So the worst kept secret in world rugby was eventually ratified this afternoon by SARU … Heyneke Meyer will indeed coach the Springboks … What a fantastic breath of fresh air …
Of more significance (given that we all knew Meyer was going to coach the Boks on Monday), SARU also confirmed that the Southern Kings’ will indeed play Super Rugby in 2013!
HOWEVER … Proposals on mechanisms to identity which of the existing franchises will fall out of Super Rugby will be considered at a SARU Special General Meeting on March 30. So it’s yet another stall …
SARU will ask SANZAR to include a sixth South African team in an expanded competition, but they are seriously unlikely to go with that option. Already it is a bloated tournament, and that would then upset the balance with SA then having more sides than Australia and New Zealand …
So … A seasoned South African Super Rugby franchise will make way for a side that could not win the Currie Cup second division last year … Out with one joker, in with another …
And confirming Heyneke Meyer as the new Bok coach …
The 44-year-old Blue Bull takes over from Peter de Villiers, with his first assignment being against England in Durban on June 9.
“I know the importance of rugby in the South African psyche and will do everything in my power to ensure the Springboks remain among the pace setters of world rugby. I’m very happy to accept this enormous honour and massive responsibility,” said Meyer.
Unlike when De Villiers took the position, Oregan Hoskins, President of SARU, said Meyer received unanimous support from the General and the Executive Councils of SARU.
A decision on Meyer’s support staff will only be taken later, in consultation with the new Springbok coach. Let that horse trading continue then … All of Coetzee, Erasmus, McFarland, Treu, Rossouw, Carzis, and Neinaber are in a melting pot set to boil over given the franchise CEO’s want to keep their Super Rugby brains trust in tact …
Heyneke Meyer – Fact File
Personal:
- Date of birth: 6 October 1967
- Age: 44
- Place of birth: Nelspruit
- Education: Bergvlam HS (Nelspruit), University of Pretoria
- Degrees obtained: BA (Pcychology, Geography and Human Movement Science), Hons BA (Geography), HED
- Family: Married to Linda, three children
Coaching career:
- 1988-1996: Coached a number of High School first teams, Under-21 sides and Carlton first teams in Pretoria.
- 1997: SWD Eagles assistant coach
- 1998: SWD Eagles head coach ( Cup semi-finalists and Currie Cup)
- 1998: Emerging Springboks head coach
- 1999: Stormers assistant coach (semi-finalists in Super 12)
- 1999: SWD Eagles head coach (semi-finalists in Currie Cup)
- 1999: Springbok assistant coach (third place, Rugby World Cup)
- 2000: Bulls head coach (Super 12)
- 2001: Blue Bulls head coach (Cup champions)
- 2001: Springbok assistant coach
- 2002: Bulls head coach (Super 12), Blue Bulls head coach (Currie Cup champions)
- 2003: Blue Bulls head coach (Currie Cup champions)
- 2004: Blue Bulls head coach (Currie Cup champions)
- 2005: Bulls head coach (Super 12 semi-finalists), Blue Bulls head coach (Currie Cup runners up)
- 2006: Bulls head coach (Super 14 semi-finalists), Blue Bulls head coach (Currie Cup joint champions)
- 2007: Bulls head coach (Super 14 champions)
- 2008-2009: Leicester Tigers head coach
- 2011: Tuks Varsity Cup – Advisor
- 2011: Blue Bulls Company – Executive: Rugby
- 2012: Springbok head coach
You were at the presser, right? Bearing this whole Kings thing in mind, who was the plonker that asked, early on, whether he would consider Luke Watson to be the next Springbok captain? The guy kept on about how Luke was a great leader and all that… Seriously!
I actually was not at the presser GvE … I am moving house today and tomorrow, and knew it was going to be Heyneke. I have spoken to a few guys who were there, though, and the guys asking the Luke questions were from Highbury Safika – they guys who represent Luke Watson!!
Bwahahaha! Go figures! What a bunch of wankers!!
Let me know when you are done moving, I need boxes and will be moving soon as well! Hehehe!
Just a comment on the Southern Kings issue. While it would feel right to award the franchise places on what you call merit (presumably results on the field), we have to remember that franchise sport is quite different from interprovincial sport between unions. There is so much more to consider than the current strength of the playing and coaching squad, which in any case is the easiest item to correct in professional sport by simply contracting top class players as they come off contract at their current unions. (look at Manchester City).
Where are the best rugby stadiums? Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Who can attract the crowds? Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban are well ahead of the rest. The others are either similarly poor or untested (PE). The potential for big crowds and TV viewers must surely lie in the large Metros, and those are currently ranked Johannesburg, Cape Town, eThekwini (Durban), Ekhuruleni (East Rand), Tshwane (Pretoria), Nelson Mandela Bay (PE) and Mangaung (Bloem). We can either discard Ekhuruleni or consider them part of the Lions franchise.
What about geographic coverage? Just look at a map of the current home venues and the big empty space in the bottom right hand corner of South Africa catches your eye immediately. If Australia had awarded franchise places on “merit” there would be three franchises from NSW and two from Queensland. Instead they opted to take Super Rugby to first Canberra, then Perth, then Melbourne.
We can ask, and indeed we should, why these advantages have not helped propel EP to the same standard as the current five, or indeed not even to the standard of Griquas, Boland or Pumas.
It’s a tough decision and I really don’t know which way I would vote, but if the Kings are definitely in, AND our ANZ partners don’t increase the numbers (both of these seem set in stone to me), then a lot of people somewhere are going to be very angry.
Have to say that although i don’t believe that the kings are good enough it is good that the game is spreading. The problem is that the Lions and bulls are geographically to close together. So to my mind they should either be amalgmated or only one should play super rugby.