Cronje deserves a decent chance
rugby365.com columnist Grant Ball says Lionel Cronjé shouldn’t be surprised at his lack of opportunities in pre-season, but that does not excuse the Western Province/Stormers’ management of him over the past year.
Throughout the Stormers’ pre-season Allister Coetzee and Rassie Erasmus’s mission has been to find a back-up flyhalf to Peter Grant. Coetzee and Erasmus have three talented flyhalves in Cronjé, Gary van Aswegen and Elgar Watts to rotate, and admittedly it’s a tough task.
But the way Coetzee’s gone about it has been poor. He told the media last week the former SA U20 Player of the Year, Cronjé, would get his chance to start against the Sharks, but he’s again opted for Van Aswegen for Saturday’s match.
After the Stormers’ 15-0 win over the Lions, Coetzee even admitted Cronjé needed more chances to start at pivot.
“Lionel has not had enough opportunities and I would like to provide an opportunity for him,” said Coetzee.
“The player that grabs his opportunity and makes the best decisions under pressure will be our second choice at flyhalf.”
It would seem Van Aswegen already has that back-up spot sewn up, and Coetzee changed his tune again and said Cronjé would now get his chance against Boland. There can be no qualms with Van Aswegen’s performance against the Lions and he’s set a marker, but now Cronjé should have got his chance to prove whether he can make the correct decisions.
This is not the first time such deception has happened. Cronjé was promised a start against Boland at the first rugby game at the Cape Town Stadium during last year’s pre-season, but instead Coetzee opted for the laboured Willem de Waal.
In last year’s Currie Cup Cronjé was treated similarly poorly. In 13 matches off the bench, Cronjé played just 136 minutes, at an average of 10 per game, while he wasn’t used in both matches against the Bulls and had little opportunities against the bigger unions. He was then thrown in during the final to play 12 minutes and try steal the trophy for WP.
Cronjé was poor on that occasion, but there was no way he could be expected to perform with so little game-time and no starts throughout the campaign. The WP management have also been concerned about Cronjé’s lack of communication, but again it’s difficult to improve that aspect when afforded little opportunities.
The Sharks and Lions showed the way throughout the Currie Cup by placing faith in their young flyhalves Pat Lambie and Elton Jantjies. They now have quality, exciting 10’s going into Super Rugby. Unfortunately Western Province conservatively stuck with the one-dimensional De Waal, and they have nothing to show for it, with Van Aswegen and Cronjé still unproven at this level.
It must be remembered that Cronjé is a quality 10 whose excelled for his country at age-group level, and he’s got all the attributes (size, handling, a massive boot and importantly the ability to take the ball flat) to transfer that pedigree to the senior ranks.
He’s in the top three fittest players in the Stormers’ squad in pre-season, and performed well against Maties and UCT in friendlies. If, and it would seem a big if, he does get a start against Boland, and then not surprisingly excels at pivot, Coetzee’s excuse may be that Van Aswegen performed against better opposition. That may be true, but Cronjé hasn’t been afforded the opportunities to achieve.
The mismanagement of Cronjé is a typical problem in South African rugby. Coaches don’t give flyhalves an extended run in their best position, with five minutes here and there. They also swap their positions, and now reports Coetzee and co also want to use him as a fullback could see that trend continue.
Conrad Hoffmann was treated similarly, and he’s now at the Sharks. If this continues with Cronjé, Erasmus and Coetzee can’t complain if they lose another quality youngster. Cronjé has done all he can to prove his worth, it’s now up to the coaches to place faith in him.
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