Well it looks like Vern is laying the blame fairly and squarely on certain players shoulders, not even all the players. However game plans are not the be all and end all of sport. Getting the team to "gel", to play for each other and not themselves, to play for the shirt, to bust a gut, do the one percenters bla bla bla ad nauseaum is also in the remit of the coaching staff...think "manager" rather than "coach". After all these are elite athletes, they don't need all that much "coaching", more like directing and coaxing them in such a way to perform better than they thought they could.Quote:
...Reid refused to blame the current coaching team, led by Phil Blake, for the loss in Durban.
"I would defend the coaches strongly on that performance. I do not believe you can blame them," Reid said.
"It was not a coaching issue. The game plan was achievable and well structured.
"There were players that simply did not rise to the occasion and do their jobs."
The question that should be asked is how does this time which beat the powerhouse Reds and Tahrds, came within a whisker of the other Oz teams, and had honorable losses to the top two teams Chiefs and Stormers over the past two months, put in such a lamentable performance? Was it the end of the road, just the culmination of an unsettling month and being on the road? Have they decided to give up? A combination of the above, along with the Sharks desperate to get in the finals?
Whatever, I believe Vern is being too simplistic to blame certain players. It was a flogging in every aspect, skills passion commitment and dare I say it game plan. Have they tried ANY new combinations or crafty plays? Done something outside the square? Started Nalaga or Hodgo in the centres for instance? Or even Pocock? Or tried BOTH Harvey and Seymour for two playmakers? Or started Seymour or even Goodwin to see how they go thrown in the deep end?
I dont thnk so, its just been more of the same with the same, with some platitudes about throwing it wide to Nalaga.
Nothing ventured nothing gained, its the end of the road for whatever RG game plans, FFS try something new! Get the players focused and enthusiastic!!
