Make no mistake, this bombshell retirement decision by Adriaan Strauss is one almighty stuff up, but what do we do now? As part of Vodacom Rugby’s BIG DEBATE, Tank puts forward the case for keeping him around.
Tank Lanning
Make no mistake, this bombshell retirement decision by Adriaan Strauss is one almighty stuff up.
One – it makes the decision to appoint him as Bok skipper in the first place look pretty damn stupid, especially given the spin around him having alerted coach Allister Coetzee to his intentions earlier this year. And two – it makes the ZERO minutes of playing time that Bongi Mbonambi has had as replacement to Strauss in the two Rugby Champs Tests look not only like window dressing, but tactically retarded.
The definition of madness is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result, so let’s not make the same mistake twice.
Keeping Strauss in the team as skipper buys Coetzee some time, providing a constant around which he can experiment. And experiment he must!
Mbonambi and, to my mind the obvious successor to Strauss, Malcolm Marx, must be rotated and given 35 minute shifts every game. Both should start a game on the November tour.
Which then gives Coetzee the space to experiment with the various players he believes to be in line to take over the skipper’s armband. To my mind the obvious call is Warren Whiteley, but there is no harm in widening the leadership base.
There is no need to rush the captaincy decision, while they don’t come greener than Mbonambi and Marx. Let’s make the most of the Strauss stuff up and use the time wisely.
To see what Vodacom Rugby’s Zelim Nel has to say in reply, head to their BIG DEBATE feature, published every Wednesday.
What alternatives are there? Assuming the captain must be undisputed first choice in his position, I can only think of 2 players in the current team in this position: Etzebeth and Faf, neither considered captaincy material (at this stage).
Therefore the only possible solution is “compromise”, and that is never pretty.
Very true Jacques! So if you want a skipper who is guaranteed of his place, things look pretty scarce!!