Springbok Coach
Four years ago, the SA Rugby bosses did the right thing morally by appointing Peter de Villiers as the first black Springbok coach. Next month they will hopefully do the right thing again. This time by picking the best man for the Bok job – doesn’t matter if he is white, caramel, black, or something in-between.
I just read this blog called Sore Eye. Some of the reactions are posted at the bottom of the article. What do YOU think?
Allister Coetzee is a talker, a great talker, but perhaps an interminable talker. Funny, articulate, intelligent, passionate, the kind of talker who silences the braai with one-man entertainment. He’s the leading contender, they say, for Bok coach. Who knows what SARU will do, but I reckon Allister Coetzee is not the man. Continue reading
The Executive Council of the South African Rugby Union (SARU) has called a Special General Council meeting for January with a view to ratifying the appointment of the Springbok coach.
The meeting will take place in Cape Town on January 27, 2012 and is required by the SARU constitution, which specifies that the appointment of the Springbok coach has to be approved by the General Council to become official.
Springbok giant Victor Matfield says that Andries Bekker has the ability to be an even better lock than him, and that the Stormers are very close to winning an elusive Super Rugby crown (clearly at this point he had just inhaled a bit of that ‘mountain baccy’).
With SA Ruby (SARU) in the throngs of considering the appointment of a new Rugby coach for the Springboks, when Peter de Villiers’ contract concludes in December 2011, it might be prudent to look at results in the last 4 years.
The first thing which emerges is that there has been a steady decline in winning percentages over the last 4 years.
During the first 2 years of the reign of Peter de Villiers the winning percentage was an average of 68 % but during the last 2 years of his reign it has dropped to an average of 56.5 % for those 2 years.
It has to be noted that Peter de Villiers inherited a World Cup winning squad, which has now slipped to No 4 in the IRB rankings, below France.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) will approach a shortlist of preferred candidates in the process to appoint a Springbok coach, the Executive Council of SARU announced on Thursday.
South African Rugby coach Peter de Villiers says that he will re-apply for the Springbok coaching position after his contract expires next month.
The Western Province duo of Rassie Erasmus and Allister Coetzee have declared themselves unavailable for the Springbok coaching job and have no interest in the position at this time.
The Free State Cheetahs are facing a massive fight to keep their Springbok fetcher Heinrich Brüssow in Bloemfontein after it emerged that Western Province have made a massive offer for him.
Brüssow is widely regarded as one of the best fetchers in the world, and is a shoo-in for the World Cup squad, but his contract with the Cheetahs ends at the end of this season and he has become a major target for other sides.
There was so much disappointment at the team’s exit from the current Super Rugby competition that it wasn’t noted at the time, but Jean de Villiers after the Newlands semi-final did have some encouraging words that should lighten the gloom for Stormers fans.
Standing in for regular captain Schalk Burger, who was unable to come back onto the field after halftime because of injury, the Springbok centre repeated what has been said often – perhaps too often for the liking of Cape supporters – this season: “We need to learn from this, absorb the lesson and apply the lesson”.
Sometimes they say it is beneficial to go backwards in order to go forward … sadly for the Stormers, it tends to be a principle of dubious value in crunch rugby matches.
It did them no favours in an embarrassingly one-sided Vodacom Super Rugby semi-final exit, when a white flag was effectively raised at only the second set scrum of the evening.
Stormers (10) 10 / Crusaders (23) 29 (Final Score)
The DHL Stormers hosted the Crusaders at Newlands, Cape Town. Stormers was forced to change their team. Dewald Duvenhage out, Louis Schreuder in. That disruption did not cost them the game, they also lost their inspirational captain at half time. Schalk Burger did not return from the changeroom, he broke a finger. The forwards of the Crusaders dominated the Stormers. At scrumtime the Stormers were not up to it. More to follow…..
A lot has been made in recent days on the inclusion of Saracens hooker, Schalk Brits, in the Stormers team for their semi-final clash against the Crusaders this weekend at Newlands.
Herewith the Super Rugby team sheets for the 4 teams competing in the semi finals of Super Rugby 2011.
Rynhardt Elstadt needs to “out-work” Brad Thorn and not be intimidated by him in Saturday’s Super Rugby semi-final between the Stormers and Crusaders at Newlands.
That was the call from Stormers forwards coach Matthew Proudfoot on Tuesday. The vastly experienced Thorn was injured and did not feature for the Crusaders in their recent 20-14 victory over the Stormers at Newlands, with Luke Romano and Chris Jack guarding the second row.
Coach, Allister Coetzee, has announced the Stormers team to play the Crusaders in Saturday afternoon’s semi final.
The Stormers are sweating on the fitness of Jaque Fourie and Dewaldt Duvenage who are in danger of missing the Super Rugby Semi-final against the Crusaders.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee says his team will “look to right the mistakes” they made in their league defeat to the Crusaders in Saturday’s Super Rugby semifinal at a sold-out Newlands (5.05pm kick-off).
Even though the Stormers went down 20-14 to an injury-ravaged Crusaders in May, the biggest problem on that Saturday night was taking their opportunities on attack, of which there were plenty.
The Saracens hooker, Schalk Brits, has answered an SOS and is available to play for the Stormers as a loose forward this weekend.
Last week former Crusaders coach Robbie Deans, who guided the team to a record five titles between 2000 and 2008, reckoned the heavy travel schedule during the finals series would wear down his former outfit.
Ricky Januarie has withdrawn from the Springboks’ preliminary Rugby World Cup squad after announcing his retirement from international rugby.
Halfway through the first Super XV rugby season if you told me we would have three teams in the top half of the Combined Log, I wouldn’t have believed it.
The Stormers started the season well, The Bulls started off and narrowly beat the Lions and Cheetahs, the Sharks looked like they were trudging through thick mud, and well the Cheetahs and Lions looked like they were once gain going to fill the bottom of the Log.
Cheetahs (13) 34 / Stormers (19) 44 (Final Score)
The Toyota Cheetahs hosted the DHL Stormers at Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein at 19:10 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Stormers booked 2nd spot overall with this good win over the gutsy Cheetahs.
The Stormers could suffer a massive blow ahead of their Super Rugby clash against the Cheetahs as Dewaldt Duvenhage is now in doubt for the match.
We are reaching the end of the line for nine of the 15 teams in the 2011 Super Rugby season. So many if’s and but’s happened this year and with the last week having so many permutations one can call the new format a success. Some teams made a mess of their draw and other exploited it better. Let me sum up what I enjoyed this year and what I did not.
The Stormers have named their team to play the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein with Peter Grant named in the starting line up.
I had to borrow this slogan from the Varsity Cup simply because it best describes why some teams seem to be on the up, and others going down.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has said that Peter Grant will definitely play for the Stormers against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein this week.
Stormers (3) 16 / Bulls (6) 19 (Final Score)
The DHL Stormers hosted the Vodacom Bulls at Newlands, Cape Town at 18:10 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
This game cannot be described as rugby, it was rather trench warfare… and the Bulls won the brutal war, revenging the Stormers win of earlier in the season at Loftus.
The Bulls were just simply better in the set pieces, the rest was all equal.
Stormers flyhalf Peter Grant will miss his team’s match against the Bulls at at Newlands on Saturday after he failed a fitness test.
The Stormers scored five tries and collected a valuable bonus point in their final tour match, as they downed the hapless Rebels 40-3 in Melbourne on Friday.
Rebels (3) 3 / Stormers (16) 40 (Final Score)
The Melbourne Rebels hosted the DHL Stormers at AAMI Stadium, Melbourne at 11:40 SA Time (19:40 Melbourne Time). This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
Mission accomplished for the Stormers, leaving the 4th try very late, but importantly getting it when it mattered.
Springbok and Stormers scrumhalf Ricky Januarie is reportedly considering a move to French Top 14 Rugby club Lyon.
Allister Coetzee, head coach of the DHL Stormers, today named his team to take on the Rebels at AAMI Park on Friday 3 June.
Brumbies (3) 3 / Stormers (6) 16 (Final Score)
The Brumbies hosted the DHL Stormers at Canberra Stadium, Canberra at 11:40 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
In the ugliest game of the whole season, the DHL Stormers ground out a win, only one try scored in the whole match.
The DHL Stormers road to the play-off’s is still safe.