Vermeulen will boost Boks’ 2027 World Cup campaign
Duane Vermeulen’s appointment as Springboks defence coach is not a case of “jobs for pals” but rather one of appreciating his rugby intellectual property (RIP) — and ensuring it stays within the green and gold walls.
Some Bok assistant coaches have come and gone. Think former scrum coach Matthew Proudfoot. He told the world, via media interviews, that he had learned more with Eddie Jones and England in a week than he had with the 2019 World Cup-winning Springboks.
We all know how that ended for
Proudfoot. England were a disaster with him as scrum coach, and so too were
Stellenbosch University in the Varsity Cup with him as head coach. Sometimes, it is best to zip it and appreciate the Disneyworld you were a part of, instead of thinking your presence made it Disneyworld.
Ireland’s Felix Jones, hailed by South African players as extraordinary, has moved to England as an assistant coach, having spent considerable time with the Springboks under Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber.
Jones, to his credit, has not felt the need to make a comparison between England and South Africa after a month in the job. Neither should he ever.
Nienaber, having worked with Erasmus for 20 years in professional rugby — and having been his mate for more than 30 years
— is currently at Leinster in Ireland. He is off contract a few months before the 2027 World Cup, and Erasmus, back in his role as Bok head coach, has not ruled out Nienaber making it to the 2027 World Cup in Australia as part of the Boks management.
Such a move would be genius.
How Leinster and Ireland did not ensure Nienaber’s contract goes beyond the 2027 World Cup is a contracting schoolboy error. Nienaber now gets to work with the best Irish
Vermeulen is a prized new member of the Boks’ extended coaching team that includes former All Blacks flyhalf Tony Brown
players for the next four years and then heads to the Boks with all that RIP.
Nienaber is ranked alongside current French assistant coach Shaun Edwards as the best defensive coach in international rugby. Edwards was a rugby league legend, with 542 matches (466 of them for Wigan between 1983 and 1997), 40 internationals and 37 winners medals — and Nienaber’s background was in physiotherapy.
Neither played for their respective countries in rugby union, which is another lesson to those who believe the filter to a life in international rugby coaching is through being an international player.
It is not the filter; it is the exception. Percy Montgomery started the trend. The record points-scoring fullback played the last of his 102 Tests for the Springboks against Australia in Johannesburg in 2008, and the following year he was their kicking and skills coach.
Vermeulen now follows Montgomery into the Boks coaching club, a year after playing a starring role in the Boks winning successive World Cups.
But despite suggestions on social media that his appointment came because he is mates with Erasmus, Vermeulen is a prized new member of the Boks’ extended coaching team that includes former All Blacks flyhalf Tony Brown, who was the assistant coach for Japan at the past two World Cups.
Brown is the Boks attack coach and Vermeulen, given a role of “roving coach”, will specialise in defence.
Both are proper appointments.
Brown has done much to improve Japan’s Cherry Blossoms. He was a fine player but he is an even better coach. The question why he only played 18 Tests for the All Blacks is answered by Andrew Mehrtens (70 Tests) and Carlos Spencer (44 Tests) playing No 10 for the All Blacks in the same era.
Brown also played 15 Super Rugby matches for South African franchises at the Sharks (eight matches) and Stormers (seven), and he played under Erasmus in those seven matches.
Vermeulen has played under Erasmus for the bulk of his career. It is why Erasmus trusts him, and it is why he will add value to the Boks 2027 World Cup campaign.