WHY MEYER JUMPED

He knew he couldn’t be the solution to Bok problems

IN the end the Heyneke Meyer era ended with a whimper. The pressure, the relentless expectation on the Bok coach and the realisation that he had lost support in all the right places saw Meyer jump before he was pushed last Thursday.

At the same time as South Africa was gripped with the appeal court ruling for disgraced paralympian Oscar Pistorius, an e-mail from the SA Rugby Union (Saru) quietly landed to confirm that Meyer would not seek to renew his contract when it expires on December 31.

In the immediate aftermath of coming third at the 2015 World Cup, a tired Meyer said he wanted to be “part of the solution” over the next four years. But it felt half-hearted, especially when he listed many problems with the structure of rugby in South Africa in an informal briefing with the touring media.

Meyer was right on many counts — players are overplayed and not skilled enough while politically, transformation targets are tough to meet when provincial unions don’t groom young black players.

But those were challenges that were there before Meyer took the job, and they will be challenges over the next four years. In some cases even more so. Saru’s strategic transformation plan has set a target of 50% black player representation by 2019, and if a coach is not fully committed to it, he will fail.

So when he was asked, “why do you want the job if the whole system works against the Boks?” Meyer’s answer of “I want to be part of the solution”, echoed hollow. The Springbok coach needs to accept those challenges and embrace them. Not complain. In his heart Meyer knew he couldn’t be the solution — at least not enough of a solution.

Saru boss Oregan Hoskins hinted that the hefty transformation targets were part of the reason Meyer backed down.

“We had a two-way discussion but one of the main issues was our transformation imperatives and we had an open and frank talk around that,” Hoskins said.

“It’s an important issue for me, amongst others. You’ll have to ask Heyneke about what his views are, I don’t want to put words in his mouth.

“In the next four years building up to 2019, transformation is going to be key for this organisation.” Meyer couldn’t be reached for comment.

After disappearing to his farm up north and to the Okavango for a few weeks, where he no doubt had time to reflect, Meyer came to the conclusion that he couldn’t be part of the solution. Not without the support of the Saru hierarchy and not if he didn’t believe he could achieve its transformation objectives.

Meyer spoke to close friends and people he respects about his decision to walk away rather than fight on. One of those was All Black coach Steve Hansen.

“We spoke last night actually, we talked about it,” Hansen told a New Zealand TV station on Thursday.

“I think it’s the right thing for Heyneke [to do]. He’s come under immense pressure from everything over in South Africa. It’s a sad day for South African rugby. They’ve not only lost a good coach but they’ve lost a great man too.”

Over the past few weeks several provincial presidents made it clear they would not support Meyer when the executive council meets this coming week. The writing was on the wall. It had been ever since the Boks lost to Japan in their World Cup opener in mid-September.

As coach, his Bok record is no worse than anyone else this century, with a 66.7% winning ratio in 48 tests. Failing to win a title of any kind was one of several sticks to beat Meyer with.

A lack of meaningful trophies, a poor transformation record and ultimately failure to win the World Cup after a season that included losses to Argentina for the first time, and to Japan, made his position untenable.

Meyer also appeared to lose the dressing room during the World Cup after repeatedly telling members of the travelling media that senior players such as Victor Matfield and Jean de Villiers did not follow his instructions during the 34-32 defeat against Japan.

As the World Cup wore on he cut an increasingly desperate and isolated figure.

Meyer is well liked abroad though, and it’s understood that there is interest in his services in both France and Britain. But in South Africa, he realised that the time was right to bow out.

. . . and why he had

to go: