Newly appointed Springbok coach Jake White admitted on Monday that he is willing to take on board any positive contributions from former players and coaches to ensure South Africa return to the top of the world rugby pile.
”I have no doubt that we can get back into the top three,” said White, ”I wouldn’t have taken the job if I didn’t think that was possible.
”I think we have slipped behind because we haven’t been smart. Player-talent-wise we can compete with anyone,” he insisted.
The former school teacher was in the middle of a two-and-a-half-week evaluation stint with the Brumbies in Australia when the call from South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) bosses came through last Friday.
”At the time that the call came through, I was thinking ‘There is no way that these [Brumbies] players are any better than ours’ … and of course I accepted immediately, knowing things can get better,” said White, who added that he has yet to see his Springbok contract.
That revelation pours cold water on newspaper reports at the weekend of stringent performance clauses that would see White booted out of his job the moment he lost his first Test. According to the new coach that was all ”complete speculation”.
White was previously involved with the Springboks during Nick Mallett’s run of 17 successive Test wins in 1997 and 1998 as a technical adviser, but now finds himself in the hot seat.
”For sure I will use any positives I picked up from Nick as well as [World Cup-winning coach] Kitch [Christie], Ian Mac and anyone else who can add value to the cause.
”I want to stress that this is a team effort. Springbok rugby is not about me, its about the team,” said the former South Africa under-21 coach.
Many of White’s predecessors fell into the trap of taking sole responsibility for the success or failure of the team and failed to use the abundant knowledge and experience available to them in the country.
”I spoke to Nick last night and have already consulted with Mac, Andre Maakgraaff and Danie Snyman to make sure I have buy-in from the leading rugby figures in this country,” he said.
Anything less than emphatic wins over Ireland [twice] and Wales in the season’s opening Tests will satisfy White, especially after last year’s unconvincing wins over Scotland and Argentina.
”I want to win all three and get the balance right in that the performances build for the rest of the year.”
White plans to announce his new captain and squad as soon as possible to ensure that nothing is left to chance. He believes he will have plenty of say in the matter.
”I can’t for one minute believe they will force a team on me. I have a lot of the structure in place from the under-21 set-up and all I have to do is translate that to a higher level.
White has good relationships with some of the top coaches in the world, including Australia’s Edie Jones, Ireland’s Eddie O’Sullivan and Argentina’s Marcelo Loffreda.
It is, however, the obvious respect from World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward that points to the fact that Springbok rugby may just have found the saviour it needs.
”Clive sent me an e-mail at the weekend and said he was already looking forward to our clash at Twickenham in November,” revealed White.
Hopefully by then the Springboks will have recovered some of their damaged pride and will give England a better test of their abilities than the last two outings.
White embarks on a hectic schedule for the rest of the week that will see him meet with each of the four Super 12 coaches as well as the national selectors before the start of the Super 12 competition on Friday. — Sapa