Matt Proudfoot: 'Good grief, it scares the hell out of me'

It was a Rugby World Cup ending with a difference on Wednesday night for Matt Proudfoot compared to 2019. Four years ago, the scrum coach celebrated for weeks after the Springboks were crowned world champions in Yokohama, the party igniting in Japan for Rassie Erasmus and co and carrying on back in South Africa for ages.

In sharp contrast, the Namibia team that the assistant coach only started working for in mid-July had their campaign ended after four games in 18 days in France and he will be on a flight to his Cape Town home on Thursday before some of their Pool A rivals even play their third match of the tournament.

Such is the luck of the draw when you are a tier-two nation with a low ranking. However, despite being the first team at the finals to be sent packing, don’t write off the Namibians’ four losses as a failure.

For Proudfoot, the ex-Scotland prop, these past few weeks spent with the African underdogs taking on Italy, New Zealand, France and Uruguay respectively in Saint-Etienne, Toulouse, Marseille and Lyon were the memory of a lifetime.

That’s quite the boast when you consider his Springboks heritage and the fact that but for Eddie Jones getting sacked and having his staff dismantled, the 51-year-old set-piece specialist would instead be located at Le Touquet-Paris-Plage priming England for their October 7 pool finale versus Samoa in Lille.

It was in the tunnel at Parc Olympique Lyonnais when RugbyPass exclusively caught up with Proudfoot after Namibia had come so agonisingly close to securing their first-ever World Cup victory.

Their dogged display had them in front of the Uruguayans for 53 minutes of their pool fixture but, hampered by a second-half red card and two yellows, they were eventually overtaken and lost 26-36.

Proudfoot was chuffed with what he witnessed. “The guys are unbelievably talented; they are warriors and I’m proud of them,” he enthused, stopping for a six-minute solo chat before heading away on the Namibian team bus for the final time at France 2023.

“I can’t speak high enough of the players. It’s up to us as coaches and administrators to put a programme together that can maximise their abilities.

"I just hope that can happen for these players; they are great players and they gave everything. Thirteen players at one stage in the game, so I’m proud of them, proud of each one of them.”

It was Allister Coetzee who gave Proudfoot his introduction into Test level coaching, recruiting him for the Springboks at the start of 2016.

That job didn’t go well for the head coach, as he was replaced by Erasmus in late 2017, but when he needed a helping hand with Namibia just months out from the 2023 finals, the call went into his old assistant and the timing was perfect as Proudfoot had just finished up a short universities stint at Maties in Stellenbosch.

“The experience has been incredible. Coming in so late and having the opportunity to work with these guys and see how hard they work, it has been humbling for me. Just incredible,” he explained.

“I don’t think you can compare apples and pears because it is different environments. I just speak for what I have experienced with these guys.

“In the Springboks, it’s a machine. It’s a massive machine, it’s a top-tier nation performing incredibly well. You can see how well-resourced, how well coached, the amount of players South Africa has.

"What I was looking for in my life was a different challenge and I have grown as a coach. It has been great to coach with my dear friend Allister again. Just the people I have met. The World Cup is special.

"It’s really, really special and I would just like to thank World Rugby for this, it has been phenomenal. It has been absolutely phenomenal. I don’t think you can put a foot wrong.

"I thought Japan was incredible as a host nation. France has been absolutely incredible and as I get on a plane tomorrow [Thursday], my parting remarks would be just how humbled by the awesome players that Namibia has got.

"It bodes well for them. If they need me I will jump in and I will do whatever I can. I have been incredibly humbled by the experience.

“The tier two nations have done incredibly well. World Rugby has been so proactive and that needs to continue. There needs to be better relationships built and more competitions for the tier two nations. They have been incredible.

Matt Proudfoot's official France 2023 portrait with Namibia (Photo by Etienne Oliveau/World Rugby via Getty Images)

“There was a stat on Wednesday that our breakdown was the third quickest (3.42secs on average per ruck) out of all breakdowns; that was the stat that came out (after playing Italy, the All Blacks and France).

"That’s remarkable for a tier two nation competing with performance nations in such a competitive area and we are sitting third on the table, so it can be done.

“These players are incredibly talented. That has been my biggest experience, how talented they are and how proud they are of their country. It has been a humbling experience for me to have the privilege to work with these players. I have been humbled.

“It was brilliant. I had a coaching stint at one of the universities and I was able to take some time off and spend time with my daughter (after working in England), and Allister asked me to jump in here so that has been great.

"I have got a few opportunities lined up for the start of the year and I’ll jump back on the ship again then. Looking forward to it but I have learned so much as a coach through this experience with Namibia and it has been brilliant. Brilliant.

“These campaigns always take a lot because you have got to invest everything,” he added. “I’m incredibly disappointed (with the results) and I will start the introspection about where I could have done better and what I could have done better.

"I feel I could have maybe prepared the players better somehow and I’ll figure it out because I feel a responsibility to the players and I want them to be the best they can.

“That’s my role, so I will go and reflect over that. I will go and spend Christmas reflecting and look at a plan and come back again. I love coaching, I love being in this environment. It’s brilliant. Rugby around the world is going to go from strength to strength.

“You see the way Portugal is playing, Georgia is playing, Romania is playing. Chile is incredible what they have put together. You still haven’t started talking about Canada, USA. Good grief, it scares the hell out of me.

"I just think rugby is going from strength to strength and I’m really grateful for what World Rugby is doing. I’ll look to get on the ship again next year and see what I can contribute.”