Positive rugby is not reckless

Rugby writer Wynona Louw asks: Why in South Africa is attacking rugby, expansive rugby, running rugby so often associated with recklessness?

Why in South Africa is attacking rugby, expansive rugby, running rugby or whatever you want to call it so often associated with recklessness? It can be high-risk for sure, but it’s nowhere near reckless.

I ask the question because at the conclusion of the coaching indaba last week, Springbok coach Allister Coetzee spoke about playing more attacking rugby, but not to the extent that it becomes ‘reckless and stupid’.

He also said that the indaba provided enough insight to take South African rugby forward without ‘emulating’ other countries, despite the fact that New Zealand are the benchmark in world rugby, and one just has to look at them to see what complete rugby should look like.

Coetzee, and there others like him in SA Rugby (but not Johan Ackerman) seem to automatically put a negative connotation to running rugby. Well, I believe the Springboks need to play positive rugby. And positive rugby does not equal reckless rugby. The two are by no means the same thing.

What do I mean by positive rugby? I mean exactly that. Rugby that is positive. Rugby that encompasses all aspects of the game and not where one area is favoured while another is neglected.

And this is what Coetzee doesn’t seem to get. You can adopt a different approach while still maintaining traditional strengths. Your set-pieces don’t have to be neglected just because you run the ball more or because you try and be more creative.

This week Coetzee said that the Springboks would spend 20 minutes extra on improving their defence and kicking skills at every training session from now on.

The team's mentor believes that these two areas need to improve if the Boks want to produce better performances during the end-of-year tour next month. He also said that they have to up their territorial game. Oh, and they’re not going to Wembley Stadium to ‘entertain’. (Never mind that the All Blacks have won and entertained for at least 20 years.)

Now trying to fix or improve those areas is all good and well. But looking at what Coetzee has emphasised so far it’s quite clear how the Springboks will be looking to play. They will play what Coetzee calls ‘Test rugby’, which again, is a different kind of Test rugby that NZ or Australia play.

The Star