Heyneke needs best backroom staff
27 Jan 2012
It will be another two weeks before the Springbok management team is confirmed but new coach Heyneke Meyer is determined to secure the best possible candidates.
With Meyer officially announced as head coach on Friday, Saru has turned its attention to other pressing appointments. The names of Meyer’s backroom team have been speculated about at length, and Roux said that Saru is working towards finalising these positions in the near future.
‘We have made no decisions on that,’ said Roux. ‘First and foremost our task was to appoint a head coach and get the general council’s approval of that appointment. Subsequent to this we will start to sit down and look at the support staff and have that approved.
‘We have to do that soon, we can’t wait a month because that is too long. We will be in a lot of meetings and a lot of deliberations in the next two weeks, it’s important that we get the right people into those positions.’
Meyer is likely to bring some of the coaches that worked with him at the Bulls through to the Bok set-up. Pieter Rossouw has been mentioned as a possible backline coach, while John McFarland (kicking coach) and Bazil Carzis (fitness coach) could also be elevated.
Candidates from other provinces include Stormers defence coach Jacques Nienaber. The problem with all of these candidates is that they are tied to contracts with their respective unions.
The only prospective coach who is a free agent is Rassie Erasmus, who recently quit as director of rugby at Western Province. If Erasmus was to work with the Boks it would be as technical adviser, a role he occupied last year at the World Cup.
Roux confirmed that Saru will discuss the release of any candidates with their respective franchises in the coming fortnight.
‘If one of those individuals are at a union, we will have to engage with the union first before we engage with the individual,’ he said. ‘We have to ensure we do this process in a proper way. Hopefully we can get that sorted within the next couple of weeks.’
Meyer stressed the importance of obtaining outstanding personnel. He has confidence in his own ability to take the Boks forward but is determined to surround himself with technically astute and experienced exponents of the game. More than once he highlighted the strength of the collective as superior to that of the individual.
‘It’s very important for me that I have only the best people involved in my management team, because I truly believe that all the other nations out there have got unbelievable coaching units and so it’s going to be a huge challenge,’ said Meyer.
‘Obviously I’d like to start tomorrow with the coaching staff in place, but I’m realistic. The coaches are in contracts – if they weren’t in contracts they wouldn’t be good enough. I want to start afresh but I know there is still a lot of negotiations that need to be held.’
It may present a problem for teams like the Bulls and the Stormers. The Bulls have just lost their director of rugby to the Boks while the Stormers are also without Erasmus. These franchises may be reluctant to release any more coaches for fear of decreasing their chances of performing in the coming Super Rugby competition.
Meyer addressed this issue by saying everybody in South Africa should be working together to ensure the Bok side is as strong as possible.
‘I just hope that the rest of South Africa would know that the Springboks is the most important team, and we can help each other to be in a win-win situation,’ he said.
By Jon Cardinelli.
4 Comments
27 Jan 2012, 14:18 pm
In other news, Meyer has made it clear that he would rather win Test matches than lose them.
27 Jan 2012, 14:30 pm
eish, talk about a hatchet job to fill the Bok coaching positions. What happened to succession planning, mentoring and a will for coaches to be involved in the Bok setup. I mean this used to be regarded at the pinnacle for any coach…
Just shows you what a joke we have become. If Slap tits gets anywhere near the bok backline, we’re fooooked ..
27 Jan 2012, 23:12 pm
Rassie technical adviser Nienaber defence coach John McFarland kicking coach, Bazil Cazcis conditioning coach, Todd Louden attack coach, Os du randr scrum coach and Proudfoot forward coach
28 Jan 2012, 00:21 am
@maximus1-3: I think you hit the nail on the head there. That list could be the perfect team. Now it is just a matter of getting them released from their respective unions, which i doubt.
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