Allister Coetzee has been unveiled as the new coach of Eastern Province after leaving his job as the Namibia Rugby Union’s director of rugby.
Former Springboks coach Coetzee has returned home to Gqeberha, his career coming full circle after serving the union as a player and as a coach.
Coetzee was a quicksilver scrumhalf, who played under the banner of the non-racial SARU for Eastern Province 1985 to 1991, and again after unification from 1992-1996.
Coetzee also coached EP from 2001 to 2003 before joining Jake White’s Springbok coaching staff as an assistant in in 2004. After winning the World Cup with White in 2007, Coetzee joined the Stormers under Rassie Erasmus, before a successful stint as head coach from 2010 to 2015.
Coetzee replaced Heyneke Meyer as Bok coach in 2016, but was fired less than two years into the job after a string of poor results, which included a 57-0 drubbing away to the All Blacks.
After a stints in Japan and Italy, Coetzee spent the last three years in charge of the Namibian national team after taking over in 2021. He helped the team qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France after winning the Rugby Africa Cup the previous year.
However, the team failed to impress during the World Cup, losing all their matches after targeting a first-ever victory in the tournament against Uruguay.
This year, Coetzee’s Namibia also relinquished their grip on the Rugby Africa Cup, losing to eventual champions Zimbabwe in the semi-final after they won the tournament for seven years in a row.
Former Namibia loose forward Jacques Burger has now been appointed as Namibia’s new director of rugby, replacing Coetzee.
Fellow former international Chrysander Botha will take over as coach, and will be assisted by Jaco Engels, Rohan Kitshoff, David Philander and Sergio de la Harpe.
Meanwhile, Coetzee, who replaced Dumisani Mhani as head coach, says he is happy to be back with Eastern Province, and is hoping to bring the team back into the light after many years of under-achievement.
“I am really excited to be back in the Eastern Province,” Coetzee told Herald Live.
“It is not going to be easy and I can’t just come in and make magic because I am not a magician. We have to plan well and follow a process and I’m sure EP will reap the benefits from it.
“If you look at this facility [NMB stadium] we really should have more Test matches and see big rugby here because EP is a big union and that is what the mindset should be.
“We are really not a fly-by-night union.
“If you want to get into the Currie Cup it is not only just the on-field field performance, but off-field matters are also important.”
Coetzee says EP should be competing with the big boys because of the player base at their disposal. His biggest goal is to bring the talent through and keep them in the province.
“It is not often you get the opportunity to go full circle in your rugby career,” Coetzee said. “When you start playing and coaching rugby in a region and then you have an opportunity to come back.
“One of the reasons I am back here is that EP always used to be a Test union, played Super Rugby and were represented in the Currie Cup Premier Division.
“The rugby intellect is here with good schools and a club rugby system that is functional. If you look at Craven Week, the schools are performing and it’s just not right for this union not to be playing Currie Cup Premier Division rugby.
“That situation does not fit EP and it is my dream and mission to make sure that this province gets its rightful place back in the SA rugby landscape.” – Iol.co.za
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