Mallett rules out England job
17 Nov 2011
Nick Mallett says he will not apply for the vacant England head coach post following the resignation of Martin Johnson.
Media reports believed former Springbok and Italy coach Mallett was one of the favourites to replace Johnson after the latter announced stepping down on Wednesday. However, in a statement released on Wednesday night, Mallett said he will not put his name forward.
‘The RFU contacted me earlier this week to enquire about my availability for the position, should Martin Johnson resign. I had previously expressed my interest in the position publicly and was interested to hear what RFU representatives had to say,’ said Mallett.
‘After mulling it over for a few days and discussing the opportunity with close friends and family, I have decided that I will not be making myself available for the position and I have disclosed this to the RFU.’
Mallett listed family reasons for not making himself available.
‘I am happy to have returned home to South Africa after a tremendous four-year term with the Italian national team. We are settled in Cape Town and it is my wish to be able to enjoy time with my wife and kids after four years in Italy.
‘The job of England coach is one of the most prestigious in world rugby and I wish them all the best in their quest for the best possible man for the job.’
Meanwhile, former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who is currently based at Japanese club Suntory, confirmed his interest in succeeding Johnson.
‘You’d always be interested in coaching England,’ Jones told BBC Radio. ‘It has got a fantastic domestic competition, very, very good players and you have just got to get the right program in place and they should be good enough to win the next World Cup.’
125 Comments
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17 Nov 2011, 08:15 am
@stew(stew)-19:
Only in an ideal world would the great man come back to coach the Boks.
Lets see how he does with the Shackledraggers in Oz. Will be interesting to see how his coaching style has changed from 2007. Like all great coaches hw moves with the times and no doubt would be studying the trends to suit his coaching style.
Intelligence, cunning and style…..Jake White.
PS. If he ever comes back to South Africa we will never see Fluke Twatson puking on a Bok jersey….one more positive.
17 Nov 2011, 08:17 am
@grant10(grant10)-42:
of course they’ll say that grant… but if it were true we wouldn’t all be playing these guessing games… would we…?
if they sincerely wanted to get the best man for the job they’d have already outlined a strategy, criteria and timeline of how they are going to ensure they get the best man for the job so that everybody interested… (and there are a lot of them but they just don’t want to say so publicly for various reasons, which is prudent..) would know exactly where they stand and could prepare their own case based on those criteria…
but instead… SARU… typically is fumbling and bumbling about like a ship without a rudder, sails or captain…
why don’t they come out clearly and unambiguously and tell the south african public EXACTLY what their intentions are…?
so… when they say they want the best man for the job… IMO… it is merely PR spin… and we wake up each morning to discover it is still groundhog day…!!
i hope i’m wrong…
17 Nov 2011, 08:18 am
Looks like the England job is about as popular as the Bok job. Mallinder it is then.
17 Nov 2011, 08:21 am
@stew(stew)-50: Well that discussion has been convincingly settled, Henry win ratio over 8 years with the abs is at 85% and deans is holding the teacup saucer at 57-58% with the wallabies. Deans has a long way to go!
17 Nov 2011, 08:22 am
This is what I said yesterday. It’s good news for the Bok supporters that Mallett is returning home. He’s going to need to do something with his time…and you’d expect that to be rugby related.
17 Nov 2011, 08:24 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-53: What about Steady Eddie? Would you take Malinder ahead of Eddie? What are your thoughts on Malinder? I followed him closely whilst staying in Northampton – I think he may be too much of a nice guy for the role actually. Obviously a bit inexperienced too.
17 Nov 2011, 08:26 am
It’s quite confusing at the moment, so many candidates so many statements:
Gary Gold- ‘”I have the experience and want the job”
Piet de Villiers-“If it is part of god’s plan i will serve my country”
Rassie-“ What job”?
Alister-“ I have a contract with WP’ (giggling nervously)
Nic Mallett-“I want to live in Cape Town and enjoy my family”’
Mitchell: “Not interested”
Meyer : “I am not going to apply”
I still reckon it’s going to be either Alister/Rassie unless they pull a surprise card and buy Gert Smal out of his contract. Apparently he wants to come home.
17 Nov 2011, 08:27 am
Boks will have to beg Mitchell to coach the boks, rassie and ac will just kill the boks.
17 Nov 2011, 08:27 am
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-54: Deans hasnt been coaching the Abs – with a more than 50 % Canterbury make up , the Abs would be devasting with Deans
17 Nov 2011, 08:27 am
@stew(stew)-49: duo of duds
17 Nov 2011, 08:28 am
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-51: Quite true lol !!! That would not be a bad thing
17 Nov 2011, 08:31 am
@Yetirat(Yetirat)-56: Mallinder’s inexperienced but he’s about the best option on the table – and that isn’t a particularly great list. Eddie Jones is a good coach but I don’t think the rfu are about to hire an Australian as head coach.
17 Nov 2011, 08:33 am
@stew(stew)-59: Are you saying that deans would have had a higher win ratio than Henry and won the wc?
17 Nov 2011, 08:35 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-62: Are England “not ready for a foreign coach” ? Don’t come here with your Matfield tendencies
17 Nov 2011, 08:35 am
Mallet would be a great S15 coach.
Should replace AC if he gets the bok job.
I, for one, would love to see Mallet coaching in SA again. He’s a great character and good for the game.
PS. Could it be that he turned down the Eng job (after publically expressing his interest previously) because he believes he a chance to make a Bok come back?
17 Nov 2011, 08:35 am
@stew(stew)-59: Keep in mind that the reds won the super 15, so deans had a solid basis for the wallabies.
17 Nov 2011, 08:40 am
Deans is a good coach, but brings his personal feelings toward players into the mix too much to ever be a really great coach.
17 Nov 2011, 08:45 am
@Brads(Brads)-67: That’s a fair comment.
17 Nov 2011, 08:45 am
@stew(stew)-43: the Boks in 2004 “won” the Tri-Nations by a LOSER’S bonus point, that is hardly worth mentioning. jake won zilch in new zealand, was getting walloped with regularity by france, ireland had his number too after being arrogant, he had a dismal record of not winning all the games on the northern hemisphere tours and don’t forget the IGNOMINY of 49 – 0
jake must stay at the brumbies.
17 Nov 2011, 08:46 am
Deans needs to win next years 4N to back any claim to being a world class coach.
Forget 2011.
SA and NZ were dicking around with their selections with an eye on the RWC while Aus played it straight. As a result they won the 3N deservedly.
So lets see what happens next year when there is nothing else to aim at!
17 Nov 2011, 08:47 am
@Helen(Helen)-65: I was thinking that. I’m hoping he’s had an offer of sorts from SARU and is perhaps willing to accept some compromise and work with an administration we all know he doesn’t particularly love, in return for being based back at home with his family in Cape Town.
17 Nov 2011, 08:47 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-57: they must get Wayne Smith!
17 Nov 2011, 08:47 am
Amazing that the top available coaches are not interrested in coaching SA and ENG.
Shows what maladministration and politics does to the game, it only attracts the desperate and 2nd tier options.
17 Nov 2011, 08:51 am
Man, I hope Mallet makes himself available to the Boks, and is given the authority to run the show. That includes appointing his assistants. That would really make my day.
As for the England job, they need a proper disciplinarian. Too many fat egos drifting around there at the moment. A guy like Warren Gatland would have been good for them, but the Taffs have him locked away in a dungeon, guarded by dragons as we speak.
17 Nov 2011, 08:53 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-72:
Wayne Smith might – might I say, be interested in a specialist role if there was one on offer, but head coach never.
He doesn’t like the pressure.
17 Nov 2011, 08:53 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-62: Mcgeechan would be a great coup if they could persuade him away from Bath.
17 Nov 2011, 08:53 am
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-63: Almost certain …. His win ratio at the Saders is unmatched and i believe it is the style that the Abs want to play …. Winning this WC was no great feat , lets be honets France had a chance of winning it ( need i say more ) , the level of opposition was c-r-a-p , in 2007 , with possdible the best group of Abs of all time , poor selection and gameplan saw us being knocked out…. IMO Henry was lucky not to have to play against stiffer competition – i am glad he has gone.
17 Nov 2011, 08:55 am
@BULLET(BULLET)-73:
i don’t think either case is true…
you don’t apply for top jobs in any field by blabbing to the media… just look what happened to jake white… had to retract pretty damn smartly for blabbing…
if guys are already employed as coaches, they can’t say “I want another job” because it would be a slap in the face of their current employers… which wouldn’t matter IF they got the job… but if they don’t get it they will then have to work in a situation where their employers will always doubt their commitment to their current jobs…
if someone is not employed currently he would also be a fool to show his hand by saying he wanted job ‘A’ because, should he not get the job, he ruins his chances with other companies or unions…
so all this “no one wants the job” is just so much BS… most rugby coaches will jump at the chance to coach the Boks or the Poms… but only a fool would say so in the press…
17 Nov 2011, 08:56 am
Pomms and SA both need a luis luyt to steer the ships. No nonsense! He took no kak from the politicians, and he certainly did not let coaches who did not give results stay on.
I recall that Ian Mac (who is regarded as one of the finest coaches of the 90′s) lost 2-1 to NZ in NZ. Hardest tour ever, and he was fired. If we had that in SA rugby now, only results would matter.
Ity could mean a new coach annually too. Waa haa
17 Nov 2011, 08:59 am
SA surely has the talent within it’s own ranks to fill the job.
If a SA can’t make a fist of it because of outside influences, how the hell is a foreign coach expected to do any better.
17 Nov 2011, 09:00 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-62: get GH
hehehe
17 Nov 2011, 09:01 am
UFO, fair point, but mallet can say what he wants, he has no other job.
Also, you don’t see them ruling out the ABs job?
But you are right I suppose.
I would prefer the – ‘I am not ruling myself out of anything’ response.
17 Nov 2011, 09:02 am
@ufo(ufo)-78: Morning fella, hope you are well.
i agree 100%, all this is just posturing. Alistair would jump at the chance to coach the boks, so would Nick and anyone else.
The fact that Nick is back in SA could mean nothing more than him doing what anyone else would do once his coaching contract comes to an end: Come home. he lives here and I’m sure his family would love to have him back.
Then again, it could mean something else too….
We’ll just have to wait and see.
This is very much the “silly season” with contracts coming to an end and much still to be decided, positions open ect….
17 Nov 2011, 09:02 am
@BULLET(BULLET)-79: louis luyt’s se gat. rugby has moved on from the amateur era of egomaniacs.
17 Nov 2011, 09:03 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-76:
no, no, no, no…no…absolutely not. mcgeechan is really just a similarly likeable white version of pdivvy, a great man-manager with a certain charisma and charm thats great for a working relationship and in a way brings good out of the men under him for the most but is not in any way a highly technical intellectual thinker type of rugby brain/coach/manager.
we need to move away from doing it on gees alone.
17 Nov 2011, 09:05 am
Saru will never appoint Mallet again. He told them to gft. Sneaky Slappes will infiltrate wprfu and his contact will reveal all…
17 Nov 2011, 09:06 am
The coaching team should be:
Head Coach: Eddie Jones
Forwards Coach: Nick Mallet
Backline Coach: Brendon Venter
This team would take the Boks to number 1 and keep us there.
17 Nov 2011, 09:07 am
@BULLET(BULLET)-79:
You need stability to build a team, a new coach every other year would be a disaster.
Besides which, putting all the focus on winning a 6 week knockout tournament held once every four years is poor form.
The sponsors for a start must be grinding their teeth down to the gums the way ALL nations abandon their obligations.
17 Nov 2011, 09:10 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-84:
Quite right.
Handing the man from Dorking a gold watch was naff to say the least.
17 Nov 2011, 09:11 am
@BULLET(BULLET)-79:
i too yearn to see louis luyt reicarnated at saru with the proviso that any such incarnation doesn’t again repeat any stupid things. e.g. like taking an iconic universally loved leader like desmond tutu to court or something similar hehe.
17 Nov 2011, 09:16 am
@BULLET(BULLET)-82:
yeah bud…
he doesn’t have a job… and he wants one for sure…
so to say “I wanna coach the team ‘A’” would exclude him from any other credible position because the boards of teams ‘B’ and ‘C’ would say to themselves… “okay… mallet would rather coach team ‘A’… so let’s look for someone who would rather coach our team…”
no rugby union wants to believe they were ‘lucky’ to get a coach because the coach failed to get another position…
but privately, mallet can approach anyone he likes and make them believe THEIR coaching position is the be-all-and-end-all of rugby coaching… that’s how it happens in the professional world and rugby is (supposed to be) professional…
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-83:
hey bud… always well thanks… the grass in greener on my side…
i’m sure you’re doing great and you’re son is much better i hope…?
yeah… i agree with you too… he’s just coming home… it is what it is…
but in this case it could also be what it isn’t…
as i said a while ago… personally i think AC is going to get the bok job…
and i would be happy for mallet to take over WP/Stormers and appoint his own assistants etc… but he must keep his ego in his kit-bag and not wanna run the whole union…
17 Nov 2011, 09:17 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-90:
Luyt was a bully.
Today he would be labled an idiot.
17 Nov 2011, 09:17 am
what makes you say that?
17 Nov 2011, 09:17 am
@Slappes(Slappes)-86:
hey bud…
please do…
and let us know…
i hate this wishy-washy not knowing BS…
17 Nov 2011, 09:20 am
@Brads(Brads)-92:
no, i dont think he’d ever be called an idiot.
a bully and a doos- then and now for sure but never an idiot.
17 Nov 2011, 09:21 am
@ufo(ufo)-91: Exactly. Nick has been there and burned some bridges.
AC ticks all the boxes, have said it all along. For better or worse.
Nick can coach. he’s proven that. he also has the habit of shooting his mouth off, so coaching is what he should stick to. He doesn’t have the tempremant for a DOR job if you ask me.
17 Nov 2011, 09:27 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-90: he took mandela for setting up a commission to investigate alleged racism, graft and nepotism in rugby.
17 Nov 2011, 09:28 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-95:
Making comments like he did then in todays environment, there is no question, he would be an idiot.
That is what I said!
And he is the type of man some people here are looking to step up and control SA Rugby.
17 Nov 2011, 09:30 am
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir… Really? I think England actually have a pretty decent bunch of young players, who have just gone of the rails. There is a lot of exciting young talent to come looking at the under 20′s teams of the last 4 years. They need a decent man manger more then anything else. Coaches can provide ideas and help with the tactics, but I think you’re selling the greatest British and Irish Lions coach well short in your opinions!
17 Nov 2011, 09:32 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-97:
yes, i know that. i was being hypothetical and saying that if there ever was a reincarnation of luyt that he did not do something similar by for example taking archbishop tutu to court in the same way luyt did to nelson mandela.
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