The Springbok Coaches

· Penguin Random House South Africa
Ebook
368
Pages
Eligible
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn More

About this ebook

Was coach Heyneke Meyer the reason why the Springboks failed at the 2015 Rugby World Cup? And what does the future have in store for the incumbent coach, Allister Coetzee? Find these answers, and many others, in The Springbok Coaches.
In this new, updated edition of The Poisoned Chalice, rugby writer Gavin Rich takes us past the disappointment of the 2015 Rugby World Cup right up to the appointment of Allister Coetzee in April 2016, and dissects not only the successes and failures of these two Springbok coaches, but of all the post-isolation coaches who preceded them. If all of them agree on one thing, it is that the job goes hand in hand with tremendous pressure and that, at some point, they all buckled under the strain. This book reveals why André Markgraaff and Rudolf Straeuli came up with some of their weird and controversial decisions, why Nick Mallett dropped Gary Teichmann and how he regrets it now, why Harry Viljoen really quit, and why the pressures on Heyneke Meyer made it so much more difficult for the Springboks to win the 2015 Rugby World Cup. This book chronicles all the post-isolation coaches’ experiences via interviews, articles and stats. From the triumphs to the controversies, the boardroom to the rugby field, The Springbok Coaches will reveal exactly what it takes to be the Bok coach, and why each and every one of them had, at some time or another in the toughest job in South African sport, lost it. A riveting, often revelatory and definitely controversial read!

About the author

Gavin Rich is an award-winning rugby writer who is ideally placed to write the stories of the post-isolation Springboks, as he covered their first tour in 1992 and has remained on the beat ever since, a period of 27 years. He went on tour with the Boks first as the SA Morning Group man and then later as the group rugby writer for Independent Newspapers, before continuing his observations of the Springboks as senior rugby correspondent for Supersport.com, the Weekend Argus and other publications, such as SA Rugby Magazine. Rich is the author of former Bok coach Peter de Villiers’s bestselling autobiography Politically Incorrect, Mitch – The Real Story, the autobiography of John Mitchell, and The Springbok Coaches. He was educated at Rhodes University and Northlands Boys’ High School.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.