Grahamstown-born and former Eastern Province player and assistant coach Allister Coetzee became the 12th Springbok coach since readmission when it was announced that he would take over in a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday 12 April 2016.
Grahamstown-born and former Eastern Province player and assistant coach Allister Coetzee became the 12th Springbok coach since readmission when it was announced that he would take over in a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday 12 April 2016.
Coetzee, who will celebrate his 53rd birthday next month, was born in Grahamstown and grew up in the town with his family. He attended Mary Waters Secondary School from 1982-1985.
After leaving Grahamstown he went on to play for Eastern Province and SARU during the 1980’s and early 1990’s, before he began his coaching career as the Eastern Province assistant coach in 1996.
Coetzee moved from one success to the next as a coach. He joined the national setup in 1998, when he was selected as the Emerging Springboks coach. He first became involved with the Springboks in 2000 as Harry Viljoen’s assistant coach, but left to become the head coach of the Mighty Elephants the next year.
Coetzee rejoined the Springboks as an assistant and backline coach under Jake White from 2004-2007, although he also briefly worked as the Cats’ backline coach for the 2006 Super Rugby season. His stint under White saw him earn a 2007 World Cup winners medal.
Coetzee became the Stormers backline coach and Western Province Head Coach in 2008. Two years later, he became the Stormers’ head coach – a position he held for five years, before leaving for Japan’s Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers in 2015.
While at Newlands, he transformed the Stormers from a lower-mid table outfit into regular contenders for the Super Rugby crown. Now, he has cut his overseas adventure short to take up the helm of the national side for the first time.
He has been given a four contract that will expire after the 2019 Rugby World Cup to be held in Japan and has been told that changes need to be made with regards to the transformation of the national side.
When asked whether the new coach was picked based on his commitment to the issue, South African Rugby Union (SARU) CEO Oregan Hoskins said: "That was an issue and he certainly does tick those boxes so we’re pretty happy about that."
The Springboks’ transformation policies have been called into question recently, as the amount of players of colour being selected has regularly fallen short of the polices set out by the ministry of sport and recreation.
The appointment of Coetzee itself is a sign of intent by SARU as he becomes the second Springbok coach of colour after Peter de Villiers. However, Coetzee has always maintained that race does not play any part of his selections.
This side of him might have to change should he want to see out the full length of his contract, as SARU’s long term goal is for 50% of the 2019 World Cup squad to be players of colour.
The newly-selected coach has almost exactly two months to prepare for the first test of the year on 11 June against Ireland at Newlands – the stadium which saw him achieve close to hero status over his years as Stormers coach.
Keep an eye on Grocott’s Mail Sport on Facebook and @GrocottsSport on Twitter for more updates as the man from Grahamstown inherits what is commonly considered as the biggest job in South African sport.
