It’s time WP bosses are called to book about bad player management

THE “way things are done” at Western Province and the Stormers needs to be at the forefront of the review from Rassie Erasmus and Allister Coetzee following the blow-out against the Lions in the Currie Cup semi-final.

They didn’t make a good start yesterday by signing 22year-old Bulls wing Gerhard van den Heever, who has fallen from grace in Pretoria after being the new “darling” of Loftus after Bryan Habana’s departure at the end of 2009.

Van den Heever didn’t even make the Bulls Currie Cup match-22 for many matches this season, as his reluctance on defence was finally exposed. While he does possess a lot of pace, his attacking play has not reached the same levels of the 2010 Super 14 either.

Yet, WP sign him and let JJ Engelbrecht and Johann Sadie go to the Bulls! Engelbrecht was voted by his teammates as the WP Players’ Player of the Year at their awards function last week, which showed the standing he enjoyed in the side. How mustn’t Engelbrecht feel now?

What probably prompted him to sign for the Bulls in midyear was the fact that Coetzee continually ignored him for the Stormers team despite him scoring lots of tries in the Vodacom Cup for WP, and he ended as the joint top try-scorer on 10. And this was when the rather average Danie Poolman started seven matches in a row in Super Rugby.

That comes down to the management of a player, and Engelbrecht was badly managed. Like it is bad management to have signed Van den Heever and to let Engelbrecht and Sadie go to the Bulls.

Sure, Sadie has been offered some serious cash in Pretoria and probably been guaranteed the No 13 jersey for the Bulls Super Rugby team, but why couldn’t WP have promised him the right-wing berth for the Stormers next year?

Engelbrecht was the only other wing in the senior set-up who was being picked, and he and Sadie could’ve competed for the No 14 jersey and perhaps even No 11 if Habana was again out of form.

Also, what kind of message does Van den Heever’s arrival send to all the young wings playing club rugby in the Western Cape? There is almost no pathway to the WP and Stormers sides if you are playing firstteam rugby for a club. The hierarchy are quick to point to their highly acclaimed WP Rugby Institute in Stellenbosch, which they regard as a breeding ground for young talent.

But do you know that you can actually pay your way in to attend the Institute? With the annual fees being R120 000, how does someone from say Mitchells Plain get into the Institute? Most of the youngsters are chosen from the top schools and clubs such as Maties and UCT. Now those clubs will point out that they have won most of the club trophies over the years, but surely, there has to be a few talented players in other teams who could provide the answer to Province’s problems?

At least that is what the administrators of clubs in Cape Town are telling me on a weekly basis – but their players are not invited to WP practice. You cannot tell me that a 20year-old player straight from school and the Institute is better than a hardened 25-year-old club player, especially among the forwards. WP are known for having the toughest club league in the country and probably among the toughest in the world.

One WP administrator told me last week that they are looking for quality forwards to sign, but that most of the players are contracted already to other teams. Firstly, it’s totally unprofessional to wake up so late to the reality that WP and the Stormers need a few big men in the pack.

Secondly, what about all the local club players? Erasmus and Coetzee could do worse than visit some of the clubs and try to discover someone in the mould of a Dale Santon or a Quinton Davids – real tough buggers.

Legend has it that the two players the Bulls used to fear most when they played Province was Davids and Bolla Conradie, due to the mongrel in their game. Apparently Bakkies Botha was scared of old Quinton!

Well, it worked for Province during the Gert Smal era, as that was the last time they won the Currie Cup, in 2000 and 2001. We all know that the lack of physicality is one of the most important shortcomings in the Province and Stormers set-up.

But in terms of wings as well, how can there not be one decent player in the WP club system? Someone like Shuaib “Bom” Samaai joined WP from the Leopards at the end of last year, but was then never given a chance to play in the Currie Cup, especially when all the injuries were affecting the team.

Instead, Coetzee picked the likes of Steven Hunt and Heinrich Steyl, as well as the perennially ineffective Poolman, ahead of Samaai.

I also remember the prolific right wing Frank Wagenstroom. He was part of Peter de Villiers’s outstanding SA under-21 team in 2006 that went all the way to the final of the IRB World Championship, and had a reputation as a fearsome runner and try-scorer from Tygerberg High and at WP Craven Week level.

Yet he was never looked after at Province, and had to go to the Cheetahs to play Currie Cup rugby. The same situation involves the likes of Adrian Jacobs and more recently Ashley Johnson, among many others.

This year, Wagenstroom spearheaded Tygerberg Rugby Club’s triumph in the Super League B, and they will now play in the top division Super League A next season. He is still only 26 years old and a born-and-bred Capetonian, so why isn’t he being given a chance?

That is the essence of what is wrong at Western Province. The union’s administrators have allowed the team management to get away with this for far too long. If things don’t change, expect the Newlands trophy drought to continue ...

This is the last Ruck&Maul column for the year. Hope you enjoyed the Rugby World Cup (I feel sorry for France after a great effort in the final, but well done All Blacks!), and of course, a new era will dawn on Springbok rugby next year.

But before that will be the Stormers in