I just heard from one of Nick Malletts cronies at the WP headquarters that he is officially off to England.
What a waste!
Oreganum Foreskins should have been awake to the opportunity of capturing him before he left.
To my mind, one of the soundest technical coaches around.
Farewell St Nick. We would have loved you to coach the Boks
If he does do so, we are in for a strong challenge. Despite the noise deriding England's players, they do in fact have real quality. With an experienced and highly successful coach? They will exactly what had been missing the last four years! Beware!!
It's so sad that Peter de Villiers, effectively a bum off the street, can get a Bok job for nothing and Mallett gets shunned. South Africa is truly a curious place that defies logic.
"logic"??? That went out the window, singalong with SARU and having the "right" pigmentation replaced logic. SARU/South Africa embrace mediocrity, how else would you explain the loss of Jake White and Nick Mallett?!
Something that irked me was the use of Jake as a justifier for Peter's ascent to Bok coach. They share very little prior to getting the job. Jake was actually involved in the Bok setup under Mallett. He built up a good reputation amongst coaching circles. Peter was just a rash gamble. Hopefully they've learnt from this mistake. However, even if Gert gets the job, it will not make up for shunning Meyer. Meyer was and still is the best man for the position. In 2008 we were prime for a dynasty; Which is why I was never pleased for a brief spurt of success in 2009. It simply was underwhelming for a team as superior as ours. I even felt at the time, in 2009, that the Bulls would have thumped every test side in the world; certainly more so in 2010 than the actual Bok side!
Jake in particular is the most globally lauded coach in the history of South African rugby! He takes a lot of criticism at home, but abroad? Nobody will turn him away, nobody of note has a bad word to say about him. He even repeatedly pushed for coaching structures to be put in place in SA to establish a succession route for coaches as well as build a central base for educating the next gen of coaching. It's a disgrace that SARU treated him as they did. Even after all they did to him as Bok coach he still offered to help SA rugby.
I'm not sure Mallett is a great loss. Relative to PdV, sure, losing the detritus off your shoe would be a loss. But we have better options, including Meyer....let's hope the Rapport article is right.
Mallett has an M.O. that has him starting quickly....but his teams seem to lose steam. We were no more effective in the 1999 RWC under Mallett than we were in in 2011 RWC under PdV. In fact the results were remarkably similar....a close loss to Aus in a game we should have won....sterile tactics once our plan A had been countered.
Mallett also had a great year in 1998 like PdV's 2009. In fact those two years marked high water marks for Bok rugby, only to be followed by rapid and inexplicable decline.
Then there was the famous Mallett opinion piece that postulated that Island backs would dominate world rugby because of their size and pace...that we would struggle to compete. That's when he lost me.
So, mozart, are you really saying that Mallett id no beter than Peter de Villiers? I just want to confirm that I do understand you correctly.
Mozart is right, Mallett's last two years were poor. BUT! 1999 was the year of massive defensive developments. Peter never had a good anything on his own. Their tenure's couldn't have been more different. Mallett and Jake are the two best coaches we have had in many decades. Meyer fits into that group, then Loffie to a lesser extent a very good coach.
Nope Ceradyne. But I am saying there are remarkable similarities in their periods as Bok coach. Hell Mallett even inherited pretty much his whole team from Du Plessis, as PdV did from White.
Handsome is as handsome does ....Kitch and Jake delivered the goods. Mallett, Destroyli and PdV didn't for reasons they all had a large hand in.
Moz, there's no disputing the facts and to that end you're correct when saying that Pietie Da Plodder and Mallet failed to deliver and finished up with the same end results but that's not saying that Da Plodder had the same nous or coaching abilities as Mallett.
Gotcha!
Mallet is a great loss from a Super 15 point of view - eg I would like him coaching the Stormers. Alistair commands respect as a gentlemen and decent person but I have my doubts about him ever since his Bok days where he did very little for the Bok backline - much like Dick Muir.
Debatable whether Mallet is better than Meyer. MAllet certainly now has a heap of experience and is clearly very highly regarded overseas. The England position is a plumb job.
What worries me is that there were rumours that Mallet would grab Rassie as apparently he too has huge regard for Rassie. If England get these two watch out.
@mozart,
Sorry, but I do not see many similarities between ODV and Mallett. Sure, he inherited Carl Dup's team, but what was he to do when he took over? Fire them all? Nope, they had three wins under the belt (one against the Lions, one against Tonga and the last 3N test against Aus), and I cannot see how they were anywhere near the team that PDV inherited. I am not talking about their talent or abilities, I am talking mental fitness. PDV inherited a young team of RWC winners, at the top of the rankings. Nick's major failure was giving Alan Solomons what he wanted by firing Jake White, then firing Teichmann for the '99 WC and taking an injured Skinstadt along. Then again, as they always say:"When I do something right nobody remembers, but if I do something wrong nobody forgets, or everybody remembers.
Ceradyne I'm stretching a bit here, I'll confess. Given the choice between PDV and Mallett, I'd take Mallett in every way. But I'd rather have Jake White.
Jake always had a tactical nuance that shifted things in his favour in big games. The first Pom match in the 2007 RWC we surprisingly attacked England with our backs....we used a totally diffferent more measured game plan in the final.
Mallett by contrast beat the Poms in 99 with Jannie de Beer. And in that brilliant semi, he rolled out exactly the same game plan. But as Patton famously said "Rommel you magnificent bastard I read your book". The Aussies totally anticipated our every move, and we lost with a much superior pack.
Competent is Malllett, but no prophet.
Hello, Denny asked me to join here, so I am doing as requested.
I feel that, as an English girl, this is a topic I can comment on with a bit of knowledge.
As things stand, NO-ONE has been given the England job and the RFU have just employed, at great cost, a London based Head hunting Company to vet the various candidates. Stuart Lancaster has also been given an extra 6 months in the post to prove himself.
We have heard similar stories over the years re other foreign Coaches and have even had people allegedly speaking on their behalf about the fact that they have been given jobs within the England set up. These turn out to be totally false. So I would really take all this with a pinch of salt.
I would also be very surprised if Jim Mallinder were still in the running for the job, as MO suggests ( hello again, MO...hope you're well ! ) He would never be my choice and I think his stock has fallen rapidly of late, not only with regards to on field matters but also by the way he handles his squad off the field.
It's a case of waiting and seeing what happens post 6 Nations and the England Tour to SA.
Tx for that Becs it's put the issue into a lovely perspective.
Ye sthanks becs rumour sare bound to fly around with a big appointment like this, One thing for sure England need to make a wise choice. W fortunately only really have won candidate on the list and he is acceptable so we cant go too far wrong!
As I said i just hope meyer has free reign to select his coaching etcx team.
Moz, Moz, Moz - White vs Mallett as coach - no contest, Nick is a far better coach - give me Mallett anyday
