The future of beleaguered Springbok coach Allister Coetzee will be revealed next month after he submitted a review of his team’s dismal 2016 season to South Africa Rugby’s Springbok Steering Committee.
Coetzee and senior players, outgoing captain Adriaan Strauss, Pat Lambie and Tendai Mtawarira, gave their analysis of the worst year in Bok history in which the two-time World Cup winners lost eight of their 12 Tests.
The panel included SA Rugby’s High Performance Committee, as well as CEO Jurie Roux and president Mark Alexander, and the latter suggested there would be no snap decisions on Coetzee’s future.
“We know Springbok supporters and our partners are looking to us for instant answers and many of them may want to see heads roll,” Alexander said in a statement.
“But building winning teams is not an exact science and we want to make sure that the changes we make are the right solutions to our current problems.
“This was not a witch hunt but a proper process to interrogate where things went wrong with a focus on finding answers and ensuring that it does not happen again.”
Alexander added that the review will continue in the New Year.
“We will act upon whatever interventions are identified as being necessary by all involved,” he said. “I would expect that process to be completed before the end of January.”
There has been an outcry from fans over South Africa’s performances this year, including a first ever loss to Italy, a first home defeat by Ireland, a maiden loss in Argentina and a record 57-15 mauling by arch-rivals New Zealand.
wyn
Guest
Not necessarily as simple as that. Cricket does not have the alternative of soccer, the preferred sport for the majority of the previously disadvantaged. The Proteas have their dramas as well - during the last world cup there was significant political interference in selection. At the moment they are flying high with Bavuma and their main strike bowler high on form, but that can change very quickly. As far as rugby in SA is concerned, the nurseries have traditionally been the top rugby schools - that is essentially grassroots. last year I returned to Queenstown for an Old Boys reunion. Queen's College was playing their old rivals Dale and of the 46 1st team players for the two schools I do not think there were more than 10% white players. The rugby was of a pretty high standard (certainly better than when I attended the all white QC 40 years ago) and I have been told that the standard in the Eastern Cape schools is generally of a high standard and that the racial mix of the teams favours non-whites. Unfortunately the same is not true for the rest of the country.
Freddy
Guest
Send him to the reds, with all the other has beens.?
That is the problem with window dressing though. It encourages entitlement.
splinter
Guest
Yes in their eyes we are idiots we have to pay to watch rugby tv and at stadiums Mabalula the hob nobber has said give AC another chance one wonders what the excuse is ti keep AC and staff as coach we are merely following the symptoms of a SA close to garbage status.The question is why are we supporting this rugby we are merely strengthening their hand.
The Saint
Roar Guru
PeterK, I understand where you are coming from but Coetzee took the job to coach to win and for the Boks to be strong. He is out of his depth. A loss to Italy? I feel for his family..but I feel for South African rugby and its rich history even more. It wont be the end of the world for the Coetzee family if he resigns. But it may be the end of Springboks rugby as we know it, if he remains longer.
superba
Guest
Leave Coetzee there as a phantom coach and appoint an assistant coach to do the job.
etienne marais
Guest
Not looking good! This is not a decision that requires lots of pondering. Springbok rugby is in crisis, yet it appears the Committee is trying to buy some time. One can only hope that it is in order to use the rest of December and early January to secretively negotiate and secure sponsors of the ZAR 13-22 million.
Kane
Guest
That's why the ARU will post a small profit this year. Cheika wanted his contract heavily based on performance bonuses
davSA
Guest
Yes they do . Yes they did. I'm off to watch some cricket.
Does SARu think we are all idiots? All they did was reshuffle to protect their self interests.
davSA
Guest
Do we really need our senior players to be brought in. Is their input confidential. If they target the coach and he is chopped is the next coach going to trust them. If they target the coach and he does not get chopped, where to for them under Coetzee. They should be left alone to play rugby. They did not create this mess.
Harry Jones
Expert
Farce. Melodrama. Absurd.
cuw
Guest
http://www.planetrugby.com/news/players-coach-report-back-to-sa-rugby/ " Coach Allister Coetzee and three senior players – retiring captain Adriaan Strauss, Pat Lambie and Tendai Mtawarira – provided their feedback on a year in which eight of 12 Tests were lost. "
Bob Wire
Guest
How come the Protea's don't have the same drama's? Is it because their administration took cricket to the grassroots level while rugby administrators didn't -- and are now paying the price? If so some blame falls on people who have already moved on - probably with fat wallets
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
Well Colin, I'm one who happens to believe that the game is bigger than the individual, bigger in fact than any one country. The way I see it in an expression of trying to gain equality for all, I would have thought that a strong Bok side might be inspirational to the less privileged, provided the pathways were there. How many kids in this world, black, white or coloured, grew up trying to emulate say 'a Michael Jordan'. Quota's and political appointments is not in my view the way forward. I don't know too much about SA politics but if it's the ANC's desire to destroy rugby in SA they should continue to legislate as they have. The code however will continue to flourish in other countries and it will be South Africa and its people's loss. As a Kiwi and a staunch rugby fan, I grew up with the Springboks always being the All Blacks greatest challenge. That's not to say that there were not years in which one country dominated the other, but that circle of dominance invariably turned. I look on what is happening in SA now, a country in which I visited only this year (because of rugby), and will revisit in circumstances that are a marked difference to what we now see. The pedigree of contests between the Springboks and the All Blacks did not sudden occur overnight .. it took time and I hope that this legend is only stuttering but will return sooner rather than later.
Colin Kennedy
Roar Guru
Couldn't have put it better myself RT. It's heartening to see that other nations actually do care about the demise of the Boks (with the exception of Spiro of course, whose probably popping champagne corks as we speak).
Gewurtz
Guest
Given the political climate in South Africa, there is little doubt the hopeless and hapless Coetzee will be reappointed.
Hoy
Roar Guru
To not have performance standards in the contract is quite surprising...
PeterK
Roar Guru
Would you do the honourable thing in the same circumstances? A professional coach who has a family and if he resigns what future job is he likely to get? All he did was accept a job offer with a contract. If the contract does not have conditions that allow for him to be sacked without being paid out i.e minimum performance levels that is not his fault. Would you forgo the financial security that being paid out would mean? Easy to say from afar.
Terry
Guest
Chieka should do the honourable thing and resign immediately.