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Fleck cops serious flak on Twitter as fans fume over 'shambles' Stormers defeat
By Josh Raisey
Stormers head coach Robbie Fleck has come under some heavy criticism from fans after his side slumped to a 24-12 loss to the Reds in Brisbane.
It is now the Cape Town outfit’s third loss in a row, as they sit second from bottom in the South African Conference of Super Rugby.
Fleck’s team looked promising in the first half, and came very close with two disallowed tries. Although the score was level at half time at 0-0, the Reds took advantage of a Siya Kolisi yellow card for the first ten minutes of the second half and never looked back. Although the Stormers rallied with late tries, it was fairly comfortable for the Reds in the end, compounded by a litany of handling errors from the South African outfit.
The fans are not holding back on Twitter as they lambast the former Springboks centre for failing to produce anything with his team. With so many internationals at his disposal, many fans feel Fleck has no excuse for why the team are not performing, and that is something that they have been saying all season. While the Capetonians were without titans Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit, that does not seem to be a good enough excuse.
However, this lacklustre performance seems to be the final straw for many fans, and there are increasing calls for Fleck to stand down as head coach, with the hashtag #FleckOut trending. This is what the fans are saying:
Fleck is in his fourth Super Rugby campaign with the Stormers, but has struggled to comprehensively win over the fans. The team have been in the doldrums over the past couple of years after promising campaigns in 2016 and 2017. However, they finished joint bottom of their conference last season, and the criticism of Fleck has carried into this season.
The Stormers travel to Melbourne next week to take on a Rebels team that are full of confidence, so it doesn’t get any easier for Fleck.
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I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
Go to commentsWhatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.
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