‘I’ll never pick a player for his skin colour’
Allister Coetzee, the South Africa coach, relishes a fight, says Daniel Schofield. That’s probably just as well
IAs the only other tight-head behind Dan Cole in the squad, the Harlequins prop will surely have plenty of opportunity to impress with his powerful and surprisingly quick carrying off the bench. t was the seminal fly-on-wall documentary covering Graham Taylor’s doomed attempt to qualify for the 1994 World Cup finals that first coined the expression ‘Impossible Job’ in relation to the role of England football manager. However, compared with the position of South Africa rugby head coach, currently occupied by Allister Coetzee, even Wembley’s ever smouldering hot seat seems like the cosiest of armchairs.
The first requirement is to win, and win well, no matter what. Such are the demands for the coaches of New Zealand and England as well, but then there are multiple handicaps that are unique to the Springbok incumbent. To start with, there are the difficulties of having an estimated 350 overseas South African players, including 11 of the squad to face England at Twickenham next week, meaning that Eddie Jones will have had a full extra week of preparation with his squad.
Then there is the viper’s nest of petty and party politics that Duane Vermeulen referenced last week in his interview with The Daily Telegraph. Demands for the Springboks to ape the All that chat about Maro Itoje and George Kruis last season, but now Launchbury has his chance. He can be worldclass, just as Itoje and Kruis are, and he has the drive and passion to be pushing for a Lions place if he has a brilliant autumn. wonderfully entertaining play of the Lions, who reached the Super Rugby final this year, are countered by calls to revert to the traditional Springbok strengths around the set piece. And, at the highest level, the ministry of sport has imposed ‘transformation targets’ decreeing that, by 2019, Springbok match-day squads must contain 60 per cent black African representation.
The pressure is all-consuming. At last year’s World Cup, Heyneke Meyer seemed on the brink of tears whenever he spoke publicly. Coetzee knew what he was letting himself in for, having been assistant coach to Jake White, who departed in ignominious circumstances shortly after delivering the 2007 World Cup.
“As an assistant coach it’s a bit easier, you never have to face the music ... from that perspective it is completely two different worlds,” Coetzee says. “As assistant coach, you can just demand what you want but as a head coach you’ve got to look at the holistic thing. Managing people, players, you’ve got to manage upwards and downwards.”
Coetzee has already discovered the size of his task after petitions were launched for his resignation following the record 57-15 defeat to New Zealand, their fifth loss in nine matches this year. Although he does invite sympathy for his own position, Coetzee would be delighted if his side were viewed by England as soft Another Fijianborn player, Hughes is as yet uncapped after waiting to qualify through residency. If he is to start it will have to be at either six or seven, as Billy Vunipola is blocking the route at No 8. Was apparently outstanding at training in Portugal last week. touches. “We understand that people are looking from outside at these ‘poor Springboks’ and it’s great for us,” Coetzee says. “It cements this team and we will probably do our talking on the field. It’s probably a better position to be in as an underdog.”
That 2007 World Cup had profound consequences for the new world order that has since emerged. New Zealand, stung by another failure, adapted; South Africa, buoyed by their success, chose to stay on the same trajectory.
“New Zealand had a complete reconditioning of everything in terms of rugby, from coaching right down to the way the game should be played, the type of player that they want, and there was massive collaboration,” Coetzee says. “They’ve been building on from there, so they get a lot of little things right off the field that’s coming to fruition now. In 1995, we basked in the fact that we won the World Cup, but we are still living in our own little kingdom.”
Those failings, Coetzee knows, extend right through South African rugby even to the junior teams. Hope, though, is on the horizon. He believes that the indaba (conference) that he organised with the great and the good of South African rugby has ensured an alignment of purpose and principles.
While he displays admirable honesty about certain challenges, he chooses not to see transformation targets as a quota, but as a means of changing ingrained attitudes. “You never hear the good things about transformation or the players that people have really accepted and bought into it,” Coetzee says. “If it’s managed correctly, and properly, and it’s not just a matter of numbers, it’s changing mindsets and perceptions. That is what transformation is about.
“No player wants to play because of his skin colour, and I’ll never do that. That’s the biggest injustice that you can do to a player to select him based on his skin colour. Never, ever will I allow that. But I am a firm believer in opportunity, giving all players opportunity. That might not have been the case in the past.”