THURSDAY, 11.00AM:
STAND-IN coaches Wim Hollander and Koos Ehlers took over the training of the Gauteng Lions team on Wednesday, in the wake of resignations from the senior coaching team, Ray Mordt, Tito Lupini and Hugo van As.
The new coaches are there as a stopgap measure, as Gauteng president Louis Luyt turned down the former coaches’ letters of resignation. “Those three individuals may no longer be in charge of the Gauteng Lions senior side, but they are definitely not going to be lost to our province,” Luyt said.
WEDNESDAY, 11.00AM:
GAUTENG Lions rugby coach Ray Mordt and his assistants Tito Lupini and Hugo van As resigned and refused to coach the team on Tuesday, blaming some “senior World Cup contracted players” for making their jobs impossible.
Dr Louis Luyt, president of the South African Rugby Football Union, stepped in to give the Lions a pep talk, and to direct Tuesday’s important training session – the Gauteng Lions are preparing for Friday’s friendly international game against a Scottish XV at Ellis Park.
Mordt said there has been tension building between senior players and the coaches for weeks, and he said they had “no option but to resign as coaching staff of the senior team.”
Wim Hollander and Koos Ehlers have been appointed as impromptu coaches of the senior side.