Jake White wants his old job back – but only as an interim measure to help get Springbok rugby back on track before handing over to his former assistant, Allister Coetzee, after 2011.
Gavin Rich – Superrugby.co.za
The former Springbok coach, in arguing that he should be given the chance to be a caretaker coach for the Boks until the World Cup in New Zealand, reckons that 12 months is enough time for him to turn the team around and prepare them for a second consecutive World Cup title.
The clamour for incumbent Bok coach Peter de Villiers has increased following the defeat to Australia at the weekend which leaves the South Africans looking back at a lamentable year since they won the Tri-Nations last September.
White told The Times newspaper on Sunday that he would like a chance to fix the Boks as a crisis measure, but elaborated further in a chat with Supersport.co.za on Monday. He said he agrees with the view of many critics that the blunders that have been made along the way to a record which reads lost seven and won six in that time period, mean De Villiers should make way for someone new, even at this late stage in the build-up to the next World Cup.
The former Bok mentor, who guided the Boks from the nadir they had reached at the end of the Rudolf Straeuli reign to respectability and then the World Cup title in 2007, believes his former assistant, Coetzee, is the future for the Boks long-term. But he says it would be unfair to bring the current Western Province and Stormers coach into the system as Bok head coach as replacement for De Villiers just 12 months before the World Cup.
“Allister was the man who should have been appointed to replace me after the last World Cup. I said so at the time, and I remain convinced about that,” said White on Monday.
“But I think it might be a bit unfair on Allister, or anyone else for that matter, to be brought in on a 12 month contract and expected to fix it in that space of time with no guarantee that they will stay on beyond the World Cup. When you take over the national job, you do need a bit of time to grow into it.
“At a World Cup you need someone who has been a head coach at international level for a while. I am prepared to do that job and take it on a temporary basis. I have experience of what is required, I know the players because two thirds of the guys who make up the core group were players I coached up until the last World Cup.”
Some might think White is an opportunist by putting up his hand to coach the Boks at this time when there is so much growing pressure De Villiers following a last placed finish in the Tri-Nations, but White says he has just become so frustrated seeing the reputation he helped the Boks build being destroyed by poor decisions and tactics.
That is why after initially saying he wanted a chance to take on a second term after De Villiers’ contract has run its course at the end of 2011, White is now wanting to take the job on now. He has spoken to South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins, and if his proposal is accepted, he will re-employ former Wallaby coach Eddie Jones as his assistant.
“I have spoken to Eddie and he is very eager to get involved again if the opportunity arises and he would love to have a crack at winning another World Cup,” said White.
After that, however, White would want to hand over the reins to Coetzee, who together with current Ireland forwards coach Gert Smal, was at his side throughout his successful reign as Bok coach from 2004 to the end of 2007.
“I definitely do think Allister is the man to take the Boks to the next World Cup after this one and I would like to help pave the way for him by using the next 12 months to get the Boks back on the right path.”
White is emphatic that 12 months is enough time for the Boks to come right with the correct guidance, and cites the late Kitch Christie, the man who guided South Africa to its first World Cup title in 1995, as an example of someone who successfully carried off an “ambulance job”.
“It’s not too late for the Boks to change coach, Kitch did it successfully and I would want to take the job on similar terms,” said White.
“We were the strongest defensive team in world rugby a short while ago, now suddenly we are conceding 22 tries in a Tri-Nations season. That is unacceptable, and there are such elementary mistakes that are being made. It’s extremely frustrating to watch it happen and it saddens me to see it.
“Neither myself or Eddie are in contract with anyone at the moment, we can start next week if Saru want us to. We are available to work with the Boks again, and I have told Oregan Hoskins as much. To me it’s hard to imagine how they can think they can carry on with the current set-up, but getting someone with the necessary experience in for just 12 months is going to be difficult.
“I have the advantage of having worked with most of the players, I live in South Africa and know the personalities and the issues. The players we have in this country are good enough to win a World Cup, they just need guidance.”
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September 6th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Here it comes…
September 6th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
IMO this will cause more harm than good!
Bring in Mitchell as an advisor like Eddie Jones was for Jake.
September 6th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Jip…
But wait, here it comes…
September 6th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
To me it’s hard to imagine how they can think they can carry on with the current set-up
Fokkit Jake can you remember what was said about you in 2006 after your 3N campaign which included the 49-0 snotting?
September 6th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Reply to Morné @ 3:30 pm:
Edzakkerly
In fact I recall Mark keohane actually going to Pieter e Villiers and asking him
“If you were Bok coach what would you have done now?”
Best is maybe Jake gets on a phone and has a quiet word with Div and says “Boet… been here done it and got the t-shirt… how can I help?”
But no
Whadddoos
September 6th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
And there it is!!!
Hello ou David!
September 6th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Quite arrogant of Jake making
all this public if you ask me.
I remember him dearly wanting a
second term, not pumping for
Allister to take the reins.
Getting Mitchell in as JT suggests
sounds a sober thought. Most of all
it seems they have to do something
about defence, or the attitudes of
players in this team.
Watch the last OZ try and all the
Boks waving, gesticulating as if
blaming one another.
September 6th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Best defence team in the world to the worst in 10 months-Fact!!
Does PDV have enough time to turn it around like JW did in 2006? Yes!!! but does he have the ability? I do not know with the Dick and Mr Gold there with him. If I was PDV I would get people of knowledge around me, that can safe him big time
September 6th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
…but then coaches want to be part of winning team and not a sinking ship, at this stage PDV and his team have showed us nothing that this team is on the up or that he is willing to change
September 6th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
…is JW the answer?……I don’t know so much…..nah not for me.
September 6th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Leave John Mitchell the f–k alone thank you very f—king much!!!!!!!
I like him right where he is at the moment
September 6th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
What a twat!!
Lets get real, Snor will not be fired now (politically it will be SARU’s biggest mistake ever).
So, only other way to stop the sinking of the ship is to get proper assistant coaches. Unfortunately Snor loves the limelight and himself too much to be seen as if relegated to the position of a token coach…….
September 6th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Did anyone notice the technical advisor behind his laptop? Camera gave us a glimpse on Sat.
Looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights…..
Where do we get these plonkers from???
And the coach reckons the structures are in place……..!?
September 6th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
2 things.
White coming back and his way of dealing with this sucks.
49-0 analogy is weak. One team was young and in building phase – other is experienced and world champs.
September 6th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
And that 49-0 loss was on the back of a big disruption in the Bok camp due to Jake’s contract dispute with Saru. Jake is a source of chaos. But I really think there are better people to sort this mess out than PDV, Mitchell or Meyer – all the M’s!
http://fromthebottomoftheruck.blogspot.com/
September 6th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Reply to KietieCat @ 4:45 pm:
hallo Kietie
Am I that predictable?
September 6th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Reply to Boertjie @ 5:12 pm:
Morne Steyn was blocked (held) by Aus-19. That is why his hands were up.
Jean de Villiers was just pointing.
I believe things would have been different if Spies were on the field.
September 6th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Jake White is a great idea.
Been there, done that, know the players, got the trophy.
Let him train his replacement for 2012. That way we have somebody with credentials in the job.
September 6th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 7:41 pm:
September 6th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Am I the only one who thinks this is a fooking great idea ?
Cheers
September 6th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
I think Jake will do a better job here. Am I being naive? I support PdV, but his management of the creative input from his team seems to be giving the players confusion. Can he sort this out, does he have a handle on things? Is he losing touch?
Do not mind taking some losses if part of a plan – but do not get the feeling PdV HAS a plan…
I always sensed Jake W had clearly articulated his plans to all players and staff, so when the rush of world cup came no-one was swepped up in the excitement, impressive calm and focus from the SA boys. Very impressive… Can he do it again?
I say yes. He listened to Noakes, he enlisted Calder, Eddie Jones. Will PdV have the vision to do this? I get the feeling his chefs might be too many and spoil the broth?
September 6th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
A little torn on this, PDV has had some great victories, but it’s all falling apart now…
Jake is being an opportunistic bastard, but saying that, having met the dude and chatted about rugby he is extremely passionate about the Boks and it’s probably killing him to see the current shambles.
I reckon he could do it, and we could win again. Will SARU let it happen? I don’t fuckin think so!
September 6th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 7:38 pm:
Maybe you should change your
nick to Frame-by-Frame.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Can’t see Jake back, not
even if hell freezes over.
Made too many enemies, too
many ego’s involved.
And firing a black coach is
just not on. And I have an
idea the senior players are
backing him all the way.
Maybe because they can
manipulate him?
September 6th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Please NOT Mitchell. He’s a good coach, but not good enough. The ABs could not wait to get rid of him.
Keep it South African…and there is only 1 choice – Meyer. He knows all the Bulls players and I’m sure he has watched all the others on video and knows their strengths and weaknesses. BUt it will not happen as the bunch of racists at SARU and in the Ministry of Sport will not appoint a white Afrikaner even if their lives depended on it.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Reply to Boertjie @ 9:02 pm:
Computers. The internet. Such wonderful things.
What do you want to know?
There is a good shot from behind the posts. Shows four Boks, 10, 6, 7, 19 all covering Cooper (no tackles – just cover). Then he passes to Barnes and suddenly JdV is one against two.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
24:
The South African Rugby Union says it won’t speculate on reports that former coach Jake White has approached its president Oregan Hoskins about leading the Springboks to the World Cup instead of current coach Peter de Villiers.
SARU communications manager Andy Colquhoun says “there could be half a dozen coaches wanting to take over from Peter, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen” and “we are not going to speculate.”
September 6th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Jake is not a kak coach he proved it. PDV is not in the good books of even the ANC.
I still do not think it is right to fire him so close to the WC rather force some good coaches around him and fire mr dick and gold
September 6th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 9:33 pm:
Looking at it again I am now really pissed at the referees.
Dummy runner running into MS, then held him, should have drawn a penalty.
Right after the throw-in that did not go 5m. What are they paying the refs and ARs for if they miss even the basics like that?
September 6th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
…and there are selectors here that is also to blame for bad selection in the 3n not just PDV
September 6th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Reply to Jacques(Bunny) @ 9:44 pm:
Don’t fire him, promote him.
Pdv, DOR. Like WP did with Rassie. Where he can do less harm.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 9:45 pm: DOes not count for the brilliant tries the Aussies score in the first half we were outplayed in the first half and were lucky to get back to were we were but ye also thought the ref screwed us in the second half with match turning result.
We should have never been down by so much in the first half.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Reply to fyndraai @ 9:47 pm:
Ja, maar dan moet jy alle
onderhoude met hom belet.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
But putting Jake back in charge would be like putting Clive Woodward in charge of the Lions. Seemed like a great idea until the All Blacks stomped all over them. Jake is yesterdays man.
http://fromthebottomoftheruck.blogspot.com/
September 6th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Anyway, ek sit met ‘n
vUUslike verkoue en
strome sn*t.
Sien weer.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Reply to Boertjie @ 9:51 pm:
Thats the problem. Peters coaching is not under scrutiny. It should be but he also should not be pressured to resign based on results. You sing someone for 4 years and thats the way to go come hell or high water.
But its his public persona thats the problem. It cannot be tolerated much longer. Peter always talks about players putting their country ahead of their won interests.
How about doing so yourself Peter. How about shutting the fuck up for the sake of the Boks and just coach?
September 7th, 2010 at 12:11 am
May i add my conditional support for PdeV here. This is the only site that does not have a majority support for the Jake White attempted coup.
I say like most here just force the man to bring in help. Is the Assistants appointed by PdeV or by SARU?
September 7th, 2010 at 6:10 am
Jake White is a true operator. Buzz from this keeps him in the frame.
He can’t think he’ll get the appointment in reality can he?
I just think that since JW stepped away his dream has always been to coach ENGLAND. I think everything he does PR-wise he views through that lens.
He and Eddie are like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They’re just biding time casing out their next heist. Great drama no?
September 7th, 2010 at 6:48 am
Reply to DavidS @ 7:14 pm:
I knew someone was going to do it, either you, Morne or Boertjie… LOL…
September 7th, 2010 at 7:55 am
getting jake white back would be a major mistake…
for purely rugby reasons…
‘experts’ are already bemoaning the fact that the Boks have stood still (or gone backwards) while the ABs and Oz have progressed since last year…
jake is so stubborn that he is ALWAYS right that he’d have us playing rugby circa 2007 ‘because it won a world cup’…
we struggled this 3N without a genuine fetcher… but jake is the king of the ‘we-don’t-need-a-fetcher-exept-to-fetch-beer’ brigade… jake has already said that he would not select Heinrich Brussow…
and people seriously think re-appointing jake would be an improvement…?
ui would be a major step backwards… IMO…
forget the less-than-integrity-filled way in which he has gone about it…
and just to remind everyone… jake was not fired…
he told SARU four or five months before the WC that he would NOT be available for another contract… they then went about advertising for and contracting another coach… they had no reason to offer or re-appoint him to a job he had already said he did not want…
as Morne has said… it’s time for cool, hard analysis of just what and where things have gone wrong and then make hard but informed decisions about how to fix things…
September 7th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Reply to Boertjie @ 9:53 pm:
hehehe
Anyway
Bringing back CoachWhite as Headcoach would be a serious mistake- as it wont be long before he wiLL be gatkruiping again @ HQ.
Mindyou eDDieJones would be a huge lift – The fact that he was not awarded a Blazer stiLL irks me.
That both Bronze and Muir should be fired is a given.
AgrEE that CoachDiv should be “silenced” and be promoted to DoR – with an operational project to take the boKKe to RWC 2011.
Get MorneDup to be the Manager ea the BIG spaNNer
Then appoint the whole “wiNNingways cabOOdle
Snake as puppetmaster, even if it is just to get the rest of the team!
eDDie as Actual Coach
HeNNing Gericke
ShereLLe Calder
+ Jaques Nienaber & Coach Erasmus to do the analysis
and Heyneke Meyer as Forwards Coach
Pay them a reasonble retainer and a maSSive results based bones
Then the me$$age to aLL the players should be
No KFC
No I am tOO sexy for the Bok Shirt to play my heart out etc
But please at least remove Dick Muir and Gary Bronze and muZZle CoachDiv as far as poSSible.
September 7th, 2010 at 9:14 am
I like the idea of Eddie Jones to run the whole show…
http://fromthebottomoftheruck.blogspot.com/
September 7th, 2010 at 9:20 am
Lost all my respect for Jake the way he is lobbying for this job! The classy thing to do would have been to phone PdV and offer assistance because he himself was in the same situation in 2006! BUT no he jumps on the first opportunity to kick a man when he is down! Shame on you Jake!
September 7th, 2010 at 9:33 am
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_6362990,00.html
interesting read
September 7th, 2010 at 9:37 am
and a bit of Kiwi spin on the “four more years” national mental disorder
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_6362979,00.html
September 7th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Reply to superBul @ 12:11 am:
SARU unfortunately
It was one of the “new” conditions that SARU wrote into their contracts because after the Straueli disaster they were just too happy to get Jake signed they gave him carte blanche to appoint who he wanted…. but with Pieter they decided there would be none of this kak THEY would decide who assisted him…
Talk about dumb and dumber running the building…
September 7th, 2010 at 9:57 am
Reply to JT @ 9:20 am:
Dude I very much think that Jake knows SARU will never give him the job… and this is his “payback is a bitch” move..
As I said earlier I recall that in 2006 Mark Keohane approached Heyneke Meyer and asked what he would do as Bok coach and the very honorable Meyer told the poison dwarf to f–koff
Then he went to Snor…
And of course Snor ran his mouth off about attacking play, less structure, new players and the like basically pretending he was the national coach… and Jake would get fired… instead of doing the honorable thing and calling jake and saying “Boet I know some of your juniors… can I help?”
So I think jake knows he never gets the job… but he’s thinking
“So how does it feel with the shoe on the other foot bitch?”
September 7th, 2010 at 10:04 am
good point DavidS
I remember Snor shiting on about loose play and freedom and ‘respect’ for the jersey etc.
Both big egos. Would like someone with less of it.
Give me the humble men. Morne Dup, Slappe, Theron, Os, Percy and add Smit to the management team and let Bissie and Burden play.
September 8th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Voting Booth
Should Jake White be reappointed as Bok coach?
Yes, Div has lost the plot
No, give Div a chance
The Boks are beyond help
Yes, Div has lost the plot 72% 14258 votes
72
No, give Div a chance 18% 3555 votes
18
The Boks are beyond help 9% 1866 votes
9
Previous Results · Suggest a vote
September 10th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Reply to JT @ 9:20 am:
Leopard never changes his spots.
Jake, you are history. If you really wanted a 2nd term, you wouldn’t have released a book with the sole intention of getting back at your bosses.
Learn some humility.
(Shit I hope there is no spelling mistakes. Don’t want “All detail, but can’t see a principle if it snotted him”-man to jump in here)