The dust is far from settled at Loftus Versfeld after former coach Frans Ludeke was shown the door over the weekend.
While Victor Matfield is said to be the front-runner to take over the reins from Ludeke, it has also emerged that Matfield will face serious opposition for the top job from current Springbok assistant coach Johann van Graan, pictured.
Van Graan is also said to be on the shopping list of other franchises with the Stormers apparently also showing interest in him taking over from the departing Allister Coetzee.
A resident of Pretoria and a man who cut his coaching teeth at the Bulls, first as technical assistant and then as forwards and attack coach during their glory years, Van Graan could be available for a return to Loftus after the Springboks’ World Cup campaign – his contract with the SA Rugby Union expires at year-end.
Much of the credit for the Bulls’ domination of Super Rugby between 2007 and 2010 has gone to Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer and Ludeke, but both mentors always took time to acknowledge Van Graan’s abilities.
What also makes Van Graan a strong contender is his intimate knowledge of Bulls rugby and the culture having been a ball boy during the heydays of Naas Botha. And playing for Affies and Tuks before Meyer took him into his coaching staff.
Van Graan also enjoys the respect of a lot of the Bulls senior players as most, if not all, owe much of their rise in professional rugby to the many hours he offered them in improving the technical side of their games.
What will also give Van Graan an advantage over Matfield is his educational background – he holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing degree, is an SA Level 2 certificate-holder and has facilitated a number of coaching courses with Meyer.
Van Graan’s strength is in his people management skills and much of it comes from the times he spent with Australia rugby league teams, professional teams in Japan, Barcelona FC, English rugby clubs Saracens, Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints while he has also taken time to see how NFL teams like the San Francisco 49ers, the New England Patriots do things and also visited the US Army Academy in West Point to learn more about how people perform under pressure.
If Fourie du Preez is to indeed return to Loftus as backline coach next year then it will certainly be under Van Graan as the two share a very close friendship, while there is also mutual respect between Van Graan and Matfield, who would stay on as forwards coach.
The only snag in a Van Graan rise to the top job will be his father Barend van Graan’s position as CEO of the Blue Bulls Company after Van Graan senior had his contract with the franchise extended by a further three years by the board of directors.
If the Bulls are to make a formal offer to Johann van Graan then Barend van Graan will have to recuse himself from the process as it would be a conflict of interest.
Sources close to the Bulls say the purge which began over the weekend is set to continue for the next few weeks with new Currie Cup coach Nollis Marais expected to make changes to the current management. It is also understood Bulls backline coach Pieter Rossouw is likely to ask for an early release from his contract after having announced last month that he would not be staying on at Loftus at the end of his contract in October. - Pretoria News