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Allister Coetzee: Focus on Currie Cup
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Allister Coetzee insists there is no truth in reports of a planned coup involving himself and Jake White aimed at toppling Peter de Villiers.
The Western Province boss has seen his name come to the fore in the past 24 hours as a potential successor to his under-fire Springbok counterpart after media comments by White.
The World Cup-winning coach on Monday revealed his disgust at the way the national team had capitulated over the last ten months and revealed that he had made contact with the South African Rugby Union (SARU) over the possibility of replacing De Villiers.
White said he was ready to do the job on an interim basis, before handing over to his former national assistant Coetzee, who has responded by saying: "The link made to me and the Bok job is media speculation.
"There is a Springbok coach at the moment and SARU should decide who they want to take over the job and when, and they have fixed processes to deal with such things.
And he added in Business Day: "At this point my focus is on the Currie Cup and guiding Western Province to success."
Coetzee is the man White had favoured to replace him after he led South Africa to the world title in Paris three years ago.
Instead De Villiers has come in and enjoyed mixed fortunes, with the high points of his reign so far coming in 2009 when the Springboks beat the British and Irish Lions and also won the Tri Nations.
But 2010 has been a forgettable year so far with five wins mixed with five losses - two to Australia and three to New Zealand - as John Smit's team ended the annual competition with the wooden spoon and worst ever overall display.
De Villiers' woes were capped by the slender 41-39 defeat to the Wallabies in Bloemfontein over the weekend.
Comments
capebacon says...
The only person toppling Peter de Villiers is Peter de Villiers !
Posted 17:38 07th September 2010
robo says...
Isn't it amazing that in the post-apartheid era white South Africans, Jake White included, have expectations that a non-white will, or must, take over their job! Hence all the talk by SA bloggers about Alistair Coetzee being a possible replacement for Peter de Villiers, undisguisedly saying that he is the right colour. So, ability and credentials be damned! (Remember our civil service?) Is he the best coach in the country for the job? To the devil with that. Would a foreign coach not do a better job of digging the Boks out of the doldrums? Can't have that, he must be a 'black' South African. That folk, happens to be the same old apartheid attitude in which race superceded all else. For heaven's sake, this is pathetic capitulation and bowing to a new form of government-sponsored racism - just the way it was while apartheid existed. It's wrong, as was apartheid, so to be resisted, not resigned to.
Posted 17:00 07th September 2010