SEASON REVIEW: Stormers are toxic

OPINION: The Stormers are a team in disarray, both on and off the field.

The Cape side recorded a disappointing six wins from their 16 games during the 2018 Super Rugby season and they finished a lowly 11th in the overall standings.

It’s a poor return for a team with so much rugby resources at their disposal and fingers have obviously been pointed at the coaching team, especially head coach Robbie Fleck.

Fleck has been in charge for three seasons now and there has been little or no improvement in terms of game plan. In fact, they have been in a steady decline. The Stormers enjoyed lofty log positions in the last two seasons, but they were also helped by the skewed conference system.

In 2018, the Stormers never looked like play-off contenders from day one, with their stale style on the field. A better word to describe their performances on occasions would be predictable.

Even when things are going wrong, there didn’t seem to be a plan B and they would often revert to the tried and tested driving maul to get them out of trouble.

There was the promise in the pre-season of more attacking rugby and they did spread the ball around more this season, but the execution was shocking. The Stormers are bottom of the table in terms of tries scored (46).

In terms of metres carried they are second last (6 259) and for defenders beaten they are joint 12th with the Bulls (339).

The Stormers are not a well-coached team at the moment and it was also revealed that there is a toxic environment in Bellville.

It was revealed that assistant coach Paul Treu felt mistreated and he did not have a good relationship with fellow coach Paul Feeney.

It is believed that players openly talk about the fact that other members of the coaching staff ‘favour’ New Zealander Feeney over the former Sevens national team coach.

Treu subsequently stormed out of an end-of-season review meeting.

How can you expect a team to gel as a unit when their coaches are involved in amateurish behaviour?

Also, at the beginning of the season, new roles were given to Treu and Feeney. As Treu explained it, he oversees structured play, which included set-piece attack up until three phases and set-piece defence, which will only be for the first phase. Feeney, who is the team’s skills coach, is in charge of unstructured attack and defence.

Maybe it was all a bit too complexed for players during training and that it filtered to game days.

Injuries have also played a part in the Stormers’ performances this season, but it was something every team had to deal with. There is just not enough quality and experienced players in the system to challenge for a Super Rugby title.

There are always talented players at age-group level in the Western Province system and the mind boggles as to why that talent never develops into a championship-winning team (Currie Cup doesn’t really count anymore).

Questions will have to be asked about the system and coaching structures at the union and whether needs to be a total overhaul in how they operate in Bellville.

Over the years the union have lost some talented youngsters to other provinces, which means there are often big gaps in the production line to the senior team.

This has led to the union often signing players who are deemed surplus to requirements at other teams to offset player losses.

A few of those players had a lot of game time for the Stormers this year and it has shown in the performances on the field.

Staying on performances, the Stormers’ away record this year was pathetic. They failed to win a single match on the road and that included a trip to Hong Kong to face the Sunwolves.

That must be one of the most concerning aspects of the Stormers’ season and needs to be addressed urgently. Players and coaches throughout the season talked about how playing at Newlands gives them a boost and how well they play in front of their home fans, which is worrying.

Maybe they would need to invest in a good psychologist to sort out the problem because if your performance is based on where you play and not who you play then there is a level of unprofessionalism in the camp.

Their home record stands at six wins (which is their overall wins for the season) from eight games. This statistic is also concerning if you are looking at the opposition that they beat at home.

They recorded wins against the Sharks, Bulls, Melbourne Rebels, Reds, Blues and Jaguares at home. Only two (Jaguares and the Sharks) from that list finished in the top eight this season and in most of those games the Stormers laboured to wins.

When they came up against two of the better teams (Lions and Chiefs) at Newlands, they lost.

Finally, the Stormers seemed to lack some quality leadership on the field.

From the outside, Siyamthanda Kolisi doesn’t seem to instil a lot of confidence in his team.

Instead of rallying his troops when things are going pear-shaped, Kolisi irritatingly argues and questions refereeing decisions on the field.

And that behaviour has also filtered down to his teammates who would question refereeing decisions regularly even though they are in the wrong.

Like many of the Stormers players, Kolisi’s form has also been inconsistent this year and sometimes you need your leader to lead by example on the field.

By Warren Fortune
@FortuneWarren
@rugby365com