Why Venter is the right man for the Boks

While the All Blacks and British and Irish Lions test series is dominating rugby, it is easy to miss the dramatic influence Dr Brendan Venter has been having on the Springboks – the sick men of international rugby last season winning just four out of 12 tests.

A dreadful 2016 saw coach Alistair Coetzee barely hang onto this job and as he tried to find a cure for his squad’s many short comings, he turned to Venter, the World Cup winning centre, with more jobs than any other man in World rugby.

Venter is only expected to hold his defence and exits coaching role with the Boks until the end of the three match series with France which they are expected to wrap up 3-0 on Saturday. It has been a dramatic turnaround for a team that even lost to Italy in 2016.

There is ground swell in South Africa for Venter to be brought on board until the 2019 World Cup however, he has a contract to be the Italian defensive guru for exactly the same period working alongside his great friend Conor O’Shea. Venter also has a key consultative role with newly promoted London Irish and will be with the English Premiership team at least once a month throughout the season and helped identify the 10 players they have signed to bolster their squad.

Add to those three rugby jobs the fact that Dr Venter has his own GP practise in the Western Cape and you get a clear picture of just what kind of schedule the former Bok centre is dealing with. The improved defensive play by the Boks has all the trademarks of a Venter inspired operation and he was the man who laid the foundations as director of rugby that have allowed Saracens to become the powerhouse of European rugby. His organisation of the defence allied to a quite remarkable ability to motivate is priceless and that is why so many want the South African Rugby Union to move quickly to try and keep Venter on board.

Jake White, another highly rated South African coach, is calling for Venter to become a full time member of the Bok coaching group and .”There’s no doubt that the influence of Brendan Venter has been immense and Warren Whiteley, whether people like him or not, has got it right,” White wrote via a column for All Out Rugby.“Nothing else has changed since last year - they’ve changed the captain and added an assistant coach, and the team has gone from terrible to winning their first two Tests.

“There seems to be a completely different message coming out of the Bok camp now. They’re humble, and they’re not getting ahead of themselves. It’s a very different message to what was coming out last year, and that is commendable”