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Ackermann sheds light on coaching indaba issues

Cape Town - The biggest grey area to come out of SARU's coaching indaba was the type of rugby the Springboks should play going forward.

That is according to Lions coach Johan Ackermann, who attended the first day of the indaba on Wednesday.

Ackermann told Netwerk24 a grey area that emerged at the indaba, is what type of rugby the Boks were going to play. 

"It's something the coaching staff of the Springboks will have to decide. Are we going to play more attractive rugby at international level or is our approach going to be more tactical? It's a decision Allister will have to make."

Ackermann said there were no quick solutions to get South African rugby back on the right path again, but said the first day of the indaba was "very productive".

"Are we going to see immediate improvements? Are we now going to beat England in three weeks' time? I think anything is possible and we have the talent, but the issues we discussed at the indaba is a process of which we will only reap the benefits in two to three years' time," Ackermann said.

South Africa's Coach of the Year nominee shed some light on the way things would be approached from now on.

According to Ackermann, Bok coach Allister Coetzee will identify 45 players he believes can represent the Springboks at the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) will expect the Super Rugby unions to ensure the conditioning levels of those 45 players stay at a certain level.

"Allister sometimes gets the team together only a week or two before a Test match so obviously he won't be able to focus on that area. All of us admitted that the fitness levels of the players need to be very good if you want to play exciting rugby.

Ackermann said the defensive structures of the Lions, Sharks and Bulls were similar in many aspects, but that SARU would not instruct unions how and where players needed to defend but rather asked them to work on the players' technical skills when it came to tackling.

"The request to us was to work on the skills level of the players three times a week. They expect us to improve the players which is obviously something that we want to do."

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