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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER Springboks coach, Peter de Villiers is the front runner for the vacant Zimbabwe Sables mentor’s job, with an announcement to be made by the Zimbabwe Rugby Union this week.
De Villiers, who was in charge of Springboks at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in Australia, was last Tuesday interviewed for the job together with former Sables coaches, Colin Osborne, Brendan Dawson and South African Johnathan van der Walt. The interviews were conducted in Harare by the Brighton Chivandire led technical committee which will make its recommendations to the Aaron Jani led ZRU hierarchy.
Sources privy to the process of hunting for a Sables coach said chances are that the 60-year-old De Villiers will be given the post of director of rugby and then double up as the Sables coach. The reason is because World Rugby pays the salary of the director with ZRU then having the task of looking for funds to for the Sables coach’s remuneration. If De Villiers, who quit his Springboks post after the 2011 World Cup is engaged as Sables coach, it is understood that Dawson and Grant Mitchell will be roped in to assist him.
Jani said they were now waiting for the suggestions from the technical committee prior to briefing interested parties to get a way forward.
“We are still waiting for a report from the technical committee, they are giving us on Monday with its recommendations, then we will brief the stakeholders,’’ Jani said.
Osborne conducted coaching clinics with local coaches as well as players in Harare and Bulawayo from last Wednesday until yesterday when he returned to the United Kingdom. The 63-year old is employed as skills coach by English Premiership side Harlequins. When approached for a comment at Christian Brothers College last week, Osborne indicated that he could not speak of another job when he was still employed at Harlequins.
“I work for Harlequins, I enjoy my job, I will be back there on Monday, preparing to beat Northampton who we got in the Anglo Welsh Cup so don’t look too far in the future, one step at a time, do the job.
You never say never but right now I am already in a job and it would be wrong for me to speculate about another job because my bosses wouldn’t like that,’’ Osborne said.
The Sables job has been vacant since last August when ZRU disbanded the Cyprian Mandenge led technical team after a disastrous run in the Rugby Africa Gold Cup where Zimbabwe recorded just one win, away against Senegal. — @Mdawini_29
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