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Mitchell says no to Bok job

Cape Town - Lions coach John Mitchell says he won't apply for the position of new Springbok coach if Peter de Villiers gets axed.

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Mitchell was a popular vote earlier this week on Sport24's poll on who should be the next Bok coach.

Sport24's chief writer, Rob Houwing, wrote on Wednesday that "the South African public is surprisingly open to the idea of an overseas-reared coach taking over the Springbok reins", after the New Zealander received 18% out of more than 2500 votes - second only to Blue Bulls guru, Heyneke Meyer.

But according to the Beeld newspaper, Mitchell is not keen on the Springbok job.

"No, I won't apply," said Mitchell, who rather wants to finish his job with the Lions. He signed a three-year contract with the Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU) last year and has on many occasions stated his desire to see out his contract with the Johannesburg-based union.

Mitchell's Lions are guaranteed of a top-spot finish after the completion of the round-robin phase of the Currie Cup at the end of this weekend - and the coach has the Currie Cup firmly in his sights after "picking up the pieces" at the union when he took over from Dick Muir last year.

The Lions travel to Durban on Saturday to take on the Sharks and Mitchell has picked a largely experimental line-up - as top spot on the log standings is already assured.

The game at Kings Park kicks off at 19:10 on Saturday evening.

Teams:

Sharks:

TBA

Golden Lions: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Dylan des Fountain, 12 Doppies la Grange, 11 James Kamana, 10 Burton Francis, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Joshua Strauss (captain), 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Michael Rhodes, 4 Wikus van Heerden, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Martin Bezuidenhout, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.

Substitutes: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Patric Cilliers, 18 Franco van der Merwe, 19 Derick Minnie, 20 Elton Jantjies, 21 Butch James, 22 Michael Killian.
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