It not unheard of that people in positions of power can set up teams to fail, when they can't get their way. Losing control of a national asset can be soul destroying. Back in November 1998, the then Sports Minister Steve Tshwete said he could no longer support the Proteas team after they fielded a “lily white” team in the first Test at the Wanderers against the touring West Indians.
A national cricket 'big wig' moved quickly and told the selectors to bring in a player of colour for the next Test in Port Elizabeth. The then chairman of selectors was angry because of the political interference. The player, a top-order batsman, was given the job of opening although he was not accustomed to that role at the time. He was set up to fail. The thinking behind that was to show Tshwete why he shouldn't be interfering in selection.
After all, facing any West Indies new-ball attack was one of world cricket's most daunting pursuits and the chances were that the makeshift opener would be blown away. As it turned out, the makeshift opener did the job and a few knocks later scored a ton, when the ODI series got under way.
I see a parallel running through Springbok rugby over the past few months, and a succession of decisions has been designed to ensure Springbok rugby fails because some people in power didn't get their way.
Soon after the failed World Cup, there were media reports that Heyneke Meyer's contract was extended. It turned out to be untrue but is was leaked by elements in SA Rugby, that wanted Meyer to continue. It was a mischievous attempt to keep Meyer in the hot seat. A huge outcry followed and just about every Tom, Dick and Harry called for Allister Coetzee to be the next coach.
Just like the late Tshwete applied the pressure, so the public outcry to dump Heyneke Meyer was too loud to ignore. The populist opinion was overwhelming and didn't go down well with those in power and served to intensify the cowardly 'set up to fail' campaign. The next dirty trick was to delay Coetzee's appointment by several months.
Ideally, Coetzee needed to be appointed at least at the start of 2016, so that he could plan, prepare, evaluate and do a million other things that coaches would do months before the start of the international season.
He would have held occasional camps for provisional squads and bucket loads of 'intelligence' would have been circulated (usually via emails) to players, both home and abroad. He would have been calling for 'conditioning' reports of players that would feature in his plans. There would have been contact with Super Rugby coaches for obvious reasons. He would have informed players were on his radar and how he planned to use them. He was denied all of this and was appointed just a few weeks before the first Ireland Test.
One of the things that Coetzee should have been allowed to do was to choose his own supporting staff. Instead, he was allowed to choose one assistant coach and the rest were thrust upon him. Those that were thrust on him were from Meyer's failed campaign.
A rookie backline coach was thrown into the mix. Goodness knows if these fellows all get along?
The next step was to give Coetzee a captain, a player who certainly was not an automatic choice. He did little to enhance his standing when the Tests against Ireland wound its course.
And then a few days before the Test against Australia, some wise crack decided that it was an appropriate time to announce the captain's pending retirement. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that it would have a hugely disruptive effect on the team and many TV pundits said as much.
This has been the background against which Coetzee has been working, and now six 2016 Tests later, Springbok rugby has reached rock bottom.
Also, to add insult to injury most of the players have not enhanced their reputations and right now there is no reason for optimism ahead of the visit by Australia and New Zealand in a fortnight's time.
SA Rugby needs to step in before Springbok fans crawl across broken glass to get John Plumtree, Jake White, Nick Mallett, Johan Ackermann or even John Mitchell at the helm, as one scribe was moved to remark over the weekend.
Sadly, by this time, the custodians of national rugby may be morally bereft of ideas because they've lost the will to effect meaningful changes for the better.
African News Agency