Bok coaches to assist franchises

Cape Town - Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus will assist newly appointed Bulls coach Pote Human during the Super Rugby pre-season.

Erasmus’s deployment to the Bulls is part of a wider programme of Springbok coaches helping SA’s Super Rugby and PRO14 franchises throughout the season.

SA Rugby confirmed on Tuesday that Erasmus‚ as well as Springbok assistant coaches Matt Proudfoot‚ Mzwandile Stick and Jacques Nienaber‚ and Springbok head of athletic performance Aled Walters, would be deployed to the teams at
their request.

Erasmus has been invited by the Bulls to assist Human‚ who on Tuesday was named as successor to John Mitchell.

Erasmus said: "We started making the national panel available to the franchises a number of years ago and we want to continue to forge closer links between the national coaches and the Super Rugby and PRO14 teams.

"All of the coaches worked with one or other of the franchises in the past year to exchange ideas and expertise and hopefully assist the teams in raising the performance bar. Strong performances at franchise level will translate into strong Springbok performances — it’s a win-win."

Erasmus said the national coaches would in no way be dictating style or tactics or trying to impose a national blueprint on teams.

"We will assist in generic areas such as skills and conditioning‚ mauling‚ scrumming and lineouts‚" Erasmus said.

"It will also give the national coaches a chance to discuss individual players with the franchise coaches and work on specific areas for specific individuals." He said that they believed "this approach can work for South African rugby in its broadest sense".