Former Bok coach blames the system for Plumtree’s crossroads at the Sharks

Former Springbok World Cup winning coach and recently departed Vodacom Bulls mentor Jake White has come out in support of beleaguered Hollywoodbets Sharks coach John Plumtree and blames the system for putting local coaches in an impossible position.

The Vodacom United Rugby Championship season is only five matches old and Plumtree at times had just eight fit players to work with in the pre-season but the Sharks took the rather unusual step on Wednesday of announcing that the Kiwi would end his role as head coach at the end of the current season.

Unusual because the team is just one and a half months into the new campaign which is only a fraction of the season.

The way sources initially portrayed it, and it is understood that is what Plumtree bought into, was that the current coach would effectively transition into a director of rugby role and would appoint and oversee the new coach.

But when the statement finally came out on Wednesday afternoon it stated Plumtree would move into an “advisory and mentorship” role to a new coach next season.

The statement was vague and also contradictory, for in one breath it spoke about the Sharks bosses having faith in the coach and him having their full backing, in the next it spoke of bringing an outsider in as a technical director to help with the game-plan.

Then in another it stated he would be leaving the franchise at the end of the season but yet was still trusted enough to mentor his successor.

White saw all of that for what it is - an attempt to be seen to be doing something and making a show of showing leadership in a quest to stop the criticism that has been raining down on the franchise, while at the same time covering their backs.

What is meant by that is that if Plumtree’s team comes right and they win something this season, the line will be peddled that he was always going to move into a directorship next season; if he falls short, then he will be shown the exit door and get a one year payout instead of what he would be owed if they were to sack Plumtree right now.

FELT FRUSTRATION WATCHING FROM AFAR

White, who parted ways with the Bulls earlier this year after guiding them to a third URC final in four attempts, watched developments from afar but felt his frustration building at what he feels is an iniquitous situation where coaches are put in a no win situation by a flawed system and then are made the scapegoats while players, administrators and other role players survive.

 And the system continues without any check.

“What has happened with Plum is another red flag for me around a problem that is going to ultimately cost South African rugby because the franchise level of the game is going to end up dying,” said White.

“I am out of the system now but I know well that you can’t juggle three competitions while there are key players in your team that need to have a mandatory eight week resting period during the playing of those competitions and you have players managing themselves. Heat is put on you by player unions if you are seen not to handle them correctly.

“If a player has recently come back from injury he may feel it is wrong for you to play him beyond a certain number of minutes, but sometimes as a coach and a team you are just under the pump and it becomes necessary to maybe play that player for 70 to 80 minutes for the team’s and your own survival. Rugby is a team sport.

“The coach is expected to be hard working and committed but no-one ever questions the level of the commitment of the players. I have never read a player’s biography where he admits any blame in something that goes wrong. It is usually about the coach who did this or that, who ‘didn’t like me’ or ‘didn’t rate me’. There is little acknowledgement of the possibility that sometimes you yourself were the problem.

“The reality is that as a coach there are so many obstacles put in your way, like no limit on overseas players being allowed to play for the Springboks, a salary cap you have to adhere to, a maximum of 56 contracted players, regulation 9 being ignored by the Boks playing outside of the international window. How can you build a crackerjack team to compete in those circumstances?

FOUND EBEN’S COMMENT STAGGERING

“In Plumtree’s defence, he has very little access to his top players and doesn’t work at all with them during the preseason. I watched the Sharks beat the Scarlets on television last week and I heard Eben (Etzebeth) say something staggering afterwards. He said that the players weren’t mentally ready the week before against Ulster, where they lost. This is a guy who has won two World Cups. Imagine what would happen if he said that after playing for the Boks.

“The question is how do you motivate a player who gets paid the bulk of his salary by the franchise when he knows he is going to be chosen for the Boks every time? If he was not mentally ready to play for the Boks we know what would happen.

“This is the problem I am referring to and the challenge that someone like Plumtree faces. I know for a fact, because it was the case when I was at the Bulls, that the players are given drills to do, homework and extras. Everything is very far advanced and you can’t blame the players if they get into a mindset that the most important thing for them is just to be ready for the November tour. Everything at the Boks is planned long in advance and players know which games they will play.

“Obviously there will be people who will say the Boks should be the priority, but then coaches at franchise level get hired and fired on the basis of what the players do at that level and I believe that is what has happened to Plumtree. The Sharks contracted too many current Boks, but if the system was right that would not be the disadvantage it has become.

BOK FOCUS CARRIES SOME COST

“I do not begrudge the Boks their success, but ploughing everything into the national team, taking upwards of 40 players on a tour at times and into camps staged locally at others, comes at a cost to the local rugby system and to the franchises. The Boks rely on the systems at the franchises to be strong, for them to produce players. Our rugby depth doesn’t just happen. The talent comes through from the franchises, but there’s very little done to help the franchises (succeed at their core business). And a coach like Plumtree ends up being hung out to dry, to be made a scapegoat, whereas the reality is that he is the victim of a system that is faulty.

“Rassie is running the Bok programme as it should be, as we all wanted it when some of us were Bok coaches before. But it comes at a cost. Where does it put the franchise and provincial teams? Dead in the water. You can’t keep your best players as there are salary caps and even if those players go overseas they still get picked for the Boks. And even those guys who do stay here get given extras and things to work on during your campaign that can come at a cost to you.”

NOT BEING A PROPHET OF DOOM BUT JUST REALITY

White added that while the Boks are riding the crest of a wave at the moment, things can change very quickly, and if franchise rugby is allowed to slide further down the slope it could lead to that level of professional rugby in this country being in serious trouble and, by consequence, the game in this country being in trouble too.

“I don’t want to be a prophet of doom, but if it continues like it is, franchise rugby is going to die in this country,” said White.

“Having coached provincial teams here and coached overseas I just don’t think the system is helping the local game. And when the local game dies, then it is difficult to catch everything up. Sure, while the Boks are winning we can paper over everything and there’s a perception that everything is alright.

“But sport goes in cycles, success goes in cycles. We won the 2023 World Cup quarterfinal against France by one point. Imagine if that result was reversed, like it could very well have been. We wouldn’t then think we have the recipe for Coca-Cola like we do now, and we might be questioning things, like the logic of choosing out of the Japanese league which we know is weaker than ours.

“What is happening is that the goose that lays the golden eggs, that produces the players from their age-group systems, meaning the franchises, are being stifled. I very much doubt that Rassie would want to coach to the rules that are applied at franchise level. I very much doubt that the administration would want to sign the Boks up for a competition or competitions where they’d have the disadvantages that our franchises face.”