Rennie touted for Springboks role
Chiefs rugby coach Dave Rennie is apparently on the short list to replace the Springboks’ embattled mentor Allister Coetzee.
SA Rugby is reportedly considering a top New Zealand coach to replace Coetzee and Rennie has been identified as a strong candidate.
According to Rappor t, a Johannesburg-based Afrikaans language Sunday newspaper, work has already begun behind the scenes to look at possible candidates to replace Coetzee after the Boks finished the year with a shocking 33 percent win record.
Coetzee is set to face a performance appraisal by a sub-committee of SA Rugby, and will know after 13 December whether or not he will remain in the top job.
Should SA Rugby opt to fire Coetzee, Rapport suggests they would need to turn to broadcast partner SuperSport to provide financial assistance in order to buy Coetzee out of the remaining three years of his contract.
Rennie, who led the Chiefs to the Super Rugby title in 2012 and 2013, is believed to have strong support at the highest level of SA Rugby. Other names that have been thrown into the hat again are Rassie Erasmus and Jake White.
However, a potential stumbling block to any consideration to remove Coetzee from his post – speculated to be R13m ($NZ1.3m) – is also believed to be the fact that SA Rugby is in a dire financial situation, with the governing body reported to be as much as R19m in the red.
The Springboks have just completed what’s been regarded as the worst season of their proud history. Of their 13 matches, they won only three and drew 31-31 with the Barbarians to kick-start their disastrous tour to the UK.
As well as losses to both England (37-21) and Wales (27-13), the Springboks also suffered their first ever loss to Italy, going down 20-18 in Florence.