Smal the frontrunner for Bok post
15 Dec 2011
Gert Smal is the favourite for the Springbok coaching position although Allister Coetzee and Heyneke Meyer are also on the shortlist.
The appointment will only be confirmed on 27 January 2012, but according to a reliable source, Smal is expected to pip Coetzee and Meyer for the job.
Smal has enjoyed success as a coach in South Africa, coaching Western Province to the Currie Cup title in 2000 and 2001, and also serving as the forwards coach during Jake White’s World Cup-winning tenure. For the past four years he has coached the Ireland forwards and was integral to the Emerald Greens’ 2009 Six Nations triumph.
While Meyer has also enjoyed great success with the Bulls, firstly as a hands-on coach and then as a director of rugby, it is Smal’s record with transformation that may reportedly secure him the post.
Smal was responsible for nurturing numerous players of colour while he was at WP, and in 2008 he drafted a transformation proposal to Saru detailing the development of black forwards in the Eastern Cape region.
Peter de Villiers, whose term as Bok coach will expire at the end of 2011, struggled to transform the Boks despite his earlier intentions. This is best illustrated by the make-up of White and De Villiers’s respective World Cup teams.
White picked just two players of colour in the match 22 for the 2007 World Cup final in France while De Villiers picked the same two players (Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen) and just two more (Gurthro Steenkamp and Gio Aplon) in the 22 that played Australia in the 2011 quarter-final in New Zealand.
260 Comments
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16 Dec 2011, 04:45 am
@ashampoopaloo-249: Surely Juan Smith is ahead of Schalk and Spies in the captain’s department? You’d go to war with Juan and you know he’ll keep his head in the trenches when the blood starts pouring out of his ears, but Schalk and Spies will lose their composure as soon as the opposition gets ahead.
16 Dec 2011, 11:40 am
@kwas-251:
as a massive schalk fanboy, funnily enough, I agree…
16 Dec 2011, 13:09 pm
Still think a new young captain should be chosen to lead the boks to 2015 and beyond……..a young player who will be in the mix by 2015 like a brussouw or f.steyn….
16 Dec 2011, 13:33 pm
Has the shortlist been confirmed… I thought that this was state’s secret. Can we also confirm that Gert Smal had said that he will not serve under a black coach but that he was okay with serving under an Irish coach. Will he serve under PDV or AC??
I think that PDV is best placed to serve as DoR… with HM or AC as head coach. Rassie can be head water boy or bat man. JW can assist with technology ( setting up the AV equipment and putting batteries in the walkie talkies)
17 Dec 2011, 18:55 pm
Gert Smal has done wonders as a scrum coach in Ireland. I’m not too sure of his political leaningd but they will be exposed as time goes on.
19 Dec 2011, 12:24 pm
I am not a Smal fan. The Bok forwards were very average during his tenure under White and he achieved nothing as a coach of a very talented WP/Stormers side, other than 2 CC
19 Dec 2011, 12:27 pm
@seamus-256: He took the Stormers to the semis admist a run of horrific injuries to key players.
Re the Boks. He could only work with the players selected who didn’t exactly set the world alight with their destructiveness in the Super competitions.
19 Dec 2011, 12:28 pm
@youknowwho-254: Never seen him state he wouldn’;t server under a black coach; it would go against his principals as witnessed by his plan to rejuvenate Eastern Cape rugby.
21 Dec 2011, 11:32 am
DAWN!!! You’re still around!!
23 Dec 2011, 01:43 am
@seamus-256: You are a dunder-head of note. The forwards under Jake’s term were far better than they have been before or since Jake! Yes, our scrum was not always reliable, but even then our pack was monstrous. Smal achieved alot both for the Boks and Ireland, and even plotted our demise in 2009. He is a very good coach, far better than Rassie, Coetzee or that raving imbecile Bleater duh Failures.
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