New Article about Springbok coaching appointment. please check.

Ok here goes, an article about the appointment of the new Springbok coach.




There is a strong possibility that Pieter de Villiers may be retained as a caretaker for the English tour of three tests to South Africa in June.

SARU currently find themself in the position of not having secured a Springbok Coach according to supposedly reliable sources. It should be remembered that SARU decided this time round they will be head hunting the “most qualified” and “the best man for the job”

Now that in itself is a bit of an oxymoron in South African sport, as this could mean the right man for the job is not necessarily the most qualified, considering the fact that SARU have opened the doors for “politically appointed” coaches when they appointed Pieter de Villiers in 2008 for “non rugby reasons”

At least according to these “reliable” sources it is one of the options that SARU will be considering due to the fact that the deadline for appointing the new coach is almost upon them.

Reasons for the delay of appointing the coach seems to be that the three most likely candidates, Gert Smal, Heyneke Meyer and Allister Coetzee all have existing contractual obligations.

Gert Smal
He has recently signed an extention for an additional three years with Ireland. A former assistant coach to the World Cup winning squad of Jake White and forwards coach to Ireland for the past number of years, he has also coached Western Province (Currie Cup) and the Stormers (Super Rugby) where he has had some success winning 2 Currie Cup titles and reached the semi finals of the Super rugby competition in 2004. During his tenure as assistant coach to Jake White he has also won the Tri Nations in 2004.

Heyneke Meyer.
When Heyneke Meyer took charge of the Bulls in 2002 he was the catalyst to building a team that would win 4 Currie Cup titles between 2002 and 2006, he took the Bulls from bottom of the log to be the first South African franchise to win their first of 3 Super XIV titles in 2007. Subsequently Frans Ludike has won an additional 2 titles with the squad Meyer has built.

Allister Coetzee
As coach of Western Province (Currie Cup) and The Stormers (Super Rugby) he has yet to win a title. Apart from winning the SA conference last year in the inaugural Super XV tournament, his career is littered with near misses and semi final placings.Perhaps the least successful candidate.

SARU committed themselves to announce the appointment of the new head coach by 27 January 2012, but due to deemed complications they are yet to put the appointment to writing.

Apart from Gert Smal being contracted to Ireland, his son will only be finishing school in Ireland in June.

Allistair Coetzee may have a problem getting out of his contract, due to the sudden resignation of Rassie Erasmus as technical director of Western Province.

Heyneke Meyer has just been appointed in his new position at the Bulls to rebuild their squad alongside Frans Ludeke, and it stands to reason that the Bulls Franchise will not be too keen on losing him.

That leaves Pieter de Villiers as the “other” candidate on the supposed shortlist. The idea being banded around is that De Villiers will be caretaker coach until June, and would then hand over the reigns to the newly appointed coach.

Now from a South African perspective, there seems to be a lot of smoke and mirrors regarding the appointment of head coach, and one has to wonder how much the current “transformational” climate in South Africa will influence the appointment.

I for one will be very disappointed if transformation once again curbs the potential of Springbok rugby.

I still wonder whether SARU and Rassie Erasmus aren't talking behind closed doors.

A good read this.

Only one slight typing error (I think) that I've noticed. In the last but 1 sentence, should it not be "once again curbs" not just "curb"?

Nice synposis on the potential coaches too and get straight to the point. I like it

Thanks I'll edit that right now.

The current situation SARU finds themself in, is that according to supposedly reliable sources SARU has not yet secured the position of Springbok coach. Remember SARU decided that this time round they will be head hunting the “most qualified” and “the best man for the job”

Now for the criticism.

I'm not sure this segment flows. Perhaps:

"The SARU currently find themself in the position of not having secured a Springbok Coach according to supposedly reliable sources. It should be remembered that the SARU decided that they will be head hunting the “most qualified” and “the best man for the job”.

Sounds better, will change it thanks.