Defence guru Ferreira not part of the Lions’ 2018 plans

take up a position with Saru, along with Rassie Erasmus.

Erasmus’ position at Munster has been filled by former Bok forwards coach Johan van Graan, who left the Boks halfway through their tour of Europe in the last four weeks. Ferreira is, however, contracted to the Lions until October next year so if he is unable to secure a position in Ireland he may yet continue in his role of defence coach. In yesterday’s Lions statement regarding the new structure there is no portfolio for defence at Super Rugby level.

Also seemingly lost to the Lions is former Bok line-out king Victor Matfield, who took charge of the Lions forwards in the Currie Cup, a position formerly held by head coach Johan Ackermann, who is now with Gloucester. Matfield worked on a consultancy basis and he may still fulfil such a role in future, but there is now a new forwards boss in town to complicate Matfield’s situation.

Philip Lemmer, a former Emerging Springbok prop and SA representative in wrestling, will take charge of the Lions forwards in Super Rugby, under the guidance of head coach Swys de Bruin. Lemmer cut his teeth in the junior ranks and has coached the UJ Varsity Cup team in the past as well as being involved with the Lions junior sides.

Joey Mongalo, who is also something of a Lions veteran having coached in the juniors and this year was part of the Currie Cup team, will focus on the breakdown and backline play of the Lions. Ivan van Rooyen will stay on as conditioning coach while Neil de Bruin will fulfil the role of kicking and skills coach.

The team that will do duty in the SuperSport Challenge will be coached by Herkie Kruger with Bafana Nhleko (defence) and Bart Schoeman (forwards) as his assistants.

The Super Rugby Lions are currently in pre-season.

Meanwhile, former Australia flyhalf Quade Cooper’s tenure with the Reds appears to be over after new coach Brad Thorn told him he was not part of the team’s plans for the next Super Rugby season.

The 29-year-old Cooper, who was also dumped by the Wallabies earlier this year, returned to Brisbane after just one season in Europe in 2015 and was contracted with the team until after the 2019 season.

He had been expected to report back for pre-season training today but was told he probably would not feature in next year’s competition, the Courier-Mail reported yesterday. “I’ve had an honest conversation with Quade and where he currently sits in our plans,” Thorn told the newspaper. – Reuters