Coetzee the 'obvious choice'
As the Springbok coach rumour mill hits overdrive, WP and Stormers supremo Allister Coetzee stands out as the obvious favourite, despite talk of SARU still trying the traditional left field options – like Ireland assistant coach Gert Smal.
Coetzee would be the favourite and, to quote a SARU insider, “the obvious choice”… but SARU are not known for making things easy.
Over the past two years, since taking over as head coach at Newlands, Coetzee has overseen the emergence of his team as SA’s leading and most consistent franchise.
Whilst not winning a trophy, the team won the de facto real Currie Cup by winning the SA conference in this year’s Super Rugby tournament when the SA franchises were at full strength. They also are the only team in all of Super Rugby to have hosted two home semifinals in the past two years and are the only team to have reached the play-offs in every competition in 2010 and 2011. This makes him the pre-eminent South African rugby coach at the moment.
Coetzee is known to be liked and respected by his players – he is the obvious merit appointment, without SARU President Oregan Hoskins having to mention the famous “other factors” that he did in the appointment of Peter de Villiers four years ago.
Coetzee is obviously a highly acceptable choice and as some of rugby’s domestic teams attract political examination for their lack of representativity, Coetzee, the 2010 Coach of the Year, has overseen his teams to being far and away the most transformed teams in his competitions. It is exciting and highly attractive that our leading domestic coach over the past two years is a coach of colour.
But a SARU insider confirmed the ‘sounding out’ of Gert Smal, the current Irish assistant. Sounding out is responsible, no doubt, as long as it is just that.
Were Coetzee’s failure to win a trophy to be held against him, why would Smal or any other of the candidates’ appointments be any better for they have not?
Smal is known to have done an exceptional job as the Irish assistant coach and this year extended his Irish contract. He is known as a hard-working, astute coach as well as being a thoroughly decent man and certainly worthy of investigation. He is an ex-Bok and widely-respected and would certainly bring dignity to the position. However, many feel, including current Springboks, that he is ideally suited to an assistant’s role, which he has done for the past eight years. In his only spell as a head coach at WP prior to becoming Jake White’s assistant in 2004, he was known not to enjoy the Western Province politics which would be magnified at national level. Coetzee is known to be highly adept in dealing with these issues as well as doing a far better job at WP than Smal did in his tenure as head coach.
The other realistic contenders, with the tide no doubt receding on the appointment of a foreign coach and Heyneke Meyer seeming set on the Bulls, include Gary Gold and Rassie Erasmus – both of whom were at the World Cup.
Erasmus seems set to take over in a Director of Coaching role, but SARU officials have told rugby365.com that in the current structure of the organisation that and out and out coaching director role does not exist in the way to suit Erasmus, and that it has a strong administrative element. But that is not to say that this would not be tweaked for Erasmus.
There seems to be sensible, broad and widespread consensus that SARU need Erasmus’s undoubted technical brilliance within the Bok fold. Thus, he is not a realistic contender for the head coach role but essential to Springbok rugby.
Gold would be safe pair of hands and popular with the players. But should SARU logically go with the Coetzee and Erasmus combination (and they have a proven record of working together), then Gold would be the obvious person to offer continuity by carrying on in the forward coaching role.
Another angle is that Coetzee and Smal have coached together at Bok level before under Jake White so there may be permutations around that.
It may also be crucial in which appointment comes first – the Director of Rugby or the head coach, in that a forced marriage between Smal and Erasmus would be just that and add potential stress to the new structure whereas should Erasmus be in place to oversee the appointment of Coetzee this threat would be removed. Former Bok and successful coach Brendan Venter has also been mentioned as a possible backs consultant.
Sympathy has swelled for Peter de Villiers with his dignified approach to the World Cup and the period since it and there is no doubt that he matured considerably in his tenure and his reappointment is not quite as shocking now as it would have been a while ago, but he must be a rank, rank outsider.
There is no doubt that if SARU were to get this right and to have a structure that included the likes of Erasmus, Venter, Coetzee, Gold then we could look to a most exciting period in Springbok rugby.
Related stories:
– Coaching shortlist: Our Top Five | Read HERE
– Bok job – Who’s next in line? | Read HERE
* As the speculation continues to intensify… what do YOU think about this? Would a Director of Coaching/Rugby help? Is Coetzee the right man as coach? Let us know below.
