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Fleck cops serious flak on Twitter as fans fume over 'shambles' Stormers defeat

Reds defeat Stormers. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Stormers head coach Robbie Fleck has come under some heavy criticism from fans after his side slumped to a 24-12 loss to the Reds in Brisbane.

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It is now the Cape Town outfit’s third loss in a row, as they sit second from bottom in the South African Conference of Super Rugby.

Fleck’s team looked promising in the first half, and came very close with two disallowed tries. Although the score was level at half time at 0-0, the Reds took advantage of a Siya Kolisi yellow card for the first ten minutes of the second half and never looked back. Although the Stormers rallied with late tries, it was fairly comfortable for the Reds in the end, compounded by a litany of handling errors from the South African outfit.

The fans are not holding back on Twitter as they lambast the former Springboks centre for failing to produce anything with his team. With so many internationals at his disposal, many fans feel Fleck has no excuse for why the team are not performing, and that is something that they have been saying all season. While the Capetonians were without titans Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit, that does not seem to be a good enough excuse.

However, this lacklustre performance seems to be the final straw for many fans, and there are increasing calls for Fleck to stand down as head coach, with the hashtag #FleckOut trending. This is what the fans are saying:

https://twitter.com/jonnyyudelz/status/1114117566925082625

https://twitter.com/MTshwete/status/1114117024081416195

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Fleck is in his fourth Super Rugby campaign with the Stormers, but has struggled to comprehensively win over the fans. The team have been in the doldrums over the past couple of years after promising campaigns in 2016 and 2017. However, they finished joint bottom of their conference last season, and the criticism of Fleck has carried into this season.

The Stormers travel to Melbourne next week to take on a Rebels team that are full of confidence, so it doesn’t get any easier for Fleck.

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Hellhound 42 minutes ago
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There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.


Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.


Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.


They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.


Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.


Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen

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J
JW 57 minutes ago
'They smelt it': Scott Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' vulnerability

No where to be seen OB!


The crosses for me for the year where (from memory);


This was a really hard one to nail down as the first sign of a problem, now that I've asked myself to think about it. I'd say it all started with his decision to not back form and fit players after all the injuries, and/or him picking players for the future, rather ones that could play right now.


First he doesn't replace Perofeta straight away (goes on for months in the team) after injury against England, second he falls back to Beauden Barrett to cover at fullback against Fiji, then he drops Narawa the obvious choice to have started, then he brings in Jordan too soon. That Barret selection (and to a lesser extent Bell's) set the tone for the year.


Then he didn't get the side up for Argentina. They were blown away and didn't look like they expected a fight and were well beaten despite the scoreline in my opinion. Worst performance of the year in the forth game and..


Basically the same problems were persistent, or even exaggerated, after that with the players he did select not given much of an opportunity, with this year having the most number of unused subs I can remember since the amateur days.


What I think I started to realise early on was that he didn't back himself and his team. I think he prepared the players well, don't get me wrong, but I'll credit him with making a conscious choice in tempering his ambition and instead choosing cohesion and to respect (the idea of it being important in himself and his players) experience first and foremost (after two tight games and that 4th game loss). I think he chose wrong in deciding not to be, and back, himself. Hard criticism.


And it played out by preferring Beauden to Dmac on the EOYT (though that may have been a planned move).


I hope I'm right, because going through all the little things of the season and coming up with these bullets, I've got to wonder when I say his last fault is one we have seen at the Crusaders, playing his best players into the ground. What I'm really scared of now is that not wanting a bit of freshness in this last game could be linked with all these other crosses that I want to put down to simple confidence issues. But are they really a sign that he just lacks vision?


Now, that's not to say I haven't seen a lot of positives as well, I just think that for the ABs to go where they want to go he has to fix these crosses. Just have difficult that will be is the question.

24 Go to comments
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