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A season of uncertainties aheadDon’t let anybody kid Super Rugby-supporters in South Africa. The performances of the local teams in the Super Rugby season starting on Friday, will be vitally important for the Springboks and their new coach, Heyneke Meyer. Some argue that the local fans will look at it with a measure of trepidation because of the exodus of so many frontline-players in 2011, as well as the loss of two masterminds in Rassie Erasmus and Meyer.
According to the Weekend Argus the best the local teams can hope for, would be the local conference title. If this is true, the Boks might suffer, because historically, the national team has benefited from strong performances at Super Rugby-level by local teams.
In 2007, the Bulls and the Sharks contested the final in Durban. The Bulls won thanks to a magnificent come-from-behind try by Bryan Habana. Later that year, the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup in France.
In 2009, the Bulls triumphed in the Super14-competition, and South Africa thrashed all-comers in the Vodacom Tri Nations-campaign.
But, what will be the key areas of concern in this year’s competition, and who will win it?
The Sunday Times pinpointed the breakdowns as a potential problem area for the local boys. There is a widely expected inordinately high penalty count for transgressions at the ruck, argued the Times.
Allister Coetzee, Stormers coach, warned: “Ruck ball will be more contested and I believe we will see more penalties. The defending team still has to ensure that the supporting tackler does his job legally and penalties will come, but you just have to cope with it.”
The Cheetahs lost some stalwarts in 2011, notably Riaan Viljoen and Sarel Pretorius.
The Stormers were hard hit by the loss of Francois Louw, Jaque Fourie, Johann Sadie, Tim Whitehead, JJ Engelbrecht, Ricky Januarie, Conrad Jantjes, Pieter Louw, Adriaan Fondse and CJ van der Linde.
The Bulls saw the exodus of legends like Fourie du Preez, Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Danie Rossouw.
The Lions are under pressure as the union is in massive financial debt, which will pressurise their incumbents to play for long periods as they would not be able to use top-reserves. In short, their lack of depth could derail their campaign.
The same applies to the Free State Cheetahs, who secured a first-away win against the Waratahs in the Super Rugby competition last year and also finished with a bang. Yet, the loss of some magnificent players like Viljoen and Potgieter and their lack of depth could put them under considerable pressure.
Failure to get off the bottom of the log could mean that they could be replaced by the Southern Kings in the 2013-competition.
Their first-choice team would be competitive, but how would they do at the back end of the competition.
In spite of their lack of depth, the Lions could improve considerably from last season’s bottom-of-the-log finish in the SA conference. Their self-belief, after winning the Currie Cup is obvious. And one of the keys to their success is their magnificent cohesion.
The Cheetahs play with a spirit of adventure that was evident in the way in which they overwhelmed the Crusaders in 2011. Luck, and the way in which the Cheetahs manage their top-players, will be pivotal for their final log position in 2012.
The Sharks look better equipped with Whitehead and Viljoen adding depth to their backline, while they still boast a very useful tight five and some excellent reserve strength amongst the loose forwards.
The Bulls could still field a starting fifteen with thirteen Springboks the line-up, yet legends like Du Preez and Matfield will leave a hole. Luckily for the Bulls, Francois Hougaard is a force to be reckoned with, while Flip van der Merwe and Juandré Kruger could become a Springbok lock combination in the not too distant future, although Andries Bekker would have something to say about that.
The smart money for the Super Rugby-title would be on the Crusaders, who would be boosted by the return of Richie McCaw and Daniel Carter after injury lay-offs during April.
The Reds won the Super Rugby competition in 2011, but they will forfeit the talismatic presence of Quade Cooper, who will possibly miss much of the competition this year.
The Bulls are in a rebuilding phase this year, and it might take them some time to repeat their former glory. The performance by some young three-quarters and the engine room of Van der Merwe and Kruger will be key areas for the Loftus Versfeld-team.
The Sharks look well-equipped to win the SA conference. Yet, the way in which they imploded last year in the Currie Cup-final when they had all their Boks available and struggled against a no-name brand Lions team, would have strengthened the view by commentators that they haven’t got what it takes to win the SA conference.
The Stormers have played with enormous composure defensively the past two years and were a beaten finalist in 2010 and a beaten semi-finalist in 2011.
They will have to improve their big match temperament, because they fail to get over the line in crunch matches and their reserve strength amongst the tight five remains a concern.
