing semi-finals, in which they commonly made the mark on the competition as a strong defensive side that liked to control tempo.
If we can see a similar style shine through in his South African side this RC, SA will be on their way to another era of success under a good rugby mind.
So far, he has failed to get that style across, and if four matches is as good a sample size as any, then there is cause for concern.
