Cape Town - Springbok coach Allister Coetzee believes the “blueprint for SA Rugby is now at an advanced stage” following a second coaching indaba on Monday, despite facing a review of his own performance on Tuesday.
The Boks come off their worst calendar year ever, having lost eight out of 12 Test matches in 2016. But that hasn’t stopped Coetzee from continuing with his work. Having organised the first indaba in October, the Bok coach brought together the six SA Super Rugby bosses – Johan Ackermann (Lions), Robbie Fleck (Stormers), Robert du Preez (Sharks), Nollis Marais (Bulls) and Deon Davids of the Southern Kings – on Monday, along with SA Rugby president Mark Alexander and vice president James Stoffberg, who is also the chairman of the high-performance committee.
The meeting followed last week’s conditioning indaba, where Springbok strength and conditioning coach Dr Warren Adams facilitated discussions with his franchise counterparts.
“The blueprint for SA Rugby is now at an advanced stage, and the decisions from today’s meeting will be incorporated in a document which we will finalise early next year. We discussed certain skill sets and fundamentals which will ensure players meet the required Springbok standards,” said Coetzee.
“We also looked at the 2017 international calendar, with the aim to optimise preparation time of the Springboks and presented the outcomes of the conditioning workshop held last week.”
Part of the calendar will be the three-Test series against France in June next year. SA Rugby announced on Monday that the Tricolores will run out at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on June 10, Kings Park in Durban the following Saturday and the decider at Ellis Park on June 24.
The indaba also discussed the 2016 season, player contracting, player retention and succession planning, and there will be another meeting ahead of the Super Rugby kickoff next year.