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New Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer

Gavin Rich

Cape Town

If he wasn’t aware of it already, new Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s first press conference in the position would quickly have alerted him to what a tough balancing act he faces in his challenging quest to realise his twin missions of being both a people’s coach and a winning coach.

At yesterday’s unveiling at the South African Rugby Union headquarters at Newlands of a coach who became a certainty once Gert Smal had ruled himself out of the running, Meyer indicated a preparedness to confront the challenge of marrying success and nation building that has tripped up some previous coaches. Meyer sounded a bit like his predecessor when he spoke of his mission.

“I want to be a coach who makes a difference for the people of the entire country, and I want to put the needs of the team and the supporters before my own,” he said.

The highly regarded coach, who comes from a strong pedigree built up over a career which started at provincial level at the South Western Districts Eagles when he was not yet 30 (he’s now 44), was visibly emotional and struggled to control his nerves during the press conference.

“Words cannot describe how I feel,” said Meyer. “It has been hard for me to leave the Bulls, for we are a family, and it is hard to leave your family, but I want to coach the entire country, and I feel like it is my calling. I know how passionate people in this land are about their rugby and the past few days have been a humbling experience.

“I know what a huge responsibility it is to carry the hopes and dreams of a nation and I needed to be sure I was up to that task before taking on the challenge.”

It is a massive challenge, and the line of questioning at the press conference would surely have reminded him of how tough it will be.

After breaking the mould with the appointment of Peter de Villiers as the first black Springbok coach four years ago, Saru were always going to invite close scrutiny of where transformation stood in order of priority with the appointment of Meyer.

This was particularly so after Saru president Oregan Hoskins’ infamous comment at the corresponding press conference in 2008 that more than rugby reasons had been taken into consideration in De Villiers’ appointment.

With the man who missed out last time finally being appointed four years later and after not having forwarded his reputation by being at the coal-face of top level coaching in the interim, was this an admission from Saru that they had got it wrong back then, or is this appointment an indication that transformation is no longer an issue?

A fair question, and one of Saru’s own making, so their chief executive Jurie Roux, who is a good administrator and wasn’t party to the organisation’s previous mistakes, could stand accused of being unnecessarily condescending with his response that transformation is not about skin colour but about attitude. That certainly hasn’t been the idea emanating from the corridors of power in South African rugby in the past.

But one of Roux’s later comments that transformation could be achieved by establishing a winning culture and getting all the communities and cultures behind the Boks because they are successful did point to the shift that appears to have taken place. And Meyer, in avoiding the trap that De Villiers fell into four years ago when he spoke too much about changes he wanted to make to the Bok game, sent out a similar message. “There are only two kinds of rugby – winning rugby and losing rugby, and I subscribe to the first type,” said Meyer, who also said he would select the best available team.

It would be naive, though, to think that it will be that simple. While having De Villiers, who went out of his way to make himself appear accessible to all communities, as the face of the team for the past four years meant there was less scrutiny on the racial make-up of the Bok team, the intense focus that politicians applied to the selections of Jake White and the coaches before him is likely to return.

Contrary to the rumours that he would be appointed only for two years – something that Roux said was never on the table – Meyer has been contracted until after the 2015 World Cup in England. But Meyer is determined to avoid emphasising the World Cup as the target of the four-year cycle, and said instead that he aimed to make the Boks consistently successful.

“The World Cup is very important, but you cannot build at Springbok level. The building has to be done at Super Rugby and the lower levels. Every single game the Springboks play is extremely important, and the mission is to win every game. I want to see the Springboks back at No1 in the world, which is where they belong.”

The Springboks, as reigning world champions, arguably had more talent and more going for them in 2008 when Meyer missed out to De Villiers, but Meyer said it was the right time for him to take over.

“In my position at the Bulls I was busy recruiting young talent so I know as well as anyone what is coming through. There is a lot of talent in this country and I am sure that within a year or two we can be back at the top,” he said.

While Meyer started his provincial coaching career in George and was the Stormers’ forward coach in their memorable 1999 season under the captaincy of Bob Skinstad and the coaching of Alan Solomons, it was at the Bulls where he made his name by introducing systems that ensured sustained success.

When he took over the Pretoria union in 2000, they were languishing in the bottom half of the Currie Cup and by the time he left in 2007 they had won four Currie Cup titles and had become the first SA team to win the Super 12/14.