VIDEO: Ackers lays down the law on earning the Bulls jersey

VIDEO: Newly appointed Bulls coach Johan Ackermann is under no illusion about the enormity of the task at hand when he takes charge of South Africa’s most successful team.

The vastly experienced Ackermann is replacing Jake White, who led the Bulls to three United Rugby Championship Finals and the knockout stages of the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup.

On Tuesday, Ackermann faced a barrage of questions from reporters during his first press conference as the new coach of the Bulls.

Some of the tough questions reporters threw at the coach included who he would appoint as his assistant coaches, inheriting a team that was told by the previous coach they were not good enough, and whether he would work with the current squad or bring in other players.

Ackermann answered every question with as much detail as possible, bearing in mind he only stepped into the Loftus Versfeld offices on Monday, having just arrived back from Italy with the Junior Springboks as one of the assistant coaches.

He was also asked about his job title as the Bulls announced he was appointed as Head Coach and not Director of Rugby like his predecessor, White.

Ackerman told reporters he only wanted to be a coach and not a director or even head coach.

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“Even ‘head coach’ is not always right for me, because I want to be on the field. That is important to me.”

Addressing the current state of the players’ mindsets and how he will navigate around the negative messages the previous coach subjected them to, Ackermann said it is always difficult to comment from the outside.

“The reality is, if you haven’t worked with a player or a team, it’s difficult to come to any conclusions.

“For me, the first thing is to get to know each player, each talent, and what their strengths are.

“Then you can put a plan in place according to the team’s strengths.

“I do believe it is a good squad.”

He added that the current squad was very talented, and the new players coming in have the CVs.

“The big thing is how they will fit into the plan. The challenge is, and I made it quite clear to the group when I met with them the first time: To play for the Bulls, you have to earn the jersey.

“And unfortunately, I am of the opinion that you can have 100 Tests or be an Under-20 player, if you do what we expect you to do from a coaching perspective, you will play.

“So it’s not about players that are coming in, or the ones that were recruited before me, I am happy to work with whatever the squad is, as long as they fall into our culture and perform like we want them to perform,” he calmly stated.

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Talking about the assistant coaches, Ackermann said he is busy assessing everything on the go and will make decisions on the staff going forward.

But stressed what was truly important to him were a set of core values that are non-negotiable for him.

“I want a team that works hard, so if you are not willing to work hard, it’s going to be a problem.

“And I want a team that is a serving team. It’s not about you, it’s about how you can serve the team.

“The team first is always important. It’s about picking up stuff that lies around, giving someone else water instead of you drinking first, caring for your teammates, and treating people well.

“Every day you get the opportunity to treat people – how do you treat them?

“If we are going to have that respect and trust, that’s important.”