'Very, very strange decisions': Ex-Bok coach blames refs for Nienaber's record
Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber will step down from the post at the end of this year's Rugby World Cup after four seasons in the job.
The former assistant under Erasmus took over in 2020 but his first Test in charge wasn't until July 2021 after SARU pulled the Springboks out of all competition in 2020.
Nienaber's Boks claimed the British & Irish Lions series 2-1 but went on a three-Test losing streak through the Rugby Championship to finish third in 2021.
The Springboks finished runners-up in the 2022 Championship behind the All Blacks after missing out on bonus points to Ian Foster's team.
On the end-of-year-tour they suffered defeats to the top two ranked nations Ireland and France.
Former assistant Swys de Bruin defended Nienaber's 61.5 per cent win record with the Springboks on SuperSport's Final Whistle, calling the record 'subjective' and claimed many of the Test matches were 'trials'.
"Those stats are very subjective," de Bruin claimed.
"You've got trial games, some games you need to win, that game we might not."
The ex-Lions coach was prepared to draw comparisons with football managers, claiming a 60 per cent record in football is successful.
Football club teams play nearly 40 games a season and a 'draw' is a far more common outcome, resulting in a lower overall win rate.
"I had an interesting look at top football guys. A 61 per cent win ratio is not too bad," he said.
"If you win 60 per cent or more of your games, you are successful.
De Bruin also said the absence of 'minor' playing nations made it tough to have a higher win rate, and praised his work for orchestrating defeats of the All Blacks.
"I remember 2018-19, we never played minor teams, there were no Canadas and Americas involved.
"You play the big boys game in, game out. That's the different stat.
"If you look at what Jacque has done with Rassie, especially Jacques' defence, we've beat the All Blacks.
"We drew with them away [in 2019], and beaten them away too.
"We've pumped the English in Bloem and Ellis Park [in 2018]. We went overseas we got Scotland, the French there.
"He's done well in the right Tests."
Under Erasmus the Springboks won one from four Tests against the All Blacks while Nienaber has improved on that mark with two from four.
Former Bok coach Nick Mallett sensationally claimed that the side only lost certain Tests due to calls that went against the side.
He suggested that the officials were not impartial by suggesting that they were not 'absolutely fair'.
"I'll add to that, there were a number of games last year we should have won, and we didn't for some refereeing reasons," Mallett claimed.
"Had the referees been absolutely fair, we would have ended up winning a couple of games.
"I still say in the games we played against France and Ireland last year, they were two great, great performances by the Springboks.
"We come on the wrong side of those performances because of some very, very strange decisions in the last 10 minutes.
"We get those two wins, suddenly it's incredible, 18 wins out of 26, it looks very good.
"What about Australia away? When everyone agreed they should've been penalised 15 times more than they were.
"There are issues around the refereeing of our Springbok team last year that have impacted Jacques Nienaber's results."
Latest Comments
Just like John Plumtree at the Sharks he has had a poor start to this season’s coaching gig, but now it looks like he is starting to pull them back also having won 1 game in the first Eleven games they played. It obviously helps that 11 of his fifteen are Springbok players. But now they are starting to improve. No ways they can make it to the playoffs this year but they probably used this season as a way to figure out their game plan. One query I have and I think quite a few people have is: Are they playing better simply because of their international players are back or is it the team strategy led by Rob Penney that is starting to tick? Well I guess we wait and see. Also if it doesn't work out this season, it might be that Rob Penney is using this season as a way to organize himself for next season. Getting all his combinations sorted, his team strategies sorted and figuring out who is best is which position. Now I don't follow Super Rugby any more having now a full focus in the URC but I was surprised about the current Crusaders stats.
Go to commentsIf I’m a little bloke, who’s just had possession of the ball, I should expect to get cleaned up by Samipeni Finau if he’s opposite me and I do nothing to avoid him. FTFY You’ll need to rewrite the rest of your article now Hamish Bidwell. I’m not sorry for having missed reading this one. I find it hilarious it’s only the static aussie 10s, just waiting there, that are getting smashed. Move on your feet guys, haven’t you watched DMac and Mounga play for the last decade ffs. Chin up, at least your smiles should return when BB returns to SR next year and there’s more 10s to the fodder.
Go to comments