The irony of the expected appointment of Heyneke Meyer as Springbok coach on Friday afternoon is that it is an indirect admission of guilt by the South African Rugby Union (Saru) that they chose the wrong man in 2008 to succeed Jake White.
Meyer was the hot favourite back then because of the dynasty he had built at the Bulls, only for the unheralded Peter de Villiers to pop up from obscurity to trump Meyer – with the help of an administration that admitted the decision was about “more than rugby”.
Four years later, the tables have been turned. De Villiers reapplied for his old job, but it is understood that that he was never in the picture after a sometimes bizarre reign that saw the Boks hit rare heights of success in one season only to hit rock bottom the next, with the whole shabang crashing down to earth after a humiliating quarter-final exit at last year’s Rugby World Cup.
De Villiers promised so much when he was appointed, notably that he would inject imagination and exhilaration into the “boring Boks” but he found himself out of his depth.
So, De Villiers has been shown the door and in comes Meyer, and we immediately have this arresting question: Had Meyer been appointed in the first place in 2008, would the Boks still be World Champions? Quite possibly, because one of Meyer’s great strengths is his succession planning.
Had he taken over from White, it is likely that a revitalised and evolved Springbok team would have done duty in New Zealand – there would have been no flogging of a horse on the point of expiration.
So Meyer finally gets his chance, but even now he has come in through the back door.
Gert Smal was Saru’s No1 choice but the former Bok flank chose Dublin over Cape Town and will continue as forwards coach of Ireland. Smal is primed to take over as head coach at international level, but he ultimately chose family harmony over coaching in the bubbling cauldron that is Springbok rugby – Smal’s wife and children are happily ensconced in the Ireland capital and had no desire to swap tranquillity for the Springbok spotlight.
The other reported contender was Stormers coach Allister Coetzee, White’s assistant from 2004 to 2007, but it has transpired that he was more of a media favourite than a genuine Saru prospect.
It is worth nothing that late last year Kiwi John Mitchell was sounded out for the job, but the Lions coach was not interested in SA rugby politics.
When Smal cried off, Meyer stepped out of the shadows to be offered the position many believe was rightfully his four years ago. The hiccup has been that he is only a year into a four-year plan of rebuilding the Bulls and his employers have been playing hard ball with Saru over compensation for a man regarded in Pretoria as something of a messiah.
But money talks, and the Boks will get their man and the Bulls a truckload of money to buy the players Meyer had on his wish list. Heck, it has even had Fourie du Preez, Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield reconsidering their careers, and that cannot be a bad thing! - The Star