CAPE TOWN – Stormers assistant coach Paul Treu’s frustration has been a long time coming.
Following reports stating Treu walked out of a Stormers review meeting earlier this week, it is understood Treu’s grievances stem from the fact he feels his input isn’t valued by head coach Robbie Fleck and fellow assistant coach Paul Feeney.
And that Fleck hasn’t given enough regard to the high-performance aspect.
After a disappointing Super Rugby campaign during which the Stormers won just six of their 16 matches, a few answers can be expected on Wednesday – when the Stormers board will meet with Fleck, Treu and the management team.
According to a source close to the team, one example of Treu’s input not being heeded came in Hong Kong during the latter part of the Stormers’ campaign, ahead of their defeat to the Sunwolves.
In extremely testing and humid conditions, the Stormers ran out of water during training.
That is something that could have been prevented had the advice from Treu – who has more than 10 years’ experience when it comes to those conditions, having acquired them while coaching the Blitzboks – been taken into account.
In the week building up to the match, Fleck admitted the players struggled during training in those conditions, stating the “guys literally put ice in their boots”.
Issues also crept in when the Stormers’ coaching structure was changed, which saw Treu – who holds a Masters degree in Sports Directorship – put in charge of structured attack and defence.
That meant that he was responsible for attack up until the third phase, and defence from the first phase until the next set-piece.
Feeney headed up “unstructured attack and defence” – a change which understandably confused the players.
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