Top candidates gun for Golden Lions position.
THE Golden Lions Rugby Union bosses may have to rack their brains this week to decide on a new director of coaching following the impressive list of candidates who are believed to have submitted their applications for the job, writes Zeena Isaacs.
Springbok backline coach Dick Muir, Super 14-winning Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer and Western Province coach Allister Coetzee are said to be the local favourites to take up the position.
Former Bulls coach Rudy Joubert and Lions Currie Cup coach Hans Coetzee are also believed to have thrown their names into the hat.
Lions CEO Manie Reyneke confirmed on Sunday that there were about five international applications among the 16 received.
With such coaches to choose from, hopes of the Lions becoming a force to be reckoned with in the Super 14 in the next few years may not be as far-fetched as it might have seemed a few months ago.
While questions may be raised about Muir’s application, given his role in the national team, he should be able to juggle the roles successfully in the same way as Bok forwards coach Gary Gold doubles up as the Stormers assistant coach.
The Lions board of directors met late yesterday afternoon to sift through the applications and draw up a short list of candidates.
These candidates are expected to be interviewed in the next few days, with a final call on the new coach set to be made by the end of the week.
Strong rumours surfaced at the weekend that former Springbok coach Jake White, who is a consultant with the Lions, is punting Coetzee for the job. However, it remains to be seen if White has any influence in the decision.
Meanwhile, the Lions announced yesterday that they had acquired the services of Griquas captain and No8 Jonathan Mokuena to boost their looseforward reserves ahead of the Super 14.
Apart from his physicality, Mokuena’s speed and high work rate on the field will be invaluable in the tough competition.
@Puma – 58
Just waiting for my “contact” to confirm the tickets, but it should not be a problem! Planning to be there from very early!! Will most possibly be pissed bye the time the match starts!! hehehe
Way back on the 10th this was said.
Clearly Coetzee knows what he is trading if he moves from Cape Town to Johannesburg, and he knows only too well that a switch to the Lions would mean the immediate gratification of trophies would have to be deferred to a three or five year plan. That is what is going to be needed to get the Lions right, and his former coaching partner at the Springboks, White, wouldn’t have left him under any illusions that getting the Lions back on track is going to be easy.
But my information is that White is so determined to get Coetzee on board that he has informed the Lions the future involvement of his company, Winning Ways, with them is dependent upon them contracting Coetzee as their director of rugby.
Some might respond to that by saying “So what, what has White done with the Lions this year?” But this would just be another instance where reality is different to perception.
‘Coetzee has underlined his coaching credentials’
In this age of SMS feedback and internet comment blogs there is much naive nonsense sometimes pushed into the public domain. Much of it isn’t very cerebral, and those who use the Lions’ record in this Currie Cup as a stick to beat White rank for sheer sporting ignorance alongside those who believe Graeme Smith’s recent ton against England stymied his team and those who feel criticism of Peter de Villiers is racist.
When White took over he knew he was taking over a sow’s ear in terms of the players that were available to the Lions. Several had left for greener pastures after the Super 14 season ended, and his audit showed that apart from anything else, the players were sorely lacking in conditioning. At a time when other unions have been concentrating just on playing, the Lions have been working on their conditioning.
White said at the outset that he didn’t expect overnight success, that the Lions would have to busy themselves recruiting from outside as they just never had the players. The only promise he made was that he would ensure the Lions improved their defence and would play a full 80 minutes in every game. That they have done that is beyond dispute.
They are in the top three in terms of defensive records in the Currie Cup, and the team that pushed the Sharks last week was much improved on the side that were thumped by 50 by the Stormers earlier in the year, even though the Super 14 team was superior on paper.
White is not a full-time employee of the Lions, and apart from not contracting the players, he was also unable to contract a coach that he could work with. The improvements in the Lions discipline, physicality, defence and structural organisation are clear for all to see. The Lions are far more structured now than under the previous regime, and that at least is something they can build on.
If Coetzee signs with the Lions, White will not be Coetzee’s boss, but Coetzee will be free to consult with White and his group of successful Bok management members whenever he needs to. The Lions will in turn be gaining the services of a coach that in my opinion should have been Heyneke Meyer’s only rival for the current Bok job when the position was vacant early last year.
By working through the numerous problems confronted by WP at the start of the Currie Cup to mould a winning team, Coetzee has underlined his coaching credentials and vindicated the World Cup winning coach’s extremely high regard for him.
Had SA Rugby taken White’s advice last year the Boks would not have gone through the growing pains they had to endure under their current coach as Coetzee would not have needed convincing of the virtues of the strategy the Boks are successfully employing now. After all, together with White and Gert Smal he was intimately involved in introducing it. Coetzee is technically sound, he is the complete package as a coach.
If he signs with the Gauteng union, Coetzee would be a big loss to WP but a massive gain for the Lions. Just so long as he recognises that the road to success there is going to be a long one.
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