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Johan Ackermann and Johann van Graan as Gloucester and Munster mentors respectively. (Photo By Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
- Legendary Bok second rower Victor Matfield favours new blood for the pending Springbok coach vacancy and believes Johan Ackermann and Johann van Graan should be the leading candidates.
- He cited Ackermann's success at the Lions and willingness to evolve in England and Japan as notable achievements, while noting Van Graan understands the Bok psyche and way of playing.
- Matfield implores SA Rugby to get the timing of whoever they appoint right.
Legendary Springbok lock Victor Matfield believes the national team's future after this year's Rugby World Cup should be predicated on proverbial new blood instead of continuity.
It explains then why he - a tad surprisingly given current discourse about Mzwandile Stick and Deon Davids' credentials - favours Johan Ackermann and Johann van Graan as candidates to fill the Bok head coach vacancy once Jacques Nienaber leaves for Leinster.
Franco Smith, Allister Coetzee's assistant at national level in 2017 and currently working wonders at Glasgow Warriors, has also caught the 46-year-old's eye.
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"I think there are three very strong candidates. Johan Ackermann was very successful with the Lions, Franco Smith has done well in a few places, and then you have Johann van Graan, who coached Munster and was an assistant coach in many Springbok Tests," Matfield said while speaking on a media call for the URC.
"If I had to choose, it would be between Van Graan and Ackermann."
Lions favourite Ackermann won a Currie Cup and guided the men from Ellis Park to two consecutive Super Rugby finals, before moving to Gloucester in England, where he reached the Challenge Cup final in his first season and reached the semi-finals of the Premiership in 2019.
His charges ended second in their Champions Cup pool in his final year, but couldn't reach the playoffs.
Since moving to Japan in 2020, Ackermann has enjoyed mixed fortunes.
His second year with the Red Hurricanes delivered a quarter-final berth, yet the drama of Japanese communications giant NTT scaling back on its investment in the club led to relegation.
Ackermann was then put in charge of Urayasu D-Rocks, NTT's other team that was prioritised commercially post-2022, and has put them in a prime position for promotion to division one next season.
Meanwhile, Matfield knows Van Graan well after being coached by him at the Bulls and Springboks.
Currently at England's Bath, the 43-year-old has a six-year stint as national assistant coach on his CV and a five-year tenure as head coach of Irish giants Munster, where he invariably kept Leinster on their toes without winning any trophies.
That inconvenient truth means Van Graan divides opinion in Ireland.
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However, Matfield did contextualise why he should be considered, specifically noting that Van Graan understands the psyche of Springbok rugby.
"There's a specific style that works for South Africa. We're never going to play like Leinster. If we do that, we won't win a trophy," he said.
"South African players' thought processes are different. You have to create a different environment for them to be at their best."
Regardless of who cracks the nod in the end, Matfield implores SA Rugby to get the timing right, specifically in terms of where the designated candidate finds himself in his development.
"In my days, when we dominated and the Bulls won the Super [Rugby] series, the same guys were successful with the Boks. Heyneke Meyer drove that system. The right time for him to get the Bok job would probably have been 2008," he said.
"Unfortunately, he didn't, and four years later, after being out for a while, it didn't have the same impact. So timing is very important for a coach."
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