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Boks fans change tune about Proudfoot's controversial England comment
Matt Proudfoot made some interesting comments after Eddie Jones revealed earlier this week that the former Springboks assistant would be part of the England set-up for the forthcoming Guinness Six Nations.
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Following the announcement, the South African-born former Scotland prop said: “England is probably the best team in world rugby to coach.”
It was a remark some people were offended by. After all, Proudfoot helped to guide the Springboks to World Cup glory just two months ago as forwards coach, dismantling England in the final.
There were initially accusations of disloyalty directed at the former Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors prop.
However, many have now made the distinction between the ‘best team in the world’ and the ‘best team in the world to coach’.
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It is hard to argue after the RWC final in November that England are better than South Africa, but it has been stressed what makes a team better to coach.
The politics surrounding South African rugby is something that sets it apart from most other countries, with many former coaches being scathingly critical of the South African Rugby Union, particularly Peter de Villiers in recent years.
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“Best team to coach” is different from “best team”. I think he selected his words carefully and he may just be correct. Loads of money and little outside interference.
— Afnemer 📷 (@Fotoman_ZA) January 13, 2020
While there has also been criticism of the Rugby Football Union in the past, it is likely to be incomparable to Proudfoot’s experiences in South Africa.
Additionally, the RFU is the wealthiest union in rugby, so England is the best team to coach purely from a financial perspective.
https://twitter.com/jppretorius7/status/1216744076516777985?s=20
Well coaching in England is probably the pinnacle of coaching. Most professional and best funded set-up for any coach to be involved in….so I understand what Matt tried to say.
— Jacques Terblanche (@rooirysmier) January 13, 2020
Of course, Proudfoot has been brought in by Jones to replicate the success he had with the Springboks with England’s pack.
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While they did come off second best in November, there is still a lot of talent and potential in the England team, particularly the forwards, and any coach would relish being in charge of that group.
There is a difference between being the best team and the best team to coach. Nothing wrong with the statement.
— joeboy (@j_de_beer) January 13, 2020
Proudfoot has replaced Steve Borthwick, who had been England’s forwards coach throughout Jones’ tenure and now becomes a skills coach for the upcoming Six Nations. England Sevens coach Simon Amor has become the new attack coach.
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Comments on RugbyPass
I am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
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