Durban - Despite announcing his management team on April 12, new Springbok coach Allister Coetzee still wants his old friend Matthew Proudfoot to be part of the national set-up.
Afrikaans website Netwerk24 reported this week that Coetzee has submitted a request to the South African Rugby Union to recruit Proudfoot, who walked a long road with Coetzee as the forwards coach at the Stormers and Western Province.
Proudfoot even joined Coetzee in Japan at Kobe Steelers following the end of the 2015 Super Rugby season, and remains contracted to the club.
That could be a stumbling block for Coetzee and SARU, as Kobe may be reluctant to lose another top coach from their ranks.
And whether SARU would want to sign on Proudfoot is another matter, as they have already appointed Johann van Graan - who was one of Heyneke Meyer’s assistants - as the forwards coach, with Mzwandile Stick in charge of the backline.
But Coetzee, 52, did mention when he was unveiled as the Bok coach that he could still bring in additional members to the team management, and that is how Proudfoot may come into the mix.
The 44-year-old could become the scrumming coach as he played Test rugby for Scotland and is largely credited for the turnaround in fortunes of the Stormers scrum in Super Rugby in recent seasons, where he brought through bright talents such as Springbok tighthead props Frans Malherbe and Vincent Koch, looseheads Steven Kitshoff and Oli Kebble, and hooker Scarra Ntubeni.
Meanwhile, Kobe Steelers have already moved on from Coetzee and appointed Australian Jim McKay as their new head coach.
The stuff.co.nz website reported that McKay was the Wallaby backline coach under the watch of Ewen McKenzie, with whom he had also worked at the Reds.
They guided the Brisbane team to the 2011 Super Rugby title, with McKay playing a key role in developing renowned Reds and Australian halfback pair Will Genia and Quade Cooper.
The 49-year-old was at the Wallabies for 15 months in 2013 and 2014, but was one of the victims of the clean-out in the management as Michael Cheika replaced McKenzie for the 2014 end-of-year tour to Europe.
McKay will work with Proudfoot, while there are two other South Africans at the club in Andries Bekker and Jaque Fourie.
African News Agency