Ousted SA Rugby president Hoskins describes the Springbok coaching job as a 'poison chalice'

22 September 2016 - 16:55 By Craig Ray
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Former SA Rugby president Oregan Hoskins described the Springbok coaching job as a “poisoned chalice” in a radio interview on Thursday.

Oregan Hoskins President of South African Rugby during the Opening Ceremony on day one of the U/18 Coca-Cola Craven Week at Kearsney College on July 11, 2016 in Durban, South Africa.
Oregan Hoskins President of South African Rugby during the Opening Ceremony on day one of the U/18 Coca-Cola Craven Week at Kearsney College on July 11, 2016 in Durban, South Africa.
Image: Steve Haag/Gallo Images

Hoskins stepped down as president last month – before he was pushed – after he fell out with SA Rugby’s executive council.

At the time an insider told Times Media Digital that there was a “complete breakdown of trust” between the exco and Hoskins.

The ex-president has remained silent on his ousting but did admit that he and exco could no longer work together.

In the interview with EWN on Thursday Hoskins revealed that he wasn’t sure about the Bok coach position once former coach Heyneke Meyer revealed that he wouldn’t seek to renew his contract last December.

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In the end it went to Allister Coetzee and in his brief tenure the Boks have lost four of the seven Tests they’ve played‚ including three consecutive defeats during the Rugby Championship.

"I actually didn’t know the answer [to the Bok coach situation] sitting as the president at the beginning of this year‚" Hoskins said.

"The one problem I didn’t want to deal with was who should be the next coach‚ because I felt that whoever took the poison chalice was really going to have a tough time.

"You know if you look at the exodus of our top players‚ anybody who is appointed as the national coach is on a hiding.”

Hoskins also said that rugby was at a crossroads and that it needed urgent intervention.

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Dwindling crowds at games‚ a shrinking TV audience‚ an overly complicated Super Rugby structure and over 300 South African players playing abroad‚ are some of the issues facing rugby.

“We are at a point now where a Codesa for rugby‚ if I can put it that way‚ (is needed)” Hoskins said.

“A national convention is needed where we call in our stakeholders in the game‚ the people who are putting a lot of money in the game. Let’s be blunt‚ I am talking about the Remgros‚ the SuperSports of this world.

“We need people to sit around the table and ask where we stop the hemorrhaging‚ do we continue with SANZAR?

"I respectfully said five years ago that we needed to be out of SANZAAR‚ we need to be in the Northern Hemisphere.”

- TMG Digital

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