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Ex-England coach Matt Proudfoot in line for Lions role in South Africa

World Cup winner Matt Proudfoot at work on the Springboks scrum (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Matt Proudfoot, who quit as England forwards coach, is one of the names in the hat to become the Lions’ new forwards coach at the South African franchise.

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The Lions are looking for a new forwards coach after Albert van den Berg opted not to renew his contract with the Johannesburg based outfit last month. The Lions completed their United Rugby Championship campaign with a 50 percent success rate, nine wins from 18 starts and ninth place on the standings, three points below the eight-placed Sharks.

According to Afrikaans newspaper Rapport, Proudfoot, who has been coaching Maties – the rugby club of Stellenbosch University – along with former Lions skipper Warren Whiteley and ex-Springbok prop Wessel Roux are the frontrunners. Proudfoot was a member of the Springbok World Cup winning coaching team in 2019 and was brought on board in the same role by Eddie Jones when he was head coach of England.

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The South Africa-born 51-year-old former Scotland international, took on the England forwards role in January 2020 after Neal Hatley left to join Bath. However, with Steve Borthwick replacing Jones, Proudfoot opted to head back to South Africa in January and joined Maties having previously been an assistant to Allister Coetzee at the Stormers and Western Province for almost eight years. When appointing Proudfoot, Maties said he was a “consultant head coach” for the “duration” of this year’s campaign.

The report in the South African media said Whiteley, currently an assistant coach at the Sharks, is likely to face opposition from his current employers over a contract release. Roux appears to be the early favourite for the position as he is already part of the Lions’ coaching structures.

Van den Berg, a former Springbok lock, was left disillusioned after launching legal action against fellow colleague Chris Venter, who allegedly accessed private messages on his laptop.

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Campa Gabriel 2 hours ago
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𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 (𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐬𝐩𝐲𝐦𝐚𝐱 ) 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐢 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐮𝐩𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞.𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 ( 𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐇𝐒𝐏𝐘𝐌𝐀𝐗 @ 𝐠𝐦 𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐜 𝐨𝐦 ) 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐢 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐲. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢'𝐦 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥. 𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐩𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬, 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐭, 𝐡𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞...

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