Van Zyl doesn’t believe Mitchell’s departure to be a disruption

Springbok and Bulls number 9 Ivan Van Zyl believes that a third head coach in as many as three years will not in fact be a disruption to the Pretoria franchise.

Pote Human takes over from John Mitchell, who left his contract prematurely to take up a role as England’s defence coach. Mitchell, who stayed for only the 2018 season, finished his stint with an unimpressive 6 wins out of 16 and a 12th place finish overall.

Van Zyl, in speaking with Netwerk24, said:

“It’s obviously ideal to have continuity but we’ve been working with coach Pote (Human) for long and everyone is excited to play for him. He was also part of our coaching team last year.”

He added, “The players realise we also have to take control and responsibility so that all the pressure is not on the coaching team.”

Nollis Marais, who coached the Bulls in 2017, was as equally unimpressive as Mitchell, winning just 4 out of 15 games and finishing 15th out of 18 sides.

Van Zyl went on to speak of the value of the added experience that the Bulls boast ahead of their 2019 campaign.

“I believe that this year we have a group that can achieve success. We have a lot more experience than previous seasons. Many of our young guys like myself, RG (Snyman) and Jason (Jenkins) now have three or four Super Rugby seasons under the belt and we also have Duane Vermeulen and Schalk Brits’ experience to add.”

Also read: Bulls bolstered by return of key players