South Africa:Appointing Rugby coaches will be a joint effort

SA RUGBY will take precautionary measures in the appointment of the Springbok assistant coaches and management team in the next few weeks to prevent a situation where their contracts are linked directly to the national coach's contract.

This means that, unlike in the past, when the Springbok coach and his entire management team's fixed-term contracts were a package deal, the management team would be employed separately by SA Rugby.


This could reduce the national coach's bargaining powers should a situation arise in which he threatens SA Rugby's bosses he will leave, because he will not be able to count on his management team going with him.

Golden Lions Rugby Union president Jannie Ferreira -- the chairman of the committee responsible for appointing the Bok assistant coaches -- said yesterday they hoped to appoint Bok coach Peter de Villiers's assistants by the end of next month to ensure that they had enough time to plan for the international season, which starts in June.

"The process of appointing the assistant coaches will be a joint effort between Peter and SA Rugby," said Ferreira. "Both parties will have a say in who the coaches should be because it is unhealthy to have a situation where the whole management team is linked to the coach's contract. That is what happened under Jake White and we want to prevent that in future."

Ferreira said he and De Villiers had already finalised the job descriptions for the assistant coaches and that the next step in the process was to decide what procedure they would follow in compiling the short list of candidates.

About four or five candidates are expected to be considered for both the forward and backline coaching positions.

"The only uncertainty in the process at this stage is whether we are going to invite people to apply for the positions or advertise them," said Ferreira. "Our concern with advertising the positions is that it could drag out the process. We would like to finalise everything as soon as possible because the coaches have to start planning for the upcoming Tests.

"The first international is the week after the Super 14 final and we play several Tests, which requires thorough planning."

Ferreira, however, said there was a possibility that a few of White's team management members could be retained to give a sense of continuity under the leadership of De Villiers.

Rugby World Cup-winning Bok forwards coach Gert Smal, former Western Province coach Carel du Plessis and Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske have been linked to the assistant jobs. But Ferreira said it was speculation.

Meanwhile, the Bulls Super 14 star players will make their first acquaintance with the experimental law variations in match conditions tomorrow when they take on the Boland Cavaliers in Wellington in a warm-up game.The Bulls "B" team played a warm-up game last night against the Valke at Loftus Versfeld. But that team comprised young fringe players, who are unlikely to play in the Super 14.

"The warm-up matches should give us a good idea of how the new laws will change the game," said Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke. "At training one tries to simulate situations to see the effects of the laws. But it is not nearly as effective as trying them out in a game."

Fortunately for the players, the Bulls will play a few warm-up games in the next few weeks, which could be priceless in exposing them to the new laws, as it could boost their chances of defending their title this season.