Cape Town — Jake White admits that it is “fair criticism” that he has moved around from team to team as a rugby coach, but his decision to sign a three-year contract extension with the Bulls on Friday shows that it is the ideal place for him to be.
The former Springbok boss signed on at Loftus Versfeld until 2027, and while he didn’t rule out coaching at Test level in future, he is happy in Pretoria.
“To be fair, I always thought I would try and find … Having coached internationally at a very young age, having experienced the highs of winning the World Cup, maybe I probably chased things,” White — who has coached the likes of the Brumbies, Sharks and Montpellier in a lengthy coaching career spanning about 40 years – said during a press conference on Friday.
“Hindsight is easy … Maybe with that move, I was looking for that dream job. And maybe that’s why I’ve committed to stay here. Five more years in Pretoria, five more years with this group of players, this organisation as they are now … With the group of people above me that have the same vision and same sort of feeling of continuity.
“As Edgar (Rathbone, Bulls CEO) says, it’s working and I am enjoying it. It is, I suppose, fair criticism to say that I moved. But I suppose what I moved for is to get into a situation where I am now.
“All those learnings have taught me well, about what I can and can’t get. And when I get what I’ve got here — great bunch of players, leadership that is visionary and wants to win, which is wonderful. Imagine being in an organisation where it didn’t really matter whether winning was important or not.
“It’s just a perfect fit. At this point in my life, having known what I know and learnt what I’ve learnt, and this group of people around me, it’s a perfect fit.”
White coached the Boks to the 2007 Rugby World Cup title, and while he hasn’t been in charge of another international team since, he wouldn’t necessarily say no to operating in the Test arena once more.
“You can never say never. I mean, the reality is that I thought I was going to coach international rugby after the World Cup in 2007. There have been 15 years that have gone by now, and next year’s another World Cup — so four World Cups would’ve gone by since I coached international rugby,” the 58-year-old said.
“I can never say never, but what you can control … I am very fortunate that these guys back me. One of the greatest accolades is when your board say to you, ‘Please, we want you to stay’, and it’s a wonderful place to be.
“And if I show that I’m part of it, maybe that will be a catalyst for the players to think ‘I want to be part of it as well’. If that is the case, then I am sure things will work well at the Bulls.”
The Bulls kick off their United Rugby Championship campaign against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday (4.05pm kick-off), and will hope to go one step further after losing last season’s final to the Stormers.
Then there is also the Champions Cup to come later in the year, and Rathbone expressed his delight that White will try to secure more trophies over the next few years.
“We are absolutely ecstatic about that. The work that Jake has done over the past two years has been unbelievable, and I really believe that — together with the board and the union, Jake and myself working together — we are building something really special here,” Rathbone said.
“With players committing their long-term futures to the Bulls as well, we believe that this is the right step. In rugby, you need to control the controllables, and that’s what we are trying to do by giving the stability on the coaching front, as well as a playing squad.
“I’d be lying if we said we entered a competition not to win it. Every competition the Bulls enter, we want to win.
“We understand that there is a building process in place, but we believe if we can keep our squad together for the next few years, we can build on those trophies we’ve won over the past few years, and the team atmosphere will just be better and better.”
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