Search begins for De Villiers' wingmen

Editor

The committee appointed to search for assistants to Springbok coach Pieter de Villiers has started interviewing candidates at the South African Rugby Union (SARU) headquarters in Cape Town.

The committee appointed to search for assistants to Springbok coach Pieter de Villiers has started interviewing candidates at the South African Rugby Union (SARU) headquarters in Cape Town.

Forwards coaches, Gary Gold of the Stormers and Dawie Theron of the Cheetahs were interviewed through a satellite link – both are currently in Australasia with their Super 14 franchises.

Deon Davids of Boland who is also a forwards coach, and back-line coaches, Dick Muir of the Sharks, former Cats and Sevens coach Chester Williams and Dumisani Mhani of Border, will also be interviewed.

The announcement of the two assistants will most likely be made on Wednesday. De Villiers is part of the committee and will have a major say as to who gets appointed.

The irony of De Villiers's involvement in the appointment of his assistants lies in the fact that he is technically not yet an employee of SARU himself.

Contract negotiations with the organisation have stalled, after they deemed his request to have the final say on team selection to be unconstitutional.

With that, after two months of negotiations and when De Villiers was on the point of signing the contract, goes by the insistence by SARU that De Villiers will be bound by performance clauses – although he won't have the final say in the selection of the sides he has to coach.

The implication is that the constitution will have to be changed in order to accommodate De Villiers' request to have a say in who plays in the team – and that is a lengthy process.

De Villiers's agent, Rian Oberholzer, queried why the “constitutional issue” was not raised in January after De Villiers was first appointed and contract negotiations started.

He also pointed out that the selection in which the coach does not have the final say did not apply to De Villiers' predecessors – Jake White, Rudolf Straeuli, Harry Viljoen, Nick Mallett or Andre Markgraaff.

“We all know that De Villiers was not the first choice of Oregan Hoskins (SARU president) and Jonathan Stones (SA Rugby MD) ,” Oberholzer said, and queried whether SARU want to make it so unpleasant that De Villiers walks out.

Oberholzer said De Villiers would certainly not accept a contract in which he does not have the final say on team selections.

“How can you expect him to coach a team he did not select,” asked Oberholzer.