New Springbok coach Allister Coetzee has vowed to promote unity, embrace sacrifice, while steering clear of a culture of blaming others.
As core values go his players will have to hit the reset button.
Coetzee insists his squad is far from finalised for the three June Tests against Ireland. He wants players to run through brick walls before he assembles the squad at the end of next month.
“Not close at all,” he said when asked to what extent he had made up his mind about the squad he will assemble.
“There’s a good group of 60 players I am looking at. In the next few weeks I have to seed them.”
He made the point his captain will have to contribute more than usual in press conferences.
When it was pointed out to him that there may be a looming crisis at flyhalf, Coetzee looked bemused.
“It’s exciting news to hear that Pat Lambie will be fit when the Sharks come back from tour. Elton is playing good rugby at the moment. We’ve got Goosen playing well overseas and we’ve still got Morne Steyn, so the crisis doesn’t seem to be there.”
What Coetzee said about Jantjies is perhaps telling. It was under Coetzee at the Stormers where the mercurial flyhalf lost confidence and form duly followed.
Naturally Coetzee, upon his unveiling, was required to tiptoe the prickly matter of transformation.
“I don’t see it as pressure on me. The Springbok job comes with pressure. Rugby has been played across all communities for more than 100 years. You have to understand that. You want to make it possible for those that used to play before to again identify with Springbok rugby.
“It is not about the numbers. It is about how I think as a human being. Irrespective who they are, people will back you if you have the same core values.”
The Springboks’ 13th post isolation coach is a perceptive man and the gravity of the day was not lost on him: “Not a lot of people have the privilege to become Springbok coach. This is a special day in my life.”
The fact that he played rugby outside the establishment during apartheid will help steel him for what lies ahead. He, more than most of his predecessors, will have a grip on what is required in his job description.
“My strength is probably to align people and work in the same direction. I’m a firm believer of core values because that is what got me to where I am today. I will never deviate from that. Never, never.”
With that in mind he will have to align assistant coaches incumbent Johann van Graan and rookie Mzwandile Stick to his way of thinking. Not too long ago Van Graan was as green as Stick is now.
When asked why he said he needed to take Stick under his wing, Coetzee retorted: “Who has ever been ready?”
New era on horizon for Springboks
As core values go his players will have to hit the reset button.
Coetzee insists his squad is far from finalised for the three June Tests against Ireland. He wants players to run through brick walls before he assembles the squad at the end of next month.
“Not close at all,” he said when asked to what extent he had made up his mind about the squad he will assemble.
“There’s a good group of 60 players I am looking at. In the next few weeks I have to seed them.”
He made the point his captain will have to contribute more than usual in press conferences.
When it was pointed out to him that there may be a looming crisis at flyhalf, Coetzee looked bemused.
“It’s exciting news to hear that Pat Lambie will be fit when the Sharks come back from tour. Elton is playing good rugby at the moment. We’ve got Goosen playing well overseas and we’ve still got Morne Steyn, so the crisis doesn’t seem to be there.”
What Coetzee said about Jantjies is perhaps telling. It was under Coetzee at the Stormers where the mercurial flyhalf lost confidence and form duly followed.
Naturally Coetzee, upon his unveiling, was required to tiptoe the prickly matter of transformation.
“I don’t see it as pressure on me. The Springbok job comes with pressure. Rugby has been played across all communities for more than 100 years. You have to understand that. You want to make it possible for those that used to play before to again identify with Springbok rugby.
“It is not about the numbers. It is about how I think as a human being. Irrespective who they are, people will back you if you have the same core values.”
The Springboks’ 13th post isolation coach is a perceptive man and the gravity of the day was not lost on him: “Not a lot of people have the privilege to become Springbok coach. This is a special day in my life.”
The fact that he played rugby outside the establishment during apartheid will help steel him for what lies ahead. He, more than most of his predecessors, will have a grip on what is required in his job description.
“My strength is probably to align people and work in the same direction. I’m a firm believer of core values because that is what got me to where I am today. I will never deviate from that. Never, never.”
With that in mind he will have to align assistant coaches incumbent Johann van Graan and rookie Mzwandile Stick to his way of thinking. Not too long ago Van Graan was as green as Stick is now.
When asked why he said he needed to take Stick under his wing, Coetzee retorted: “Who has ever been ready?”
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