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Cape Town - The positions of the Springbok assistant coaches remain unclear after head coach Heyneke Meyer stepped down from his role on Thursday.
Meyer quit as Bok coach after four years (2012 - 2015) at the helm of the national team.
The future of his assistants - Ricardo Loubscher (backline coach), John McFarland (defence) and Johann van Graan (forwards) as well as team manager Ian Schwartz - are unclear at this stage.
However, it is believed that Van Graan signed a deal with SARU before the Rugby World Cup, but the positions of the other three may be in jeopardy.
One of Meyer’s prerequisites when he was appointed was that his management team be based in Pretoria, but Sport24 understands that SARU wants the team to be based near its headquarters in Cape Town.
It's also likely that the new coach would want to name his own management team.
Meanwhile, SARU on Thursday said the process of finding a replacement for Meyer has already started.
SARU’s General Council was set to meet on Friday, December 11 to discuss Meyer’s future as Bok coach, but that meeting will now be to find a suitable replacement.
SARU CEO Jurie Roux will present the process of recruitment as per the recommendation of the High Performance Committee for approval to the Executive Council on Wednesday, after which it will be shared with the provincial unions at the General Council meeting two days later.
While this process needs to be followed, Sport24 has it on good authority that former Stormers coach Allister Coetzee will be the new Springbok coach.
