What’s the difference between South African rugby and a train station?

At least when they push off from the station, they wave goodbye.

Here, rugby players can’t pack their bags fast enough to dash off to France, Japan or the UK in search of fat retirement packages. Just ask Duane Vermeulen.

Don’t slam the door on your way out, big guy.

If the player drain is terminal and causing a seismic shift in local rugby, there is blood on the coaching floor. Numerous coaches have been shown the door with the Stormers, Sharks, Kings, Cheetahs and Bulls all in blood-letting mode. For once, the comparison with local football’s revolving door is apt.

The Stormers let Allister Coetzee go. The Sharks kicked Gary Gold upstairs. The Kings are looking for a heavyweight for their Super Rugby re-entry. The Cheetahs waved Naka Drotske goodbye. And the Bulls finally cut their losses with Frans Ludeke.

That’s a lot of change, but the exit of Coetzee, Ludeke and Drotske is no bad thing. Complacency and weariness had set in. Their teams (and fans) were crying out for something fresh and invigorating. Heads rolled, as they had to.

The Bulls have clearly identified Victor Matfield as a potential coach, but the transition has been messy. Already he has one foot in management, which has troubled some players. Being player-coach is a contradiction. It seldom works.

It’s why someone like Stephen Larkham at the Brumbies has been so successful. He was out of the game long enough not to be mates with the team, but not so long as to lose touch. He’s young, ambitious, energetic; qualities you want in a job that big.

His energy and vision has also obviously transferred to the team, who continue to play the game with a blend of mystery and mastery.

Tana Umaga, appointed to the Blues hot seat this week, is cut from much the same cloth. Adored in New Zealand and lauded as a great All Black, he has much going for him. He was assistant with the All Black under-20s and they’ve just captured the junior world championship.

Replacing Sir John Kirwin won’t be easy, but Umaga will get stuck in and try and impart the same values he demonstrated as a player. Kirwin, despite his reputation, was much like Carel du Plessis long before him: a great player with great ideas, but without the key to unlocking them.

Unfortunately there’s not the same enlightened thinking in SA rugby to mirror the appointments of Umaga and Larkham. The hiring of Smith is a rare exception, although it’s also true that he paid his coaching dues at Treviso, Shimlas and the Cheetahs, so he’s no novice.

You feel that some other youngsters could be on the cusp of big things, but it would take a generous leap of faith for team bosses to give the likes of Johan van Graan, Robert du Preez, Russell Winter, David Maidza and Kevin Musikanth a big job.

Whatever your thoughts on the coaching merry-go-round, it is a watershed for South African rugby. The teams without coaches have been left scrambling. Unlike players, who can be plucked from virtually anywhere, the coaching cupboard is pretty bare.

It has also finally dawned that South African rugby needs to develop and mature on the playing front. No-one says the elite teams need to move away from the virtues of supreme scrummaging and a percentage-based kicking game, traditional strengths since the dawn of time, but our coaches and players need to do more.

As Super Rugby demonstrated, the teams who prevail are those that play with flair and imagination; teams who have a grounding in the fundamentals and also do smart things with the ball. The Hurricanes, now coached by a pair who used to call Durban home, are a case in point.

At senior level, we will hear before long that Heyneke Meyer’s contract has been extended which will be a brave move given that a potentially fiendish World Cup looms.

The Bok method is well tuned to World Cups, but the draw has booby trap written all over it.

These are uncertain times. Will our coaches finally grasp the nettle, as they must? – © Sunday Tribune