A yawning void in Coetzee’s assistants

Reports of a mad behindthe-scenes scramble to provide beleaguered Springbok coach Allister Coetzee some much-needed experienced assistance have been rife of late.

When Coetzee was appointed in April, it was widely reported that he wasn’t granted an input into who his assistant coaches would be.

He eventually did get his way in bringing long-time colleague Matt Proudfoot on board, but he was forced to accept the likes of Johann van Graan, Mzwandile Stick and Chean Roux as part of his management team.

Now, with the Boks clearly in free fall after losing four of their seven Tests in 2016 with at least a few more defeats likely to follow, it seems that the penny has final- ly dropped in the boardroom and that changes in management are imminent.

When Coetzee was appointed, keeping Van Graan, who served four years under Heyneke Meyer, was the sensible thing to do. But in fact, nobody should take credit for this as decisions like these are expected in terms of continuity.

Getting Proudfoot was also a good move, but again a no-brainer, as every coach wants to surround himself by people he has a good working relationship with. In fact, these confidants are the very reason coaches achieve success in the first place.

But the jury was always out on the inexperienced Stick and Roux, who have hardly had a taste of topnotch provincial rugby. let alone senior international rugby. These two have come under scrutiny for the poor Bok backline play and defence, their respective specialist fields within the system. But in all fairness they didn’t appoint themselves. They were thrown into the deep end and they have since been exposed.

It should be a simple equation really. If your head coach is experienced at that level, you might get away with inexperienced assistants. If he isn’t, you need all the wise heads around him you can find.

I’m probably sounding like a broken record by casting my eye over to the All Black set-up for a quick comparison, but if you don’t use the pacesetters of world rugby as your yardstick, you are striving to be nothing but mediocre.

Apart from All Blacks coach Steve Hansen’s five years in New Zealand’s hot seat, he was predecessor Graham Henry’s assistant for eight years, giving him a total of 13 years in the Kiwi booth. Not to mention a three-year stint as Welsh coach or the assistant at Super Rugby champions the Crusaders before that.

We move on to assistant coach Wayne Smith, who has served in his current role for 10 years and a further two as head coach, for a total of 12.

Don’t forget his two Super Rugby titles as Crusaders coach and further two as Chiefs assistant coach.

Enter Ian Foster, who has been one of Hansen’s confidants for five years after almost a decade of Super Rugby experience and a successful stint at national age-group level.

The three top men have a combined three decades as part of the All Black management team and when Hansen leaves, they will absorb his absence overnight.

The Boks only have 10 years experience in total and will probably start from nothing again should the regime change.

I doubt whether Coetzee’s emergency backroom “reinforcements” will be notable former Bok coaches like Nick Mallett, Jake White, Pieter de Villiers or Meyer. But whoever they are, surely they can only add value. Better late than never, I dare say.