REVEALED: Toetie's new gig in SA

NEWS: Former Springbok and Namibia head coach Allister Coetzee has returned to South Africa to take up a new coaching position.

Coetzee has been appointed as the EP Elephants’ new head coach following a three-year dual stint as coach and Director of Rugby in Namibia.

It is somewhat of a full-circle moment for Coetzee.

He started his coaching career with Eastern Province in 1996 and went on to rise through the coaching ranks as an assistant coach with the Sharks and the Springboks in 2000.

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He was also the SA Under-23 and SA ‘A’ coach that same year and in 2004 joined Jake White’s Bok team – a side that went on to lift the World Cup in 2007.

He spent a season with the Cats as a backline coach between 2005 and 2006.

In 2008 Coetzee joined Western Province as the head coach and took them to three Currie Cup Finals – in 2010, 2012 and 2014, winning the latter two.

The victory in 2012 broke Western Province’s 11-year drought in the domestic showpiece.

He also joined the Stormers as a backline coach in 2008 before being appointed as head coach in 2010 where he guided them to their first and only Super Rugby Final – which they lost to the Bulls in the famous Soweto Grand Finale.

That season saw Coetzee become the only South African coach to get a clean sweep over all New Zealand opposition in Super Rugby.

He guided the Cape side to the Super Rugby semifinals in 2011 and 2012 and a quarterfinal in 2015 before taking up a stint in Japan with the Kobe Steelers.

In 2016 he was appointed as Springbok head coach, a tenure which will be remembered as South Africa’s darkest period in the professional era – where they won a mere four out of 12 Tests in his first season.

The 2016 season marked a first-ever home loss to Ireland in Coetzee’s first Test in charge before going on to clinch the three-Test series.

There were further historic losses to Argentina and Italy, as well as heavy home and away defeats to New Zealand.

Then there was the Springboks’ first loss to England in 10 years.

Following a review – Coetzee retained his job in 2017 and looked to be well on track – with a clean sweep over France in a three-Test series at home.

There were two wins over Argentina as well as a 27-all away draw with Australia.

It all came down crashing in the 0-57 loss to the All Blacks in Albany and a 3-38 loss to Ireland in Dublin, followed by a two-point loss to Wales – which turned out to be Coetzee’s last Test in charge of the national side.

He was axed as Bok coach in early 2018 and replaced by Rassie Erasmus.

Coetzee returned back to Japan for two seasons with the Eagles before taking up the position as head coach and Director of Rugby alongside a coaching role with Italian club Rovigo Delta.

Coetzee guided Namibia to qualify for the 2023 World Cup despite losing the opening match to Ivory Coast in 2021 but managed to top the pool to qualify for the Africa Cup and secure World Cup qualification after beating Canada for the first time.

The 2024 Africa Cup also saw  Namibia’s first defeat to Zimbabwe in the semifinal stage, marking their first defeat to the Sables in 23 years.