Boks should have made Mitchell coach, says former Lion

By PETER BILLS

LONDON - South African rugby missed a glorious opportunity in not appointing John Mitchell as its national coach, a former Ireland and British Lions scrum half claims.

Roger Young, Ireland international and a British Lion in New Zealand in 1966 and in South Africa in 1968, believes that the Springboks should have snatched Mitchell when New Zealand dispensed with his services in the aftermath of their failure at the World Cup late last year.

Young, who has lived and worked in Cape Town as a dentist since his retirement from international rugby, says that appointing Mitchell would have been a decision of enormous benefit to the South African game. His thoughts make intriguing reading given the protracted selection process which led to Jake White's appointment earlier this year.

"I think that after their disastrous World Cup, South Africa should have jumped in and got John Mitchell from New Zealand on the re-bound," Young says. "He is not South African and would not have had any baggage. There would have been no favouritism with English or Afrikaans players and he wouldn't have had the problem of being seen to favour any particular provinces, either. I think any South African coach is always going to have that difficulty. And there has been the problem of quotas, too.

"In my view, South Africa should have appointed Mitchell for four years. They should have told him 'We want South Africa to show the world what we can do in 2007 and win the World Cup. You are the coach to do it'. He could have been given a manager to sort out the politics and left to do what he does best, coaching. He would have just worked on the squad and I believe he'd have done a terrific job. I rate him as a coach."

Young is not alone in holding that view. A great many observers of the rugby scene world-wide, English coach Sir Clive Woodward included, have a great respect for Mitchell and his work.

There is a solid group of knowledgeable rugby people the world over who believe that New Zealand were crazy to sack Mitchell, in the wake of the All Blacks' defeat in the World Cup semi-final.

Revamp the management structure and improve the public relations element, by all means, was the view. But keep the man who led New Zealand to Tri-Nations success and under whom the All Blacks played some outstanding rugby throughout 2003. However, Mitchell was slung out with the bath water, and New Zealand's loss could and should have been South Africa's gain, says Young.

"The one game the All Blacks lost last year was like a bad day at the office. In my view, New Zealand were mad to throw him out, especially for Graham Henry, a dour sort of guy.

"Given the amount of experience Mitchell has had with class sides like England and New Zealand, South Africa missed out on getting one of the best coaches in the world."

But what of Jake White?

Young says: "I cannot see any of the South African coaches bringing South African rugby back to the top three in the world game. Yet they have the players to do it. There is a tremendous amount of scope and talent. Look at schoolboy rugby in this country and you see thousands of kids playing this game. But South Africa must improve their scouting system to give youngsters a chance, not just turf them out at the first opportunity."

Young remains a close observer of the world rugby scene. He was in Ireland two weeks ago to see Eddie O'Sullivan's side win the Triple Crown at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, and is a keen follower of the game in South Africa.

But he says: "What has happened recently to the Springboks has been so disappointing. I would like to see more of the late greats of Springbok rugby getting involved in the game. It was very, very sad to see Morne du Plessis resign his position. And I was even more sad to see that when he resigned, not many people came out to support him which was a bit of a kick in the teeth.

"But I do believe South Africa must realise the game is bigger than a few individuals and bigger than some of their policies."

- INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS (SOUTH AFRICA)