Cape Town | Saturday
SPRINGBOK coach Harry Viljoen has resigned from his position, citing ”off-the field media pressures” as the primary reason for the decision.
The announcement was made at a press conference in Cape Town on Saturday morning after Viljoen had informed SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd managing director Rian Oberholzer of his intentions late on Friday afternoon.
”I had time to think about it over the holiday period, but it wasn’t an easy decision. This week I was still thinking about it. It’s come a long way. I don’t think you really know the pressure until you’re there yourself. For anybody to understand it, I think you must be there yourself,” said Viljoen in explaining his decision.
”I struggled to handle the pressure and facing the World Cup I knew it would be a problem. I had been struggling and hadn’t been operating the way I could. There are two years left (before the World Cup). I (felt I) should allow the next coach enough time to get used to the circumstances and his process,” he added.
Viljoen’s decision comes after a disappointing end-of-season tour in which South Africa suffered a shock 20-10 defeat to France and were beaten 29-9 by England. Their wins on the tour were over Italy (54-26) and the United States (43-20).
Earlier last year, Viljoen had made a host of controversial decisions, including the call-up of 19-year-old flyhalf Francois Swart to a national training camp in Plettenberg Bay and the axing from the Bok squad of world class loose forward Johan Erasmus.
His decision to appoint Bob Skinstad as national captain in lace of Andre Vos and the hiring of Australians to his coaching staff also elicited strong debate.
Oberholzer, however, had given Viljoen his full support to see through his contract, which ran until the end of the World Cup in 2003.
”SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd, through Rian Oberholzer and Silas Nkanunu, gave me 100% support at all times. They were committed to me until 2003. I met Rian and Silas this week and this support was reiterated. Unfortunately, the media pressures and intrusions into my life are elements I refuse to live with,” said Viljoen.
”I know that Rian and Silas will be disappointed in my decision because of the way they supported me, but I had to be honest with myself. I was not enjoying the job, the pressures were becoming unbearable and it was impacting negatively on my family.”
Oberholzer expressed his disappointment at Viljoen’s decision.
”Fortunately we still have two years (before the World Cup) and 18 tests that must be played. Of course it’s a setback. We have spent a lot of time and money on the structure that is in place now. It was a matter of time before the results came,” he said.
”The fact that Harry made the decision now is to our advantage. The preparations for the tests this year have been done. There is a structure in place to do these things. A new coach just has to come in and pick the side,” added Oberholzer.
The SA Rugby boss did not want to speculate on who Viljoen’s successor might be. ”We will meet on Friday as a Board, but can’t take the decision there. We will finalise it at the end of February and March. We have good coaches who have come through. It’s not going to be a difficult appointment,” said Oberholzer.
”The challenge for us is that the existing structures and new coach become one because it won’t help us to start everything from scratch. We can’t have a situation where we have a new coach who wants to change everything and that will be made very clear,” he added.
Oberholzer said SA Rugby would honour their contract with former Wallaby assistant coach Tim Lane, who was brought over by Viljoen to assist with the Boks.
”The majority of people (on the Bok management) work for SA rugby, not only the Springbok team. They have different functions within the organisation. Tim Lane has a contract until 2003 and we will honour that. We believe that for the good of the team he must continue in his position,” he said.
Sarfu president and SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd Board chairman Silas Nkanunu appealed for calm from all affected by the decision.
”We must not panic and rush into making hasty decisions that will not be in the interest of Springbok rugby. What we need is composure and wisdom from the administrators, players, the media and the rugby public,” said Nkanunu. – Sapa