Rassie: 'I won't be buying any forwards'
The trophy cabinet remains empty and the Western Province pack’s reputation took another battering, but Western Province Rugby’s Senior Professional Coach Rassie Erasmus has already put the chequebook away.
Erasmus confirmed that they would continue to bring young stars through the age-group ranks rather than buy seasoned players as they attempt to build a winning brand in Cape Town.
Having been knocked out by the Golden Lions in Saturday’s Currie Cup semifinal in Johannesburg, both Erasmus and head coach Allister Coetzee spoke of the “hurt” and “disappointment” of another failed campaign.
However, Erasmus was adamant that they have the right blend of players in Cape Town to get over that final hurdle and start winning trophies – having lost in the Super Rugby Final and Currie Cup Final last year, while falling at the semifinal stage in both competitions this year.
Speaking of their loss at the weekend, Erasmus said in an “understrength” Currie Cup – during the World Cup years 1999, 2007 and this year – the teams who lose fewer Boks tend to win… as the Lions [in 1999] and the Cheetahs did in 2007.
And, thus, he did not feel there was a need to go out an buy a new team just because they were beaten in a semifinal by a motivated and cohesive Lions outfit.
“If you look at the Lions, they are a full-blooded Super 15 team,” Erasmus said, when asked about the dominance the Lions pack had in the set-pieces at the weekend.
“If you take out your senior scrumhalf, your main line-out loose forward that contests at the back of the line-out, you take out your senior No.5 lock, you take out your No.4 lock, then you will struggle not just against the Lions but any Super Rugby team,” he said of players like Duane Vermeulen, Andries Bekker, Rynhardt Elstadt and Dewaldt Duvenage.
“When you lose that quality of player it will have a huge impact. I do not have to go buy those guys [players in those positions], they were just injured.
“They will come back once they recover from their injuries,” he explained.
Erasmus also dismissed the notion that the loss of players like Johann Sadie, JJ Engelbrecht and Lionel Cronjé (all to the Bulls) constituted a major crisis.
“We are happy with how [Demetri] Catrakilis has come through the ranks, a Kurt Coleman, Gary van Aswegen… we are happy that we are covered there. We still have the possibility of Peter Grant [who is set to return from Japan in mid-season again in 2012],” he said of the flyhalf position.
“To lose a guy like JJ [Engelbrecht], who came through the system, is very disappointing, but we just could not afford what they [the Bulls] offered him.
“I believe Gerhard [van den Heever] will add another dimension to our team,” he added.
“If you lose some players in JJ [Engelbrecht] and Johann Sadie, but keep Nic Groom, Louis Schreuder and Gary van Aswegen and you get players like Demetri Catrakilis, bring Rynhardt Elstadt through, bring Eben Etzebeth through… then it’s not so bad.
“I can tell you now people would not have been happy if I guaranteed those two what they were asking for. I can’t guarantee a guy he will have the No.13 jersey, that is not fair to Juan de Jongh, Jaque Fourie and Jean de Villiers,” he commented.
Erasmus confirmed that most of the province’s young stars had been signed up for the next few years – players like Steven Kitschoff, Frans Malherbe, Siyabonga Ntubeni, Eben Etzebeth, Quinn Roux, Nizaam Carr, Siya Kolisi, Nic Groom, Nick Köster, Louis Schreuder, Gary van Aswegen, Demetri Catrakilis, Kurt Coleman, Danie Poolman and Tshotsho Mbovane.
However, he admitted that if success was measured against the number of trophies won, WP have failed, saying: “If one measures success by trophies, then we were not successful.
“We had three home semifinals, we played in two finals last year and we were the top South African franchise in Super Rugby this year.
“In two seasons now we just couldn’t get over the last hurdle. I’m taking it on the chin.
“There may have been a refereeing call here and an intercept there and we then don’t win any trophies in a disrupted Currie Cup season, then we don’t have success.
“However, if you look at things like getting the Under-19 players through, getting the Under-21 through, not signing a lot of players from the outside then I think we are really successful.
“When we [Coetzee and Erasmus] arrived here [as coaches in Cape Town] four years ago the team was 11th on the [Super Rugby] standings and didn’t make the Currie Cup semifinals.
“We are building, but it’s just that last little hurdle.”
By Jan de Koning
