The disharmony between Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and his assistants Dick Muir and Gary Gold has reached a head, with De Villiers seemingly in a desperate search for new assistants before the Springboks embark on their end-of-year tour. This despite SARU having stated that the current Springbok management would stay intact.
De Villiers contacted Frans Ludeke and Alistair Coetzee over the weekend, hoping that Ludeke would take over the reigns from Gold as forwards coach while Coetzee would replace Muir as backline coach. Both declined to vacate their current positions for one-year contracts that could see them jobless after next year’s World Cup in New Zealand.
De Villiers has also tried to lure Bulls director of rugby Heyneke Meyer, Stormers director of rugby Rassie Erasmus, former All Blacks and newly-appointed Lions coach John Mitchell and WP defensive coach Jacques Nienaber into the Bok coaching setup. All four declined.
It’s seems only logical that none of them would want to risk tarnishing their coaching reputations by agreeing to work with De Villiers. Added to that is the fact that they would be made the scapegoats for any failures, with De Villiers proving to be untouchable despite his poor coaching record and embarrassing public outbursts.