More must be done to celebrate South African rugby’s coaching legends, ensuring their contributions to the game are given the recognition they deserve, writes MARK KEOHANE.
Writing for TimesLIVE, Keohane emphasises the wealth of coaching expertise in the Republic. While the Rugby World Cup is the pinnacle of Test rugby, he argues that success between World Cups, such as winning major Test matches, and Tri-Nations and Rugby Championship titles, deserves more celebration.
Keohane praises Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber for their back-to-back World Cup wins and defeating the British & Irish Lions. He highlights Nick Mallett’s record-equalling 17-Test winning streak, Peter de Villiers’ triumphs over the All Blacks, and Heyneke Meyer’s success rate against all teams except New Zealand.
Beyond the Springboks, Keohane applauds John Dobson’s Vodacom URC victory with the Stormers and John Plumtree’s EPCR Challenge Cup triumph with the Sharks. He also commends the likes of Johan Ackermann and Johann van Graan for thriving abroad.
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“This week I started a series on my blog www.keo.co.za celebrating the very best Springboks of the last 30 years. The series is called REWIND, but in doing the first one in Rassie Erasmus the player, it got me thinking about our Springboks coaches and just how successful they have been in the professional era,” Keohane writes.
“For me, not enough celebration is given to achievements outside of the World Cup or for returning from the World Cup with a medal that is not gold.
“There is so much coaching IP from South African coaches, but like with our former Springbok players, there is never enough celebration of just what they achieved as national coaches.
“Let’s change that, get them all in one room and make it one hell of a rugby night.”
Photo: @Springboks/Twitter
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