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Cape Town - Former Springbok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez has ruled himself out of any possible coaching role at the Bulls.
In an interview with Netwerk24, Du Preez confirmed he has no plans to join the Bulls as he believes their current structure and culture are set up for failure.
Du Preez and former Springbok and Bulls team-mate Victor Matfield were recently mentioned as potential candidates to replace John Mitchell as coaches of the Pretoria-franchise, with the New Zealander seemingly set to leave the Bulls and join England as their defence coach.
For Du Preez, spending time with his family and living a balanced life are more important.
"The current structures at the Bulls make success highly unlikely," Du Preez told the Afrikaans publication.
He continued: "Over the past seven years, poor decision-making has seen the Bulls stagnate from one of the best teams to an average side and no one has taken responsibility for that decline. I can’t work like that.”
Du Preez added that Matfield had the necessary “rugby knowledge and passion” to take over at the Bulls. He however stressed that drastic changes to the union’s management structure would need to be made.
The former scrumhalf's comments came after former Springbok coach Jake White claimed that Du Preez and Matfield were not suitable candidates to take over at the Bulls.
“John Mitchell couldn’t get the Bulls to be successful this year. He’s got a longer CV than anyone on the Bulls shortlist and he had an 85-percent win-rate with the All Blacks. Put in the same situation, two guys with almost no coaching experience are not going to make it because they’re going to make their coaching mistakes at the highest level instead of at high school," White wrote on the All Out Rugby website.
White also criticised the coaching structures in South African rugby.
“How can you have a system where a guy who has never coached leapfrogs everybody? The truth may be frightening - there probably is no system. Why are we in that situation?
“We’re at the point where coaching experience is not required to be on the shortlist for a Super Rugby job. How far are we from having a Bok coach who has never coached?” White questioned.
