Tightheads

● It seems Bok coach Allister Coetzee will have to wait until the new year to see if he will keep his job. SA Rugby on Friday tried to douse the flames of speculation with a statement that said very little.

’A number of meetings and reviews are in progress on all national teams after which all plans for all teams in 2018 will be confirmed,’ part of the statement read.

Indications are that Coetzee, if we may use a cricket analogy, is nine wickets down, with a referral pending.

● The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) this week went where South African rugby officials are unlikely to. The blazers here would much rather bury their heads in the sand and countenance nefarious activity than appoint a woman chief executive.

The ARU, however, appointed Raelene Castle as their chief executive, the first woman appointed to such a position in a major football code in Australia. Castle is a former chief executive of National Rugby League club Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Netball New Zealand.

Rugby Australia chairman Cameron Clyne said Castle was the standout applicant from more than 200 candidates which included sporting and business leaders from across the world.

● The Kiwis are aflutter after All Blacks utility back Charles Piutau made known his desire to play for his homeland Tonga.

Piutau represented the All Blacks 16 times but wants a relaxation of World Rugby’s rules relating to the switching of national allegiance. ’The moral calls coming now all sound a little hollow,’ a

Kiwi columnist derided Piutau’s plight.

New Zealand helped make Piutau one of the highest-paid players in the game, but they are not everyone’s Alpha and Omega.