The Springboks have decided on a new addition to coaching staff – report

Four-time Rugby World Cup winners, South Africa, have reportedly decided that recently retired veteran Duane Vermuelen will be joining the coaching staff as the new defence coach.

The transition comes after former head coach Jacques Nienaber joined Leinster as a senior coach following the World Cup victory last month. As the coach left, so did Vermeulen who confirmed his retirement from the game after back-to-back titles.

Destined to coach

During the latter stages of his career there was already speculation that Vermeulen would be kept in the Springboks set-up in some coaching capacity and reports from SARugbyMag.com suggest that the decision has been made by the national side, even though it may not be announced immediately.

🇿🇦 Duane Vermeulen on being in the coaches’ box for the Ireland game:

“It was crazy. As the coaches already said, they gave opportunities to players to sit in coaching meetings. Everyone is welcome to sit in these meetings. They also give some players the opportunity to come up… pic.twitter.com/fZKiJZIixg

— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) September 30, 2023

Vermeulen’s dive into the coaching realm may be helped by a position with the Stormers who confirmed they had spoken to the great Springbok about the possibility.

“We started talking with Duane last year,” head coach John Dobson said. “We knew he was going to retire and he was keen to stay in Cape Town. We reached an idea where he could look after the forwards in our pathway, which is very important, making sure those guys are technically strong.

“Technically outstanding”

“He is technically outstanding. He acts as a player-coach wherever he goes, he certainly did at Ulster and I suspect very much at the Springboks. If we could get him up here that would be great. But it is subject to a few things.

“We are in a curious place, this twilight area, where the equity deal has been approved by the clubs, but it is not through the final processes yet, in terms of signing it and going through the competition commission.

“So it is curious. We are still under full administration. The Red Disa consortium doesn’t have full control, but they also have to get insight into what we spend during this period. We can’t laden them with all sorts of spending.

“We see how Duane fits in here, and we think he is keen to come and we are keen to have him. But it still does need some movement off the field. There’s a will for everybody to make it happen. So hopefully we can get it wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.”

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