Heyneke Meyer remembers his Leicester Tigers day – Rugby News Update
Heyneke Meyer, the 44-year-old head coach of South Africa, took time out to discuss his stint with English club Leicester Tigers, who play in the Aviva Premiership, the top tier of rugby in England, before the crucial first test against the visiting team.
England is currently on tour in South Africa, where they will play the Springboks in a three-match test series, along with two other mid-week games, under the mentorship of Stuart Lancaster, the head coach of England.
Meyer became the head coach of South Africa after the beginning of the year, replacing Peter de Villiers, whose tenure with the Springboks ended with a quarter-final defeat at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Meyer will take charge of his first match this Saturday,
June 9 at Durban, and he is really looking forward to it, while recalling that he fell in love with rugby when coaching the Tigers.
Springbok’s coach also said, “But the way they treated me and brought me back into rugby, I will always be thankful for them."
"Without being a great politician, I had an unbelievable time at Leicester," he said. "The way they treated me and carried me on their hands in difficult times there - I have just got the best things to say about Leicester."
"The public and the board were brilliant from day one. I will always be thankful for Leicester because if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have been back in rugby.”
He will be reunited with fellow professionals such as Dan Cole and Benny Youngs from his Leicester days, and he is happy to see them turn into international players. Meyer’s feels that as a coach you will always remember those that you have coached, and
if you see them progress, it is a great feeling. Meyer’s also added that he wants his players to do the best and achieve as much as they can, while maintaining all his relations from the sport.
Meyer’s made the switch to the Leicester Tigers on the back of being overlooked for the Springboks coaching position following the 2007 triumphant Rugby World Cup. His tenure was short, at a difficult time and he left on compassionate grounds, never to return
again.
Tags: