Strauss captained the Boks for the duration of Coetzee’s abjectly disappointing first year in charge, but announced some time before the end of the season that it would be his last in international rugby. So Coetzee has had some time to mull over a successor, but he says he wants to use up every available moment to think about it and put certain criteria in place before making a decision and announcement in the week building up to the first test of the year against France.
Coetzee has confirmed that he will be calling on the help and expertise of psychologist Pieter Kruger, who was one of the mediators at the national coaching indaba in Cape Town last October, in making the choice of the next captain a thorough process that would take all the aspects of the challenge that faces a leader of the national team into account.
“We are looking at the captaincy issue and will have one in place the week before the first test against France,” said Coetzee.
“We are casting our net wider than normal and I have enlisted the help of Prof Pieter Kruger to look at making sure that all the criteria are met.”
Coetzee said that the captain would have to be a player who would be sure of his place in both the squad and the starting team. What he hasn’t made up his mind yet on though is whether he looks at the leadership in the here and now, which some accused him of getting wrong last year if Strauss was only going to be available for a year, or to look to the future by appointing a young captain.
