Coetzee: Job not on the line

Despite facing massive public pressure, Springbok coach Allister Coetzee (below) remained defiant after the national team suffered their fourth loss of the season, going down 24-22 to a weakened Welsh side in Cardiff at the weekend.

It was Coetzee’s 12th loss in 25 Tests over the last two years, with his scoresheet also including 11 wins and two draws.

“I didn’t think my job was on the line after the final whistle. Not at all,” Coetzee said.

“I just felt for the players after making a few individual errors.

“This is not about my job. I’m contracted till 2019, and I have to go through a review, but there has been immense progress this year.

“It’s a poisoned chalice and it’s not called that for nothing.”

Poor aerial awareness saw the Boks trailing 14-0 after just eight minutes, and 21-3 six minutes before the break.

“I think they got off to a flyer when they exploited our left-winger (Warrick Gelant) and then their 10 Dan Bigger got the chip and we were down 14-0,” Coetzee said.

“There is, however, a lot of fight left in this team and we got back in the second half to score 19 unanswered points.

“I also firmly believed the try by Malcolm Marx was a score, and we hit the post with Handre Pollard’s try.”

Taking two big defeats over the last few months of the season, the Boks also suffered a one-point loss to the All Blacks before the twopoint defeat to the Red Dragons.

“We only had two really bad performances this year, the 57-0 against New Zealand and the 38-3 against Ireland, and other than that we had two draws,” Coetzee said.

“We started with a completely new team, but losses like that are part of rugby. It has happened to Australia and lots of teams.

“When you don’t get it right on the day there’s very little you can do when the bounce of the ball doesn’t favour you.”