The future of Springbok coach Allister Coetzee remains unclear after the SA Rugby executive council addressed the pressing matter during meetings this week.
Coetzee’s position has come under intensive scrutiny following the horror season of 2016, which saw the Boks lose eight Tests out of 12 to finish the year with a win record of just 33%.
In order to follow due process, SA Rugby has undertaken a methodical review of Coetzee’s brief tenure thus far, where it’s understood that means of removing him from his post have been under serious consideration.
Just this past weekend, SA Rugby president Mark Alexander admitted that they were still unsure whether to retain Coetzee or show him the door after just one season in charge.
Standing in the way are the financial implications of firing Coetzee after just one year into his four-year contract, while the sports ministry is said to be an advocate for the former Stormers coach to retain his place at the helm. Last year, sports minister Fikile Mbalula repeatedly came out in support of Coetzee despite the poor results.
However, it’s also been reported that other key stakeholders such as sponsors would not be keen to throw their support behind SA Rugby if Coetzee remains at helm.
Although Munster director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has been spoken of as a possible candidate to take over from Coetzee, there is no doubt that he would want the proviso of being able to work with a coaching team of his choosing. He also made it clear that the politics involved in SA Rugby were part of the reason that he opted to head abroad.
The only thing that is clear at this point is that the possibility of extricating Coetzee from his post would be an extremely complicated matter, and that it would require a strong and potentially financially compromising decision from SA Rugby to follow through on the desire to enforce a change at the top.
The review process is set to be completed within the coming days, and it now remains to be seen whether the unequivocal popular public opinion for Coetzee to be sacked will become a reality.
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