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Cape Town - Allister Coetzee is the man who has been tasked with taking South African rugby into a new era.
A scrumhalf during his playing days, Coetzee would go on to make a name for himself in the coaching world as an assistant to Jake White's 2007 Springboks and then with Western Province and the Stormers.
Having left the Stormers at the end of the 2015 Super Rugby season, Coetzee jetted off to Japan for a stint in charge of the Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers.
Now he is back, and here are a few things to know about your new Springbok coach:
- Coetzee is 52-years-old and was born in Grahamstown
- He played as a scrumhalf and enjoyed a playing career of almost 22 years
- Coetzee has played Super Rugby - representing Eastern Province in the 1994 Super 10 competition
- Coetzee was a Junior Springbok in 1992
- He is a teacher by trade
- Coetzee started his coaching career at Eastern Province in 1996. He would later move on to be an assistant coach at the Sharks
- He took charge of the SA-Under23 side in 2000
- Coetzee served as an assistant coach to Harry Viljoen's Springboks in 2000
- He was also an assistant coach throughout the Jake White era and was a part of the coaching staff when the Springboks won the 2007 World Cup
- Coetzee joined Western Province in 2008 and became head coach of the Stormers in 2010
- The Stormers made the Super Rugby final in Coetzee's first year in charge, losing 25-17 to the Bulls in Soweto
- The Stormers made the Super Rugby play-offs in four of the six seasons they had under Coetzee
- Since the introduction of the conference format, the Stormers were SA conference champions for three of the five years they had under Coetzee
- Coetzee won two Currie Cup titles at Western Province (2012 and 2014)
- Coetzee becomes the 13th Springbok coach since readmission
