Jake Fired, again....

News out is that the Bulls have decided to fire Jake White. Not much has been shared exactly who the replacement will be but rumours have it that Johan Ackerman will take over. Would be nice to see Johan and Swys back together. He comes with even more experience after coaching at Gloucester and Japan, however, I don't think he had much success the Top League. So not sure if the bools will get a better coach.

But the article said that both Nortje and Coetzee went to the board and gave them an ultimatum to fire Jake.

Was he as bad? Probably, his school master mentality always lets him down. He should move on now and start enjoying his retirement. Maybe Wales could do with his services.

After playing like losers the Bools player turn on their coach….nothing to respect there. They did it in 2006 and Jake won the WC a year later. Or rather his team did, just like it was Nortje missing a crucial tackle that led to a try, not Jake.

He had a good innings, something like 5 years. The Bulls' CEO and co. said that he left the Bulls in a better position than he inherited it. Also, White has established a good platform for the next coach.

He is a bit of a prick, but he is a good coach. He might need to retire soon given he had a heart attack last year.

Rugby is a ruthless sport…. Who really knows what was going on there?

Apparently Andries Bekker was also not happy with Jake, sorry to hear about his health issues …. Hope he finds something soothing to just chill for now……

No new coach yet?? Maybe Bekker will step up?

So Moz do you think he could have still been successful with the bulls??

Jake may very well have reached his sell by date. You become the grandfather rather than the father. But time will tell if the Bools do any better under another coach. All the guys who have done worse in the other franchises are still in their jobs.

Having said that, this kind of Et tu Brute back stabbing stuff shows no respect for a Trinations and WC winning coach. Much as Flash’s experience with the current Boks is inspiring, this is a poor example for all those kids cheering the Bools.

What was wrong with approaching Jake and seeing if the differences, which sound like they were personal, couldn’t be resolved. Or if there was no way back, leaving it to Jake to make the decision. It’s done every day and much more elegant.

I just saw your post M. It did look like the Bools were out of ideas in the URC final and disappointingly the defense was much less effective than Leinster. Definitely some negatives there.

But he did reach the final….and comfortably best other SA teams. I still believe the tournament favors British teams….just as the Boks playing in NZ was tougher than Oz playing in NZ in the old TN.

And man for man Leinster did have a much superior team. Posters will deny that because Jake is so disliked but it’s true.

So I’m from Missouri on this….in fact I’ll take any bets that the Bools won’t be in the final next year.

What was wrong with approaching Jake and seeing if the differences, which sound like they were personal, couldn’t be resolved.

Perhaps Jake shouldn't have constantly gone on so much about needing to bring in better players in public. It was effectively him saying my players aren't good enough repeatedly. Can't help but have undermined the confidence of the players he already had.

His interview after the URC final was awful. Basically said they never had a chance unless Leinster played crap, I mean why even bother turning up if you think like that. You can acknowledge a team is better than you but you still got to go into a match believing you can beat them, that you find another level and force enough pressure on your opponent to make them have a bad game.

I still believe the tournament favors British teams….just as the Boks playing in NZ was tougher than Oz playing in NZ in the old TN.

Well you can't change geography, but the South African's could at least sort out more direct flights to Europe. Also it doesn't really favour British teams, a British team has won it once, a South African team once and Irish teams twice.

And man for man Leinster did have a much superior team. Posters will deny that because Jake is so disliked but it’s true.

Leinster have a superior team to Northampton. Didn't stop the Saints from beating them.

His interview after the URC final was awful. Basically said they never had a chance unless Leinster played crap, I mean why even bother turning up if you think like that. You can acknowledge a team is better than you but you still got to go into a match believing you can beat them, that you find another level and force enough pressure on your opponent to make them have a bad game.

And Jake a WC winning coach, something Ireland has never done, doesn’t know that? It was a poor interview by a disappointed coach. Is that enough to negate everything he has done and fire the man with the best SA record in the URC?

Well you can't change geography, but the South African's could at least sort out more direct flights to Europe. Also it doesn't really favour British teams, a British team has won it once, a South African team once and Irish teams twice.

So NH have won it 3 out of 4 times….are you suggesting that traveling to play a final, more likely because there are 12 NH teams vs 4 RSA teams, isn’t an advantage?

Leinster have a superior team to Northampton. Didn't stop the Saints from beating them.

So having a superior team is irrelevant , of course upsets happen. Any coach in the world would still prefer to have the better talent.

And Jake a WC winning coach, something Ireland has never done, doesn’t know that? It was a poor interview by a disappointed coach. Is that enough to negate everything he has done and fire the man with the best SA record in the URC?

It wasn't just that interview. He's been saying that South Africa needs to bring back it's overseas players to be competitive for years, probably since season 1 of the URC. It's basically a constant refrain to the players that he has..."your not good enough".

So NH have won it 3 out of 4 times….are you suggesting that traveling to play a final, more likely because there are 12 NH teams vs 4 RSA teams, isn’t an advantage?

No, it's an advantage but as I said you can't change geography. Home team's always have an advantage and that advantage is bigger when you factor in long distance travel. But at the same time it's not insurmountable, as proven by two Northern Hemisphere teams travelling to South Africa for the final and winning. The Bulls and the Lion's also have the unique advantage of altitude. You can also argue that in URC 1 South African teams had the advantage they were not competing in the Champions Cup those had less games and have less 1-3 games this season due to their poor performances in the Champions Cup.

So having a superior team is irrelevant , of course upsets happen. Any coach in the world would still prefer to have the better talent.

Of course, having the better talent is preferable, but no need to keep making comments implying your players aren't good enough over a prolonged period of time.

Jake has a history of showing his true colours after 2 seasons

No one wants to be lead by a petulant crybaby

It wasn't just that interview. He's been saying that South Africa needs to bring back it's overseas players to be competitive for years, probably since season 1 of the URC. It's basically a constant refrain to the players that he has..."your not good enough".

Which is exactly what the Bools should want their coach to do…fight to get the best talent back in SA. We play with almost zero imported Springboks and constantly have to defend our talent from overseas countries. The same is true in the URC. South Africa is the most disadvantaged country from player export/import perspective…….Jake is spot on.

No, it's an advantage but as I said you can't change geography. Home team's always have an advantage and that advantage is bigger when you factor in long distance travel. But at the same time it's not insurmountable, as proven by two Northern Hemisphere teams travelling to South Africa for the final and winning.

Which is why international competitions in most sports are either determined by log standing or by playoffs that are at neutral sites or at both teams’ sites. See the European club soccer championships for example.

Of course, having the better talent is preferable, but no need to keep making comments implying your players aren't good enough over a prolonged period of time.

These comments of Jake’s are always at a team level, he doesn’t single out individual players….so all it could amount to is a few more international players. Getting upset by it is very convenient…stabbing him in the back is distasteful

If the Bools had won and the team hadn’t copped a lot of flak, none of this would have happened..

Mozart

The problem with White relates irectly to his handling of the players individually and gopes back to how he started his coaching career, White was the coach of school team at the Jeppie High scool and from their ebcame a coach as a career,

The problem became evident in the period when he was coach of the Springboks in 2004, White;s prblem is that he treated the professional players on the same absis as he did the school kids. In the Tri-Nations of 2004 eacj f the three teams had to play 4 matches against each other and each of the Springboks, All Blacks and Wallabies won 2 matched each and the Springboks won the trophy on point differences, However after 2004 the team went down in peformances due to two factors namely -

1. the treament of the playes as "school boys"; and
2. the fact that he develop a "favorite system" that divide the team.

In 2006 the Soringbos was nt unctioning as a team - an example being the 46-0 loss againstthe Walalbies in Brisbane - so the move to get rid of White became evident, bur in the end he was saved because the WC was only 10 mnths away, In the end the number 4 ranked Springbok team never played a single maytch against teams tanked higher than the Springboks in the torunment. The highest ranke team the Springboks played twice was England - ateam ranked as 7th and the other matches were all against teams ranked below the Springboks. Another interesting issue is that White brought Jones on Board a an assistant and also brought on Board Erasmus, The latter left the coaching set-up within month - but never reealed why he left, It obviously relted to two things - namely the fact of the way White treated the players and the fact that no game plan was in evidence.

Be it as it may when SARU refused to renew White's cpntract in 2007-08 nt a sigle player supprted White and in subsequent books and satemetns none of teh players defended White - in fact all that came out of the players had a kind word to say about White as a coach, The latter included both Smit and Matfield,

Similar problems were encountered in 2014 when the Sharks players rebelled and refuse to sign their renewl contracts with White as coach. The same situation was reveated in the case o Montellier/ That is why I was not at all surprised about the break-up in rekationships in the case of the Bulls,

The oher problem is that White never developed a game plan for the team and his only way was to kick and crashball - nothing else,

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Which is exactly what the Bools should want their coach to do…fight to get the best talent back in SA. We play with almost zero imported Springboks and constantly have to defend our talent from overseas countries. The same is true in the URC. South Africa is the most disadvantaged country from player export/import perspective…….Jake is spot on.

There is a balancing act, if you keep saying that you need to bring back players to compete, it's defacto saying my current players aren't good enough, and yes South Africa is the most disadvantaged when it comes to loosing players to richer teams abroad but South Africa has by far the biggest pool of players to choose from.

Which is why international competitions in most sports are either determined by log standing or by playoffs that are at neutral sites or at both teams’ sites. See the European club soccer championships for example.

The reason the 3 northern hemisphere club league have plays off in the first place is too keep it interesting, the URC would be super boring with Leinster run away log leaders each season. But at the same time the log leaders should be given a significant reward for performing the best over the course of the season. The problem as well is where would you pick a neutral venue, if its anywhere in Europe South Africa still have to travel significantly more, if you were to move some where with more even travel times than say Dubai or something the problem is rugby isn't soccer, it wouldn't have the fans willing to travel. Then you have issues of do you need to book a neutral venue in advance, what happens if say Rome was booked as the venue final and then two South Africa teams were in the final...I suppose at least both would be equally disadvantaged but you would virtually no one at the game.

You can't change geography, but at least moving up north address the time zone issue and possible enables the SA times a bigger pay check enabling them to keep and bring more players than before.

I really enjoy the SA teams in the URC, both the excuse making gets a bit tiring after a while, refs, travel money etc. At the end of the day South Africa is located were it is and its economy and society are what they presently are.

These comments of Jake’s are always at a team level, he doesn’t single out individual players….so all it could amount to is a few more international players. Getting upset by it is very convenient…stabbing him in the back is distasteful

If the Bools had won and the team hadn’t copped a lot of flak, none of this would have happened..

But the Bulls didn't win.

Mozart

Let me remind you - rugby is a team sport - when White made unflattering remarks it effects all players making up the team.

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