Agent on holiday delays official confirmation on who is taking over from Rassie Erasmus

Mark Alexander’s hopes of getting the Springboks coaching roles filled by the end of 2019 appear to have been dashed due to an agent involved in negotiations reportedly being away on holiday.

The South African Rugby president has stated he wanted the business of who will succeed Rassie Erasmus as Springboks head coach done and dusted before the new year, but confirmation of that deal - along with who will be the new coach’s assistants - now won’t occur until January.

According to a report on the TimesLIVE website, SA Rugby have endorsed the recommendations of Eramsus as to who should take over following their 2019 World Cup triumph.

Contracts have apparently been offered and are with respective legal representatives or agents of the coaches involved. However, the deals for the new coaching team are not yet complete as one agent is on a festive break.

TimesLIVE reported: “A source at SA Rugby said one agent is away on his festive season break and that is causing the delay in the announcement of the coaching team.”

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The speculation is that defence mastermind Jacques Nienaber, who worked for many years at club and country level with Erasmus, has beaten Deon Davids to the job as Springboks boss.

Davids is said to be in line to take up an assistant role in the new set-up which will include contract extensions for Mzwandile Stick and Felix Jones, who were part of the Erasmus ticket at the World Cup in Japan.

For Irishman Jones, a long-term deal in South Africa would be quite a result after he quit Munster last May without an alternative job lined up.

It was only after Swys de Bruin made himself unavailable for World Cup duty through illness that a position opened up in the Springboks and Erasmus, who had Jones working under him during his 18-month stint at Munster, picked up to the phone to Ireland to fill the breach.

Davids is rumoured to be filling the vacancy left by departing forwards coach Matthew Proudfoot, who is expected to link up with England in the new year.

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